George Murray Levick (1876–1956),Antarctic explorer

Naval surgeon

George Murray Levick was born in 1876 in Newcastle upon Tyne, the son of a civil engineer, qualifying from St Bartholomew’s Hospital in 1902. He joined the Royal Navy the same year, entering in the same intake as Dr Alister Forbes Mackay (1878–1914), Surgeon to Shackleton’s Nimrod Antarctic Expedition (1908–1910) and so they would presumably have done their naval medical training together. He took a special interest in physical training while serving as a medical officer in 1908 at HMS Ganges, a training establishment. He was already a keen rugby player, oarsman and gymnast and later had a major role in establishing the Royal Naval Rugby Football Union. After postings ashore, he served in the Mediterranean where he became interested in brucellosis and its transmission. He noted that those who nursed a patient with the disease did not become infected and, by experimentation, found that it was not transmitted by inhaling dust mixed with the urine of patients with the disease, nor by drinking the diluted urine of such patients; he was one of two subjects for this part of the experiment. It was not transmitted by mosquitos.^1,2 In 1908 he served on HMS Essex whose captain was Robert Falcon Scott (1869–1912).

Antarctic expedition

In 1910 Levick was promoted to Staff Surgeon and sailed with Scott on the Terra Nova expedition to the Antarctic (1910–1913). It has been said that he was appointed because Scott knew him from HMS Essex but this is uncertain since Scott’s first impressions of Levick were not favourable: ‘I am told that he has some knowledge of his profession, but there it ends. He seems quite incapable of learning anything fresh. Left alone, I verily believe he would do nothing from sheer lack of initiative … I am afraid there is little to be expected of him’. ³ Scott, had he lived, would have been surprised at how Levick’s career developed.

Levick was one of three medical doctors on Scott’s expedition, the others being Edward Wilson (1872–1912) as Zoologist and Chief of Scientific Staff and Edward Atkinson RN (1881–1929) as doctor and parasitologist. According to Priestley, Levick learnt about photography en route to the Antarctic – ‘he knew nothing whatever about it until he set out in the Terra Nova. Ponting [the official expedition photographer] gave him lessons, and some very peculiar things happened while he was learning. But he finished up second only to the master himself”. ⁴

Scott’s plan was to establish a main camp at Cape Evans on Ross Island for his attempt to reach the South Pole. It was the base for the majority of the scientific investigations and whence he would send out smaller scientific parties. One of these became known as ‘The Northern Party’ after it became impractical to set up a base on King Edward VII Land. This party was taken North to Cape Adare (Figure 3) where they landed in February 1911 and set up their hut (Cape Adare had been the location of Carsten Borchgrevink’s Southern Cross expedition (1898–1900), the first to over-winter, on land, in the Antarctic). Lt Victor Campbell RN (1875–1956) was in command. Levick was to be the doctor and was also in charge of stores. ³ The other members of this party were Raymond Priestley (1886–1974), a geologist and the only civilian, and three seamen: George Abbott (1880–1923), Frank Browning (b1882) and Harry Dickason (1885–1943). OPEN IN VIEWER

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Figure 2.

The Northern Party after leaving the snow hole. Levick is second from the right. (Licensed with permission of the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge.)

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Figure 3.

Map showing Cape Adare, Inexpressible Island and Cape Evans (with thanks to Dr M Wilson).

Unfortunately it proved impossible to travel inland from their base and so they were unable to do the expected exploration but they made a good survey of the immediate area, collecting geological samples and making meteorological records. Levick had no specific scientific responsibilities but the base was in the middle of an Adélie penguin rookery and he took advantage of this by studying and photographing the penguins. This resulted in a report on the penguins as part of the expedition’s scientific reports, ⁵ as well as a book. ⁶

In his research, he tried to ensure accuracy and humanity as shown in the instructions he issued to his colleagues:

Never write down anything as a fact unless you are absolutely certain. If you are not quite sure, say ‘I think I saw’ instead of ‘I saw’ … but make it clear whether you are a little doubtful or very doubtful … In observing animals disturb them as little as possible …

