THE DASH FOR THE POLE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2135, 9 March 1908, Page 2

THE DASH FOR THE POLE.

THE NIMROD RETURNS TO LYTTELTON.

LIEUT, SHACKLETON TELLS A GRAPHIC STORY. FIGHTING THE ICE FLOES* THE AWFUL SILENCE OF ANTARCTICA. Press Association. (Copyright.) WELLINGTON, March 7. Tlio report has been received from Lieut. Shackleton of the progress of the expedition. The first part details the discomfort of the journey down in tow of tho Koonya. “Our great anxiety,” ho says, “was tho care of tho ponies. Hardy as they wore, the rollins of the ship 45 degrees each sido gave great trouble, so I was compelled to place two of the scientific staff on tho watch, two hours oach, to attend to them and help them whonovor somo extra largo sea filled us with water from forward to'a ft. “We woro considerably helped in the struggle to save tho ponies by Mr. George Buckley, who came with us at an hour’s notice, and who loft a life of ease for sheer love of adventure. To him wo owe at least the life of ono pony when it fell, and otherwise it surely would have gono. “Day after day wo HAMMERED THROUGH WHITEBITTER WAVES, our gallant tow-boat hardly seen at, times as she lurched into tho trough of tho sea. “Standing with Capt. England, whoso superb seamanship throughout this trying time I cannot express admiration enough for, I would watcli the Koonya disappear from view. The next minute my gaze would bo directed to some great wave, green based and capped with white, ramping and strenuously moving towards us. “Inevitably it must strike us 1 would think, but tho 40-year-old sealer rose to the crash, and it would go foaming beneath with bared lips of bate, as if disappointed of its prey. “Day after day this STRUGGLE AGAINST NATURE in its sternest mood went on. One night in the midst of the hurricane squall a pony turned right over in its stall. All efforts to get it back proved unavailing, and it was knocking itself about terribly, so next morning. wo had to shoot it, thus reducing the number to nine. “The same day one of our sledge dogs strangled itself, but to make up for this a few days after six fine puppies were born. “During the first twelve days it did little else but blow a gale. After a gale wo had one fine day, and then sodden blankets and wet clothes were put to dry, and our poop looked like a veritable petticoat line. We washed our faces and hands, and scraped off the bits of soup, etc., that had during meals found a resting place on our'clothes, and generally squared things up. After this day’s fine weather it began to blow again, and the anxiety of Captain England and myself was heightened by the fact that the strain of the towing line was telling on our ship. . She was badly strained and began to leak. “We put the scientific staff on the pumps in spells, day and night, until we got PAST THE SHRIEKING FIFTIES, and the weather became better. The heavy seas had washed away our bulwarks, forward, port, and starboard sides. One particularly large sea one morning dislodged the starboard whaleboat, and filled the pony stalls with water. “But all bad times have an end, and on January 14 we got a beautiful day. On January 15 the Koonya left us, and at this stage I wish to put on record the ever-ready help, continuous courtesy, and splendid seamanship of Captain Evans of that ship. He had a most difficult task, and carried it out splendidly. “Captain Evans managed the Nimrod as though she were one of his own hands, so cognisant was be of her every movement, and the morale of the whole staff from the oldest to the youngest was excellent. Many of them had never been to sea before, and the change from tho luxuries of homo life to the DISCOMFORTS OF A LITTLE SHIP of 227 tons must have been great, but; the discomfort will not daunt the spirit of Professor David, of Sydney University, who was only going as far as winter quarters with us, but on my asking him to stay throughout the voyage he acceded to my request, .thus making a valuable addition to our staff, which has been increased from 12 to 16 by Professor David, the great geologist ; Mr. Marson, chemist and physicist, of Adelaide; Armitage, hunter . and traveller, of Melbourne ; and Mclntosh, until .now navigating officer of the 'Nimrod. So our party on the Nimrod consists of 38, not including Buckley, who we were so sorry to part with when the Koonya left. “The departure of the Koonya marks the first stage of our journey after the tow of 1500 miles through a stormy sea. “On loth January we 6aw ice ahead, and signalled her to stop. After towing through the rough water some ten sheep for our winter stores, and putting Mr. Buckley on hoard, I she left us for home, being the first i steamer to cross the Antarctic circle. “We then set our faces to the south. Captain England and I decided that in view of the small amount of coal available and the strained condition of the ship that we would try a new way south to avoid the pack ice, which every vessel has had to force its way through, and after carefully considering the matter, we decided that if we went down on 178 meridian west we might be more fortunate than the Discovery m 1901. So on the meridian we steamed, and on the morning of January 16 we entered the city of white, the MARVELLOUS VENICE OF THE SOUTH. “Mile upon mile of pack ice, from the crow’s nest on tho mainmast, stretched out east and west,, as far as the eye could see, the wonderful heralds of the frozen south, great giants weaned from the bosom of Mother Antarctic. Through broad patlis and through narrow alleys, between tottering walls of snow white ice the little Nimrod threaded her way, surrounded by flocks of Antarctic petrel and beautiful little snow-white ico petrels, and now and then greeted by the astonished squeak of the penguin, which saw for the first time in its life a ship. “Tim thud of our screw and tho wash from tho prox) oiler as iv-o pa s>sed stirred some oi the giant ice walls, and they fell in our wake with a MIGHTY CRASH AND ROAR, Sad would have been our lot were we to have been in that spot just then. “After passing for hours through these narrow lanes of ico, often thinking wo were in a cul-de-sac, but ever finding our wav through and on towards the south, we at length emerged into the open sea. “To tho south-east and west was tho ice free ocean, and behind us Jay out line of bergs. “We had eluded for tho first time in the history of Polar navigation tho pack ico, and to greet our entry to the Ross Sea, to remind us that ft was not all plain sailing, came a gale from the south, which made our rigging shiuo with frost, and the ropes slippery with frozen sea water, whilst the Nimrod began again to pitch, which latter we did not mind, as the swell causing this told us there was a free sea southward. “When the wind was over we wero soon on our way, and though next day we had to steer westward for a few hours to avoid some heavy land ice we made a good distance on our way south. “Thus we went along until the morning of the 22nd January we saw a Tow line on the horizon, and knew that we were in sight of the GREAT ICE BARRIER AT LAST.” At noon were closo to the wonderful rampart, which 60 far had guarded the socrets of the south from tho attach of ships. Rising sheer from

