ANTARCTIC RELIC GIFTS

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31379, 26 May 1967, Page 1

ANTARCTIC RELIC GIFTS

The Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Antarctic Society has received two additions to its collection of historical items—a dog whip believed to have been used by Captain Scott in his first expedition in 1901-04, and a brass pilot lamp from the expedition’s ship Discovery.

The whip is a gift from Mrs E. J. Nolan, of Bryndwr, and the lamp was presented by Mrs O. C. Brastad, of Waiau, widow of a member of the committee of the branch. The secretary of the Canterbury branch (Mrs J. Cross) said yesterday that the whip was formerly the property of Mrs Nolan’s brother-in-law, Mr David Nelson. Mr Nelson went to the Antarctic in the Terra Nova on Scott’s last expedition, and also served in the relief ship Morning and Shackleton’s ship the Nimrod. In 1955 the dog whip was taken to the Antarctic by the commander of the United States Navy Antarctic Support Force (Rear-Admiral G. J. Dufek). He took it to Little America V, to Scott’s hut at Cape Evans, and Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds. It was used also for a few days by American dog team drivers at McMurdo Station. In December, 1955, Mrs Nolan attended a service in the Christchurch Cathedral When Admiral Dufek unveiled a plaque in memory of former Antarctic explorers. She mentioned the whip to a young United States naval officer who introduced her to Admiral Dufek. He agreed with a suggestion that he might like to take the whip to the Pole but he was unable to do this when he made the first landing in October, 1956. The whip was also taken by sea around the Antarctic Continent on a survey trip which included stops at Budd Coast, Knox Coast, General Erskine Bay, and the Weddell Sea.

Mrs Nolan has also given the society her brother-in-law’s Polar Medal in bronze which he received when he went south aboard the Morning in 19034. The original ownership of the pilot lamp from the Discovery is not known. It was given to Mr Brastad by a Mr J. Campbell. Mrs Cross said the branch would like to know who this man was. Mr Brastad, an adventurous Norwegian, who was a member at Norwegian whaling expeditions to the Antarctic

before he settled in Canterbury in 1924, returned to the Antarctic in 1935 as a member of the crew of the City of New York when it brought RearAdmiral R. E. Byrd's second expedition back from Little America. He took the lamp with him on this trip. Before he died last year Mr Brastad expressed the wish that the lamp be taken to the Antarctic a third time. At Christinas it was carried smith aboard H.M.N.Z.S. Endeavour. On December 22 the Endeavour’s executive officer (Lieu-

tenant-Commander B. M. Commons) took the lamp with him on a flight to the AmundsenScott South Pole Station. Mrs Cross said the society now had a considerable amount of Antarctic historical material to hand which would eventually be displayed in the Antarctic Hall of the Canterbury Museum. She felt sure that much material was still tucked away and forgotten in many homes. If any was found the society would be grateful to learn about it.