FROM THE ANTARCTIC

Evening Star, Issue 16079, 3 April 1916, Page 6

FROM THE ANTARCTIC

AURORA AT FORT CHALMERS. .. HER MEN ALL WELL, EXCEPT THREE WHO NEED ATTENTION. THE DETAIL STORY WITHHELD TEMPORARILY, BUT SHACKLETOSI BELIEVED TO BE ALL RIGHT. CONFIDENCE BEING EXPRESSED IF! HIS ABILITY TO WIN THROUGH.

DUNEDIN IN HEAVY WEATHER. The salvage tug Dunedin left Port Chalmers at 6.15 p.m. on Friday, and her run south was- so little of a sinecure in the heavy southerly weather that it is related that many of the crew suffered like landsmen. The weather was threatening when Ota-go Heads were cleared, and at 2 a.m. the tug was plunging bows under to the southerly sea. Speed, was perforce reduced, with the result that Bluff was not reached till 2 p.m. on Saturday. Extra wireless instruments were taken on there, and Mr R. W. G. Lye went aboard as telegraph engineer to assist Mr Lightman, who took charge of the wireless at Dunedin. After leaving Bhnff a light southerly wind was experienced, which towards midnight set up a choppy sea. The more powerful wireless machine shipped at Bluff was tested by communication with tho Awarua station, and proved tine thorough equipment of the tug. The course was laid towards Waipapa, -as news had been received, that the Aurora was about 80 miles from Bluff and abreast of Waipapa. At 7.30 p.m. the course was set for the Snares, to cut across tiro course of- the maimed vessel's probable drift, and at 1 a.m. (28 miles S.S.E. of Waipapa) the searchlight was turned on and the course changed. A message from the Aurora now established her position, and the tug proceeded under easier steam in order to bisect the course of the drifting ship. At 8 p.m. the message received from the Aurora gave her position in latitude 47.32 S, longitude 168.10 E, course N 40 E, and the message concluded. : " We are going to close down for a few hours." Having now established the position of the ship beyond doubt, the tug pursued her course, fully satisfied that the picking up of the Aurora was beyond doubt. The searchlight was kept going and all precautions token in order that no possible, mistake might occur to cause delay. At 11.30 p.m. a message came from the Aurora that she was then in latitude 47.19 S, longitude 168.16 E, and that her course was then north 42deg. east (true). After that the messages came in so strongly that tho searchlight on the tug's bridge was kept going unceasingly. FOUND. Presently another message came along stating that the searchlight was striking the Aurora's how. This was the very best news to those on the tiipg. Sikcoss was now within arm's length, m to speak, and everybody was eager to see the object of their search. About an hour afterwards a further wireless message stated that the Aurora could discern tho tug's masthead light. Tho tug sighted the Aurora at 2.30 a.m., and at 4.30 a.m. was alongside, or as near as she could go on account of the heavy sea running. Cheers were exchanged between the vessels, and the. tuo-'s crow were obviously satisfied that it was worth the trouble. A lino was thrown aboard, and the mails passed over by that means. The first parcel that came to hand, from anionn-st the many parcels of food which had been despatched by the tug, happened to be a parcel of eggs and bacon. The wireless told the tug's men how much the food was appreciated after the penguin and seal diet on which they had been living. At daylight the Dunedin got under wav with the Aurora in tow. ._ JURY RUDDER RE-FIXED. When picked up the Aurora's jurv rudder was not in working order, but on Sunday afternoon the vessels wero slowed down and the jury rudder was put into working order. Better headway was then made, and the Heads might have been reached at 10 o'clock last night, but ow'in-tr to the darkness it was deemed better to so regulate, tho towing speed as to reach the entrance this morning. The Nu,o-o- e ts were abeam at 3.30 p.m. yesterday ,°and Cape Sounders was rounded at 12.15 this morning. The Heads were approached at daylight, and the pilots then boarded the vessel. FIRST WELCOME BACK. When the tug with her charge in tow rounded up and entered the channel which gives access to tho harbor, Captain Stenhonso and his crew wore accorded their first official welcome, to New Zealand. Tho Mayor of Port Chalmers (Mr T Scollay) met tho vessel 'by launch, and hauling alongside extended a hearty welcome to Captain Stenhouso and his crew. Captain Stenhouso acknowledged the greeting from Port Chalmers and "".New Zealand generally, stating that ho had been impressed even before his actual arrival with the fine spirit of helpfulness which seemed to animate the peoplo of New Zealand, as conveyed to him 'first by wireless and then personally. THE FOOD. Before the Dunedin brought assistance tho crew of tho Aurora had been living principally on soak and penguins. The crew did not. seem the worse of their rjsigh fare, in fact they had the appearance of tho e-rew of any sailinc ship arriving from, a lengthy voyage. 'ln .addition to the seal and penguin there was a little flour left, and tea was not quite exhausted. Fortunately the supply of tobacco was not exhausted. THE FIRST NEWS. When * no tug drew near to the- Aurora the first inquiry for news was : " Is it all well with the Old Country? We have not heard for 17 months." This was in reference to the war, and the tug supplied particulars. Tho next message was a personal one -from.- Mr Hooko, wireless operator on the Aurora, He inquired for news of his brother, who went to the front with the Australians. His brother was dead, but the operators on the t,ug couid not find it in their hearts to wireless back that message to the man who had just escaped from tho horrors of icepacked polar seas. So tho message was not sent, until the letter containing the sad news was put on hoard. THE TUG'S WIRELESS. At tho Bluff additional wireless instruments were installed on the Dunedin to supplement those which had been somewhat hastily fitted before leaving Port Chalmers. Mr Lye also came on board to assist Mr Lightman, and Captain Spence, who ■commanded the. tug, states that they both rendered invaluable service. The improved wireless had an effective area of 200 miles for receiving and a " sending-ont" Taduis of about 10 miles. The receiving was the more important.

