NEWS FROM CAPRAIN SCOTT

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1404, 2 April 1912, Page 6

NEWS FROM CAPRAIN SCOTT

STILL IN ANTARCTICA.

lIS STORY: TOLD BY HIMSELF.

SOME SENSATIONAL INCIDENTS.

(Special Copyright Summary.) (By TeleEranh—Press Association.! Akarba, April 1. Tho Terra Xova an-ived hero at 7.H0 to.iu., unheralded, in command of Lieutenant A. renuoll, R.N. Captain Scott, as the story shows, when last heard of •was making a. gallant effort, despite ad-xej-silies, to achieve his objective. Lieutruant Peunoll expressed the utmost confidence in his success/ The scientific ' xor'k of the expedition is of tho ■ most .Valuable character. In addition to the southern party, .the ■ship was compelled by bad ice conditions to leave behind Lieutenant Campbell's jisvtv, who were landed at tho Drygnlski ' Barrier, and from there sledged into the The parties, however, were ■ fully prepared for this emergency, and no alarm need be felt. The two geological expeditions on tho '■ frost coa<t produced good results. The health of. the expedition is excellent,, with the exception of Lieutenant Fivaiis, who is now recovering from fcurvy. The Terra Nova returns to tho south, in November. ... - The following is. Captain Scott's own Story.:— / The Base Camp. Macrnurdo Sound, October .10, 1!)fl. Shortly after the departure of the depot-laying party from Cn.no Evans on October. 25, the,.sea ice, broke at South Cape and severed communication with the station. The depot parly, consisting of twelve men, eight ponies, and two dog teams, were occupied till October 3fl in establishing the base camp on tho Barrier, seven miles E.S.E. of Hut Point.

Owing to Hie heavy weight? to lie the main part of. the supplies were left at this camp,' and the party proceeded with single loads E.S.E. 27 miles to a spot named Corner Camp beforo turning south to avoid the crevasses of White Island. The snow surface, proved very soft 'ranking terribly hard work for the ponies. Three days' heavy blizzard at Corner Camp was a further .severe trial to the animals, which •wore not in good condition.

. Oh February 8 we proceeded south, marching by night ant! resting by day. Tho weather /was exceptionally bad, but the .surface improved, and three of the weakest ponies were sent back, but these unfortunately were caught in another blizzard, and two succumbed, Willi the remaining ponies and dogs we reached latitude 791 degrees.

On, February Hi I decided, owing' to tho condition of the weather and the animals, to make a depot here and return. We ; left more than a ton of stores at this 'one-ton camp, which should be a great help", to us this season. I returned to the base camp with the dog teams. Whilst cutting ■ tho corner of AVhite Island iu a bad light, the whole of our dog teaoi fell into a crevasse. Lieutenant Meares, myself, and. the sledgo were miraculously held' up oil part of the bridge of th.e crevasse, along which we had .been travelling. Most.pf tiie -dogs hung' by their harness, and with great difficulty we extricated the- animals in three hours. One was badly injured by the' fall of sixty feet, and afterwards died. At.'the base camp I found the singlo pony'well, and visiting Hut Point I received news from the Terra Nova regardiug Amundsen's, vessel, the Pram. On February 2-1, with men on ski and a single pon.y, I started It) take more stores to Corner Camp ou the outward journey, and passed the returning ponies, which' were going well. Held up by a Blizzard. On returning to Corner Camp' I was hold up by,,«i blizzard on February 27, but reached the Base Camp on Febru-'• nry 28. I found that the storm had been phenomenal at this place, raging for three days and causing enormous accumulations of. snow, and the shifting of' the wind, had '.ball'led nil efforts to shelter tho ponies with snow walls. The animals had suffered . very badly. I then decided to retire to thit Point without delay. Dr. Wilson ami Lieutenant Meares, driving the dog teams, reached Hut Point safely. Captain Oates, Mr. (Iran, and I remained iu order to try ami save one pony which was badly hit by the bliz-, zard. Lieutenant Bowers and , Messrs. Cherry-Garrard and Crean, with four of the best pones, set out to follow the dogs, and on' Hearing .Hut Point they found working cracks of sea ice. . They hastily turned and marched four miles to the south.- Thorn at 2 a.m. on March ,1 the tired panics obliged the party, to camp. At ■!.:!() si.ni. Bowers was awakened by a noi.se and fo'und that the ice had broken ail around the camp and was moving with a heavy .swell.' One pony hrtd disappeared from the picketing line .and was never seen again.

