[Lansing] (Endurance) Part Four: Brink (Vocabulary Word: Scapegoat)

After a mad dash to save their equipment, the crew manned the boats and left Patience Camp. Their long awaited dream had come to fruition. However, the victory was short-lived because of the harsh condition forced upon them while sailing. Constant ocean spray, lack of proper campsite areas, and lack of space compounded by freezing winds both deteriorated the moral of the crew and posed a hazardous environment. Everyone was forced to do their fair share of the work or face being verbally ostracized by the crew. The main target of the invective was Orde-Lees, who was incredibly sea-sick and became the scapegoat for the crew's hardships on the Docker: "Most of all they cursed Orde-Lees, who had got hold of the only set of oilskins and refused to give them up. He maneuvered himself into the most comfortable position in the boat by shoving Marston out, and he would not move."

Orde-Lees

Orde-Lees acted incorrectly in this matter in showing a stubborn selfishness and intense longing for comfort, a luxury that none of the crew could afford to have. To a lesser degree, this event happens in many leadership scenarios. I have served as the senior patrol leader, the highest youth leadership position in a boy scout troop, and I have seen this situation many times. One scout refuses to work, hordes food, or complains constantly, and that scout is inveighed at times because of that show of selfishness. The scout and Orde-Lees both show selfish traits and both were called out for it.