AN ANTARCTIC EPIC.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 November 1919, Page 10

AN ANTARCTIC EPIC.

GREATEST SLEDGING PEAT KNOWN THRILLING FIGHT FOR LITE. Mr. Eimest E. Mills ifoyce, at present in Wellington, who has been appointed second in command of the British Imperial Antarctic Expedition, is an exnaval man with a fine reoord. He is a man of splendid physique and is well fitted for the position, having been in command of the Ross Sea leg of the Shackleton Expedition of 1914-17, after fthe death of Captain Mackintosh. Mr. Joyce was educated at the Greenwich Royal School, and entered the. Royal Navy in 1891. His first taste of polar life was when he went to Iceland in 1893. After that he spent three years on the coast of Newfoundland, and was on H.M.S. Sybil when she was wrecked on the coast of South Africa in 1900. He was a member of the famous Naval Brigade which served in the South African campaign, and when the late Captain Scott called at Cape Town en route for the Antarctic, he joined that expedition, returning safe and Bound in 1914. It was his good work on the Discovery which brought him under the notice of Sir Ernest Shackleton, and when in 190fi the latter was fitting out his expedition Mr. Joyce, then in charge of the boom defence at Gibraltar, forsook the Navy, and took charge of the sledges, dogs and stores with that expedition. It was Mr. Joyce who published the first book ever printed in the Arctic or Antarctic. There w; i only a limited number of copies of ''Aurora Australia," and they were all disposed of at twenty guineas per copy. He returned from the Shackleton Expedition in 1909, and coming out to Australia served as an officer of the Sydney Harbor Trust for three years. He then joined the Shackleton Expedition of 1914. This expedition (or his half of it) suffered great privations, through the ship breaking away unexpectedly, but despito the hardships and sufffferings the objective of the party was achieved. The story of the sledging journey was described by Sir Ernest Shackleton as "one of the biggest deeds in polar exploration." THE LONG TRAVERSE. The party consisted of two sections of three men each. One consisted of Captain Mackintosh, Rev. Spencer Smith, and Mr Ernest Wild, R.N., and the other of Messrs. Joyce, R. Richards, and T. Tayward (with four dogs). The parties met in 82deg. south in January after having been out since the previous September. They proceeded south, and in 83deg. Spencer Smith gave out. He was left in a tent with provisions, and tha rest left to lay the depots at 83.30deg., which was accomplished. On the return they picked up Smith and put him on a sledge, and started back on their 400mile trek across the ice. They got wiEs.in two miles of Captain Scott's grave when they were overtaken by a blizzard which lasted fourteen days, but on the sixth day Joyce decided to get under way as the provisions were giving out. They had their last feed, and owing to extreme weakness it took four hours to pack the Spencer Smith fainted as he was placed on the' sledge. After the party got under weigh, Mackintosh collapsed. Joyce then decided to leave the two invalids with Wild to look after them, in order to try and make the depot ahead, and he left with the blizzard still raging at a rate of from 40 to 60 miles an hour. All the food was turned over to Wild. It consisted of 16 biscuits and 21 ounces of meat extract. The depot was ten miles away. Joyce started off with Richards and Hayward and four dogs, and practically an empty sledge. After fourteen hours' travelling three miles and eight hundred yards were covered, whereas six weeks before they had been able to do ten miles a day with 13801b. on the sledgenow they were only dragging 2001b.

THE HUT SIGHTED. On the fourth day after leaving the sick men the depot was sighted. They had been without food for the whole time, and the dogs for five days, but Joyce would not kill the dogs, as he knew it would be impossible to return and drag back the sick men without their aid, and Joyce says that they were more human and better companions during this time of stress than could be imagined. They just crawled to the depot, taking over two hours to cover the last hundred yards. Then followed the struggle of pitching the tent. Under ordinary circumstances it would take five minutes, but owing to their awful weakness the job took over two hours With the tent up, they were able to light a "Primus" stove, and a cup of hot dried milk was served. It seemed to fill them all up. In the meantime the dogs were given plenty of pemmican, but it was hours before they attempted t» eat, so extreme was their utter exhaustion. All this time the blizzard was raging, and the temperature, 25 degrees below.zero, made things very uncomfortable. The party got their strength back gradually by feeding every two hours.

