DR COOK'S NARRATIVE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXI, Issue 7913, 29 September 1909, Page 3

DR COOK'S NARRATIVE.

Received September 29, 10.20 a.m*

: PERTH, •September 29. •English files just to hand contain Dr Cook's account of his dash for the Pole. .:'

;•;' He says that the expedition was the outcome of a summer cruise m the Aictic seas m the yacht Bradley,, t)n arrival at the limits of navigation at SmiWs Sound, late m Aiagust, 1907, •itfe conditions were foiifid favourable for '.-a -venture to the Pole, and Mr J. Rv Bradley liberally supplied provisions and equipment. At sunrise m February, 1908, the inamf.expedition embarked for thei Pole. It consisted of 11 men, and I^3 dogs, drawing 11 heavily-laden sfedges. „ Ihe.gloom of the long night was reW by only a feY hours of sunshine. " „.■ -

rAs they crossed the heights of Elles'iiiere; Sound, 83 degrees below zero was re«stered. ■ i -For several days the frozen men suffered, severely ,but they soon found the game trails,. along which an easy way-was, iorcea through Nansen Sound ta 'Lands End*

; ;._l.n Match the writer) we .secnr^.lOl musk oxen, and 355 hares. „■ mished out into the Polar Sea, Trppi^the. southern point of Heiberg Island.

„,:rOn March 18 six Eskimos returned •.from -here with four men and forty-six dogs for moving supplies for 80 days. r Crossing the eircumpolar pack was then, begun, and three days later two other Eskimos, forming the last supporting party, returned. ..EuskisJiook and Welsh, two of thei oest nien, and 27 dogs, were picked for tfi&jhial, 460 miles to the goal* Oii March 30 the horizon became partly cleared of its smoky agitation, and ■ over the western mist we discovered hew land; observations gave the position as latitude 84 degrees 47.* minutps, longitude 88 degrees 36 minutes.'

j The urgent need for rapid advance did rui't permit, a detour to explore. .Here were seen the last signs of solid earth.

■ "We advanced steadily over a monotonously moving sea of iee> found ourselves beyond the range tifCalt; life, and the maddening influence of the shifting desert v of frost h©caihe almost unendurable m the daily rouhtine, though the surface of the pack offered less trouble.

: The: weather improved, but still remained life-sapping, with a wind vvnich drove despair to its lowest recess. Th& night of April 7 was made notable,by seeing the sun of midnight over the northern icelands.

Observation on April 8 placed pur camp at latitude 94 degrees 2 seconds. In spite of what seemed the long ..march, we had advanced little over 100 Egilea^in nine days. ■ .ThofljKh^still equal to about 15 miles daily, the extended marches and the lonw,hours of travelling with which fortune hid favoured us earlier were no longer "possible. We were now about 200 miles from the Pole; 7 ■„'' Our sledge loads were reduced; one dog after another had to go into the stomachs of >• the surviving champions, until-the ; teams were considerably re* duced. '■■''..

The, icefields became more extensive, and The -heavier crevasses fewer and less troublesome from the 87th to the 88th parallel _ Much to our surprise, there w%s an indication of land ice.

For two days we travelled over ice that . resembled a glacial surface, though there were no positive signs of land or sea.

'"■The temperature remained below 40 degrees^ cementing together quickly new .crevasses, and trie young ice spread over the open water so rapidly that little delay was caused from crossing brie field to another. The : time had arrived to muster our energies for our last eiforts.

Signs of land were still'seen every day, but they were deceptive illusions.

,On April 21 at the first corrected latitude, the sun gave 88 degrees 58 minutes 46 seconds.

The Pole was, therefore, m sight. We advanced to 14 seconds, made Supplementary observations, and prepared to stop long enough to permit a double round of observations. At;; last we had pierced the Boreal "Mystery, and the flag was raised to the coveted breezes of the Pole. ' Received September 29, 11.15 a.m. ._ The day was April 21, and the sun indicated local noon, - but time was a Qegatiye. . The problem of north, east and west ka3".^vanished, and it was south m eyery-: direction; but the compass, pointing to the Magnetic Pole, was as useful- as ever.

..Though overjoyed with success and coitquest, a sense of intense loneliness came], with further scrutiny of the hqrizbn, with its endless fields of. purple vsnttws and no life, no land or no spot to .relieve the monotony. -. W<j \were the only pulsating breathers:hi:a dead world of ice.

'" We turned our backs to the Pole on April 23. .The return journey was made m a more; westerly direction. With fair weather and good ice long distances were,at first quickly covered, but later tjie weather became, bad, and food being very scarce, we suffered severe privations until we reached open water atjCrawn Prince Gustav Sea, where we obtained hear* meat.

..Thence we made our way to Cape Sparta, where we managed to live on. game till the sunrise of 1909; and then #e;reached the shores of Greenland on April 15th.