INTO THE UNKNOWN

Hokitika Guardian, 9 November 1929, Page 2

INTO THE UNKNOWN

SCOTT’S ANTARCTIC JOURNEYS

Few brave, men liave' j-been iso .overwhelmed ■ in, the mbnient.bF'vicWiiv,' by such a gyim and ■' tyt* fell to the lot of Captain ■R6bdrt , ;Fal(?oii Scott, whose heroic death : ,.whs a- sad; but truly glorious; ending to *ja ’ of brilliant and dating adhievelnehC His first Antarctic expedition ed the great'floating ice barrier'eatly in 1902,, arid,- after -discovering | Hih hitherto unknown.. territory *. of peaks and glaciers, which he named King Edward Vll.’s Land,' he, made a couple of wonderful journeys, which established his refutation as a (lfifing explprer and a' resourceful leader'of men. In November, 1902, he started on a, southward journey and succeeded in advancing to within 4p3 miles of the South Pole, an achievement far beyond anything, hitherto accomplished* . W the following summer he made his way into the unknown interior of Victoria Land, and in. the course of eighty-one day s he covered 10f)8 miles ~.travelling over a series Of glaciers and and reaching an altitude of 9QOO tfeej; above sea level. : ,> . It was during the progress of his second expedition, which left, Engjand in 1910, that fossils and coal werie. discovered in the Antarctic,., which . proved that the icy regions of, to-day were .once covered with a luxuriant vegetation. On November 2, 1111, he left his base to„make a second, attempt to reach tfie Foie, at wJEiich lje : arrived on January 18, 1912, accompanfed by J)r, Wilson, Captain Oates, Lieutenant Bowers and Petty Officer Evans.

All the joy of Scott's great ‘achievement was crushed'. by the discovery that,he.had been forestalled by Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer, who had reached the Pole by ‘another route route thirty-three days earlier and had left behind him the flag of fiis country flying above a tent, in which Were deposited the records'of his visit.- Amundsen had. made his way to. the. Pole from a base, 400 miles' ...to-, the. ep'st ofiSwjtFs headquarters' and both his? outward and' return, journeys were - made iij lejjpeptionally fine weather, wher® the r conditions experienced by Sep tt were exjtct ly the reverse. ‘ In addition, -tpe. Norwegian by sheer chance, chose :a- .mdeh easier .and less ardous route than, that followed by the British 1 party. ••vyr-. After a brief rest at the. spot they •had;'laboured so strenuously to reach,- • the five, disappointed: ni’efh vturfled northwards and commenced the, weary tramp of 850 miles back to their, base. Misfortune and bad weather attended them from the start, j Evans t died- op February 27, and seventeen days later Oates, •<who was so badly l frost-bitten that he could walk no further, stepped out into a blinding blizzard to meet a Eero's?death, in. ordei; to leave his 1 comrades free to make a dash ifor safety. ' ' - , . V ;; .

The survivors tramped on for three more days, and on March 19 they erected their tent for the last time, A terrible storm arose and raged for. sev-. eral days, so that the men; Were impris* oned in the tent, unable to leave, .and make an attempt to reach a depot only eleven miles away, where stores had been left on their outward march. They finished the last of their food and fuel on the. first day of their confinement, and there- ‘ are few incidents in the world history to compare with the grandeur and the pathos Of the closing scene in the lives of those gallant men calmly awaiting their deaths by starvation and exposure. >. , Wilson and Bowers died first, and with his comrades lying dead on either side of him Scott wrote farewell letters' and made entries in his journal until the pencil dropped from his dying grasp; Eight ' months later a search party from the base found the, frozen remains of the three heroes . and brought back with them Scott’s letters and journals, which revealed to . the world another glorious story of British courage and endurance, a story which sent a thrill of sorrow and pride thoughout the Empire.