ANTARCTIC HERO

Nelson Evening Mail, 20 September 1916, Page 1

ANTARCTIC HERO

I FRANK WILD"S ACHIEVEMENTS. When the full story of the hardships and perils faced by the members of the Shackleton Expedition who were marooned on Elephant Island comes to be told there is little doubt that it will be found to form, one of the most thrilling chapters in the history of Antarctic adventure. Frank Wild, to whose fine leadership Sir Ernest Shackleton attributes the safety of the explorers, and whose conduct has evoked the King's admiration, is not an Australian, as manysuppose, but an Englishman. On four occasions now has he distinguished himself in the South, and Scott, Shackleton, and Mawson, under each of whom he ha» ' served, have all singled him out for spe- • cial commendation. ! Hailing from Yorkshire, where he was born 43 years ago, Wild entered the merchant service in 1889, and eleven years later joined the Navy. His first experience of the Antarctic was gained as a member of Scott's expedition in 1901-04, during which, he served on an extended sledge journey. Returning ,to England, he was sent to the Sheerness Gunnery School, and was still there when the Admiralty consented to his appointment to the Shackleton expedition of 1907-09. On that occasion he was one of the three men whom .Sir Ernest Shackleton selected to go on the southern journey. Two years later he joined the Australasian expedition under ■Sir Douglas Mawson, who thought- so much of his skill and resourcefulness as an explorer that he appointed him leader of the western party, the work of which is detailed in a chapter written "by Wild for Mawson's book, "The Home of the Blizzard." Wild has beeii described as the greatest authority on crevasses in the Antarctic. He certainly should know something- about them, for lie has gone tumbling down them often -enough. There is really no variety of danger'that he has not .found himself up against amid the snows and • glaciers- :of tho South, and ho has had so many, close" calls that he has come to the conclusion that fate has some. other death in store for him. It will interest Australians (says Sydney Sun) to know that Wild's mother was a direct descendant of Captain, 'Cook. One of his "uncles was identified with, Polar exploration, and made three visits to the Arctic region.