Hastily packing the sledges the partv decided f'o try and work to the S.W. over the pack. With infinite difficulty tlie sledges were dragged anil the ponies jumped from floe tn floe towards the barrier. About noon the party ncared the barrier, but found its ice wall uncliniable a«d (he swell was churning and breaking 'the heavy floes against it. In this dilemma. Mr. Crcan was allowed to attempt to obtain help. He travelled east over the moving pack to find a break in the ice wall. Eventually he hoisted himself on the barrier surface by wedging his ski stick in a crack. Ignorant of these events and. after failing to save the sick pony my partyi had reached the barrier edge by the forenoon. Wo found that the sea ice had gone and that the barrier was breaking under foot, forcing us lo>retreat hurriedly wjth gravest anxiety. My fears were confirmed when Dr. Wilson, who had travelled out overland, reported having sr,-n. Willi his glasses the ponies adrift on the sea ice. Aii hour later Mr. Crean was seen appr.■•idling. On learning his news Captain Oat?s, Mr. Crean, and I set off immediately to the west. Working round the bay we approached Hie barrier edge nt i; i;,m. liy good fortune I discovered the missing parly in Iho pack which had been drifting slowly and now had tempoiv.rily skipped. The swell wa3 subsiding and with an alpirio rope the men were rescued without difficulty, Desperate Efforts to Save tho Horses. Working on through the night we succeeded in salving tho sledges' loads, but could do nothing for tho ponie?, which wciv only thirty yards away.

At I a.m. tho pack began to move and we left the ponies with full nosol;',i"=. At 8 a.rc. the pack again became Btationmy and we-marchednorthiWofound,

the ponies, and made desperate efforts to save them. Lieut.. Bowers and Captain Oates risked a' long detour over the pack and led the animals ovci' many jumps, whilst the remainder dug a trench in tho lower part of tho Barrier edge. ,'l'lic floes were high above the water and very uneven.' Killer 'whales hung about within a lew yards, ami.the ponies failing at a jump were inevitably lost. One pony ionly.won through. .Tho pack.was .moving again as we left. It drifted'clear to the north. On 3la.Tch.il wo ascended the hills at East Castle Rock, and on the sth the party, with the'two. remaining ponies and dog teams, was safely housed at Hut PointBy tills incident wo lost three of our strongest, ponies, which was a severe blowto the expedition, but not enough to wreck its plans if the remaining animals could be preserved. The heavy swell which caused this disaster broke more than 10 miles of fast sea ice, large fragments of tho Barrier, and two miles of a glacier tongue, a feature otherwise unchanged since 1902. The Discovery hut >of 1902 was found almost completely filled with hard snow. Tho .windows were broken and tho doors unhinged.' With much labour it was cleared and repaired. It then afforded good shelter. Whilst wo wore forced to wait for the sea to freeze oyer wo settled down to a very primitive life. With old tins and discarded fragments of metal we constructed an excellent blubber stove and several blubber lamps. We fed almost entirely on seal meat. Seals could only be obtained at a distance over tho hills, and were sometimes scarce, but tho supply never failed entirely, tfianks to the ingenuity shown by my. companions in improvising arrangements with the slenderest resources. - We enjoyed splendid health. We discovered a box of old magazines and were ,quite comfortable. On March 15 the western geological party returned bringing a total of sixteen persons. The party had spent six weeks making a close survey of the dry valley, Messrs. Bowers, Terrar, and Koettlitz,- in the glacier regions, completing an important part of our plan for a geological survey of tli& coast.

On March 17 Lieut. Evans led a party to Corner Cami>, completing depot arrangements for the coming season. The temperature of the Harrier had already fallen to minus '10, degrees, and throughout tho month the ice continually formed over the sea, but strong winds quickly drove it north. Caught in a Storm. .After March 23 the ice remained fast in sheltered bays, hut continued to drive out of the Sound. Huge land ice falls on the &.W.. slopes of Erebus, prevented any possibility of returning to Cape Evans by land, but with freezing days I decided to make the attempt to .reach the . station partly by land and partly by sea ice. "Myself and eight companions started on April 11, and though caught in a storm on tho sea ice we reached Cape Evans early on the 13th. We found the station which had licen left in Dr. Simpson's charge in excellent order. Arrangements, for comfort were'remarkably perfect, and numerous self-Tccording instruments were in full'swing. All the records were complete to date, and all news good except the loss of one of the nine remaining ponies and one dog. During our absence there had been much wind. The mean velocity for the two mouths had been 21 miles an hour. For 1!) per cent, of the whole time the wind had been over galo strength. All the, observations pointed to an exceptionally severe season.

On April 17 I returned to Hut Point with a fresh, sledge party, carrying a supply of stores, as it was impossible for. the animals to travel on the route taken. I left Meares and five others in charge, of those at Hut Point and again returned to Cape Evans on April 30. The sea ice continued to drive out of the Sound until the first week in May, bu' it was not until May 23, three.weeks after 'the sun had gone, that the men and animals left at Hut Point safely .returned to the main station.

The Sound froze solid in May and later in the winter the fast ico extended to an . unprecedented distance to the north, despite numerous gales.

