TWO CRUSOES IN THE ANTARCTIC.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3131, 21 August 1922, Page 8

TWO CRUSOES IN THE ANTARCTIC.

MAKOONED EXPLORERS. To bo marooned in the great Antarctic Continent; to live for 12 dreary months in an abandoned boat which they converted into a hut; cut off from civilisation; practically surrounded by huge mountains of ice: dependent for fresh food supplies upon penguins and seals which they could catch and kill; to hear continually the crashing of tons of ice down the mountain side and falling with terrifying roars like thunder; to experience the terrors of the raging blizzards of the Antarctic winter; to watch the sea ice daily piling up and pressing closer and closer, threatening ftnd menacing their rude shelter from the cruel winds and storms; to be prepared at any moment' to abandon the comparative comfort of the "boat hut" and make a last attempt to exist amid the ice and snow in a tent—such have been the astounding experiences, as fold to the Central News, of two youthful Britons, who landed at IS'eweastle-on-Tyne, England, brought from the Great White Continent by Norwegian whalers, who effected their rescue Scarcely more than youths- one, in fact, has still to celebrate his 21st birthday—they have returned to England undaunted and ready to face fresh dangers. In September, 1920, the British Imperial Antarctic Expedition left London for the Great White South, intending to chart the western shores of the Weddell Sea., the vast ice stronghold where the late Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship, the Endurance, was crushed and sunk, and carry out other scientific work, 'the party who were to undertake this great' task, involving as it did. even if all went well, a march of considerably over 1000 miles in absolutely unknown territory, consisted of but four members, and of theso the two adventurers who have now reached home. -Mr T. Bagshawo of Cambridge University, and Mr M. C. Lester, a young officer of the British Mercantile Marine, sailed as geologist and navigator respectively. The party was conveyed to the Antarctic; in Norwegian whalers, and it was intended to effect a landing at Hope Bay, on the western edge of the Weddell Sea. But pack ice made it too dangerous for the Norwegian whalers to approach in December, 1020, and finally the four men were landed off the coast of Graham Land, at Andvord Bay. There, at the foot of a huge glacier, a base was established and efforts made to cross the ice mountains which barred the way to the Weddell Sea. But the mountains proved impassable to so small a party, who were unable to carry with them sufficient food to enable them to put their plans into execution. Efforts were then made to find a crossing at another spot, and these efforts necessitated voyages in a lifeboat, given to the explorers by the Norwegians. Still success was denied them, and it became apparent that without a suitable vessel in which to reach Hope Bay the work of the expedition could not be accomplished. During February, 1921, the leader of the expedition decided to go to Monte Video for the purpose of obtaining a small vessel in which to reach Cape Hope during the following season, while Mr G. H. Wilkin*, MX'., who was the second in command of the lit-' tie party, and who is now one of the men sailing in the Quest, announced his intention of leaving the expedition. Messrs Bagshawe and Lester, anxious that the work should be accomplished, volunteered to remain in Andvord Bay until the leader of the expedition returned in the following November, their duties being to carry out scientific work and attend to the dogs. But the difficulty was to reach the nearest whaling base in time to get a passage in one of the ships then about to leave Monte Video. The whalers' base was many miles distant, and to reach this a voyage in the lifeboat was necessary, while one of the party would bo compelled to remain behind and attend to the dogs' feeding and continue the meteorological observations. Tins duty was undertaken byMr Bagshawe, and on February 20, 1921, the leader of the expedition, with Mr Wilkins and Mr Lester, set sail in the open boat, after bidding Mr Bagshawe adieu. "For a week,'' said Mr Bagshawe, on his arrival at Christiania, "1 was absolutely idoue, aud 1 livwe never ielt so miserable m all my life. I didn't know whether the party would reach the whalers' base safely or not, and when fogs and the blizzards came up 1 was very anxious concerning them. Lester had promised to come hack and stay with mo till the leader returned witii a ship, but at times 1 was haunted by the dread that disaster had overtaken the boat and I was left stranded there. My home was on a tiny island, not 30ft above the water level at the highost point, and my habitation an old, abandoned boat, which we had rigged up as a temporary hut, with the aid of sides taken from packingcases. For companions 1 had a lew dogs and some thousands of penguins, while occasionally a huge sea elephant would flounder ashore and staro at me. You can imagine my relief a. week later to seo a little catcher steaming up, towing the Jifeboat. Lester was aboard the catch, which departed after be had landed. "Our first job was to make, ourselves as comfortable as we could during our stay. The winter was rapidly approaching, and we had no suitable place in which to live during the months when the cold was intense. There was the old. abandoned boat, lying on a narrow, sloping neck of land and resting at an angle of Odcg., and at the after end the sea came up sometimes under the boat, while at the other the water was only a few feet away. To move the boat was out of the question, so we decided to do the best we could with her. We gathered together all the limber we could find, packing-cases and such like, and after covering the deck of the boat with canvas, we built a hut over her, which we christened "The Lounge,' and at the side. To prevent the boat from slipping into tin 1 sea we wedged an old spar at the stem. The walls of our hut were covered with canvas on the inside, and we then set to work to build a second hut out of provision cases which we brought in the boat from another island where they had been landed. The roof of this but consisted of the sail of the lifeboat, and to strengthen the building we piled coal and stones against the outer walls. The whalers had warned us to make our habitation as strong as possible, so as to resist the winds and heavy snowfalls, and in this respect our work was successful. Our one source ol trouble was that we could not put windows in the hut, so that, save for the doorwav. it was impossible for dayligbl to penetrate. Always we bad to keep candles burning, and when we were .-..««ii/v1 mil- stock of these amounted I" but twenty, "Having lini'shied our hirl«. tiny place* at the best, for the 'lounge' measured lift bv 0.'.f1. and was off Din in height, we decided to use what inventive faculties we nnsKcissed to make Mich necessarv articles as forks, candlesticks, hand shovels, tables. scats ladders, shelves, bookcases, etc. By an oversight we bad not a single fork or candlestick on the island. We soon made a fairly useful

