TASMAN GLACIER TRAGEDY

Hokitika Guardian, 5 July 1930, Page 6

TASMAN GLACIER TRAGEDY

NEW THEORY ADVANCED.

LIGHTNING THE CAUSE OF

DEATH

MR- G. E. MANNERING’S ARTICLE

That the- death of Acting-Guide J. E. p. Bio infield. and the four women whom lie led on to the- Ta.smaii Glacier on Jan nary 19th, 1930, was caused primarily : y a*.discharge of lightning and not by exposure,... is Ibe theory substantiated by Mr Guy ifi. Mamiering, tbe well-known New Zealand alpinist, in an article in ‘-‘The New Zealand Alpine Journal” for 1930, published After thoroughly investigating the circumstances of the disaster and searching the complete files of “The Alpine Journal” (London), Mr Maiinering, an uncle ol one of the women killed, has decided definitely that the ' verdict given at the inquest of. “death by exposure” was wrong.. He has contributed a similar article to the London journal of May, i960,' by which he is editorially su,p:poijtcd. Further, a medical practitioner of "Christchurch who volunteered his opinion to 'lhe Press immediately after the tragedy, has reaffirmed it strongly in favour of Mr Maiineririg’s theory. ;

WERE SEPARATED. ... Mr 'Manliering begins his article,'. “The Disaster on "the TaSmaii Glacier,” with a reference • to' the single • previous fatal accident in -the-’Tasman, district,:-that in which 'Mr • S'.' L.King, ; with Guides' Thomson' and Richmond," were overwhelmed by ‘ an ’avalanche on the" Linda / Glacier (lebru-.* * ary : 191*4)" ‘‘This : -was a .mountaineeiv • ing Occident pure andasimple:’- The. • present disaster is in a totally l different class, and happened to a: party of walkers out on" tbe open -glacier, where " practically no climbing dangers are present.” He gives then an account of tbe trip made by Aliases D. H. Brown, H. Keane, H. Monteatli, D. M. Smith, and Acting-Guide Biotnfield, which ended in the death, of all five. Guide Hilgendorf “came upon Blomfield’s ruck sack and, about 80 yards further on, the body of one of the girls, lying in a hollow as if sheltering from the wind. Forty yards further on he came to three more bodies,, close together,,.. but .two, of them lying- in,! water .and slushy snow. He stated- tliut,,.all • .were dead and already , stifL’ky The .first relief party, from the B^U ; , Hut... “went. op. aboilt. 150 yarijs beyond tlie . first .three liodibs and found, tljo, body of,, A ctingU.uide Blomfieid. upon , wfiich .they attempted resuscitation, by fc without result.” . Mr Manuoriiig .was. oiie of the [party of 15 which,. on January gist; reached the bodies, and after grave dfiffliciulties" jcuirrited 'them ( on • .stretchers back to. the Hermitage • -“Tlie 'Siilxsequent imed'ical examination'of .the bodies revealed iio injuries except a few small abrasions, and the knees of. the'{guide alone showed traces of crawling. The medical opinion given was that they died from void and exposure, and ' that there was no evidence of anything ebe whatever. The doctor was unable, to. ’’■give an "opinion as to the length oi time in which it is. usuaj. uto; pef"ish” ? b"Yj-©xpj|pij.v "qnest,.’"was' held' -on .tfie'..aftei*.ho6n of " Wednesday, "January 22"nd. t'li'e" verdicf being “death by exposure in an ai-., I line blizzard.” ONLY! TWO”LIOURS" EXPOSURE. Since"' the' inquest, Air Manndrin'g lias ascertained that the watch-,.-of his -niece,'.''Miss Brown, was stofp|ped by water at 12.40 p.m. watches resisted the wet 6 o’clock and 7.15 o’clock ly, apparently having run down. It is clear, he states, from the silent evidence of Miss- Brown’s watch that the disaster occurred at about 12.49 p.m. It was evident from .Hilgcndorf’s statement that the storm was, not had a short distance lielow, tlie hut until some time after 12 o’clock (noon),, and that consequently . the parly had fair conditions for the.first hour..of*- so of their walk. This would mean that they were not a long tii.ne!;. in the heart of the storm—say, ujidor two hours'. Hilgendorf stated that hg.; found "theV:bodies “already stiff’) at*' 2.30 p.m.; but Mr Maiinering thinks lie must have r,found them earlier.; since lie was a.t the Ball Ilut by 3.30 p.m.. and could not possibly ' have made this* distance in an hour under the difficult weather conditions. Hik. goudorf had no watcli. It had been subsequently revealed that there wcie threo spare,, unused cardigan jackets in tlie women’s rucksacks., .• Apparently no attempt had been . ljiaile " to put on these warm garments “Aly own considered opinion, after alpine experiences extending over 40 years,: during which I have been caught in many alpine storms, is that the disaster was caused by lightriling,” writes Air Maiinering. “I have searched the 41 volumes of ‘lbe Alpine Journal,’ which reports alpine fatalities regularly, and much alpine literature besides* and cannot find a pa a I lei case where a whole party" lias perished so suddenly from mere exposure. The annual death roll of the European Alps is well over 100 deaths per annum. A great many cases are reported, but T can find none (where the Deridtf'bf exposure is known); in, which death has occurred under a period of about 12 hours, and then it is usually only one or two members' of the party who have succumbed. •There are numerous instances of resistance for periods of 24 and 48 hours and even longer, without death resulting.” " •; CASES OF EXPOSURE " WITHSTOOD. Afr Alannoring quotes from memory four eases of exposure in the Tasman j