After tho return of the absentees', we settled down very comfortably in the winter hut. Its arrangements for the lighting, heating, cooking, and ventilation proved eminently satisfactory and comfortable. A stable had been built for the ponies, and somo shelter improvised for the dogs. During the four winter mouth?, the temperature at the station 'was rarely below minus 'lOdeg. Fahr., and at tho lowest minus oOdcg. Tho wind averaged 15 miles an hour, and .sometimes blew hard, with a temperature of minus 3Udcg. Lectures and Football, Everyone was very fully occupied with station and scientific work, exercising the animals, etc' A series of lectures was organised, and football was. played to within a month of midwinter. Frequent visits were made to Cape Iloyds and Hut Point. During tho winter the animals steadily improved in condition. On June 2", in the middle of winter, Dr. Wilson, Lieutenant Bowers, and Mr. Cherry-Garrard started on a pledge journey' to Cane Crazier to observo the incubation of the emperor penguins at their rookery. There was a very heavy surface on the barrier, which forced the party to do relay work. During (he main part of the fortnight taken on the outward journey, the temperature whs seldom above minus (iOdeg. and often billow TOdeg. The _ lowest reading observed with the sling thermometer was minus 77deg. behind a land ridge on the slopes of Mount Terror.

The party spent three days building a stone hut, which they roofed with canvas. From this camp the men had great difficulty in crossing tho huge barrier pressure ridges in the dim moon twilight to reach the rookery. They were successful on the second attempt, but found comparatively fe-,v birds iu the rookery. These had, however, begun to lay even at this early date. Fortunately some eggs at different stages of development were seouredj which should give considerable information concerning the embryology of this interesting bird.

The saiuei night a violent gale cniiiuienfed from the force of which' the ridge proved an inadcipuiti; sheller. Hurricane gusts whirled down on I lie hut, and tho tent and id her carefully secured article* were blown away. After straining for fourteen hours the rood; of tho hut flow. Uj

ribbons, and for thirty hours or more the travellers were confined in their frozen sleeping bags half buried in snow it ml rock debris, i'orly-eight hours elapse.! before tho the wind decreased and they were able to get a meal. In searching for (ho lost articles they were fortunate in finding tho tent amongst some niorrainic boulders practically uninjured. The state of the party's equipment nowforced them to turn homeward. On the return journey they were held up for two days by another storm, after which, tho tempera two fell and remained below minus Meg. The party returned after five weeks' absence encased in ice and suffering from tho want of sleep, but otherwise well. Remarkable Feat of Endurance. Having regard to the darkness and tho extreme temporaluire this iirst winter journey in tho Antarctic remains a remarkable feat of endurance. It also eliows (he extraordinary severe conditions that obtain on tho great snow plain on the barrier during tho sunless season. ' Sinco the return of the sun in. August a. considerable increase of wind has been recorded, and temperatures have remained moderate, in the spring as in the winter. On September 1 Mr. Mearos with the dog teams miulo his headquarters at Hut Point, the dogs leaving in splendid form. At intervals sinco our arrival, however, somo obscure disease has robbed us of four excellent dogs. In every case (he

dog attacked appeared to bo vigorously healthy but has died in a few hours. It is thought that tlic cause may bo'sonic minute thread-worm entering the brain.

At the end of the month telephone communication was established with Hut Point through 15 miles of bare wire. This telephone has already proved extremely useful for reporting tho movement of parties and pending changes in the weather. On September !) Lieutenant Evans, ami Messrs. Gran and Forde travelled to Comer Cainp to rebuild the cairns. They experienced temperatures between minus GO and 70deg. Mr. Forde's hand was badly frost-bitten, but he is now recovering rapidly. '

With Lieutenant Bowers, Dr. Simpson, and Petty Officer Evans, I travelled we~t on September 15. Ascending Ferrar Glacier we found by stakes planted by Mr. Wright that the ice stream had moved thirty feet seven months later. Forty-live miles N.W. of our .station wc found part of the glacier tongue broken. Owing to work tit the station and the need of increasing exercise for the ponies, we had been unable to undertake further spring journeys. The western geological party, consisting of Messrs. Taylor, Debcnham, Gran, and Fordo, was delayed by an accident to Mr. Forde, and will leave in a few days for Granite Harbour. All plans and preparations for the southern journey are now complete. Despite the accident last season, we have great hope of success, and the necessity of getting tho utmost out of our remaining ponies has decided me not to expose them to great cold. AVo shall, therefore, start later than originally intended. NO RACE TO THE POLE. STATEMENT BY SIR CLEMENTS MARKKA M. (Rec. April 1, 9.15 p.m.) London, April 1. Sir Clements Markhana, formerly President of the lioyal Geographical .Society, in a letter to "Tho Times" emphasises the point that there has been no race In tho South Pule. He had recommended the revision of the early discoveries in Antarctica of Captain Bulimy, Admiral D'Urville, and Captain Wilkes. Dr. Mawson had undertaken this work. It was always Captain .Scott's desire, said Sir Clements, to comploln his own former work. There was no question of racing or conquering the ground. Scott's object was research in every branch. Amundsen's plan was different. His idea was to dash In the Pole without Scott's knowledge. Had A;mind?e»'s schema been known it would nor have affected Captain Scott's plan.

AMUNDSEN ENTEHTAINEU. (tin-. April •>, (IM a.m.) Melbourne, April I. The federal Government' entertained Captain Auuind-eu, discoverer nf Hie South Pole, to-day. Jlc dc-laieil him-.dl gratified at tho ut'er absents of potty jealousy, in Australia*