SHACKLETON'S STORY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 51, 3 June 1916, Page 5

SHACKLETON'S STORY.

I REMARKABLE ADVENTURES. I : THE NARRATIVE CONTINUES: ONITKD PBKBB ABSOCL»T,OS. I . . . London, June 1. of the men were suffering from exposure, the shortage of water, and the impossibility of warming food. We finally gave up hope of reaching Deception Jsland, an<}-. .headed northward,'for Elephant Island, which was-sighted on .April 14, forty, .miles distant. Strong wind hindered our,progress. Hudson and Blaekbpre were severely frostbitten, in a furious gale that raged all night, wherein one boat disappeared. ; "Wo reached Elephant Island on April 15. Our equipment was sodden, and several of the party were on the verge of physical and mental collapse. | "We first landed at a point that was inaccessible because of the cliffs, and re-embarked westward, and landed through the surf. We cut a hole in an ice slope, above reach of the waves. Owing to the seriousness of the situation, shortage of food, and inadequate protection against the I winter, it was decided to endeavour |to reach South Georgia for help. I "I left Wild in charge at Elephant Island and called for volunteers. 1 'took the largest boat and departed 'on April 24, with Worsley, Crean, ;MacNish, MaeCarthy, and Vincent. | We passed through the stream ice day after day, and progressed towards j our goal, but constant snowstorms and gales swept over us for a fortnight. The crew were frost-bitten, but cheerjful, despite the great difficulty that 'we were constantly compelled to break the ice on the sides of the rudder.

"We sighted tho cliffs on; the west coast of South ; Georgia,.» during .- a clearance of;' h tn'e snowstorm ,on -May 4. Another hurricane' on May* 9 threatened to drive us ? ;bn to tho cliffs, and oitr only chance, was to set a reefed sail. The wind sheered at tho moment of .'the most serious crisis, enabling us : to clear the .land.;, ■ "As a last extremity I de?ided to land and endeavpUr to cross to the whaling station; on tho east coast. Vincent and MacNish,. were unfit, (to masfch,' and I topk*Crean ley and, on the.i'(&th.. We reached . Stramness.wkaiißg., stations on tho afternocm,.-*of' ■' the .• <„2othv. «nd this was theifit'st''time the .island ha,d.b.een crossed:.! ~ *• ■*■*■■■'■>. "■;.:•■ "'.;■* i' v,i

if "We received assistance from the manager, who despatched a' whaler the same night to bring round the remainder of the party. The. whalers volunteered to form a crew, and equipped a whaler whiph started southward on the 26th, in the hops of rescuing my. crew. Repeated/ attempts to get southward were frustrated by ice. A larger vessel could have succeeded, and we reluctantly turned northward to seek' assistance at the Falklands.'

• "We prepared to winter in the midIdle of February. The lowest temperature recorded was 67 degrees of frost, when the Endurance was immovably fixed in the iee-pack, and in view of the possibility of pressure we placed sledging stores on deck and ! trained the dogs for emergencies. ,Some dogs on April 14 disappeared* :but they returned. j After 109 days the ice pressure began, the June ice rafting up to a height of twenty feet close to the 'ship. The pressure was more intense in July, and there were ominous signs that the ship would not escape. | Ice blocks, weighing twenty tons, iwere thrown about, communicating {shocks to the ships, and on the Ist of August the. pressure took us with a ■great grinding crash. The Endurlance was hove bodily out of the ice and flung before the gale against the 'masses of piled ice. The vessel stood the strain, and the pressure ceased at mid-day, when~the ship heeled over, half out of the water. She was finally caught in September, the pressure bending her sides and buckling her beams. She eventually rose clear, and we broke free of the flock in the middle of October.

i Then came renewed pressure, damaging the stern post, and the vessel wa* now leaking dangerously. There !w«* Wry pressure on October 10, { for the spam of ton seconds, »na to* Endurance was thrown oat of the sot on her beam ends. On' October 2fc 'the ship':* sid*B opened. We lowered the boats, sledges, and provisions on to the ice, and the end came on October 27, when a terrific pressure cul-

minated in tearing out the vessel's stern and rudder posts. The main deck broke upwards, and icebergs pierced the ship. The water overmastered the pumps, extinguishing I the fires, and by the next day the ship was submerged to the upper deck.

