The Wicked Mate: The Antarctic Diary of Victor Campbell

by Victor Campbell

An account of the Northern Party on Captain Scott's last expedition from the original manuscript in the Queen Elizabeth II Library, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1988

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Campbell's prose is very spare and matter-of-fact, but also very revealing in a strange way. Anyone who comes to this book probably already knows the story well enough. There are some recent books that do a great job of telling the story and Raymond Priestley's ANTARCTIC ADVENTURE tells the story very well from the point of view of someone else who was there. Still, reading Campbell's diary gives a fresh picture of what they went through even as it gives only the bare facts. For instance, if Campbell writes that on the 28th of April each man was given 20 raisins to eat, then you know that those raisins were a big deal. And you can infer a lot about their situation and mental state from that one bare fact.
The editors include short excerpts from other sources, some previously published and some not, to flesh out Campbell's account. For instance, there's a page where one of the men write about what it was like to cook a meal on the Primus.
A well-done book and a quick read too.