NB – Please remember that we have every reason to believe that birds feel pain as much as we do, and it is well worth half an hour’s laborious chase to kill a wounded skua rather than to let it die a slow death. ⁷

Apart from episodes of frostbite and snow blindness, two medical problems of interest occurred at Cape Adare. While building their hut, Levick tried to get rid of the smell of the penguin rookery by pouring disinfectant on the ground and got significant symptoms from the chlorine gas that resulted. In addition, Dickason suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning. This is a hazard in the Antarctic as cooking and heating was and is often still undertaken with an open flame, in this case a coal stove. In order to keep the hut or tent as warm as possible, draughts are excluded and the accommodation made as airtight as possible. If this is fully achieved or if a hut chimney becomes blocked, the oxygen in the enclosed space is used up and carbon monoxide is formed by the burning fuel. He was treated with brandy and had no lasting ill-effects.

They were collected by the Terra Nova on 4 January 1912 and four days later were left at Evans’ Cove with six weeks’ rations for five and a half weeks of exploration, surveying and geology. In addition they took emergency rations consisting of two weeks’ supply of pemmican, 56 lb of sugar, 24 lb of cocoa, 36 lb of chocolate, 210 lb of biscuits and some Oxo cubes. ¹⁰ Unfortunately the Terra Nova was unable to return to them because of the ice and they were forced to overwinter in appalling cold and 24 hours of darkness in a snow cave measuring 9 by 12 feet and 5 foot 6 inches high which they built on an island within the cove (though this island was connected to the land by sea ice). The floor was insulated with seaweed and stones. Campbell maintained Naval Discipline by creating an imaginary line between the officers and the ratings with the understanding that whatever was said by the ratings on their ‘mess deck’ could not be heard by the officers and vice versa. Much of the emergency rations had to be kept for a potential sledge journey back to the main base so they existed almost entirely on a diet of seal and penguin meat. This provided much protein and fat but Levick worried about the lack of carbohydrate. They found this diet very tedious but Levick was able to add some variety using the contents of the drug chest. Ginger and citric acid tabloids mixed with sugar and water produced ‘ginger beer’ and ‘lemonade’, respectively, and were reserved for Mondays. ¹¹ These were much appreciated but his use of ginger to flavour their seal stew (or ‘hoosh’) was less successful as the taste was lost in the stew. Priestley writes ‘for days we nursed the grievance of six ginger tabloids having been completely wasted’. Perhaps worse was the attempt to get a mustard flavour by using mustard plasters: ‘The plaster was popped into the pot and well stirred up in the boiling hoosh … the backing of the plaster was carefully fished out … ’. The result was a disappointment: ‘The mustard had not been enough to give the slightest flavouring to the stew, and all that was left was an all-pervading taste of linseed. However even this was a change from undiluted seal so things might have been worse’. ¹²

All the meat was cooked over a blubber stove that produced a lot of thick smoke which irritated their eyes and lungs.

During their stay in the snow hole, diarrhoea (often with blood) and abdominal pain were a significant problem. Diarrhoea was also experienced by other polar explorers on a diet consisting almost entirely of meat. Levick said that the cause of this was that they were unable to clean their cooking pot properly and this led to bacteria building up causing ‘ptomaine poisoning’. However, many of the seals they ate harboured parasites and he wondered whether they might have intestinal parasites from the seal meat. He also wondered whether the use of sea water to provide the salt for their cooking contributed to this. The diarrhoea subsided when this was replaced with salt from their provisions but the supply of this was limited. Others believed that it was the very high meat content of the diet that caused diarrhoea in this situation. ¹³ After the diarrhoea settled, they developed constipation and anal fissures.

Most suffered from urinary frequency and urgency that led to incontinence. These symptoms were also suffered by other polar explorers on a diet consisting almost entirely of meat. He attributed this to the urine being too acid because of lack of carbohydrate.

