Table Of ContentHistorical Geography and Geosciences
P. J. Capelotti Editor
The Coldest
Coast
The 1873 Leigh Smith Expedition to Svalbard
in the Diaries and Photographs of Herbert
Chermside
Historical Geography and Geosciences
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OH, USA
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of Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
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P. J. Capelotti
Editor
The Coldest Coast
The 1873 Leigh Smith Expedition
to Svalbard in the Diaries
and Photographs of Herbert
Chermside
123
Editor
P. J.Capelotti
Division of Social Sciences
PennState Abington
Abington, PA,USA
ISSN 2520-1379 ISSN 2520-1387 (electronic)
Historical GeographyandGeosciences
ISBN978-3-030-67879-1 ISBN978-3-030-67880-7 (eBook)
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Foreword by Charlotte Moore
“He has personal influence that subtle thing that makes a person a power
without even uttering a word.”
This was how Benjamin Leigh Smith’s sister Nannie described her older
brother. Her observation is borne out by the facts. Without that “influence,”
orcharisma,LeighSmithcouldnothaveconductedhisfoursuccessfulArctic
expeditions, let alone guided the entire crew to safety when on the fifth and
last expedition his ship sank, leaving them stranded in Franz Joseph Land
facingtheprospectofalongArcticwinterwithnomeansofcommunicating
news of the disaster to friends at home.
IamBenjaminLeighSmith’sgreat-great-greatniece.“UncleBen”isboth
heroandvillaininourfamily.Hero,because,ashisoakengravemarkerputs
it, “five times he sailed the Arctic seas and for his country’s good braved
countless hardships and perils.” Villain, because that powerful “personal
influence” was not always put to good use. After the death of his father in
1860, Ben became head of the family. In this role, he exercised excessive
control over the professional and personal lives of his nephews and nieces.
HispossessiveaffectionforhisbeautifulnieceAmy(mygreat-grandmother)
was so strong that he blocked her marriage for more than four years.
Eventually,shesucceededinmarryingthemansheloved,butitwasanother
20 years before Ben would abandon the feud and re-establish contact with
her.
Uncle Ben was a complex character with an unusual background. His
father, Benjamin Smith, was a radical member of the British House of
Commons, one of the ten children of William Smith MP who had been a
closeassociateofWilberforceandClarksoninthecampaignagainsttheslave
trade.TheSmithswereUnitarians.ThisvariantoftheChristianfaithupholds
“Freedom, Reason and Tolerance,” and puts emphasis on deeds, not words.
Philanthropy, altruism and a belief in social progress are all essential. Uni-
tarians reject belief in the Holy Trinity, and regard Jesus as a man to be
followed rather than a God to be worshipped. They have strong family and
friendship networks and are involved in each other’s lives to an unusual
extent.ThewealthyandculturedSmithfamilyspreaditsinfluencewidelyin
nineteenth-century Britain; Florence Nightingale, pioneer of hospital and
army reform, is its best-known member. She was Uncle Ben’s first cousin.
BenjaminSmithseniorrejectedmarriageasarestrictiveinstitutionwithin
which the wife became little more than one of her husband’s chattels. On a
visit to his Nightingale cousins in Derbyshire, he fell in love with a
vii
viii ForewordbyCharlotteMoore
working-class girl, a milliner named Anne Longden. When she became
pregnant, he set her up in a house in Whatlington, East Sussex (he owned
muchpropertyinthearea)andtreatedherashiscommon-lawwife.Thefirst
child,Barbara,wasborntherein1827,followedbyBenjaminin1828.There
were three more children–Nannie, Bella and Willy–before Anne Longden
died of lung disease at the age of 32.
The bereaved father enlisted the help of Anne’s sister, “Aunt Dolly
Longden,” and his own sister, “Aunt Ju,” in looking after the five children,
who therefore had theinteresting and unusual experience ofbeing reared by
two surrogate mothers, one upper class, one working class. The family took
up residence in two houses in Pelham Crescent, Hastings, one house for the
adults, one for the children. Pelham Crescent was an elegant newly built
terraceoverlookingtheEnglishChannel.Iimaginethatthisproximitytothe
sea–duringstorms,waveswouldcrashwithinfeetofthehouses–gaveyoung
Benhistasteforoceanadventure.Aninterestintravelwasencouragedbyhis
father, who commissioned an enormous horse-drawn coach in which the
entirefamilyjourneyedthroughEuropeandtheBritishIsles.Mountainswere
climbed, rivers were swum in, landscapes were sketched, plants were col-
lected.TheLeighSmithchildren(theirfatheraddedthefamilyname“Leigh”
to distinguish them from the mass of their Smith cousins) had an unusually
free and adventurous upbringing. Their schooling was similarly unconven-
tional. Ben attended Bruce Castle, a progressive school in Tottenham
founded by the utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham, where science and
engineering were taught at a time when the English public school syllabus
was dominated by Latin and Greek. There was no corporal punishment.
