FROZEN SOUTH

Hokitika Guardian, 16 October 1931, Page 3

FROZEN SOUTH

K 1 TO OF DARING. SBA.CKI.ETON’S JOURNEY. GALLANT EFFORT. Although the conquest of the polar regions by aeroplanes, ami now by submarine, has .stimulated the imagination of people .who enjoy tales of daring, in which man’s courage and endurance are pitted against the forces of Nature, it is not easy to forget the heroism of the men who accompanied the late Sir Ernest Shaekleton on his expedition to the South Pole in 1914. For more than two years, while the rest of the world was at war, Shackleton’s men fought a war of their own—a struggle in which their antagonist was trie fierce and stormy South (says a writer in the Melbourne Age). In his book, “South," Sir Ernest iSh'wide ton gave an account of the expedition, but it was natural that modesty should have restrained his pen when it i 'U-- to reciting his own part in the adventure. That omission has been remedied in Commander Frank Worslev’s book, “Endurance.” Commander Worslev was the master of the Endurance, which was smashed, not long after the beginning of the great adventure, in the pack-ice. The story opens jii July, 1915, and the .setting is Shackleton’s cabin in the Endurance. Ice, thousands of miles of it, was all round the ship ; the wind was in a fury, and snow fall ng in mad gusts. It was not a' comforting atmosphere in which a ship’s master should be told that his vessel was doomed. it w.as Shaekleton who told Commander Worslev that the Endurance could not insist the squeezing of the ,ice-packs. There were 28 men on hoard the Endurance, bind the ship was 1000 miles from the whaling stations of South Georgia and 400 miles from the Antarctic Continent, in the head of. the Wedded iSea. It was not a pleasant prospect. For two months the Endurance fought a losing battle against the ice. The end came in October. The vessel was crushed by "the whole force of the pack-ice driven by the winds and currents of the Weddell Sea, converging from three different directions on to one point. That point, unhappily, was the stern of the Endurance. Two massive floes, miles of ice jammed-her sides and held her fast, while the third line tore across her stern, ripping off the rudder as though it had been 'made of matchwood.” CAMP ON THE ICE. The party made a rough camp on the. pai-K-.ci., and'..shortly a iter wards they set out in the hope of reaching Graham Land by sledge. They had with them small sledges and two boats from the Endurance, the James Caird and tlie Dudley Docker, which were dragged across the ice. On the drifting packs, however, they made little progress, and after a march of -several days they settled on the largest floe they could find, naming their quarters, aptlv enough, ■Patience Camp, They drifted on the pack-ice tor five months. It was M-arch, 1915, before 'they sighted the continent. Shaekleton. bow-

ever, refused to risk crossing under the

influence of tides and currents near tfic land, and decided to go on drifting until open water was reached. A month later the ice did break up alongside the camp, and the boats were launched. At length they reached Elephant Island, a dismal spot in the Weddell' Sea, and Shackleton’s relief was great. "Thank God, 1 haven’t killed one of my men !’’ were his first words, and he added, “I know that one more irght of exposure would do for sour* of them." Rut his relief was short-lived, as Commander Worslev explains: ‘-By the time we turned in that night, Shaekleton, Wild, and f already knew for certain that we were in grave danger; and the daiiget was this : We were in a latitude that was gale-ridden, perhaps the most tempestuous area in the world. We were only just above the revel of high-water mark. Tt was obvious that the seas ol every on-shore gale would sweep the beach. With a thousand-foot cliff at our backs there would he no escape landward. The probability was that we should be swept away without being able to launch a boat.” TO SOUTH GEORGIA.