and stretching oast and west as far as ! the eye could see, it was truly ono of : the WONDERS OF THE WORLD. j We ht once turnod to tho eastward and steamed along the ieowall, passing a deep inlet. Towards midnight we turned a sharp corner opening into a wide bay filled with fast ico, and it which wero ft number of seals and emperor penguins. Tho lVliolo bay was alive with liugo fill-backed whales, and to the south, about seven miles across tho packed ice, rose a stoop cliff of ice, beyond which, to tho eastward, woro huge undulations, terminating to very steep hills rising to a height of 1000 ft, approximately, no bare rock being visible. Tho pack ico lay thick to the eastward and tho northward, interspersed with huge bergs of land ice, but a certain way being open gave us a passage to the north. Passing this section of pack ico, wo steamed down closo to tho barrier again, and at 8 p.m. wo turned another sharp corner, round which we wont, as the barrier trended north-eastward. We now passed the position of tho inlet where wo had hoped to have wintered, but found it broken away, and thus mot OUR FIRST SERIOUS CHECK. Everything was ready for discharging, but our prospective port had disappeared. We steamed on eastward to try and reach the actual land of King Edward VII. Land, but were soon barred from this route by the ico which pressed up close-against the barrier. To add to my anxiety, the pack was rapidly loosening in behind us, and with tho knowledge of what this would moan to our little ship, I turned round, just clearing the corner of the barrier by a bare 50 yards. What we escaped can bo realised if one imagines that one is in a little boat close under the cliffs of Dover, 1 and one sees GREAT SOLID MASSES OF ICE, i some as largo and high as the Royal Exchange, the Bank of England, or the new War Office, and some as long ; as Fleet Street or Northumberland Avenue, all moving down to crush tho little vessel. Then one can gather • tho seriousness of our position. On i clearing tho point we steamed back along the barrier, in the afternoon entering the bay again, and thus finding tho barrier broken away, taking some fifteen,miles of ice and leaving , i a sheer ice face 150 ft in height. It , was not until 8 p.m. that we found , an opening to the north through the : heavy ice, and again I turned, east to 7 try and reach Easter Land. All . night we pursued a, zig-zag course, . sometimes steaming into an annarently open sea, only to be brought up by a close screwed up packs, of huge bergs, j At 6 p.m. tho next day we were fur- . tlier west than on the day before, and well to the north. In the even- ' t mg the wind sprang up from the [• north-west in squalls, ana with drivi ing hail so thick that we had to go s slow, our horizon being limited to a ? few yards. Once it cleared, I saw the 1 - ICE RAPIDLY CLOSING ROUND ; } HSj_ 1 so reluctantly "I gave orders to turn ; back, and it was not until 1 a.m. next 1 morning that we cleared the ice to the north. The only thing I could do 3 was to seek winter quarters in Mac--7 murdo’s Sound, as our very limited and s rapidly decreasing supply of coal would not allow us to go any further. ’ Tho strained condition of the ship e caused grave anxiety, and there seemj ed absolutely no prospect of reaching King Edward Land, which was barred by impenetrable "ice. > The only expedition which, was fore tunate enough to find clear water was - tile Discovery in 1902. Thus foiled in i obtaining either of these places, we o slowly, battling against strong wind ‘ made our way. to Marmurdo’s Sound s which lay under shadow of the mighty. active volcano, Mount Erebus. Hope > ran high as we steamed down the ■ sound on the morning of January 29, 1 that we might reach the winter nuar--5 tors of the Discovery, but at 10 a.m. i we found ourselves held up t , 200 MILES FROM OUR GOAL. When the Discovery entered in 1901, she had absolutely a nice free - sea to her winter quarters. We s tried ramming the ice, but in a few f minutes we realised we might as well e ha/ve tried to ram through the great 3 Pyramid, so I tied the ship up to the f ie?> face, and prayed for a northerly! , swell to break the ice. We lay at the f edge of the ice till February 3rd, making our only trip west, to see if/it ,was possible to find a place to rs|iiitS'r' ! in, on the western shore, but k iwo' found ico extending all round, g' : During this time about one mile j, of ice broke away, and on the return s of the party which I had sent to t our old quarters they reported that t the ice was solid all the way in so . T felt that I must no‘t delay any long- . er, but must seek new winter quarters on the eastern shore to the north r of the ice.' Whilst getting some stores on deck . an unfortunate accident occurred to - one of the landing party, Mr. Mae- - kintosh, who was struck in the right b eye by a hook, necessitating the re- . moval of ki6 eye. He is doing well, . and has returned in the Nimrod. I t am deeply grieved ' about him, and appreciate fully the great loss he will i be to us, as he was a valuable member r of my staff. i ■ I eventually decided to make our winter quarters on Cape Royds, and ? the work of discharging the stores - and building the hut, etc., began. [■ We were working under great diffi- , oulties, for the groat proportion of it , had to be done in the boate, under t exceptionally trying conditions, the . weather being very unsettled and bois- ? terous and the temperature low and - falling daily. On February 19th, the Nimrod • was blown away by a terrific blizzard, > and for three days it continued thick, I with driving snow, and a temperature s of 16deg. below zero. Very high seas I were _ continually breaking over her, ■ freezing on all the ropes and sides, 1 and accumulating in great masses of ■ ico fore and aft of the ship. f 1 We had to cut away part of the bulwarks to allow the ship to free herself from the water, which was frequently up to our waists. All PORTS WERE FROZEN SOLID, and the rubber was frozen fast in the trunk, and the men were continually working to keep it clear with axes and iron bars, with all hands wearing the ship about every four or six hours, and avoiding the great bergs and heavy floes of land ice with much ; difficulty/ Th ship was blown over-' 40 miles to tho N.N.TV. in spite oi trying to work to windward undei full steam. Tho men, ponies, and dogs are all fit and well, but two ponies were nearly lost, one falling between, two huge floes of land ice, and when the ice broke up in the bay he was saved with difficulty, as ho had to bo literally lifted out with ropes. The hut was built in a sheltered valley at the foot of Mount Erebus, on Cape Royds, about 20 miles north of the Discovery’s winter quarters, and well sheltered from tho southerly winds. The Nimrod will return in January, 1910. (Signed.) SHACKLETON.