Messages were picked up by the Dunedin from the Bhift and from the steamer Uimmera. Faint signals were detected, ?." ii- 10so werc re ß ar <fed as cornino- f ro m Wellington. The fit tin? up of the aerial on the tug was somewhat hampered bv the fact that she has onlv one mast Nevertheless it was fitted up sufficientlv well to do its work. The aerial extended from the mast, which is situated forward ot the. bridge, right on to the stern, the wires being kept clear of the funnel bv means of outriggers affixed! near the top of the. funnel. The wireless and th» searchlight proved very valuable, and the tug will excel even her present good qualities as a sab-ace steamer when she has a permanent wireless installed. Mr Veith, who had charge of the fitting out of the temporary wireless on the tug, was so interested in it that he went out and met the tug at the Heads on her arrival. THE OFFICIAL PARTY. The Otago Harbor Board's tug Plucky left Dunedm at 8 o'clock this morning, conveying the town members of the' board and the Town Clerk (as the Mayor's representative). A quick run to Port Chalmers, and the tug there picked up Jn Dlckson ' chairman of the board, and Captain Thomson, harbormaster. AURORA STEAMS IN. When the Plucky was halfway down the Lower Harbor her party sighted the masts of the Aurora. She was moving in. As she passed the Heads a signal of welcome was run up on the flagstaff. As the Aurora came into view from behind the north spit it was observed that she was entering on her own steam, the tug Dunedin standing by astern. The Plucky and Aurora were abreast ot each other, inside Harrington Point, at 9.35. A ery hearty cheers were exchanged. The Aurora's men responded in the first case to Lieutenant Stenhouse's call, and then, on their own account, roared out "JJoorays" after the British fashion. The Plucky's party were commenting on the fact that the. Aurora's jury rudder could not be so bad after all, seeing that it served to bring her in through the narrow part of the channel, when it was seen that the vessel was edging into the shoal water. Evidently she did not respond to the porting of the helm. She therefore stopped, and the Dunedin went alongside and made fast, canting her head the right way and taking a' firm control that continued right up to the wharves. The mutual cheering was renewed as the Plucky ranged within hail on the Auroras port side. Captain Thomson asked if the Plucky should tollow, and Lieutenant Stenhous'e replied that he would be glad if she would go alongside, but not put anyone on board. GREETINGS EXCHANGED. Neatly handled, the Pluckv was in a few moments made fast to the Aurora, and Lieutenant Stenhousp, standing outboard, sheek hands with Mr Dickson and other members of the board who could get near enough. In answer to their welcome, the lieutenant said he was sorry ho could not invite tho pa-rtv aboard, but ho understood that thov knew tbe reason : his message must be received m London before the Aurora's people could say anything. . "It is rather a sad home-coming," added Lieutenant Stenhouse. "1 wish I had all the party here." * J THE AURORA'S PARTY ALL ACCOUNTED FOR, Thanks to the courtesy of Mr Dickson, the ' Star' reporters were introduced to Lieutenant Stenhouse, who said he was sorry to disappoint them, but his message for print was to get to London before he spoke here. Those were his orders, and he had to obey. He could say, however, that all the Aurora's party were accounted for. There had been no deaths. In answer to Mr Tapley, the lieutenant said that one man got knocked about a bit by being washed away from the wheel, and two wero rather bad from some sort of neuralgia owing to the intense cold in the ice.. THE SPEECHES.