The consequences of diarrhoea and urinary urgency when living in a snow hole, especially when occasional accidents occurred, can be imagined! Levick says ‘Campbell, in the endeavour to get things performed out in the wind in the middle of the night, had a bad accident in his clothing and tried to change it outside; a very rash thing to do, and he came in in a bad way poor chap, being frostbitten in several places and half collapsed, but he soon recovered when he got warmed up in his bag’. ¹⁴ The only advantage of such living is that excreta froze rapidly and did not smell.

Despite precautions, many suffered from frostbite and sore eyes were a constant problem since some did not like wearing snow goggles and they had to endure an unbearable smoky atmosphere in the snow cave. Their cramped posture and possible thiamine deficiency may have been responsible for swollen ankles. Abbott cut his hand badly, severing flexor tendons when the greasy knife he was using to cut up seal meat slipped. Levick dressed the wound and wisely decided not to suture the tendons.

There was also another near-fatality because of burning their stoves in a restricted environment. In his words “The fire would not burn, and one by one our lamps went out. Priestley & I suggested that the air was probably getting bad … then the Primus went out, and the lamps all went out again, and Dickason struck three matches in succession, none of which would burn, and we were left in complete darkness. So I said to Campbell that I thought he should regard this as a distinct warning that there was very little oxygen left in the atmosphere, and (I believe in the nick of time) he went out and made a small hole in the drift … We all had slight headaches, but otherwise are none the worse”. ¹⁵

In addition to this acute episode of carbon monoxide poisoning by cooking inside the snow cave they were probably also suffering from chronic carbon monoxide poisoning which would have been responsible for headaches, lethargy and depression.

Unable to stand upright, they developed what they called ‘igloo back’ although Levick, with his interest in gymnastics, tried to keep their muscles toned with ‘Swedish exercises’ as developed by Pehr Ling (1776–1839).

Needless to say their plight and suffering preyed on their minds and it fell to Levick as the doctor to keep up their spirits. Priestley said ‘ … in that second searching year, when we were all extended to the uttermost, physically and psychologically, Levick was a tower of strength. The rank and file of our party were long-service naval seamen and his relations with them were perfect. He did little doctoring in the strict sense of the word but it was a godsend that we had a doctor in the party [and] George Murray Levick was that doctor’. ⁴

Levick’s character has been described by his colleagues. Atkinson (a fellow naval surgeon) said ‘[the] doctor and Storekeeper was a famous man. Rubicund of countenance and renowned in the world of sport; slow to move and act, but wise at bottom, he had a magnificent fund of anecdote. His aptitude for photography was marvellous … His habits were secretive. Like a jackdaw he acquired articles and hid them, and then forgot all about them’. ¹⁶

Priestley’s comments about the time spent in the snow-hole have been quoted but he also described the person: “He was physically a heavy man, and at first sight he looked as if he could be mentally slow as well but nothing could be further from the fact, for he was a man with ideas … His family motto was ‘Festina Lente’, which he translated as ‘Hurry up slowly’ and he usually behaved accordingly. He was therefore occasionally somewhat of a trial to a more mercurial leader”. ⁴ Debenham, another member of the expedition, said “His comparative slowness in taking in a situation, and his imperturbable good temper, ensured that he came in for more teasing than most, while his strength – he had been a notable rugger man – made him an excellent man in the sledge-traces”. ¹⁷

They named the location of their snow hole ‘Inexpressible Island’ as words could not describe it and Campbell described it as ‘Hell with a capital H’. ¹⁸

They lived in the snow hole from March until 30 September. By the time they were able to leave their cave they were all malnourished and weak but had to pull sledges 230 miles back to the main base, a journey that took five weeks. Browning was the most severely affected and was too weak to pull the sledge for 10 days. When they reached the base, they learned about the death of Scott and his four colleagues.

