IN POLAR BLIZZARDS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1732, 24 April 1913, Page 5

IN POLAR BLIZZARDS.

EXPERIENCES OF MR. FRANK

WILD'S PARTY,

A GRAPHIC STORY. Mr. Prank 'Wild, of tlio Maus jii Antarctic Expedition, and leader ot tlio second party, gave further graphic debits of the experience.® of himself and his comrades when speaking recently at a farewell organised by the Koyal Society in Sydney. "One man cannot do much alone," said he, acknowledging the tributes paid to the value of his work by Professor David, Mr. I!. 11. Cainbage (president of the society), and others, "l. nlcss ho has 'reliable comrades with Mm, ho might as well stay at home. I am happy to say that 1 had seven as good men with me as are to bo found anywhere. (.Applause.) Two of tlieuuX have threatened to take away with mo, but X am afraid it cannot be. One of them is about to take unto himself a wife, and I think she will anchor him in New South Wales. (Laughter and applause.) "As to the work of Captain Davis, of tho .Aurora, 1 may say that 1 do not know any other man who would have ■stuck to 115 ,s(> long, until wo were ablo to land at tho Shacklcton Glacier. Wo did really go too far, and were actually on our return to Hobart when wo got alongside this glacier, and found a land-ing-place. Wc got all our material, 35 tons of stuff, on to this glacier in fivo days. Under Fifteen Feet of Snow. "Our first sledging trip was made in March. It occupied '2(1 days, but very little was accomplished. For 11 days mit of the 2G wo were in camp in our sleeping bags because of the weather, and for nine of those days we were in ono blizzard, at a place. 2000 ft. above sea-level. So_wo had to allow the winter to pass before any more sledging was douc. There was much mora wind nt the first base than at ours; but, on the other hand, wc had far more snow. Tho first blizzard we experienced covered tho hut and all round to a depth of from 12ft. to 15ft. of snow. This girve us a lot of work in digging out, but later on the accumulation of snow proved very useful, as we dug a tunnel, nnd on either side of the tunuel wc dug rooms, and hero we kept our stores. A Narrow Escape "The meteorological work had to b3 neglected on several occasions bccauso of tho blizzards, but Mr. Moyes kept at his work a great <leal more than I should have expected anyone to do in such weather. It only means ono. step in a bad blizzard to lose a man, entirely. Hoadley, on ono sledgm-j trip, was nearly lost Cit. from tho tent.. AVo heard him shout, and shoutvd to him to let him know where wo wore; Finally ho crawled in, -with a mask over his face two or three inches thick. Tli3 snow near his face lmit melted,! but tlio blizzard had driven over that, and completely filled his helmet. Sledging began ag.iin on August 21. At that time the daylight lasted from only 8 o'clock in the morning till 1 in thii afternoon, and the temperatures were very low. Wo recorded J3deg below zero, tiiuch lower than v.-e had expcctcd in that latitude. The minimum thermometer we took with us to a point about 2000 ft. up, but. we did not bring it back, so it is still there—and I don't know what it is registering." (Laughter.}

The Longest Blizzard Mr. Wild described the experience already recorded, in which, when they were returning from this trip in September, an uvulanche came down abreast of the camp. They were all very much alarmed; but Mr. Dovers, ho said, retained enough presence of mind lo seizo a food bag nnd run awnjr with it. He had been c'halfed over this incident, but, nevertheless, it was a very sensible-thing lo have ['one, as they would have had to go nine miles for food if that had been carried away. "Our tents," he went on, "wero b.own to pieces tlio following morning. The gusts must have been weil over 100 miks, and Harrison was thrown clean over my head in one of them. We made a hole 3ft. deep, Gft. wide, -and 20ft. long, and i;i this we had to btay lor five dliys." Mr. Wild spoke of an eventful experience of the eastern sledging purty,'.-rin being stopped by a blizzard which ■ lasted 17 (lays—tho longest anyone had yet experienced. The western skdging parly had also worked under difficult conditions, but Mr. Dovers had in his possession an ox- 1 cellenl: map which had been secured of the area between tho base at Shocklelon Glacier and Gaussberg. This party had occupied 3" days -on this trip, aud had travelled 010 miles.

Alone in Camp. , Moyes and Harrison were to have been left at the base, but Harrison had volunteered to. go on with Wild's party to the spring (iepot and come back alone. When tlio spring depot was reached, it was found that the sledge had'been torn out from its resting-place by the wind and blown awaj, and the only thing they had to do was to take Harrison on with them. "ll .Moyes he.d not been a le'vel-headed man,' said Mr. Wild, "wo should not have done it; but in any case it was very awkward for him, and very uncomfortable, alone as lie was in the camp. He made quite sure that. Harrison had died when he did not return, and for all he knew the remainder of us might have died. He went uut for six davs on a loue search part,v—(applause}-but, of course, he realised that it was quite useless searching for anyone in that country, and had to return."

Mr. Cambage,. tho president, fxolained that the object of the gathering was to welcome thoso members oi the' Mawson Expedition who were unable to remain in Sydney for tlio Royal Society's animal dinnor next week, aud to express appreciation of the scientific work which that expedition was doing. (Applause.)

New Territory Addod to the Map, Professor David reviewed the work of tho expedition, and spoke especially of the installation of wireless communication between Antarctica and Australia. It was little short of marvellous that at Woodlord, in tho Blue Mountains, ho was able to send a message to Dr. Mawson. ,In passing, he paid a tribute of praise to Mr. W. H. Hannnm for what he had done in installing this system. Professor David spoke in glowing terms of Mr. Frank Wild's work, and highly praised Captain Dans, whom,he described as a splendid Arctic navigator, worthv to take his place as the peer of D'Urville, Franklin, and Boss. It was a wonderful feat, on tho part of Davis aud Wild to cll'ect a landing on the top nf an ice barrier over 100 ft. above sea level. The expedition led by Wild, working in the severe hurricanes of the Antarctic region, had added to the map a large now territory, as extensive as tho coast line from. Wollongong, on the south, to Port Stephens on the north. Frank Wild's name would go down to history as that of a very distinguished Polar explorer. He had advanced sciouco in spite of great hardships; ho had proved an ideal leader, and he was one of tho most modest of men. Tho Eoval Society delighted to honour Frank Wild; it was honoured also by the presence there that day of him and his comrades. (Applause.) They also cordially welcomed a prominent member of the Scott Expedition, Mr. C. S. Wniglit.