THE SOUTH POLE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 223, 19 March 1912, Page 8

THE SOUTH POLE

' STEERING BY THE STARS. 1 THE FEEL OF THE OCEAN SWELL. j An interesting description is given by I Amundsen in his "North-west Passage," ' of his sensations on discovering that Franklin Strait, in which his little ship, I the Gjoa, was sailing, was in reality a ! connection with a virgin open sea. | "By nine o'clock at night we were off Prescott Island in the strait. This island became a landmark on our voyage. The needle of the compass, which had been gradually losing its capacity for self-adjustment, now absolutely declined to act. We were thus reduced to steering by the stars, like, our forefathers, the Vikings. This mode of navigation is of doubtful security, even in ordinary | waters, but it is worse here, where the sky, for two-thirds of the time, is veil--led in impenetrable fog. However, we were lucky enough to start in dear , weather. Outside the promontories, some pieces of ice had accumulated, otherwise |f the sea was free from ice. Next day we had a good lesson in our new code of | navigation, as celar weather alternated jWith fog all day long. For the sake, of ( my comrades, I maintained a calm demeanour as usual, but inwardly much | agitated. We were now fast approaching the De la Roquette Islands; they were already in sight. This was the point that Sir Allen Young reached with the Pandora in 1875, but here he encountered an invincible barrier of ice. Were we and the Gjoa to meet the same fate? "Then, as I walked, I felt something like an irregular lurching motion, and I stopped in surprise. I would not have sold this slight motion for any amount ; of money. It was a swell under the boat, a swell—a message from the open jsea. The water to the south was open I—the impenetrable wall of ice was not i there." i J j _ |