FROM THE ANTARCTIC

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2770, 13 May 1916, Page 9

FROM THE ANTARCTIC

LIEUT. STENHOUSE WELCOMED

A TALE OF PERILOUS ADVENTURE

. Lieut. Stealouse, commander of the : 'Antarctic exploring ship Aurora, was accoided a civic reception by the Mayor (llv. J. P. Luke) and City Council yesterday morning in the Council Chamber. In extending a welcome -to Lieut. Stenhouse, the Mayor explained that the Aurora was one of tho. ships engaged in the expedition to the South Pole, headed by Sir Eruast Shackleton', who was wintering on. the ice at present. The Mayor ' 6aid that although the Umpire wast at war, the British, authorities had' not thought that scientiiic research or the oxploration of unknown places should cease. Many people .imagined that an enemy nation neld. the palm for discoveries of unknown places, and general scientific research as it affected the industries arid 1 commerce of the world, but ho referred to Hadlield, of Sheffield, and Sir William .Parker; as scientists whose work was an asset to' the British people. He desired to'extend a hearty welcome to Lieut. Stenhouse,. and hoped that the expedition would go on and prosper, .and that. Sir Ernest Shackleton would ultimately return, to the civilised portion of the world. (Applause.) The Mayor paid a tribute to the memory'of tho late Capt. Scott, whose .work, though regrettably Hoc completed, had ben completed sufficiently to ensure that his memory, would never-be forgotten' by British people, iApplause.) With Capt. Scotfc he associated the names of the brave men who had perished with .him. Lieut. Stenhouse had shown great " daring' and capacity in ', bringing his 3hip'nway from the ice to 'New Zealand, a lid it was only ;his iu- ; domitable courage, resource,. and entli usiasm which had enabled tub ship to break awa'v and ultimately reach the hospitable shores of New Zealand. 'Ap- [, plause.) ■ - , Degrees of Danger.

Sir. Francis Bell, speaking on behalf of tho'Government, oifered; Lieut. Stenihouse a wcleoDie on behalf o£ the people of New'Zealandj though he .confessed to some surprise that uuoh-:.a gallant expedition'haU'not selected the Northern - Hemisphere—somewhere abaut the North Sea,, at this .time.' They could-scarcely v. have realised: the great dangers :they were v to be subject to, whereas the only work to ( do in' the North Sea.was to fight the Germans. " Bo had a feeling' of disappointment that the Aurora had failed to relieve 1 the first part • of, the ex- " .It was folt by ' many them to bft ft very serious r disappointment, and he hoped that the "work of .the new relief expedition would .be entirely successful.. (Hear, hear.) He '•'was confident that the party'of gallant (headed by' Sir Ernest Shackj'ueton) would not fail to fight their ;way !; Ho was glad Lieut.' Stenhouso I was here,.'clear of the. imperfect , rations 'i they had. had, but ill one 'sense individu:Aallyhe had' envied them. He could not a porson beyond military age or ' 'capacity ivho would not wish to retire' ••to some spot where there were no newsV.tpapers. and no telegrams. : No one was /\snore' genuino in that desire than himself and his colleagues in the Government 'J-ef New: Zealand. s . An Interesting Story. ; " • \Lieuc. atenuouse, wno was . received With' applause, expressed thanks for. the jiaarty welcome accorded him. He felt j thkt : So • w.vi ]>eiiiK highly, honoured in- ' delsd. They all' knew what an exciting tiqie he had had, and when he arrived he- hoped to get away ,to the country on ■ a \sheep fitation—and forget it all, but "that could not be managed. Lieut. Stenliouso explained that the war. had started before they left England. Then , almost at 'ihe last moment Sir Ernest Shackleton liad gone to Buckingham l'alace, and offeijsd tliem Ml for service. That must have meant a, good deal to him, for the l*id; been preparing' for a year, getting pemimcan and-reindeer 6traps made, getting in the ship's stores, and shipping othens to' Hobart for the Aurora. They had -;all been' very • keen on going some-. . -where ih'the North Sea.'', : lt nearly,broke his hsSart to leave the scene of operations/ Xieut! Stonhouse then gave an outline of tho i\qt>rk done and the hazardous adventures; experienced in the Aurdra. Their mission- was to proceed to Boss Soa and lay out,'a lino of provision' depots on the line of the late .Captain Scotfs inarch, junctibiiing with the trans-Con-tinental party at the Cloud-maker, a huge peak, probably an extinct volcano, that was: always capped, with clouds. The idea had been to winter tho two ships, ,■ out their depots in preparation for the, big journey. He related the difficulties jtof-'finding a safe, anchorage, A Close Shave! WhentofE Cape Crozier in a whaleboat, looking for a suitable landing.place, they climbed au ice-cliff 'afeeral times only to glisi-ado back, to the bout, all of a,sudden the ice-cliff parted'from the shore, and about a hundred tons of it crashed, down right alongside the boat. lhereMvqre wonderful sights there-tho ice-cliffs were 250 ft. above.ond' 750 ft. below the watoii aud looking round one would imagine that there had been a hail of ■ iceberp' from tho sky. When- they got back to- the ship- on that occasion they found thiit the jib boom had ' been broken agamst the ice. He then men- . tioned tine departure of tho M'lntosh landing of a scicutiiic party .with a ihocoi- tractor (which went through , a crack on! tho ice, which was the end of it), and mated how the ice. had, startedto ioym TOund\thc; vKsel-'duriiig'Febru-ary ol lasi. year,, slowly whoa it blew, but coiiiohdaling with every calm, as they- dodgcx! about looking for decent winter quarters, At Glacier Tongue fn's "f the Scott party, had eaa .Pony-dspot). they,i lay snug until.the gates blew tho pack ice.in on rhem, and tho ship .011 .' to tho tlMei'Mta she was'.half on'and half off. They could imagine; that ha aud tuose with Jam • had -an interesting: nine hours, llien came the blizzards, and in them the Aurora drifted ninety mile.i until those 0,11 board did not know where they were, ilien tlioy. made Cape Evann wnere two old bower anchors were taken" ashore, bunod in tho ground, and there thej hung whilst they established two depots, and xt was there that the party of scientists were put -ashore.