On the second day they decided to steer south again to rescue their comrades, though the blizzard still continued with unabated fury. When they were all ready they could not get the dogs to budge, so he turned their heads to the north and they went away at high speed, but as soon as they were turned to the south they stopped dead, and looked at one another with such wistful eyes, which said as plainly as possible: "I don't want to go." After an hour's coaxing they went forward slowly, but after an hour's inarch Hayward, who had been complaining, collapsed. His legs refused to go—scurvy had got him. He had spent some years in Northern Canada, and was a very strong man, but once scurvy gets its grip on a man there is no cure save fresh food, and the party was over 100 miles from that. Hayward was put on the sledge, and Joyce and Richards, with the four dogs, advanced slowly through the howling blizzard. On the seventh day'after leaving the sick party, they found them again. Wild came out of the hut and reported that the invalids were still alive, but extremely weak. Shortly after arrival they had food, and Joyce, Richards, and Wild dug tents and sledge out of the frozen snow and got going again. THE TREK TO THE BASE. 'The predicament of having three sick men, and only three well ones and four dogs to drag them over 100 miles was a staggerer, but fortunately the blizzard still continued, and for the first time in the annals of polar-sledging the party blessed tiie blizzard. A sail was set on the sledge, and the dogs, knowing that they were homeward bound, went off at a great pace. They proceeded day after day, tending £heir. tick «»»paiuen» <t» well as they

could, the temperature being, down to 40 degrees below zero. It was not easy to work, but as long as the wind continued they could do a mile an hour, but unfortunately the wind dropped; and for the first time for weeks the sun appeared. Then came the real struggle. After five hours' travelling only 1150 yards were registered. Joyce, Richards, and Wild were getting weaker, and scurvy signs were showing. They carried on for two days in that condition, when it was decided that one man would have to stay behind for at least three weeks. Mackintosh volunteered. So three weeks' provisions were left with him in a tent, and the party proceeded on with Smith and Hayward. When within 19 miles of the base hut the lie/. Spencer Smith died. He had been ill for 54 days, and had been dragged on a sledge for 44 days in temperature that ranged to CO degrees below zero! lie was buried, and a bamboo cross was erected over his grave. It was hard to have dragged him so far, to die within sight of the hut. Hayward was then dragged on, the others getting weakei and weaker. Bits of bamboo had to be lashed to the knees to prevent them doubling up in the night. Had that been allowed to occur they would stay, in that position. Hayward's legs were bent double. After a tremendous struggle the base hut was readied. Throughout that journey the dogs were superhuman, but at the end they were so done up that one could not get a bark out of them—scurvy had attacked them, too. | On arrival at the hut seals were killed, and the fresh meat acted like electricity on everyone. The dogs speedily lost their lassitude, and their welcome barks cheered everyone up. MACKINTOSH RESCUED. After a respite of 3G hours, Joyce, Wild, and Richards started back to get Mackintosh, with the temperature 40 degrees below zero, and, after a severe struggle he was brought in. It has to be remembered, in considering this epic in Polar travel, that the ,party had been out since September, and had travelled 1800 miles to lay the depots for Shackleton, who was to have come across the South Polar continent The clothes they were wearing had been on for over twelve months, and were in •rags. Their socks were tied up in canvas, and the fur boots were full of holes. The scurvy, which overtook them was caused through their being out so ong and away from fresh food of any kind. The symptoms and effects of scurvy were blackening of tiie gums and their protrusion from the mouth- dilation of the whites of the eyes; limbs from the ankles black and swollendoubling of the knees, blackenino- and swelling of the elbows, and indentations on the nails of the hands. Joyce and Wild were naval men. The latter gave his life for his country whilst employed on a mine-sweeper in the Mediterranean. Both men could not give enough praise to Richards whose optimism and cheerfulness were ■is a tome.