SHACKLETON'S VOYAGE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2788, 5 June 1916, Page 6

SHACKLETON'S VOYAGE

ELEPHANT ISLAND TO SOUTH GEORGIA

By Telegraph-Press Association-Copyright

- ' ' London, June 2. oil iiirnest Shackletoiij describing the •voyage from Elephant Island to Sou,th ueorgia, says "Only three times during the voyage did we sight for observation. On the sixth day we were forced to jettison much of our equipment in order to relieve the. top weight because the boat was heavily iced up. Our entire equipment, including our sleeping gear, was soaked through, and everybody "was superficially frostbitten. We were never idle, breaking the ice off the sides of the rudder, baling water and scraping ice out of the boat all day, and all night. I wish to record the cheerful attitude of my conipanions. Wo lost our sea anchor on the eighth day, through the ice cutting its rope.

"We sighted the cliffs of South Georgia during a break in a snowstorm, and when wo stood in we observed seas spouting up from uncharted reefs. We therefore hauled off for the night. The wind increased to a hurricane on May 0, with enormous seas running. We saw nothing until the aftornoon, when, between the squalls, we found we were drifting towards the cliffs. One chance remained. We set reefed sails,' and fortunately the boat-stood the strain, but she was only kept afioat by continuous baling. The wind shifted at the very critical moment, enabling «s to clear the land. _ "In. view of the condition of my party I decided on May 10 not to attempt to go round the island, but to bench the boat and try.to cross to the cast coast. We managed to beach the boat'at dusk, in a small cove,' but we were too weak to haul her up, so wo liung on all night. We cut away her top sides on May 11, and ivo were then able to haul her up. She was filled with ice. On May 12 we launched the boat, and on the 15th we reached tho head of King Haakon Bay. "We then started across the unknown interior of the island, taking three days' provisions and a cooking stove. After thirty-six hours' continuous marching we had covered thirty miles over giacKmountain ridges, and snow fields. We made good progress, assisted by the moonlight. It is the first time South Georgia has been crossed. |"I wish to place on record the practical sympathy shown by Messrs. Sorlee, Hanson, Bernsen, and Jacobs, managers of four whaling stations. Realising the urgency of out- case they hastened to equip a whaler. Captain Thorn volunteered to command it, and he obtained a volunteer crew. Hard . work enabled the whaler to be ready for sea on the morning of May 23. We started south. On May 2<S we entered into a large area of pancake ice, and owing to tht unprotected condition of the whaler wo were compelled to stand to the northward, but wo renewed our attempt on May 27 further to the westward. Finding streams of pack ice to the south-east t.nd south, we again got to the northward to clear them.

"We made our final sttempt to Ret southward on May 38. We found the ice too formidable for our little eightyton whaler, and we reluctantly decided to turn northward and seel: assistance at the Falkland Islands. This decision greatly disappointed our generous Norwegian friends." THE ELEPHANT ISLAND PARTY PROSPECTS OE RELIEF. London, June 2. Mossiman, a member of the lnte Captain Scott's expedition, says: The prospects of relieving T7ild are hopeful. It is unlikely that ico will be found far north of Elephant Island if the relief party approaches from the north-west, because the north-easterly winds scatter the pack. The whalers of the Falkland Islands may be suited for relief purposes. The -Argentine corvette Uruguay, which rescued Nordcnskjold in 1903, might make the attempt if it were ready to start from Buenos Aires immediately. The voyage would take a fortnight. Dr. Hugh Rolrert Mill, who wrote the historical introduction to Sir Ernest Shackleton's "Heart of the Antarctic" in li) 00, on being interviewed, said that the retreat .of Sir Ernest Shackleton was only comparablo to the boat voyages of Willem Barentz from Nova Zembla and I,cigh Smith from Franz Josof Land. He added: "Even if Sir Ernest Shackleton fails to force his way to Elephant Island before the Antarctic spring, there is hope, as Frank Wild is the most experienced of all Antarctic explorers, and the best equipped for finding food and fuel in the Antarctic fishes, beasts, and birds."