ON ELEPHANT ISLAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 January 1917, Page 3

ON ELEPHANT ISLAND.

I RANK WILD'S THRILLING STORY. GREAT HARDSHIPS AND HEKJIC RESCUES. Eleven members of the Shackleton Antarctic Expedition, which sailed two year; ago from South Georgia for the Weddell Sea in the Endurance, have arrived in London (says the Daily f.'hronicle of November !)). Their names are aa follows: Mr. Frank Wild (second in command), Mr, J. Wordie (geologist), Mr L. Hussey (meteorologist), Mr. R. Clark (biologist), Mr. E. James (magnctieian) Mr. G. Marston (artist), Major T. Ode Lops (motor engineer and storekeeper), Drs. A. Maeklin and J. Mcllroy (surgeons), Mr. T. Grean (third officer), and W Stephenson (fireman).' They travelled from v Buenos Ay res in the Highland Laddie, belonging to the Nelson line, which generously gave them passages. All the party, in spite of the extraordinary hardships tlicy have encountered in the last two rears, art in the best of health, and (hey are looking eagerly forward to taking their part in the war. _ SHACKLETON AS NURSE. "Compared with my previous Antarctic experiences." said Mr. Wild to a Daily Chronicle representative, "this was Infar the hardest, all thing:; considered There was constant anxiety and fresh pioblems presented themselves every day. The last week in the small boat's before we reached Elephant Island was the climax. Sir Ernest and myself had m> sleep at all, and but for the way in which Sir Ernest nursed some of the men—yes, literally nursed them—-we should never have brouglii, them through. "Elephant Island is about the mn-,t inhospitable place on the face of (he earth, though wo were pretty glad to reach it when we S\ft. for many of the party were on the vrrgc of -illapse From the physically fiite»{ of them were chosen the six men who accompanied Sir Ernest in the open boat on'her daring voyage- of 750 miles to South Georgia.

"It was only by a hair's breadth that she escaped being smashed up -when slit' vas launched, as there \> ;t- a nasty sea running in shove Creau iaveil her by fending her nil' with an oai just at the right moment, and fortunately the wind w'us off the land, and blew her out once she was afloat. "FINEST THING EVER DONE." "The trip to South Georgia is, in my opinion, the finest thing evei done. I didn't know until later how it had been. They were soaking wet the whole of the li) or 17 days; "they had very little v.i'ter. and when they landed on South Georgia they could hardly move. And after that Sir Ernest, with Crean and Worslny, made a 30-hours' march over untrodden glaciers and mountain ridges. 5000 ft high, to the whaling station.

"From the calculations I made I expected an attempt to rescue us towards the end of May, but the ice conditions were so bad that there was no hope of it succeeding. Then I figured out that th? chief would try to get a wooden ship and return later. In my diary I find that I fixed August 25 as the approximate date. The actual day Sir Ernest took us off was the SOth. Of course, we had no idea that this was his fourth attempt. And it was the luckiest thing in the world that the Yeleho came when she did. Two days earlier she would not have got anywhere near us, and two days later would probably hove been as bad, for the ice never cleared off for more than two or three dava at a time.

"It had been arranged that a gun should be fired from the ship when she got near the island. Many times when the glaciers were 'calving,' and chunks fell off with a report like a gun, we thought that it was the real tiling, and after a time we got to distrust these signals. As a matter of fact, we saw the Yeleho before we heard any gun. Vj was an occasion one will not easily forget.

"LUNCH OH!" AND "'SHIP OH!" 'Wo were just assembling for luncli to the call of 'Lunch 0' ! and I was serving out the soup, which was particularly good that day, consisting ot boiled seals backbone, limpets, and seaweed, when there was another hail from Marston of 'Ship 0!' Some of the men thought it was 'Lunch 0!' over agajn. but when there was another yell froSr Marston lunch had no further attractions. The ship was about a mile and a half away, and steaming past us. A smoke signal was the agreed sign from the shore and, catching up somebody's coat that was lying'about, I stuck a pick into a tin of kerosene kept for the purpose, poured it over the coat, and set it alight. Jt flared instead of smoking, but matter for the chief had already recognised the. spot where he had left us, and the Yelcho was taming in. "Nobody but he could have picked it out, for there was eight feet of snow before the hut, though we had shifted about 30 tons of the stuff that morning, and any sign of life on the island must ihav been invisible from the sea. The jch.ef, with Crean and some of the Chilian sailors, was soon alongside in a boat. 'A pretty heavy sea was running, but we didn't waste much time in getting aboard, and in less than an hour we [were steaniinj, north."