Outdoors activities were encouraged; there was a swimming pool. Ben’s
headmaster was Rowland Hill, inventor of the postage stamp.
BenwentontoJesusCollege,Cambridge,wherehestudiedmathematics.
He was already a proficient yachtsman and an excellent shot, and though,
after Cambridge, he began reading for the Bar, he was never cut out for an
indoor career. His restlessness was solved when the death of his father left
himwithaconsiderableinheritance.(Thediscoveryattheirfather’sdeathof
a second illegitimate family, raised in London, was a shock to the Leigh
Smiths; nevertheless, they buried old Ben next to their own mother Anne).
The 32-year-old inheritor could now abandon his fledgling legal career and
take over themanagement ofhis Sussex estates; all his life,Ben was deeply
interested in farming, especially hop-growing, and in rural pursuits such as
shooting and beagling. Family life took up much of his time. Letters and
diaries from the family archive show him taking his nephews and nieces to
LondontheatresandtripstoParis,holdingpartiessotheycouldgettoknow
their multitudinous Smith cousins, providing party frocks for the girls, and
sportingequipmentfortheboys.Hetookhisturnwithfamilydifficulties,too,
sittingupallnightwithhissisterBellawhenshesufferedpsychoticepisodes,
bringing toys and invalid foods to the sickbed of a 4-year-old victim of
diphtheria, lending houses to invalids in need of country air.
In 1865, another relative bequeathed Ben a handsome fortune. He was
now rich enough to launch himself as an explorer. He had already obtained
theBoardofTrade“ticket”enablinghimtocommandhisownship,andhad
ForewordbyCharlotteMoore ix
travelled extensively in Europe, Egypt and the British Isles. By 1870 his
thoughts were turning to the Arctic and the lure of unchartered territory. On
28April1871Ben’sbrother-in-lawandfriendGeneralJohnLudlownotedin
hisdiary,“Benhasboughtabig&stoutyachtwithouthavingseenher.She
has been cased in the North Sea & was built for going among the ice. Ben
says he is ‘going to the North Pole’ ... his object is sport.” Sport, of course,
meant shooting bears, reindeer, seals and seabirds, but if this was the main
objective of Ben’s first voyage, his scientific and enquiring mind soon rea-
lised that there were more interesting things to do in the Polar regions. On
each of his subsequent voyages, Ben pushed forward the frontiers of
knowledge, as this book amply demonstrates.
The three voyages of the 1870s increased the already high standing of
“Uncle Ben” in the eyes of the family. He came home bearing gifts of
haunchesofreindeervenison,theskinsofreindeer,sealsandPolarbears,and
a wolverine tippet and mufffor his little niece Milicent. The children could
visit the live bear, Samson, donated to London Zoo, and revel in the tale of
how,onthereturnjourney,Samsonhadmadeabreakforfreedom,butUncle
Ben had grabbed him and wrestled him to the deck as he was about to dive
into the sea. They pored over Ben’s sketches and Lieutenant Chermside’s
thrilling photographs, quite unlike anything they had seen before. After the
1873 relief of the Swedish expedition, they gloried in their uncle’s heroism
and fame. The extended family had gathered at General Ludlow’s large
houseandthechildrenwerestagingsomeamateurdramaticswhen,asyoung
Harry Ludlow wrote, “a cab drove up to the door and we found to our joy
thatitwasUncleBen.”Thechildrenquicklyincorporatednewsofhisvoyage
intotheirplay,“asreportedinanewspaperbroughtinbyapage.Itwasvery
effective, and it amused Ben mightily,” General Ludlow recorded. “He was
the spirit of our party last evening- and told [the governess] that he was
‘game for anything.’”
Family acclaim was one thing, but Ben shrank from public attention,
dreadingfame“morethanice,”ashetoldtheGeneral.Hisreticence,andhis
failure to “write up” his travels, plus the fact that he was illegitimate and a
non-Conformist,thereforeneveramemberoftheBritish“establishment”and
not likely to be awarded a knighthood or peerage, explain why his
achievements have been overlooked by polar historians.
