IN THE DAYS OF MY YOUTH.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 179, 21 August 1909, Page 4

IN THE DAYS OF MY YOUTH.

MY VCRST SUCCESS. UEITISNAXT SHACKLBTOS. (By E. H. .Shackleiou, in AI.A.P.) 1 reallv do not know anything of a jiral succcsfe, though \i am quite well aware that the people who have been CJod enough to concern themselves with mv work would consider that 1 ought to ic'mid my Antarctic expedition in that ii'»ht. And, indeed, I feel that it has successful, but it was not the work i>i a moment. Success in an expedition of tliat sort van onlv be gained by two great forces. The first of these is attention to detail end organisation, and the second to the co operation of good men. The good men I certainly had with me, so that if the expedition is my first success, they 6hare it with me. >

WHAT IS SUCCESS?

All success, however, has its limit,*-! tiuns', and a, mail may do good «oi . without of necessity considering thai is a "first" success. For my oh:) pari, X believe that when a man begins lii-s life-work young, and has tlie dclii 1 . carrying-out of an ■object in view "r which ha feels fitteil, liis success imwt come graduaHy anil l"* fjuite unlike t ; - indclinite tiling wii.v.i is the result. »tv. of putting money on a meWm: -e or into a gold mine and saying thai that speculation or investment was one's first success.

WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT. X know that the expedition has been I successful, but I should be inclined to say that my first success came when I read in the Geographical Journal that the National Antarctic expedition was going to Start. X mean the fir6t expedition which went out under the command of Captain Scott. At that time I was on board a troopship conveying troops to South Africa. Duripg a period of eight or nine months, whenever I returned home, I tried to become a member., of that expedition. AS EXPLORER,! I'ROJI BOYTIOOD.

Eventually, as you know, my application was accepted, and I was taken on. As you ask, I may tell you it wits no new-born or sudilen desire, for I have always been interested in Polar exploration. I can date my first interest in the subject to the time when I was about ten. So grett' was my interest that I had read almost even-thing about North aad' South (Polar exploration.

, AS A SAILOR. When, therefore, this opportunity of going with Captain Scolt presented it-1 self, I naturally tried to take advanta?.- j „oi it. 0' e ih'vA* in i«.v v.>r was thai; , j had ibeea a«ailor since 1 was sixteen, i 1 had-been all over the world in all sort* J of ship6—sailing ships, tramp steamers, troopships-, ntaUboats. ships carrying submarine cable, and so on. I had, ill fact, 'been round the worhl four times, and could also .claim to know something "* oi navigation, having "navigated a. tramp steamer twice round the'world. ■EARLY SEA BAYS. Iu my early seafaring days I had learnt to handle boats on the coast of Chili, where'we had to-go through the . surf, which was- very heavy, and wh »re ihe rofcks are very dangerous. This ex- \ ' yerience I found very useful when, in the middle of the night on,llth March, 1902, 1 had to take a boat to find h party of" our iheu who had been lost nj " a' blizzard. We set out in .the middle or -be night, with a very cold temperature, and. the sea all massed up with broken

' WRITING A BOOK. lii connection with my South African troopship work, it may interest you ro know I made uiy Urst plunge into literary; work by writing a book on the transport service. It was called "0.H.M.5.," ami it had a practical bearing on my life, and I may therefore refer to f ft here in this; very personal tecord which 1 make under a certain feeling not of compulsion, yet of regard Jor tlie linn which publishes M.A.IV The public will readily understand what this fueling is when I explain certain facts.

I was selected to go on the Soulhi-ili journey towards the barrier with Otptaiu Scott and Captain Wilson, when ,\e were away lor ninety-three days and reaciied the uiust southerly point up O tliut time. Scurvy broke out and affci t«d me so bailly that 1 was invalided home. I should like to pause here <ur a moment to- set right a matter which has often been wrongly written about.

AN ERROR CORRECTED. Certain papers have said that on'lho return journey 1 was hauled back on the sledge. This is not so. 1 was very much •'knocked out," foil it was aiw'avs >n the cards that I should not,get through, lit spite of my illness', however, I managed to march back. I could not pud my 'load, and coild not ease the birdea of my comrades. This time, on my own expedition, -x- ---. ccpt {or an attack of dysentery and heart failure, from the effects of falliinj. one night, on a glacier, 1 was absolutely all right and as lit as could be when I K°t to the end of the journey, though I had lost three stone 6 in weight from the time I had set out. I n that, however, I was not singular, for every one of the men with me also lost weight. A SUB-EDITOR. After I was invalided home, I became assistant editor of the Royal Magazine,| which, is published by Messrs. Pearejnj -who also'publish M.A.I'., and it is this feeling of loyalty to the firm I served v'. which has overcome my scruples about talking* of such a thing as persona] fin,-, cess. After leaving Pearson. 1 - was appointed secretary and treasur-i l

of I hj(? Untnl Scotch Geographical Seen ty. I, however, gave up this* post- mi ' being askud to contest 'Dundee at the kr t CejK rai Election. R was a forlorn

