WITH THE NORTHERN PARTY

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

WITH THE NORTHERN PARTY

LIEUTENANT CAMPBELL RELATES ITS EXPERIENCES.

Press Association, CHRISTCHURCH, February 12. The story of another journey, which was. briefly, one of hardships and privations and which very nearly ended in another tragedy, was told by Lieutenant Campbell, who led the northern party. This party consisted of Lieutenant Campbell, Surgeon Levick, Mr Priestly (geologist), Seamen Abbott, Browning, and Hickason. Returning from their journey the party reached Terra Nova Bay on February 16th, 1912, and they anticipated that the Terra Nova would be there to meet them, the vessel being expected about the 17th. On reaching Terra Nova Bay, however, they found that tho vessel waa not there, and while they were keenly disappointed they thought that the Terra Noya must have en-

countered bad weather. ( It transpired, however, that it was hot bad weather but unfavourable ice conditions that had prevented the vessel reaching Terra Nova Bay. .WINTERING IN A SNOWDRIFT. Lieutenant Campbell and his party were now faced with a journey over Ice of 200 miles to Cape Evans, but it was impossible to undertake the journey at this time as the surface was not properly frozen over. “There were six of us in the party, and we had to make up our minds to winter there in a snowdrift,” continued Lieutenant Campbell. “Into the snowdrift we cut an igloo, which had to be our homo for six months. We only had about a month’s provisions, and we were not suitably clothed to spend the winter in an igloo. But there was nothing else for it, and we proceeded to make the best of our position.” SEVENTEEN SEALS. Continuing, Lieutenant Campbell said they decided to kill as many seals as possible, and during their stay there the' party- secured seventeen seals. “Wasithat the seals you caught ?” asked a pressman. “Well,” answered Lieutenant Campbell, with a smile, “yon can get a lot of meat off seventeen seals if you eat it carefully.” The party were in absolute darkness in their igloo, but they succeeded in making some lamps with the aid of -the seal blubber, iind so obtained light to brighten their surroundings. Then a small blubber stove was arranged, and this added to the comfort of the men. BISCUITS AND BLUBBER. At the commencement of their sis months’ confinement in the igloo the members of the party were supplied with one biscuit a day each, but their small supply of biscuits soon ran put and for the greater portion of the time their daily meals consisted of one unchanging meal secured from seals. The company also ran out of their supply of tobacco, and this served to add to their discomforts. Asked how they. managed to pass the, six months in their igloo in the snowdrift. Lieutenant Campbell smilingly remarked, “By sleep and occasional sing-songs.” He also said that some members of the party gave interesting lectures on various subjects, and served to while away the long and dark hours. START FOR CAPE EVANS. Eventually the winter came to an end and they were able to leave theii camp on September 80th for Capo Evans. Two of their men, anod Dickason, were ill when they left, and for the first few days they were able to make only a few miles a day. After three days Browning improved, but Dickason suffered longer and during the journey to Cape Evans he had Ofcnainnully to be placed upon a sledge. On their way to the base members of the party made collections of, geological specimens, and at one spot they found a small depot of specimens left by Professor David, who was with Bhackloton’s expedition. The remainder of the journey was carried without further incident and Cape Evans camp was gained on November 7th. There the, better food -of which they had been so long deprived effected a speedy restoration of their condi-, tion, and Lieutenant Campbell mentioned that in hia own case he put on two stone and seven pounds in a week, jumping from ten stone to twelve stone seven pounds, and other members also improved. 1 , MARVELLOUS ESCAPE. Then Lieutenant Campbell paused for a while, and Commander Evans observed that one could have no conception of the, hardships which Lieutenant Campbell and his companions had gone through. . “It is extraordinary that they ever survived,” . he added. Conjniander Evans went on to say that it was extraordinary that in spite of the hardships met with and the difficulties encountered there was never the lease indication of trouble amongst the members of any of the parties. He said that in the case of Lieutenant Campbell and his companions, seeing what they had to endure for six months, there . might have been some dissension. Ho was pleased to say, however, that they had all lived .together, in fiat small space for that time without any complaints being made. A PAINFUL RECITAL AVOIDED. A desire was expressed by the pressmen to derive some additional particulars from Dr Atkinson, who was in command of the party that found the dead explorers, of the conditions under which, they were discovered. Commander Evans, on this request being made, said tnat Dr Atkinson was a very quiet individual, but he could bo naked questions, to which he might or might not reply. Dr Atkinson was then appealed to, but he indicated that the account already published contained the salient points of his expedition, and ho' did not deem it necessary at this juncture to add further details which might be painfuL SCEENTHTO WORK. On the question of scientific work done on the run south Commander Evans made tho following statement: “ Lieutenant H. E. de P. Rennick, being the most experienced surveyor, has had charge throughout of the oceanographical work, and during the deep-sea soundings, varying in depth from 163 to 3003 fathoms, spaced fairly evenly along our route, an unexpected shoal was found in tho middle of'Ross Sea, and advantage of this was immediately taken by Mr D. G. Lilly, biologist, who let down an Agassiz trawl and obtained a rich haul of biological specimens. Mr Lilly has made a further study of tho distribution of the small organisms which make up the food supply of whales between New Zealand and MoMurdo Sound, and while in the Antarctic Sea ho was again very successful in obtaining rich hauls of the Bentinck fauna in depths varying between 40 and 300 fathoms. “ Lieutenant Pennell, who is taking charge of the ship on tho homeward voyage, acted ns ice master, in addition to his other duties, which embraced tho important work of all the magnetic observations. “Mr Nelson, the other biologist, is going home as junior executive officer of the ship, quite a sporting thing to do, as all the other officers of the ship have had master certificates for nearly twenty years.”