Two days later they found a saferspot seven miles along the coast, and there they made camp, living under upturned boats, shivering, and wondering what was going to happen next. .There was food for the time being, but the day dawned when Shaekleton realised that he would not ho a.bfe to feed his men through the winter. Frequently Commander Worslev and Shaekleton discussed the puss In I i ty. of making a journey in one of the small boats tor help. •One day Shaekleton said gravely : “Skipper, we shall have to make that boat journey, however risky it is. I m not going to let the men starve. Five ueio chosen for the hazardous journey, although all the men volunteered. r \ he choice fell upon Tom Crean, limothv MT'arthy, A.B. ; M’Neish, the carpenter ; Vincent, the boatswain ; and Commander j Worslev. The James Caird was prepared fin- the trip. "We knew," writes Commander Worslev, "that it would he the li-rdest tlvug we had ever undertaken, for (lie Antarctic winter luid now set in, and we were about to cross one of the worst seas in the world.” The boat in which the small party sot out rmss , the ocean was 22 feet 6 inches in length. ; It is surprising how calmly Commander Worslev writes of that awful voyage to South Georgia. Night and day they took turns at pumping; every three or four minutes they \u-ie soaked by the sens which swept the boat. When ever possible they snatched an hour’s rest in frozen sleepingbags. Tin* constant soaking caused their limbs to swell and lose all siir- | face sensibility. Several times tlmy i had to remove the wall of ice which formed on the canvas decking. On t n e eleventh day they broached their last keg of water. Even as they approached the coast of South Georgia their troubles were not lessened. e wore in a welter of screaming winds,” writes Commander Worslev. “that seemed-t 0,., be rushing all round us with the speed of an aeroplane, and every tew seconds the roaring seas dashed into the boat and sent up spray sufficient uo I

thicken the air lor a. 100 feet above us.” Ultimately they landed in a tiny cove in King Haakon Sound.

ACROSS THE ISLAND. On May 19, 1916, leaving three of the party, who were not fit to travel, under the upturned boat, Shaekleton, Commander Worslev, and the remaining member of the party embarked on their pioneer journey adross the isiapd of South Georgia—“an adventure destined to be far more thrilling than ever 1 had dreamed,” says Commander Worslev. “Our equipment was three days’ food each, consisting of 21b i 1 sledging rations, lib of biscuits, and two cakes of nut food, all of which we carried over our shoulders. . • ” Jbe land they crossed was a country oi cliffs, precipices, snow, and glaciers. “The going was so hard that he had to halt every 20 minutes for a short spell, when we would throw ourselves flat cm our hacks', with legs and arms extended, and draw in gulps of air so as to get our wind again. . . . We were in a solitude never before broken by man. . . Before us was the Allaidyce Range, peak upon peak, snowclad and majestic, glittering in the sunshine.” They looked into the shadowy depths of chasms in which battleships could have been hidden, slid down mountain sides, met disappointment cheerfully, went the wrong way, retracted their steps, and, after what seemed an age, reached Fortuna Bay and heard the cheery whistles of a whaling factory. What a royal welcome they received! BARBED BY ICE. “The three men who had been left :i t King Haakon Sound were rescued by a whaling ship from the station, and Shaekleton chartered a whaler, the ■ Southern Sky, to make the trip to Elephant' fsi a net for the remainder of his company. But their way was barred hv ice, and the whaler had to turn hack when only 60 miles distant from the island. They made for the Falkland Islands, for Shaekleton wanted to get in touch with the outside world, and

to obtain another vessel. Four attempts at rescue were made before Shaekleton was rewarded with success. As the rescue ship ■ sapproached the camp Shaekleton stood peering “with painful ifitcnsjty through his binoculars.” “There were reefs and shoals about,” writes Commamklr Worslev, “and all my attention was on the ship, when 1 heard him say in a low. strained voice, ‘There arc l only two, skipper!’ Then, ‘No four.’ A short pause followed, and he exclaimed, ‘1 see six—eight —and at last, in a voice ringing with joy, lie cried, ‘They are all there! Every one of them! They are all saved!’ ” ’Pile remainder of the hook is devoted to Commander Worsley’s war adventures—he was hack in the navy in time to “bag” a German submarine—and to the last voyage which Shackleton made —the voyage of the Quest. On January 5, 1922. in the southern seas, Shaekleton died. A sudden attack of angina pectoris was the cause of death. He was buried in South Georgia. “I do not think lie would .have wished a different grave,” says .C/ommander WbrslfiC “He lies in a spot "that for more than a hundred years has been the last home of seamen—whalers, sealers, and explorers. . . . His was a proud and dauntless spirit, a spirit that made one glad Im was an Englishman. . . . Shackleton’s

hotly lies buried far from tlx* land of his birth dot ns ensure that liis spirit continues to ho our common heritage.”