THE CARNEGIERETURNS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2736, 3 April 1916, Page 6

THE CARNEGIERETURNS

AMERICAN SCIENCE VOYAGERS

ATLmisLTON

ROUND THE SOUTHERN BELT

Somewhat unexpectedly the American .'scientific; yacht Carnegie, which left Lyttelton. on, December b' of last year,. to circumnavigate the globe in southern latitude, returned to port on Saturday morning, tlio voyage having thus occupied ■ 12(j days (states tlio Ohristchurch. "Evening News"). The vessel-was sighted at an early hour on Saturday morning from the Adderley Head-signal'.station, and tho tug ■Lyttelton proceeded to sea and picked her up.jin; the vicinity of Pigeon Bay, towing her in.at 10.10 a.m. According to Commander J. P.'Ault, the Carnegie, after clearing her;base at Lyttelton: preparatory to undertaking the cruise, almost immediately encountered a strong northerly gale, which, howover, did no damage. A southerly course .was set, and when in latitudo 60.13 mm. south, longitude 150.44 W., the first iceberg was seen. The following day, oyer, forty . bergs wero seen, looming up.on all sides. To escape collision with them required skilful' navigation, and constant vigilance. This was just north of the ice pack noted in 1842 by Ross. For eight days the" ressol; sailed under such conditions, after : which she got into an open sea, and was quite clear of ice until two weeks -later, when it was' again experienced off the north-west point of South Georgia. "■•■:"■ Search for an Island. ■ The opportunity was taken of searching for Dougherty Island,, which; has three times' between 1824 and 1850 been reported, but has hot been seen within recent years. The position of the island has been given as 59.20 S., 120 W., but although a thorough look-out was kept no trace of it could be found. Scott and Shackleton are amongst other navigators who' have failed to locate it. . Captain Ault is rather sceptical of its - existence, and is of the opinion that if it does exist it lies in a very different position from that reported. For the benefit of those who might • search for it in the future, ho would ■ advise that vessels 'should carry out their operations fifty or sixty miles north or south of its given position. The island, Captain Ault-stated, was probably an iceberg, which in certain weather mi"ht easily be mistaken for land. The day before "tho Carnegie was in those latitudes such'a berg was sighted. The cry of "Land on the port bow" was raised, and- on looking in. the direction indicates, those oii. board saw what they took to, be • a small island with spray breaking over it;; The vessel's engine was set going, but when she drew close enough it, was found that what was thought to be land, was merely an iceberg, about; 400 ft. in height and 350 feet in' length/: January 3, 4, and 5 •were spent off Capo Horn, .under favourable .weather conditions,' showing that the'best route for passing this point to the '■ westward is we'll south, where the. winds are : generally good. Further* north they are. almost invariably adverse. .Arrival was made on January 11 at South Georgia, a placo lately brought into prominence in connection with Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition, where a year previously the Endurance made a call. The islands have a population of about 1000 people of - various nationalities; earning their livelihood bj'; engaging in the whaling industry, in connection with wliicli there are..six.--, stations..; The peoplo were found to -be deeply interested in scientiho work, and were assiduous in their attention to. the party. The Carnegie was: reported from South '• Georgia, a steamer conveying' ■ a ' message from Captain Ault to Buenos Ayres, whero it was:transmitted to the headquarters of the Carnegie Institute at Washington, and subsequently'to New Zealand The vessel stayed for two days, during which time. observations were taken ashore, and stores/of vegetables,' provisions, and-water replenished. On the resumption of the voyage the vessel got into a, different-climate and ox-'-Tperienced fogs and ice again. .' •Lindsay Island Charted. She headed for Lindsay Island, about which,.place confusion exists as to its position. It was charted and examined ■m 1898 by. the German Deep Sea expeditions in the Valdivia, ' the Carnegie _. checking ; 'the positions given to -within two miles.- ' Vanon's atlases give the position as pertaining to Bouvet Island, which was assumed to bo 75 miles east of Lindsay Island [although' the Valdivia failed' to locate it Bouvet : was probably mischarted,/but unfortunately the Carnegie was-provented from ascertaining to what extent such was the case owiu" 'to the, presence of. ice, which mado it imperative to change the course to the northward. As a result of this, neither Bouvet Island nor. the Thompson group, lying to''the'north, was seen. Jt was intended that call should be made at -Kerguelen-Island; but on approaching it strong westerly gales were encountered, and it was deemed inadvisable to make a lauding if the voyage were to be completed in. the southern summer. At about this time a gruesome sight was.-witnessed, the dead body of a man passing 'close to the ship. The weather was much too bad to allow of ah effort being made at identification. The man might have fallen overboard from a whaler, or might have been taWn across.the ocean by the current. After passing Heard Island, which lies southeast of Kerguelen Island, the Carnegio - headed up to the Indian Ocean to cross the tracks which she followed in 1011, with the object of determining any changes that had taken place in the earth's magnetism.in.that part-.of the globe. -Two intersections 'of the course were made up to as far as 34deg. She then put back, into what-is known as the region bf the "roaring forties," the furious fifties, and tho ice-clad bliz-zardpus-sixties. When in 59deg. S., 110 E. on March 1, the last iceberg was passed. Errors In Compass Variations. > This region is "off Queen Mary Land, which, was opened up some time' ago' by Sir Douglas Mawson's party imder Frank Wylde, and it was hero that tho greatest errors in compass variations yet discovered by the Carnegie were made, amounting to from 12 to 16 degrees. Subsequently a course was steered to the Australian Bight to sret a better distribution of the earth's "magnetism in tho regions south of' Australia. After reaching 39deo;. S. tho vessel turned to make tho "final dip into the Southern Ocean, and went as far as 57deg. S. Boing then so close to tho South Magnetic Polo that the _ compasses were losing thoir effectiveness, a co.irsc was set for Lyttelton, tho Snares being passed as worked out on dead reckoning, on March 28, showing that the chronometers were apparently correct after four months' rough usago on the trip. Altogether the Carnegie accomplished a voyage of about 17,100 miles, and for only two weeks out of four months was she out of the iceberg regions. That the vessel was favoured with an exceptionally good season was shown by the fact that only 131 bergs were soon throughout the trip, .and £he sim was seen very day. Observations were made daily, and only on one day was it found impossible to take declinations, illustrating that the regions were thoroughly surveyed. The most stormy point was south of Australia, but when near the Antarctic latitude exceptionally strong gales were encountered. Westerly winds were the , rule during the voyage, with a proces-

the 6hip to the eastward. During the cruise a portion of the course set by Ross in 1840-43 in tlio Erebus ami Teiror was followed. Tlio furthest northerly point reached was 34deg., and the furthest south 60.43. In completing the cruiso this month the Carnegie ha 6 established a record as the only vessel to sail round tlio world in southern latitudes in one season, at the fcame time carrying out scientific work in regions never properly surveyed before.

Tlio health of all on board was good, and tlio stoutly-built little vessel herself came through the ordeal of her tempestuous trip with (lying colours. She is scarcely, scratched 60 far as appearances go, but before leaving Lyttelton will probably be docked for cleaning and painting. The Carnegie has still a. lengthy voyage ahead of her. Her present time-table provides for her sailing again on 'May 1 for New York, via Samoa, Guam, the Aleutian Islands, San Diego, Easter Island, and the Panama Canal. She will continue her scientific work as she goes along, and will fill in the gaps made by tie Galilea and the Carnegie herself on a previous voyage. She is expected to return to NewYork early in 1917.