Priestley described his experience of the Northern Party in a book ¹⁹ and Campbell’s diary has also been published. ²⁰ Levick wrote a short description of their time at Evans’ Cove and Inexpressible Island^21,22 and his diaries are held at the Scott Polar Research Institute. ²³ Levick’s diary was also used as the basis of a book on the Northern Party ²⁴ and a more recent book on this part of the expedition has also been published. ²⁵

First World War

On his return in 1913 he was awarded the Polar Medal along with the other men of the expedition. He returned to sea and was involved in the first naval battle of the First World War, just a few weeks after the war started. He was serving in HMS Bacchante, part of the squadron blockading the English Channel from the North Sea to the German Navy. At the Battle of Heligoland Bight, Bacchante was held in reserve but some of the wounded were transferred to the Bacchante for transport back to Chatham and a crew member remembers helping ‘Staff Surgeon Murray Levick, by throwing amputated limbs over the side’. ²⁶ During the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915 Bacchante took part in the landing at Anzac Cove where she approached close in to shore and fired directly on the Turkish gun emplacements in an attempt to silence them. With inadequate resources he received, and operated on, many casualties from the battle of Gully Ravine. ²⁷ In the same year he was promoted to Fleet Surgeon (Surgeon Commander).

Physical medicine and rehabilitation

In 1916 Levick was placed on the retired list on the grounds of unfitness and worked in a military orthopaedic centre in London specialising in electrical therapy. In 1918 he published on the use of electrotherapy in trench foot from the Tooting Military Orthopaedic Hospital ²⁸ and in 1921 he described himself as Medical Officer in charge of the Electro-Therapeutic Department, St Thomas’s Hospital, and the Medical Officer in charge of the Electrotherapeutic Department, Orthopaedic Hospital, Shepherd’s Bush. ²⁹ He published other papers on electrical treatment and his work would have included faradism, ionic therapy and diathermy. He also maintained his interest in physical exercise and rehabilitation, publishing on the Swedish Ling system of exercise in an orthopaedic textbook. ²⁹ He also wrote the chapter on the organisation of the care of wartime orthopaedic injuries and remedial services in the official medical history of the war. ³⁰

While working in the London military orthopaedic hospitals and St Thomas’s Hospital he would have worked with Sir Robert Jones (1857–1933), one of the founders of British orthopaedics. In 1923 Jones appointed him as Medical Director of the Chailey Heritage School Craft School for Crippled Children in East Sussex. This enabled him to extend his interest in rehabilitation. He remained in post (apart from during the Second World War) until 1950. He also worked at the Victoria Hospital for Children in Chelsea and described himself as Consultant for Physical Treatment for East Sussex County Council. ³¹

In the 1920s there was a vogue for actinotherapy (light therapy), not only for skin diseases and rickets where the rationale is clear but also for many other conditions including tuberculosis. Levick was a strong advocate of this and ran a department giving light therapy at the Victoria Hospital for Children. In 1928 and 1929 the Medical Research Council funded two controlled trials that found no benefit from this therapy ³² and said that hospitals and schools spending large amounts of money on light therapy should justify it by demonstrating its effectiveness in properly controlled clinical trials. Levick responded that the cost ‘was more than justified by the results obtained’ and that the Medical Research Council (MRC) statement was a reflection on those who ran such departments. ³³ He also wrote to The Times arguing that this went against the experience of doctors and that light therapy could not be tested by controlled trials since different people required different doses and this required clinical judgment. ³⁴

Massage was an important part of the treatment of trauma during the First World War and this was a therapy that could be administered by the blind. Levick trained them to do this and perform other physical treatments, ³⁵ overcoming the prejudice of most doctors and the masseurs’ organisation which then prevailed against blind people. As Ian Fraser (1897–1974), later Baron Fraser of Lonsdale, the Chairman of the charity St Dunstan’s (and, himself, blind) explained, ‘I found they [the blind] were handicapped by the fact that the consensus of medical opinion was against their undertaking any but the most innocuous electrical treatment. It would be dangerous, said the doctors. They would electrocute or burn their patients’. ³⁶ That blind people were able to use electrical treatments was only possible through ‘the initiative of St Dunstan’s, the courage of Dr Murray Levick, and the fact that we were willing to go it alone and defy the rest of the doctors and the whole of the massage profession’. ³⁶ In 1932 the Royal National Institute of the Blind opened a clinic offering treatment by blind masseurs and therapists with Levick as a visiting medical officer. ³⁷ He was thus instrumental in enabling blind people to train as physiotherapists.

