THE NARRATIVE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8353, 13 February 1913, Page 7

THE NARRATIVE

AS TOLD BY COMMANDER EVANS. Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH. February 11. At I o’clock this afternoon Commander Evans and his executive officers met a group of pressmen in the ward room of the Terra Nova, in order to give such additional particulars as he could of the expedition. He prefaced his remarks by explaining that he was under no obligation to either give or withhold the story, as in so far as ho was an officer of the Royal Navy and as such not subject to interviewing. Ho recognised, however, that the people of New Zealand were specially interested in .this matter, and he wa% prepared to give some particulars. He reserved to himself the right to decline to answer any questions that might ■subsequently be put, and to forbid any other members of the expedition answering questions except within certain limits. With this explanation the commander entered on his statement., TERRA NOVA’S SOUTHWARD JOURNEY. Ho first said that after the Terra Nova left New Zealand on'her recent voyage a stowaway was discovered. Ho was subsequently transferred to a Norwegian barque, the master of which promised to land him in New Zealand. A line was steered for latitude 60deg and longitude 160 deg west, in order to run a new line of soundings for scientific purposes. At, 60deg south the vessel steered due south, and, rather to their surprise, did not encounter pack ice till latitude 69deg 20min was reached, and until the seventy-first parallel was reached their progress was not sufficiently stopped to trouble them. Days’ runs were frequently of one hundred miles, which was very good for a ship of her class travelling in ice. In latitude 71deg 35min a pack belt of hummocky ice was encountered, and progress became so slow that the engines were stopped and the fires banked. The ioe was observed to be rapidly melting, and by January 12th it became so loose that the ship successfully worked through into open water and made a fairly easy passage to Capo Evans, which was reached on January 18th.’* NEWS OF * DISASTER.' “We had prepared,” said Commander Evans, “to give' the southern party a great ovation. " Accommodation was made ready for them," and luxuries got up from the store, room. We steamed rapidly towards our winter quarters, and anchored less than a quarter of a mile from the hut with our colours flying, when we could see a large party on the beach waving and gesticulating, and as the anchor was dropped they gave us three ringing cheers, which we answered. 1 identified Lieutenant Campbell, next in command to Captain Scott, there, but could not see Captain Scott, and so shouted to him, ‘Are you all well?’ After some hesitation Campbell shouted in reply, .‘The southern party reached the Pole on January 18th last year, but were all lost on the way back. We have their records.’ “This hews, of course, we received in silence. It was a tremendous shock to us. AVe shall regret the loss of the southern party all our lives. Details of that loss you already, have, and I need not further dwell on them. “Our boats wore Riwered from the ship, and the shore party came on board and told us' the history of the past year. It was full of adventure and exciting detail. The remainder of that day was given up to reading homo letters and discussing events. Thereafter the camp was broken up and all material to bo removed placed on board. WHAT WENT BEFORE. “Now,” said the Commander, “1 may give you a few details of the preparatory work for the southern dash, t took part in it, as you know; but have so far said nothing, as I did not wish to trench on Captain Scott’s re cords. The scheme of this journey was as follows: “Sixteen men were employed in the advance to the Pole. Of these four went ahead, under myself, to Pioneer, This party consisted of Mr Day, motor engineer; Mr Lashley (third engineer); Petty Officer Groan (Captain Scott’s old petty officer), Hooper, a steward, and myself. AA r o took with us two motor sledges and a large quantity of foodstuffs to relieve the ponies of heavy loads for the first fifty miles of their journey. This was between our base ailtl Hut Point, where the sea ice was very slippery, and from Hut Point to Corner Camp, which consisted of thirty-four miles of the Barrier with soft snow. We did not want the ponies to suffer in these conditions, of which we knew, and so took the motor sledges in advance. MOTORS FAIL. “Although these sledges did not come up to our expectations, they did succeed in advancing some three tons weight for fifty miles from the base. But in doing so they gave us frequent trouble, from incessent breaking down and overheating. This gave thosein charge much discomfort, to put it mildly. The motors, being air-cooled, became very hot. Freuently the temperature was, roughly, 8 deg below zero, and when the motors became overheated we had to wait for them to cool, and wo cooled, too. When they got cold we had to warm up the carburetter with a blow-lamp to got .go-