Speaking of the disaster to the Endurance, which was badly nipped in the ice In the Weddell Sea a< early as Auguse, 101,"), and sank nearly four months later, Mr. Wild said: "Sir; was a good ship, and she was just slowly mangled. I have been in shipwrecks several times, and ships have gone down nuclei' me, but this was unlike any other experience. Ycu could hear and fee! her being driven in. The thing gave you actual physical pain. One could do nothing to save her; there was a steady, relentless crushing, and finally the ice went dean through her from side to side.

"When nmtfcrs became hopeless with her everything that was essential to save collected on the nnper deck. We had aii the pumps soing, hut that only postponed the end. She ju-1 started to settle, iii'd as soon :i? Ik-i bows got under ami Ihe water put •-•.:! Ihe Toes, did noi, so uomii lor three wci-i;- altti that. STORJKS FROM THi'. U'RKCK. "After making an attempt to get to the north with the dog teams, we returned and camped near the wreck.'' Wo got everything useful out cf her. timber and so forth, that was accessible. Unfortunately the important stores which l.ad not previously been brought away were in a room on the lower deck with .three feet of water and it* above them If, seemed impossible to get at them. But the chief had a brilliant idea. He got an engine-room slice and filed it down to a chisel point. With this tool and with a good deal of labor we contrived to cut out a chunk of the deck about 2ft by oft. Some of the cases floated up, audi others were speajved and brought to the surface. We got about 100 cases in this way, and without them I doubt whether we should have got through. We lived on them for si.v months, together with what seal and penguin wo could catch, and saved our sledging rations during that time. "One of the rottenest jobs I ever had," said Mr. Wild, "was the shooting of the dogs. It had to be done to save them from a worse death, but it was very

painful to many of us, for during all these months on the ship and on the ice they had become pets. A dog called •Soldier' was my own particular favorite. He was originally known as the worst dog of the family, and for that

leason was handed over to me. I didn't kill him with kindness, but we became very excellent friends, and he. was so docile and obedient t!hat he would answer my call a quarter of a mile awa>, even if ho happened at the time to be chasing a penguin. PHOTOS AND FILMS. "Although wc met with such disasters the expedition has had very considerable scientific results. Hurley, the photographer, nas secured the most wonderful Antarctic pictures that have ever been obtained. In all I should think we have between seven and eight thousand feet of cinematograph films and hundreds of still pictures. The crushing of the Endurance in the ice, the abandoning of the ship, her foundering, and camp scenes on the ice flees of the Weddcll Sea, and our life on Elephant Island, will live on the ■screen.

"I should think that this is the first occasion on which a cinematograph film hajjt ever been taken of a ship going 4pvn. Even when Sir Ernest rescued us, and our interast in this kind of work had vanished, Hurley stuck it to the end, and he got the final scenes when we were taken off." Mr. Wild is so familiar with the everyday perils of the Antarctic that ho is apt to make light of encounters with killer whales and sea leopards, some of the most unpleasant fauna of these (regions. But he recalls one occasion when a sea leopard chased Major Orde Lees over the floes. In the water the would get you "one time," but on the ice it is fortunately net so rapid in its movements. However the major, who was unarmed, had rather a nasty time until he accepted the invitation of Mr. Wild, who was on another floe, to retreat in his direction, and the sea leopard, coming within .rnnpe of his rifle, was despatched. It measured 12ft 6in in length, and weighed about a ton. FOOD PROBLEMS. Seals were scarce on Elephant Island, ,and until the ice melted in Auaust, and