district. Green, Boss, and Kaufmann stood out all night a,t 10,000 ft on Ahount "Cbo-k in a bad " north-west storm, climbing down next morning. Mr Lowe broke his ankle on the Rudolf Glacier, crawled down to dc la Bccho bivouac, and existed for 10 days in tlie open with very little food. He is alive to-day. Air James Smith, the roadman at GlentanneV, sat out on tlie ice at de la Beelie Corner with two ill-dad women all. night in a north-west storm, and they reached the Alalte Brim. Hut next morning. Guide V. Williams, with Mr K Neavo and Mr Ma-nnering himself, walked down lTom Alalte,Bruii to Ball Hut last November in a terrible blizzard when most of tbe time visibility did not extend beyond 20 yards. They were covered with icicles, but were not distressed by tbe exposure.

“Lightning is very varied in its effects upon : ; animal bodies and frequently takes life without leaving any sign of burning,” fie continues; “In the present case it lias been established that the party was in. the centre off ;a greafb .thunderd/orm—stiV"ep& lightning was observed in their vicinity by parties at the King Atomorial Hut (7000 ft up the Mount Cook route), from the Ball Hut, and by Guide Hilgendorf as he was joining dowfi. from Alalte Brun. His axe was hissing and spluttering to such an extent that lie towed it behind him with straps rather than carry it, in bis bands. The wet condition of their clothing would render them liable to conduction of electric fluids, more especially as they were walking- "m water off and on, being in the slushy area of ice-”

‘ ‘EQUI.V aLEnt 't6‘ electro.- . , "cutTon.”'.".

' It seoiucct contradictory, but damp clothing ‘ Tiutl .been" known to .save people from shock since ‘‘a. high, frequency' current utilises' oiily the surface of u' concinctof ' The' 1 following note, has been" supplied t Mr. Mannering by a' leading Professor of ' Physics in the O.hi versify of ' Bristol: — ;< 'll ‘ the Hash actually struck any one of them, that one would have been burned or singed, but if it was very close to them without actually striking anyone, it is quite feasible that the in “ duced effect, in the human body, of the flash would be equivalent to electrocution, giving sudjdon (death. If they .were all .reasonably ctlose together, as in walking),' the same flash might quite well have the same effect on all of them.” Another high authority l ' (Professor Buchanan, of Lienoool) said: “The presence of a storm at -the time wheat- death ‘is stated to have occurred. .-. will in most cases point to the'true'cause of death:” -• Bib fess'or -Buchanan skid (further that ‘-‘‘post-mortem rigidity comes' on' early,” ‘-which was actually the! case, : Anothbi’ condition laid down by him was present in -the case of one of the bodies. M Kill CAL PRACrmONPIPK OPINIONr' “ , .. Additional evidence in Mr Mannering’s support is given, by a medical practitioner in’ Christchurch as follows: “If they died of; .as the Coroner .said, it .is certain that the bodies 0f.,: the four women, .would have licen found huddled together for warmth and shelter. What actually happened is quite obvious from the ..known..facts- • They were - struggling in the wind, but evidently did not -feel-:the. cold- excessive sinCerthey-did t iiCtf ptit: on' all their-Ovailableelotli-ihg; I'.lAi -the. time- they’ were in a. position on the ice where they could .luive put on the extra cardigans safely had they wanted to were perspiring slightly amdf|%t ;,y. ! a solution of salt would The their clothes, and .salt is af cdii.d.iK>fpr They iv.ore not -the. flash, f. they were i’lV tiioucorohiiAipf the' flashy The. current' tychhi-pass, through tbeiip clothing to the ice, not charring the bodies bu/t- killing them almost instantly. The salt might be a protection from a devastating, shock, but not from such a current as this. “The treatment of shook is the mediate application of warmth. In the bitterly cold wind,' standing on slushy ice, ' and wet through, they were in the ‘worst possible condition to receive the. .shock- Those -who . did not die "in a., few _scconds, notably,’. .-IMiss Brown., ahdf Blomfield, wers a%£fto shift tKfcir i positions. Blomfield, I't|iink, died, of exposure, following' the shock,, for he wap.able to gob * good way further ioir.' T'T'Jm medical praeti'tionbr Vvyho ghyps-fevidcnce at the' inquest nitty, .hots have been aware that death by lightning-- was possible without marks on the body.” PROOF OF LIGHTNING SHOOK. The doctor emphasised that it was ridiculous that five healthy young people 1 dbuld alt die by ’.exposure'within two hours. The fact that all died almost ' simultaneously, with the exception of Blomfield, was to him absolute proof that they were struck by lightning. In circumstances where immediate help and treatment could have been given, Blomfield and Miss Brown could possibly have been saved; hut under the conditions in which they were found, even those two would have died. The excitement at the time- of the tragedy was by no means conducive to a calm and scientific consideration of the circumstances of their death.

He quoted finally" from' Professor R, J. AT. Buchanan’s “Forensic ATedicine and Toxicology-;” ?'‘Death is- not always immediate. Sometimes the clothes have been torn off the body with scarcely any personal injury. ’•Metallic articles, especially steel, worn or carried about tlie person, become magnetic and may" be fused (Hilgendorf’s ice-axe hissed and spluttered). The lesions which may be met with, after lightning stroke" are varied. . ; Not infrequently those killed bj r lightning are found in the same position that they occupied during life.”