The Nimrod was to bo perceived, dimly at first, plodding bravely along from the eastward, her smoke trailing a smudge against the leaden sky, just as on New Year’s Day she was last to bo seen, setting out oil her hazardous venture, and fading gradually away into the mysterious meet-ing-placo of sea and sky, but this time she was coming home. As tho mouionts passed, so the Nimrod took definite shape, rolling prodigiously in a coni used tumble of murky water, but coming nearer and nearer as tho-sec- ■ ends raced along into the storehouse of time. It was accomplished presently, and the little vessel cam© within hailing distance of th© tug, and from the time-ball tower fluttered v “'Welcome,” and those on board tho Canterbury rent tho morning air with cheers of hearty greeting. Tho Nimrod then was seen to bo bearing many scars of battle, telling of fierce contentions with blizzard and drifting ico. Here and there portions of' her bulwarks bad been torn out bodily while the rigging and other outstanding furnishings also bore mute testimony to tho fiercity of the onslaughts. Officers and crew scrambled into points of vantage, all of them weather beaten, but hale and hearty, and shouted til© inconsequential inquiries characteristic of men who have wandered far, and now have come within sight of friends, of rest, and of homo. Approaching the moles the tug ranged affectionately alongside, as a mother sheltering her offspring, and at 10.30 the Nimrod was comfortably berthed. For a time confusion reigned supreme, the wandereds demanded an epitome of tho world’s news from the stay-at-homes, and the stay-at-homes bombarded the wanderers with questions as touching the true inwardness of Antarctic exploration, the book was closed upon the Second chapter, and preparations to the extent of inscribing the third upon th© pages of history will commence forthwith. .A space, however, for time for reflective contemplation may bo permitted, as stories must be told and the audience has assembled.