THE AURORA ARRIVES.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 February 1917, Page 4

THE AURORA ARRIVES.

! THE WELCOME AT WELLINGTON. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The Aurora arrived in the harbor j about seven o'clock. The vessel was met ' by officials and the Mayor. No informa--1 tion is available yet as to the ship's [ experiences. [ On the arrival of the Aurora tln» ! evening, a welcoming party consisting [ of the Hon. W. If A Harries (Acting Minister for Marine), the Mayor and other prominent citizens went out on the tug ; Karaka to meet the Aurora. As the i two vessels drew alongside three lusty '' H'ters were called for by the ?r«yor. ami • V (.|.. given for the party aboard the An ; rova; then three more for Sir E. Shackle- • ton and Captain Davis, and hearty wel- , comes were shouted. In a few minutes • the welcoming party were over the side ' and aboard the Aurora, and there was 1 general handshaking and congratuia , tiens. * The survivors of Mackintosh's party I wen then called for, and as they came ■ fcTHiird were introduced to the asf r-embk-d citizens, and all were looking I surprisingly well after their trying ex--1 ucricnecs. -■ The Aurora drew alongside the ferry , wharf shortly after 7.30 p.m. and there ■ n large crowd was gathered, and the ) air rang with cheers and shouts of wel- - ncinc. The Ross Sea party were shortly . afterwards taken to the Grand Hotel by ; mrtor ear, where they were entertained t at supper. The official reception of and preson--1 tat ion to Sir E. Shackleton will take , place on Monday. ". THE OFFICIAL RECORD. j OF RELfEF JOURNEY. Wellington, Last Night. The following is the official record o. '■ tin' relief journey of the Aurora as sitp--1 plied by Captain Davis:— "I "The Aurora sailed from Port Chalmers for the Antarctic on the morning of December 20. ]!)l(i. Ice was sighted on - .December 27, and on December 20 the r Aflarctic circle was crossed, the vessel n entering Ross Sea on January 7, 1017 At noon on January fl Mounts Erebus t ami Terror, on Ross Island, were sighted. a and on the next day the vessel reached t I he edge of the fast ice in McMur.lo s Sound, about five miles from Cape - Et fins, and picked up soven oi i.-.c sure living members of the Shackleton expedition, namely, A. Stevens, E. Joyce, I. L. Cope, E. Wild. W Richards, L 0. e (.'(••/(> and A. K. Jack, who were found all ■ well, but bore traces of the ordeai through which they had passed. It e 'viii then learned, with eleep regret, that • A. V. Spencer-Smith had died of scurvy n on the Barrier, and when 20 miles south li UOiieg. east on Hot Point, and that il Captain Mackintosh and Mr. V. Haywarci e had perished on May 8. Mill, being" ovor- - taken by a blizzard which broke up the ■- sea ice over which they were travelling e frl-.m If tit Point in an 'attempt to reach f winter quarters at Cape Evans, 15 miles >. to the north. A week was spoilt ai oape Evans, during which a further search for the bodies i'f Captain Mcintosh and his companion .viis curried out by Sir E. Shackelton fii.il a party, whilst the ship examined the coast at Butter Point and Granite Harbor, but no traces of any kind were discovered. THE RETURN The Aurora left MeMurdo Sound on January lfl. A succession of northerly Rules had packed the ice olosc-lv off Capo Adaire, and occasioned a few days delay, g hut she finally forced her way' through t the belt of pack ice into open water on .. January 20, recrossing the Antarctic -. ctclo in the evening of January 31, after ,-. being south of that latitude for a period .. of 33 days. Proceeding northward, bc-fe-re fresh south-west gales, wo reached \\ fbington at 7 p.m. on February 8, 3 SHORTAGE OF CLOTHING. (Official Copyright Report. Wellington, Later. From further particulars supplied by Shackleton in his official copyright report it appears that the only serious result of the Aurora's disappearance was 8 that ample clothing was not landed. "- The winter passed with the usual bliz- '• zard.i, Joyce ami Wild makimr cloHiins '• friitii materials left by the Scott ex--0 pedition. n n DEPOT LAYING. s Owing to the loss of all except four i- dogs, Macintosh decided to start depot d laying early, and sledging commenced •i on September 1. Two parties and e Joyce's party reached Hut IPoint on s January 10, where they were joined bv Marintosh on January -22, the lust depot e being laid on January 26 at Mount Hope, where two of Scott's sledges were found, these being the only traces discovered, though the party followed the same track. Spencer Smith now broke down and was lashed to a sledge. Macintosh, though badly attacked by scurvy, eons tinned pulling and made good progress ,_ for the next 190 miles, but then the , slrnin was telling on him, combined with , the bad surface, the weather, and the length of the marches, which were great, and shorter hours were adopted. s A FCRJOUS BUZZARD. When within thirty miles of where Scott perished, the party was overtaken by a furious blizzard, eleven miles from | the safety of Bluff depot. The blizzard rage! from February 17 to March 1, the tor alure being 30 degrees below zero. , Fi - first six days the party re- ''• n camped, then, as fuel anil pro\i were practically exhausted and >' tin H were weakening rapidly in their ■' frozen sleeping bags, camp was broken i on the 23rd. i A FIGHT AGAINST RATH. . After digging out the buried sledges, , they started in a blinding drift in an ", attempt to reach the depot eleven miles " away. They now began to fight against death, which called forth qualities of sclt-denial, endurance, and comradeship worthy of the highest traditions of the ' Polar service. S'oon after starting, Mac- ' intosh fell in his tracks, having endured " to the limit. He was left with Smitli, ' with Wild to attend to them, whilst Joyce, Richards, and Hayward, with the four starving dogs, struggled on to reach • the depot. A few biscuit crumbs and ■ tea was the only food left. On the 20th, | in a momentary clearance of the drift, ' the depot was sighted. A TRYING JOURNEY. The party returned with food and oil. i Hayward had now broken down, the blist- • zard continuing. Joyce and Richards, 1 with the dogs pulling, on the 29th ar- ' rived in camp and found the party with--1 out food, iw -aaedifttely msule a.