! The nearest land and the prospect lor food, was Paulet Island, 46 milesdistant. We had saved all our scientific records, photographs, and films,

and we started relaying nofl seven dog-teams dragging pB in sledges and the men hauli™ in half-mile relays at the proH a mile daily. Eventually it was decided t« to the camp"'in the vicinity | wreck, where we had salvH stores, and determined to deS the northerly drift and summeH "We reached the heavy fioeH 31st, and there made Ocean I We prepared three boats for 1 "The Endurance sank <"i '^ C B 20. ' A par£y with boats afl nine miles in five days. Soi™ various units were isolated onfl ate floes, and we were treat and establish Pafence I where we passed January, FaH and March. "Our ice floe grew smalleiM smaller, and waß finally hundred yards square. We shfl dog teams in January, owl shortage of food; our tents wertH out, there was a shortage ofß and the possibility of let Island disappeared. "On the 23rd of March we sfl the distant peaks of Joinville ifl and sighted the Shetlands 7. Here there was a narrow efl JA great berg missed us by twoH drod yards. H j "On the Bth we launched |H j boats, our ice floe having splitM pieces. We made northward,- rfl through masses of ice pack, pfl the boats up on the ice floe at ifl Several of the men were suffH from exposure, and it was April 14 to run northward and afl Elephant Island. I "We landed on the morning ofl 15th, and I sent Frank Wild orfl 16th to search for a safer lani We proceeded westward on and the most of the party la I again.' Through £*e heavy surf I found the heach untenable by re 'of the heavy-gales, but we cut a in the ice.;slope;'above j-each of waves;' ' , ' ,% • ' »jY ■-'" " "I left Wild, iiri charge of the '1 party, on 'Ele'phqftt' Island, the pente'rj covered,: ia. ; boat with' sl< runners, box lids, and canvas, „ we' started on our 760 miles' voj ■to South Georgia,*' reaching, there related." ■

A MARVELLOUS ACHiPVEMEB Melbourne, June Professor "orme Masson considH that* Sir r $! Shackleton feat' that was not contemplated ]fl sible. He expects' that will be the leader of the relief pal for the Elephant. Island crew. H is 'uncertain whether the Island ■ approachable in winter. London, June 'iH , Shaokletpn's expedition's work eludes the .discovery of two , hundrH miles of new coast line; the ihydrographical survey of WeddM Sea; the elimination of New SouH Greenland- from the map; a continM ous magnetic meteorological obseriiW tion; important geological recordM cinema records up to 13th OetobeH and photographic records througH out. >^J THE HARDSHIPS OF THE VOYAffl (Received 9.50 a.m.) I London, June 2.1 Shackleton, describing the voyajM from Elephant Island to South GeoH gia, says: Only thrice during the y<jfl age was the Sun sighted for observlH tion. On the sixth day we were forc«H to jettison much of our equipment tfl relieve the top weight, because til boat was heavily iced up. The entirM equipment of sleeping gear was soakejH through. Everybody was superficialtH frost bitten. We were never idk breaking the ico from the sides of th rudder, bailing water, and scraping th ice out of the boat all day and al night. We lost our sea anchor on th eighth day through the ice cutting th rope. Sir Hugh Robert Mill, in an inter view, says the whalers on Falkland la lands may be suited to send Ki the relief. The Argentine corvette, Uruguay, which rescued Nordenskjolri in 1913, might make an attempt if ready to start for Buenos Aires immediately. The voyage would take a fortnight. Norkenakjold, * flwediah c&plorar, in 1901 conduct*! to Lonia Philip* Land in the Antarctic a Swediah. «K~ padatien. Hii raaaal, the Antarctic*, was cruahed by th* ice, hut the partjf was rescued by an Argentine expoditioU in 1903. ','■'■