The Last Port
A crowded harbour, a cheering crowd, and one quiet fear.
In the winter of 1912, the Aurora lay at in the last port before the ice.
Captain Weller stood on the deck, watching his twenty-seven men carry crates aboard the ship.
Although the harbour was crowded with well-wishers, he felt strangely alone among the cheering crowd.
The newspapers had promised that the was going to cross the frozen continent on foot.
Every man aboard believed that was waiting for them somewhere beyond the southern .
Only Weller, who had sailed these waters before, understood how the ice could be.
He knew that the sea down there was going to test each of them beyond reason.
The came from every corner of the world, drawn together by the promise of adventure.
Some were scientists; others were sailors who had signed on simply to escape ordinary lives.
Although none of them had ever seen the polar ice, they spoke of it boldly.
Weller had chosen each man carefully, valuing and humour above strength or fame.
He believed that a cheerful was going to survive where a bitter one would break.
As the last crates were loaded, a young reporter asked him whether he feared the journey.
"Fear is a useful ," he answered, "as long as you never let it steer."
That evening, the town held a dinner in honour of the departing explorers.
Although the food was warm and the speeches kind, Weller ate little and spoke less.
He was thinking of the men who were going to depend on every decision he made.
At dawn, the gathered on deck while the harbour bells rang across the grey water.
The ship's dogs barked wildly, sensing that something enormous was about to begin.
Weller gave the order, and the Aurora slipped slowly away from the last human harbour.
Behind them, the rooftops shrank until the town was only a thin line on the sea.
Ahead lay thousands of miles of empty ocean, and beyond that, a wall of white.
Although the sky was clear, the captain read a in the distant southern clouds.
He had promised the world that his men were going to make history together.
What he had not promised, even to himself, was that they would all come home.
As the coast vanished, Weller quietly wondered which of these faces the ice would keep.