start again for the depot, Mackintosh and Smith being lasheel on the sledge, and Hayward staggering along beside it, On .March 1 tho blizzard drift ceased, but the wind continued. Macintosh, Smith, and Hayward were now lashed. on sledges, the party being helped by a sledge sail. On the 7th the wind dropped, the sail being useless. Three r men pulling were, unable to move the t sledges with their sick comrades. Mac- ■ intosh, seeing the gravity of the situa--9 tion, decided unselfishly to remain behind and give the other sick men a » chance to reach safety. We left him in / ? a tent, with three weeks' provisions, - forty miles from safety. The party r pushed on with Hayward and Smith, ? but all were now weakening from scurvy b and th<» low temperatutea. On the 9th l 1 Spencer Smith died. He was cheerful to i the end. On March 11 Hut Point was reached. - Alter n bad blizzard, Joyce, Richards, - anil Willi started back for Macintosh. 5 and on the 18th' all were safe at Hut o Point, Macintosh and Hayward's lives s having been saved by the devoted efforts of their comrades and by the endurance work of the four dogs. e DEATH OF MACINTOSH AND - y HAYWARD. Owing to the omission by wireless yesteniay, the account of the death of i' Macintosh and Hayward was incomplete, 0 and Sir E. Shackleton now supplies fure ther detail;. From March 18 until the end of April f sea ice was steadily forming betweeu if Hut Point and Cape Evans, only to be 1 blown out by each succeeding blizzard. At the beginning of May a calm period - ensued, and the ice formed to a thickness o of four inches. On the eight of May Macintosh and Hayward decided to cro«3 the sea ice to Cape Evans. The weather was fine when they started with no; cip ipment, but they were overtaken by a sudden blizzard lit 3 p.m., when they would be, approximately, four miles from Hut Point. On May 10, the reh . inninde-r of the party being anxious for - the safety of these two men, followed Macintosh's tracks to the north and - found them abruptly terminating in f open water. Their worst fears were . a realised when they reached Capo Evana e and found Macintosh and Hayward hal >] not arrived. Shackleton was afterwards landed by Captain Davis with search, si parties, but they discovered no traces I, neither could anything be found by the :1 ship. a SHACKLETON'S GHATITUDE. e Sir E, Shackleton concludes: "I am - deeply grateful to the Imperial, Domin- ■, ion and Commonwealth Governments for I. enning- to the assistance, of the memII hers of my expedition who were left in i the Antarctic, and to tho captain, officeis t and crew of tho Aurora, t ~.