British Schools Exploring Society

In 1932 Levick founded the Public Schools Exploring Society, now the British Schools Exploring Society (BSES), providing young people with an opportunity to take part in challenging scientific expeditions to remote, wild environments and so promote the development of their confidence, teamwork, leadership and spirit of adventure and exploration. He himself organised and led the first nine expeditions (in 1932–1939 and 1947) to Arctic areas and was involved in the organisation until he died. In 1942 he was awarded the Royal Geographical Society’s Back Award for this work. The BSES is still in existence and can be considered one of Levick’s major achievements.

Second World War

In 1939, at the age of 62 Levick re-joined the Navy and worked for Naval Intelligence and also advised on endurance. One of his first jobs was advising on Operation Tracer. This was a plan whereby, if Gibraltar were overrun and occupied by the Germans, a small party of men would be sealed into a cave in the Rock to observe and provide intelligence on the movements of German shipping. The practical issues were diet, exercise, sanitation, clothing and psychology, upon which he was ideally qualified to advise. Plans were also made for what to do in the event of a man dying. The team was going to consist of a leader, two doctors Surgeon Lt Arthur Milner and Dr Bruce Cooper (a GP), and three naval signallers. Although the team trained together, Gibraltar was never seriously threatened and it was never deployed. ³⁸

In 1943 Levick was appointed to HMS Dorlin and HMS Lochailort. Lochailort Castle was used to train commandos and Special Operations Executive (SOE) operatives to work behind enemy lines and taught hand-to-hand combat, sabotage and use of explosives as well as survival techniques. Here he taught survival techniques and advised on how they could be toughened physically and psychologically – although at times he had to ensure they were not pushed beyond their limits. ³⁹ He gave lectures to commando recruits which were published as the pamphlet ‘Hardening of commando troops for warfare’, ⁴⁰ much of which has been republished recently. ⁴¹ He spoke on the subject at medical meetings. ⁴² His name also crops up in the personal stories of commandos. He tried to make men eat pemmican as a way of encouraging them to broaden their outlook on food when in remote places. He is said to have told them ‘I knew a man who always cut a hole in the skull of a seal as soon as he shot it and sucked out the nice warm brains … Young foxes and dogs are quite palatable, but they are improved with Worcester Sauce or Tomato Ketchup’. ⁴³ While seal brains were certainly cooked and eaten, this method of eating in the Antarctic is not well known and so this was perhaps said for dramatic effect although Levick did say ‘a man must be able to fend for himself and learn ingenuity in devising methods to meet contingencies as they arise’. ⁴²

Levick advocated string vests as a way of keeping warm and he investigated the effect of salt depletion by comparing the exercise tolerance of a man who had been salt depleted with a man who had eaten normally. Wearing a full pack they ran up a steep mountain slope to the limit of their endurance. The salt-depleted soldier collapsed much sooner than the other. ⁴⁴ Is this what he referred to when he said ‘recent experiments have shown that the elimination of salt from the diet produces lassitude … ?’ ⁴⁰

Personal life

In 1918 Levick married Audrey Beeton, a grand-daughter of Mrs Beeton, the famous cookery writer and they had a son, Rodney. Audrey shared many of Levick’s interests and was actively involved with the BSES. During the First World War she trained in massage and later electrotherapy and was on the Ladies’ Committee of the Victoria Hospital for Children where her husband worked. She too had a major interest in sport and founded the Ladies’ Lacrosse Association which became the All England Ladies’ Lacrosse Association of which later she became President.

The family retired to the Budleigh Salterton area where he died in 1956. Audrey Levick died in 1980 at the age of 89 and like her husband an Obituary was published in The Times. ⁴⁵

Conclusion

While Murray Levick is best known as an Antarctic explorer, he had significant achievements in many other fields, thereby disproving Scott’s initial view of him that he lacked initiative. He is remembered, in the Antarctic, by Mount Levick but his biggest memorial is surely the BSES.