ing again. The -whole business was most trying, and we were really thankful when they did break doivn altogether. although we mended them and used them as much as possible. The last motor broke down at Corner Camp, and the party were really pleased. “Leaving the motors, wo took 880 pounds weight off each ton footsledgo, and marching twenty geographical miles a clay reached the meeting place appointed by Scott, in latitude 80 deg 13min. Hero wo built an enormous snow camp, which wo called Mount Hooper, after the youngest member of our party. MEETING WITH SCOTT. “Wo waited hero ft week for Scott ta arrive, which he did on November 12th, 1911. lie had been delayed by. bad weather at the start, and, when ho reached us ho relieved us of most of our weight and sent us a few miles ahead. Wo erected cairns to mark the return, 1 and did all the navigating and surveying required. Wo were really a pilot party, and kept afterwards of the main party. The pony party behind ua established depots which were approximately ono week’s march apart, and marked each with a' big black flag. These were situated approximately at Sldeg 30rain, 83deg 30min, BSdcg 30min, and 87deg 30min south.- • “The various supporting parties returned, and were taken hack to the base at Cape Evans by Mr Day, Mr Mears, Dr Atkinson, and Lieutenant Evans respectively. The total distance to the Role and back by Scott’s route was 1842 statute miles, and gauging the speed of the southern party by that of the parties led by Lieutenant Evans and Dr Atkinson he should 1 have returned to Hut Point, fifteen miles from the base, on March 10th. Some thought, ho would return hpforo this date, but having five men as against three in the last supporting party, a longer time might be required. NO ANXIETY FELT. ' ‘ No real anxiety was ever felt fof the sledging parties employed on the southern \ journey,” said Commander Evans, “ as the organisation and equipments and selection were so excellent, thanks to Captain Scott’s experience and remarkable ability. “When I was returning ill with scurvy, my life was very gallantly saved by Las.hley and 'Keevan. We had then been employed on sledging . fo.r six months. CAUSE OF MISFORTUNE. .. “ Captain Scott’s last misfortune wail due to weather conditions,, which it was impossible to overcome, as it proved only too clearly by the dreadful hardships which brought about the loss of the southern party.” Asked for some particulars concerning the accident which hefel PettyOfficer Evans, Commander Evans pointed out that the nature of the ice in the vicinity of whore the accident occurred was very rough, and it was often necessary for men to have to climb over steep cliffs of ice which was very slippery. Apparently Petty-Offioer Evans met a difficult spot to’negotiate, and he probably slipped and fell on his head, sustaining concussion of the brain. HOW THE EXPLORERS DIED. Further particulars of the last hour* and the deaths of Captain Scott, Dr Wilson, Captain Oates, and Lieutenant Bowers were sought by the reporters, but Commander Evans said he did not wish to go into 1 those details at all. Ho said tho particular's already published gave a general idea of the fate of tho men, and he did not desire to mako the tragedy more painful than it wa» by adding more details. RECORDS RECOVERED. Commander Evans said that in addh tion to recovering Captain Scott’s diary the rescue party had also found diaries which were kept by other members of the southern party. None of the diaries, however; had been opened. Commander Evans said he thought it was right that Captain Scott’s diary should be handed to Mrs Scott just as it was found by the rescue party, and in the cases of the other diaries he had decided to hand them to tho nearest relatives of their late Consequently no information contained in the diaries of the men who had reached the Polo .will Ijo available for tho public for some time. Every written record of the journey had been recovered. Questioned regarding publication of the story of the expedition, which in the ordinary course of events would have been compiled by Captain Scott, Commander Evans said that ho .would arrange the'book in conjunction with other members of the expedition, who had different portions of tho story to record. Captain Scott’s last book waa published by Smith, Elder, and" Company, and Commander Evans said that Captain Scott had again arranged with Mr Smith, of this firm, to publish tho history of the expedition now brought to a close. “I desire to carry out Captain Scott’s plans in their entirety, and whatever he intended to do in this matter,” added Commander Evans. Referring to the extensive ground that will be covered in the .book Commander Evan* said that there were sixty men in the expedition, and Captain Scott had a very big scheme in band. In addition to Captain Scott’s journey-to the polo other exploration parties were led by Lieutenant Campbell and Mr Griffith Taylor, geologist; while a great deal of survey and other work was done around New Zealand and in Antarctic regions by the Terra Nova while the shore parties were at work. All these undertakings will be fully dealt with. THE TERRA NOVA. The Terra Nova will remain at Lyttelton for a month, when she will sail for Cardiff. A number of members of the expedition and officers of the.. Terra Nova, including Commander Evans, will leave here in about a week’s time for England, and tho Terra Nova will sail home under command of Lieutenant Pennell.