THE ANTARCTIC.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 February 1917, Page 4

THE ANTARCTIC.

RETURN OF THE AURORA RXPLORERS. (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, February ID. The men rescued by the. Aurora look none the worse for having been marooned for more than twenty months in the Antarctic. The strain was severe, hut they nave come back bronzed and cheerful They had donned shore-going ri.lthes before they reached Wellington to-day, but there were still some robust beards nnd some remarkable heads of hair to be seen

It was in May. lfllo, that the Aurora was driven out of McMurdo Sound by a blizzard, leaving ten men on (he Antarctic coast. The sun had sunk below the horizon for the polar winter by that lime, and the natural presumption ashore, when the ship failed to return cither during the winter months or in the following spring, was that the Aurora had met with disaster. The experienced explorers among the shore party knew how precarious would he the position of a ship cast adrift among the bergs and Hoes of the Ross Sea in winter time, and they scarce dared hopo that the Aurora had survived. But they did not allow their plight to damp their spirits or interfere with their appointed work.

PRIVATION'S OF THE MEN". A question on the subject of privations drew from some members of the crew last, night a reference to tobacco, Before the Aurora was driven out of McMurdo Sound, a hut had been erected on Cape Evans, and a certain quantity of stores had been landed. But the stores did not include tobacco. "I did not have a smoke—that is a proper smoke—for twenty months," said one of the rescued men feelingly. "We smoked various mixtures, coffee, rope yarn, and so on, but they proved a very poor substitute for tobacco." The coal I hat was to feed the stove in the hut during the winter was landed from the ship, but while it was piled'on the shore a big berg overturned in the'neighborhood, and the resulting wave swept the coal away. There is no vegetation in the Antarctic, and the party became dependent upon seal blubber for fifel. The fat burned fiercely, and provided all the hieat that was required. Seals were plentiful and the supply of blubber usually was adequate. But the stove gave forth clouds of black smoke right through the winter and coated everything in the hut, Including the men, with lamp-black. Streamers of soot hung from the roc.f and the preservation of white skins was out of the question. The popular method of washing garments was to got some of the grease out with benzine. Baths were ''not a part of the camp regime.

SHORTAGE OP CLOTHING. A shortage of clothing was a more serious matter. The changes of garments that should have been available had gone away on the ship, and there was no saying when a further supply would be secured. The situation was saved to some extent by the discovery of some canvas and several old sleeping bags in the hut left by Captain Scott's expedition. The canvas wa:s used to make trousers, and the furs of the sleeping bags were turned into footgear by tho sledging parties. Joyce and Wild were the handy men who did the tailoring. A shortage of matches was threatened, but was overcome by the discovery of a case or two of matches in the Capo Royds iuit, left by the Shaeklcton expedition of 1907-09. USEFUL SCIENTIFIC WORK.

the party ashore included four members of the scientific stall", and these men were aide to undertake a great deal of useful scientific work during the stay at 'winter quarters and the subsequent sledging > journey. They made daily observations of various kinds, pursued the study of the geological conditions of Ross Island and other areas, conducted biological investigations and attended to other brandies of work. They were hampered by the disappearance of the ship, but they did the best they could under the circumstances, and the information they have secured will be added to the store of knowledge brought from the Frozen South by previous expeditions.

THE DOGS. A subject on which most of the men could grow eloquent, was the dogs. The loss of sixteen dogs on the preliminary sledging work in Ifllo was something of a disaster, since the party was left with but tour for the big southern journey that had to be undertaken in the following summer. The four dogs went south with the sledging party to lay the depots that Sir Ernest Shackleton would have needed if he had made his projected trans-continental march, in September, 1015, and they hauled the heavy sledges for six months, until March, lftlfi, almost without a break. Much of the outward journey had to be done on a relay system, and the men themselves had to, take a share of the hauling. But flic dogs, weary and hungry often, gamely stuck to their work, just as their ancestors had done in the frozen wastes of the Arctic. In the later stages of their MOO-mile journey there were three sick''men on the sledges, and three less si--k men to help with the pulling, The sledges were worn, the snow surface was persistently soft, and the total load to be hauled was in the neighborhood of 13001b. But the four dogs finished the journey, and three of them have come back to Wellington. The fourth dog, sad to relate, was killed by one of his comrades in a" fight after tim really big fight Against the forces of Nature had been won. There are eight delightfully woolly little pups aboard the Aurora, also, under the care of a fond and short-tampered mother, whom visitors do well to avoid. She is a big dog, but the sire of the pups weighs 1101b in his rough reddish coat. A SAD FUTURE. The loss ol" three good comrades, one of them the leader of the party, is the sad. feature of the story that the returned men have to tell. The outbroak of scurvy during the depot journey of 11115-W is attributed to the "long spell of very heavy work without fresh food. The loss of the majority of the dogs during the previous season made it necessary that the depot party should start very early in the season and do relay work in order to get the big load of provisions and fuel southward. During tlie early part of the journey, until the first depot was laid, the ground had to ho covered four times. A depot 'Was laid on every degree of latitude as far south as lit. Hope, at .the: foot of the Beardmore Glacier, 800 miles from Capo Evans. The Mt, Hope depot was not laid til' JnniMpv, 20. and tlia DUitv had

Thou l)oon travailing since September 1' under very severe conditions. The Rct. Spencer Smith'wo* the first man attacked hy the disease, but all suffered to some extent.

Captain Mackintosh and .Mr. V., C. Ilayward lost t'hoir lives owing to a sudden blizzard at an hour when they wore attempting to cross a wide stretch; of lliin son ieo between Hut Point, all the head of the Sound, and Cape Evans, where the base had been established. After the big journey tn the south the party readied Hut 'Point on March IH. i're-h meal and preserved, vegetables were to be obtained there, and the men made a rapid recovery from the scurvy. They were anxious to get down the. Sound to Cnpe Evans, lint the ice kept breaking out. On May 8, after a speil of fairly calm weather, the sea ice hail formed about four inches thick, and it appears that Mackintosh and Ilayward licciiod to make a. dash for it. A blizzard came down before (hey had crossed and they were not seen again, tho thin ice breaking up and goinjj aortic ward.