INTERESTING INTERVIEWS. ANTARCTICA, THE REALM OF SILENCE.

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

INTERESTING INTERVIEWS. ANTARCTICA, THE REALM OF SILENCE.

Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, March 8. Dr. TV A. Mitchell, in an interview, stated: “Of course you don’t get time to get cold when you are working hard. The temperature on the average would be about freezing point with occasional drops to 16 or 17 below, but unless a severe wind was blowing, the cold was quite bearable. The prevailing _ wind was from the south-east, and it can be very disagreeable indeed. To keep warm the main thing was to have everything big and loose, and the hands ! can be kept very warm by wearing the ordinary wool mits. You have to >' look out particularly for your ex- . tremities, but in a great deal of the time you could work in your shirtsleeves. Personally I did not find the Antarctic summer anywhere in the., same street as the Canadian winter for severity, and it was just like the end of the Canadian winter with more sunshine, but of course you have to face the cold under less comfortable conditions down in the Antarctic. Everybody suffered more or less from frostbite, but that was only to be expected. Th© frostbite affected the finger-tips mainly, as they lost sensation, and the painful time came with returning sensi. Iveness. “Antarctica is the realm of silence. The silence is most remarkable and almost painful,” said Dr. Mitchell, “especially if you observe it in the , middle of th© night. , Looking oyer ' the vast illimitable expanse of ice, your eyes encounter nothing save, perhaps, a lonesome penguin, and there is not tli a slightest breath of sound or motion to strike on your ear. The continual daylight also gets on your nerves as well as the silence, and the only antidote is plenty of : work. After experiencing the An- : tarctic it is ea. yto understand how ’ melancholia geto hold of a man, and l if th© daylight has this effect, how much more so would the darkness?” 1 V There, was not much time to do T scientific work, every man being re-/ quired for pressing duties, but Drr Mitchell said that there was ijo plant life visible, and the animal life was i chiefly seals and penguins. As much meteorological work as possible was done, and a number of soundings were taken, wi ll what result he did not know. Professor David was the nost enthusiastic man at his work the doctor has ever seen. Mr. H. L. Dunlop, chief engineer >f the/ Nimrod, spoke highly if the manner in which his staff and the machinery had behaved. “TV© arrived,” he said, “in just the same condition, as we left, and nothing will be necessary except the • customary, overhaul. We have not had a hitch with the machinery between the time we left Lyttelton and our return.” New Zealand coal was used, and gave every satisfaction, and the Welsh coal with which the Nimrod was loaded before she 'ieft-'-Eiigland. though not the best sample, burned more slowly, and was landed fqr the use of the expedition. The NSnrod had 30 tons of coal in her bunkers when she entered Lyttelton. There was only one occasion when she do--pended on her sails alone, and that was only for about, six hours, in order to allow Mr. Dunlop to make somo adjustments. On the passage to Antarctica, after the Koonya cast off, the Ninsrod averaged 6$ knots per hour, and her best run in one day under sail and steam was 198 miles. Mr. Dunlop reckoned that the vessel put up three records. Firstly, she was the first slnp to enter those seas with one boiler and a tliree-bladed propellor; secondly, she was th© first ship to reach the most southerly point, 78.42 ■ thirdly, she made the fastest return ?of 1 a l 6 J r r 0m Antarctica, having been Hoads S r ° m a P° Tloyds to Otago O. Craft, the second engineer who lias now had experience tff both arriitd CtlC nf n +l Antarc . tio regions, h« the conclusion that the A more interesting of the colder T and A H arCtl ° r6&lons werG far ' So oHif e h theref 8 3 COm^ive showed*Th ky one of the seamen snowed that on January 16th. the md' a H ter i t !! e Koon - va leffc the-Nim-the latter started moving through drifting ico, and the weather b« came extremely cold. A snowltorm wldir COU f-ff rcd 01 ? tlle blowing da£ ' bile a stiff wind was experienced " awav 'rn | bael , CStuy carried io an’ all la pds were on deck till 12.30 a.m. replacing it. On th© of° the midiiighVsun 1 ; iz z jt ßl '. tat, irithoS 25 “idiom? off 6 “ 41,0 Ni »ro.l S 3 boisterous. journey was very