.. h«.pe. but was amusing in many w fiys. in« the Dundee people are noted he/;-| *' l*r*. Thn>ii?h'>iit*fhe Tvhole of the con-i , -j_ I received the nlmost courtesy from' t\e opposite mJc. * ] : ELECTIONEER IN*j ,On one occasion \vhe ri i had to ad- ; dress a meeting I. missed my train, and! v hadi to take a special to get*through. (I . tirrived at the hall just in time to hear' the chairman, apologising for mv ab-i -'eiiec. T, however, made my speedi. | -What my opponent* thought'of it w:v« voiced bv one of them, who got up and said; "He look V special train to geti here, and he got hero what did :.c say? Xothing. v t I need seniii-lv remind you that T w.-s defeated. ami 'I became personal assistant to Mr. William Heardmore. the «d the firm of great armour-plate, make-* ' and ba Hie? hip builders, and he vv?« one «»f mv principal supporter* in the expeditien, and; helped me in fiiiineinjf .it. j FIXAXCIXG THE EXPEDITION. j • i he iin:< neing of I he expedition was no |

easy matter, and getting the money for *it might almost be regarded as mv fir.\t success. I wore out a good deal of s'lncicather in London hikl elsewhere going to see pe<tyK mid I spent many postal stamps in'writing letters to get otJuss to help the u<»w expedition. I. however, obtained little assistance from most oi thos« to whom I applied. T was suiTi cientlv fortunate, however, to find enough people to believe in mo and to guarantee me a large part of the money

required for the enternrUe. These guar- \ aiitee* will now he paiil off bv me. This. T how, will be dona by my lectures and bv the sale of my lwwk "which will be published late r in the year. AUSTRALIAN GENEROSITY."

, Some other money I bHtained from *eRations friends, hut the only public >' assistance T received were sums of .-G.500D

from the .Commonwealth Parliament of Australia and €IOOO from the Xew Zri;v' land Government. In addition tio the £IOOO the New Zealand no'vcrnmeiit naid half the towage of the Ximrod from v New Zealand to fhe»ice, and gave free port dues fjTvJ pverv possible afislstance to the, expedition. The interest and rn-

di' t>!:Mcl in Australia nmlXnv Zealand t' v *vnrd s 'up- Work wern the mo«t mar' «d features of the Viol* l exnediti'-'t. an I vv who took part mi it wiM cen™ to arnreriate them.

TMK «TART. r On j, m | ftj-jflji, J I Tne«tjon--i. I Anpn«'d a little office Londoji. and. with the assistance of

one man. A f]■'■! lipid, 1 set about » •;. proiarini t'u 1 exuedition. }lavin« tlio enu'nnieiit fur hnn<!s and not having to wait for coiuu'iHees.-we naturally got f ahead v-civ niiH-kl'-. Tlio formal anf.,, nouneement th-t the Antarctic expeii- " tioi! was .to -tart' was' made on 12th js relironrv. n-.ij on tUn following I'ili _T A ""'M wo •■nil...! from Coney, after llieir If MsiMKhnd -led ihe ship and tin: • Qui In liad cnfr'Med to us her Union gk »<"* to em'v to tile 'South. On Ist f j from Xcw Zealand.

! , A THICi TK. » f naturallv cannot go inlo (lie details ■. of the expedition here. The work that |! Jias bee n done is already known in outan l ,tlie full narrative will appear j| liefore.tlfe end of the year, The scientific' £ imiilN -will take longer to prepare, and A f lerefore to publish; hut. in talking of Kjp<c niccess of the expedition. T musti pß?pation that it i« not my siiwesa alone, |Pfer I ftm not "the only pcbolc o )t tho

lipach." It was due to the unity of}

;>urpo.ve, the irregardlessness of self, the

desire to <;ive anil take of the fourteen men who were on the shore party with me, ami the twenty-two men on the ship which made the expedition as successful as it has been generously described tc •lie )>v the world.

