Home after Antarctic ordeal

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33093, 7 December 1972, Page 18

Home after Antarctic ordeal

The four members of the University of Canterbury’s marine biology unit who were rescued last Saturday after five days of drifting helplessly on ice floes in McMurdo Sound returned to Christchurch last evening. The unit leader, Mr J. K. Lowry, while willing to discuss the experiences of last week in general terms, declined to answer specific questions relating to their ordeal in view of an official inquiry which will begin in Christchurch today. The men looked somewhat tired after their five-hour flight from Williams Field aboard a Military Airlift Command Starlifter. Mr Lowry’s face, in particular, bore the marks of exposure. Mr G. D. Fenwick was wheeled into the airport terminal suffering from

feet swollen from frostbite. Waiting to greet the four men — Messrs Lowry, Fenwick, P. M. Sager, and R. W. Farrelly — were the superintendent of the D.S.I.R.’s Antarctic Division (Mr R. B. Thomson) and Professor G. A. Knox, head of the University of Canterbury’s zoology department. Bqth men will take part in the inquiry into last week’s events. Also present were several anxious relatives and friends, happy to be reunited with the men. The inquiry, after beginning today, will be continued at Scott Base by Mr Thomson, who will go to the Antarctic tomorrow. The photograph shows Mr Fenwick (in wheelchair) with (from left) Messrs Sager, Lowry, and Farrelly.