MEMORIES OF THE SOUTH.

Evening Star, Issue 15107, 12 February 1913, Page 3

MEMORIES OF THE SOUTH.

“LIVING THROUGH THE DARK- . NESS.” A BAKER’S NARRATIVE. Mr H. R. Brett, now resident in Dunedin, went South with the Discovery in 1901. He was baker on the vessel, and had some unique experiences in that capaci.Hy• When the Discovery was frozen in, nine miles from open water, the temperature for four months ranged from 48 to 68 degrees below zero. Mr Brett has recollections of having baked bread on the Discovery when the temperature around the ship was 68deg below zero. On various parts of the ship tho thermometer often registered as high as 60 (above zero), and in the galley he often used to work in his shirt sleeves. Nevertheless, he has see n frost on the funnel of the range to within Ift of the fire. Mr Brett made his own yeast out of hops and rice. Potatoes were useless for riie purpose, because all the strength was gone out of them, Aniong_ other memories he recalled the return of Joe Hare to the Discovery after being lost tor 40 hours. Hare was in the same party as Vinty, who fell over a cliff and was never seen again. When he got lost he became exhausted after a time, and lay down on the snow asleep. He awoke with the sun shining in his eyes, and resumed his search for the ship, at which' he arrived safe and sound without even a frost-bite, to tho great joy of the company, who thought that, like Vinty, he was dead. Hare was steward to Captain Scott, 22 years of age, and a Christchurch boy.

As instancing the force of the wind, even where the Discovery was, the company erected a windmill to work a dynamo. The mill was well secured, as might be expected, but lasted only a day or two, being smashed to smithereens in a tremendous gale which snapped a half-inch anchor like a twig. After that, failing electricity, the party used clock-worked tamps, winch did not require glasses, and gave a tolerable light. When the relief ship Morning came, r-he could get within only nn-5 miles of the Uiscoverv. The intervening distance had to be sledged. Mi Brett was one of the party that were invalided back in the Morning. He was severely frost-bitten, and bears yet the marks of his experience. He also had

scurvy. With him came back Lieutenant Shackleton and (Messrs Walker, MncFarlane, Peters, and Hubert. Talking of tho vaunted fascination of the resplendent South, Mr Brett said that as a matter of fact the novelty soon wore oft. The four months’ darkness which constituted the winter rvas a circumstance ol which one experience was enough. During that long and storm-filled night time seemed to go with cruel and studied slowness. The men. though the best of fellows. became worked upon, overstrung, and irritable. Petty dissensions arose over trilles that would have been laughed at in the gay sunshine. If there had been foreigners among us, said the narrator, there would probably have been some rare melees. On the voyage down the party were taught ski-iug on the pack ice by tho Norwegian, Dr Kutlez, who was an expert in the art. Mr Brett has several relics of the trip, such as granite from the frozen land, lava vomited by Mount Erebus, and a flag left by the expedition that went down in the ’Southern Cross some vears before. He shares the belief that scurvy must have contributed to the tragic end of the brave explorers who loft their bones under the shadow of the .Southern Pole. The snatchers of secrets from those ice-clothed zones, though bravest of men, think of scnriy as a child thinks of. night’s phantoms or the child-like Australian savage of his self-created bum-ip. It is an everopen door to a terrible death. The conditions of life render the explorer particularly prone to it. The paucitv and quality of the tinned rations and the resultant poorness of the blood are the seeds of calamity. _ For Captain Scott and Dr Wilson Mr Brett had the greatest respect and the most cheerful memories. He was shocked bevemd telling the news of their terrible late. Captain Scott was a splendid pe» of gentleman—a thorough sailor, too -whoso ■ word could bo relied on, and who would ask no man to'do what he would not do, himself. A man of courage, refinement’ and generosity—the makings of the hero which, in the last dread extremity, he proved to be.