Ben’s Arctic career now suffered an interruption, partly because of the
family crisis that blew up when his favourite niece Amy announced her
intention of marrying Norman Moore, an impoverished but talented Irish
doctorinaccuratelydenouncedbyBenasa“gold-digger.”Theromancewas
fostered by Ben’s sister Barbara Bodichon, the remarkable feminist pioneer
andartist;Ben’sbitteroppositioncreatedapainfulrift.AmyhadbeenBen’s
favourite person in the world. Now, he rebuffed her attempts at explanation
with icy clarity: “I am very glad I am not your father. Please do not write
again or think of coming here.”
Another reason for the seven-year gap between voyages was a cab acci-
dent in 1878; Ben’s left hand went through the window and an artery was
severed. No sooner had he recovered than he fell dangerously ill with
typhoid. His cousin Florence Nightingale kept him supplied with flowering
x ForewordbyCharlotteMoore
plantsthroughouthisconvalescence.Afteranoperationtocutthetendonsof
his wrist in order to restore movement in his hand, he revisited his Polar
ambitions, and a year later had the Eira built to his own specifications.
Eira’sfirsttrip,in1880,wasaresoundingsuccess.Thefamilywasproud
that Ben named previously unchartered territory after them–Cape Ludlow,
Mabel Island and more–though as Amy was still in disgrace there was no
AmyIsland.InthefollowingJune,Eirawaslaunchedonhersecond,and,as
itproved,finalvoyage.Familyanxietymountedwhenshefailedtoreturnby
the end of September. All through the long winter following the wreck of
Eira, Ben and his crew sheltered in their makeshift “Flora Cottage,” sub-
sisting on Polar bear meat augmented by the rations they had managed to
salvage from the sinking ship. They survived ten months in territory never
before inhabited by humans, due in no small part to Ben’s dauntless and
disciplined leadership. Back at home, guessing that disaster must have
befallen, his siblings and cousins helped organise a rescue expedition to
which they contributed generous sums.
Therescuevessel,theHope,setsailinJune1882,bearingfamilylettersto
Ben;youngMilicentLudlowkissedthelettersforgoodluck.InAugust,she
learned that the kisses had worked. “What do you think?” she wrote in her
diary, “We got a telegram from Uncle Ben! He is all right, he says I think
‘Got back safe but Eira is awa.’”
Not long after Ben’s astonishing return, General Ludlow died suddenly,
leavingBeninlocoparentistohisthreeorphanedchildren.Heinstalledthem
in a house in Hastings and presided as Lord of Misrule. “The meals are
wonderful affairs,” wrote Amy’s mother, “a very long table a very dirty
tableclothandallkinds ofqueer dishes–Uncle Ben’sidea ofbringinguphis
youngfamilyistogo&buythemendlessquantitiesofgoodies...chocolate
creams—candied fruits—and all sorts of incongruous things appear.” Ben’s
newresponsibilitiesputplanstoreturntotheArcticonhold,especiallywhen
one niece suffered a mental breakdown and became suicidal. Ben kept her
incarcerated in his London house, 64 Gower St, for months, appointing
himselfasnurseandjailer.“Iwilltaketheresponsibility,”hetoldthedoctor.
“You will have to,” was the doctor’s disapproving reply.
Though now well into his fifties, Ben certainly intended to continue
exploringandmadeenquiriesaboutships.Plansweredelayedwhen,in1887,
to the astonishment and dismay of the family, he became engaged to Char-
lotte Sellars, beautiful, penniless, half French, Roman Catholic, and only 19
yearsold.“MencertainlyaboutyourUncleBen’sageseemtogocrazy,andI
amsureitoughttobeillegal,”NanniewrotetoAmy.UncleBen,forsolong
single, childless and rich, was no longer the source of bottomless financial
and practical support.
Ben and Charlotte (“Aunt Charley”) had two sons, Valentine and
Philip. Several factors–another cab accident, advancing years, the needs of
his sons, marital difficulties–combined to crush Ben’s dream of returning to
theArctic.Hecontentedhimselfwithmanaginghisestatesandrebuildinghis
largest house, Glottenham Manor. But the longing never disappeared. In his
eighties, deaf and showing signs of dementia, Ben was interviewed by Dr.
NormanMoore(Amy’shusband,buttherifthadatlastbeenhealed)toassess