' set of forks out of ai piece or packmgcauo cut to shape with a, penknife, and empty cigarette tine were turned into primitive candlesticks withl the aid or a pair of trail seizors. Our one fear was fire, hence our desire lor a candtetick which would keep a lighted candle rigid and firm. Out of empty kerosene tins Lester and T made a useful "Dutch oven for wasting peal and penguin IMB, while hand shovels and pokers wertea*» fashioned from tins. We worked Warn dawn till dark for weeks on end, prepar!ne ourselves for the winter, and when the moon was shining we continued our work out of doors until, dead tired, we were compelled to rest. "There was much to do and little time in which to do it. Tons of stores had to be moved: to the cover which the huts provided. Seals and penguins had to ho caught and killed. We stew two hundred penguins and thirty seals', fearing their bodies stacked near the huts to freeze. Oltr bedroom was in the bottom of the old boat, and the reel which the deck formed was 3ft 2m above the floor. There, side by side, we had our sleeping bags, resting on a soft bed formed of eiderdowns, rugs, skins, and se-nne grass which we had brought from, Norway. All time was stored in the forepart of the boat, which mca-i-iired 27.', ft by lOJft broad. The 10mauling space'in the boat was used lor stores and as a kitchen, so that we now possessed a two-storeyed 'house.' Really when we had finished our task we had quite a comfortable home, for the floor of our sitting-room or lounge was covered with skins and the walls were covered with eiderdowns. Our library occupied one wall, and a large cabinet gramophone took up a whole corner. \\e had no room for tables or chains, but we made ourselves comfortable on the floor on the skins. In the centre of the floor was a hole .leading to our kitchen and bedroom in the bottom of the boat. Here we did all our cooking on a Primus stove, and later on a coal grate was made. Our other hut. which we used a« a workshop, was a constant source of woctv, for the roof leaked badly when the thaw came, but the leaks even nerved a good purpose, as we were able to pet a good supply for washing without "having to train)) through the quagmire outside.