EVERY MAX HIS DUE. If i went into the recital of the work and energy, the thought and endeavois, c-f mv comrades, could fill pages of . M.A.P. before 1 did justice to them. Here, 1 can only say I owe them a debt j of gratitude as the leader of the partn and the world, which will profit in future i from the scientific work done on the ex- i pedition, wilt recognise that they are ' j responsible in the greatest possible measure for the work which was corried through. With regard to the success, I recognise, as every man must recognise, that the pioneer of every movement is largely responsible for the success of those who follow him. Captain Scott was the pioneer of Antarctic travel, and the experience gained with him proved most useful to me, though my course lay well to the east, of the Discovery's journey. Still, the barrier surface presented somewhat similar features to what it did on the last Southern journey I was on, though the snow wa*s undoubtedly deeper this time. NAXSEN'S INVENTION. , Tennyson says in "Ulysses": ''All experience i 3 an arch where through Gleams that untravelied world, whose margin fades For ever and for ever when I move." Our Southern work, based on the c. x viiencc of the past, proves the trui.. .i shrined in those words. It also \.io our indebtedness to Dr. Nansen. He was . the inventor of the sledge which, with • slight modifications, we used, and he wag i the inventor of the cooker we took with ■ us. It only weighed about 151b, and 94 I per cent, of the heat generated was' used, s Indeed, while Nansen may be said to i be directly responsible for the lat«>e [ amount of knowledge we have of tliej • North Polar regions, he isf indirectly re* | - sponsible for the length of journeys, dependent on efficiency of equipment, in the South Polar regions.

AX AJIUSIXG STORY. t Down South every man had his own f cubicle, which be decorated in bis own L paTticuJar way. One of them was ex- e ceedingly devoted to the career ofNa- o paleon, and was a great authority on « the Xapoleonic period. He decorated the c partition of his cubicle with a portrait oi his hero. When we returned from { n;ic journey lie found that an artist had made Napoleon's nose red and bad paint- *■ eil lires about his feet. When the owner o[ the cubicle returned and saw the > changes that had been made, he prompt- ' }y renamed the picture Sir Hudson Lowe. 1 TIIK QUESTION" OF THE BATH. 1 Many people have naturally been curious about our going without a hath for 1 over 120 days. To a certain extent we I were prepared for this, for in the nnt ' we washed only once a week, if as often. Oil the march we had no inclination to 1 wash, even if we could have done so. * The cold, however, prevented that. In- s deed, we never took our clothes off dur- 1 ing the whole time. You must remem- 1 ber that one does not need washing in the Antarctic, for there is no dust, and we never got dirty. We might have 1 washed our hands and face, but we didn't, for it<was much too cold, and it | would have used up our valuable oil. - WHAT.AX EXPIjOREK EATS, i The question of temperature naturally, ; suggests that of food. I have been asked i very often whether our appetites increased as we went South. Our rations certainly decreased. We started out , with ninety-one days 5 provisions, and we spun this out for 126 days. In the original ration with which we began we ' had thirty-two ounces. Meat, however. . did not play a very large part in it. The , instinct in the Antarctic 7s for heating -foods—Plasmon chocolate, cheese, butter. We also took pemmican, which was , made in Copenhagen, where they prob- , ably know more about it than anywhere else. Xansen's and the Xational Antexpeditions' pemmican was made ' there. t CHOCOLATE AND CHEESE. ! O't the march, for lunch we used to ' chocolate four days a week and three days'. We all much preferred the chocolate days, and greatly enjoyed our two sticks, which was our ration, and which we found highly nut r i. tiuus. One point which struck us all \va6 bow man's attitude towards food alters as he goes South. At the beg.nuing, a man might have been something an epicure, but we found that he got very far even raw horsr* ">v -.1 tasted very good. CONTRASTS. It may interest you 'to hear that ' i Sydney on my return from this expedition I had a very large audience—ovi-r four thousand people in the town hall—and this is a contrast to a lecture I'gave in Lcith a few years ago. I hired the hall and advertised mv lecture. On the 1 evening of the day I drove from my house in Edinburgh, and. instead of finding the place full, as I hoped, I saw one drunken man, two ofd women, and a| \ couple of boys assembled to hear me. T went downstairs' and asked tl\e cabman whether he would not like to come to the lecture. He thanked me, but assured me that he would rather not, as hje was . "very comfortable, where he was." TOO BAD! Eventually about twenty people turned up, anil to them I delivered my lecture. When I went home I related my expedience to my wife; and we went into a calculation that T had spent something Uk' seven pounds in hiring the hall, and advertising the lecture, and that all I wa« likely to receive was twenty-five shillings. ' ; Xo." said my wife, "you won't ( got as' much, for T sent the maid an I the cook to hear you; <so that is two shillings off."