The Break Away. ■ At 9.30 ono .Might it blew so hard that the whole of tho ice parted from the shore, and, everything parting, awav they were earned with tho ice in which th«y were encased, and they actually saw the : lights of the hut that had:becn built for the scientists disappearing in (ho gloom Ihey never got back. : The wireless was kept going every half-lwur, trying to upset the electrical instruments ashore, and so advise the party there that tho Aurora was still afloat, but, of course, they never knew whether thoir efforts were success, ful or otherwise. That v/as the start of the eight months' drift in the ice. On one occasion, after drifting 800 miles, the ice pack gave the ship a squeeze that "hogged" her up, and some of the planks. opened up, and'the engines" began to bob up and down. The Anrora was as a coric —she was a wonderful little ship, arid a creuit to those who built her forty years ago, in Dundee.' (Applause.) Tlicy sent out wireless messages, but the.v never got through. He did not know why, because in coining back their, messages'were picked up by the Brisbane station, 2000 miles away. It might have been on account of tho frost on tho installation. They thought that thero' was a chance of picking up Macquarie Island. When the sun Tetnrned—thev could just see its rim over tho horizon—they gave three cheers and drank its health. As the.drift continued, new lands were discovered. One named it after a girl he."was always thinking About. (Laughter.) Tlicy kept tho wire' Ims going every night, though it was a colfl fask' trying to get Macriuarie Island, wTneit had been dismantled. Lieutenant Stenhouse thought that was rather a pity, as, if it bed been in existence, thoy would have 'jeen able send .a relief expedition this year. . ' Seal and Penguin Diet. Seals and penguins wore their staple food, n'ith bottled fruits, pastes, and some sweets a kind lady had priven them in London. (Smiles.) So they would have a nice lot of seal and a sweet, and on Saturday evening they kept up the old

j naval custom of drinking to "sweethearts aud wives." The Adelo-seals and Emperor penguins (weighing 801b.) luado rogular meals—they (tlieseals) always seemed to come in three's whon wan tod. At this time'there was a bed of ice inside the ship as well ns a block outside, and when it melted a bit they had to get the hand-pump going, an arduous task, as every morning the suction pipes had to. be drawn up and cleared of ice by pouring hot water down them from the galley. Rolling Ship." The pumping had to be continued all day. Then camo the dnys when it looked as though the pack were" breaking up, and they set sail, " rolled ship" (the wholo of the ship's company ran from side to side' of the ship) trying to work the vessel free of tho ice, so that no opportunity would 1m neglected when an opening did occur. The coal they men, 'sural out by tlio pound. 'Oil March 21 (of this year) they saw a faint black lino in the southern sky, and dodging two formidable bergs, among hundreds round them, they discovered a narrow lane of water,. then little lakes. ' Then tho pack closed in tighter than ever, hut the ico ivas all working now, arid gradually fliey worked themselves out, ever nor*rard, ever homeward, until, they reached the open prater, where their trouble; ceased, as 1 it was only sailorising after that. (Applause.) At the conclusion of the function thow mesent were invited to partake of the Mayor's hospitality in his room. Among tho.=o present were Mr.' P. W. Lang (Sjieaker of the House of Representatives). Mr. R. T,. Collin'! (AuditorGeneral), Mr. .Tas. Hislop (Under-Secre-tary for Internal .Affairs), Mr. C. K. Adams (Government Astronomer): Mr. B. 'A. Wright, M.P.. Councillors W. H. P. Uarber, and Q. Frost, Mr. D. O. Bates (Meteorologist).