A, little later, after Lieutenant Stenhouse had attended to some business about the ship, there was a little epeechmaking of a more set type. Mr Dickson repeated tho Harbor Board's welcome, adding that the board gave tho Aurora tho use of the dock and the freedom of the port. The board recognised the work done for science in tiie unknown land, and sympathised with the men in the troubles they had had. Mr Tapley endorsed the welcome.

Lieutenant .Stenhouso said, in reply '. Thanks very much for your welcome "to the Aurora's party. Wo did not expect to come back in this plight. We had hoped that when we came back it would have, been with all our party on board. I am sorry that Sir Ernest Shackleton is not with us. As to tho party we loft on shore, wo know nothing about them at present, but they were all well when we left. Owing to adverse circumstances we have been hindered frorii carrying out the work we intended to do. But Sir Ernest Shackleton is tho finest leader I know, and the most courageous of men, and I am fully confident that ho will win through. Ho will be the man to get across tho South Polar Continent if anyone can. As to the party wo landed, they will, I doubt not, accomplish their work of laying, and probably junction, not perhaps so far south as was intended, which was Beardmore, but far enough to help and succor tho other party on their last toreed marches. We would have been here sooner, but for the hich. seas and strong winds, and in our light condition wo could not burn our fuel, for we were short of ballast. But we made the best of the circumstances with our jury rudder. When we got the first message from New Zealand, sent by Mr -Massev, we had declined an offer of help from the chief naval officer, received when we were 600 miles from port, but I could not refuse the second offer, yours from the Harbor Board. The generosity which prompted it was so great that it could not be put aside. I thank you most heartily for your generosity in sending your tug to give us the last leg home. We hope to look on Port Chalmers as home for a time. I hope that the members of tho party now on board will be the men who will go south to relieve early next year, and I hope that in the following summer we shall return to New Zealand with all the party on board, including Sir Ernest Shackleton, as well as we are now. Cheers from the Plucky thanked Lieutenant Stenhouso for his speech and his

news, and in response the lieutenant called upon his men for ".cheers for Dunedin, tor New Zealand, and for Port Chalmers. THE ENGLISH BREAKFAST. Before the Plucky sheered off Mr Tapley asked : " How did the breakfast go?" Lieutenant Stenhonse smiled as he replied . "It was beautiful," and 'one of the bearded crew added : " I've put on a stone since that tuck out." Mr Tapley added : " The gentleman who sent it didn't wish his name known, but now that it is all over I may tell you that it was Mr Carr, of the 'South British Insurance Company, who sent i't. AURORA IN TERRIBLE PLIGHT. The Aurora had obviouslv suffered a terrible mauling j and Commander Stenhouse s assurance when conversing over the side that the vessel had not left merely to save "their own skins" was unnecessary. He recounted that at one period of her jam in the ice the position was so serious that the ship's party considered her abandonment and th*e despatch of a message to His Majesty to send a relief expedition. "There were enough hawsers and anchors out," he said, " to hold a battleship, and yet thev could not hold her, so strong was the blizzard. As we drifted out we could see the lights of the little hut twinkling afar. . . . I hope that the same party will go back to pick up the shore relays," added the commander amidst the cheers of the visitors. THE AURORA'S APPEARANCE, The Aurora is in very light trim, and when she was towing up had a slight list to starboard. Her rig is that of a topsail schooner rather than that of a-bar-quenttne. On her foremast is a foreyard, and above it two topsail yards. Fore-and-aft sail is carried on the main and mizen. On arrival her mizzen topmast was housed, and when this was noticed at a distance one was apt to say that the mizzen topmast had been sent down and used to make the jury rudder. That was not the case, however, for the jury rudder consists of the main derrick,' supplemented by some boat skirls, the steering being done by tackles from whisker booms. It seems that the original rudder was lost either in the ice or when the vessel was got clear of the ice. Tho Aurora has aE the appearance of being a powerfully built vessel and quite qualified to btnig'cle with the ice. Bad weather was experienced after leaving the ice, n.nd_ seme difficulty was experienced in steering i.ho vessel. In one case an able seaman, was thrown from the wheel as a result of the action of the waves on the jury rudder, snd he injured his knees. He has recovered from the mishap, and is able to walk about the deck, though his kn&j is still bandaged and stiff. AN OLD FACE. Noticeable on the Aurora was a "U.S.S. Co." xiniform badcrc- worn bv the second officer of the vessel. It will be remembered that he was second officer of the s.s. Ka-kapo. which he • left at five minutes' not-ico to join the Aurora when she was leaving Hoba-rt. Mr Thomson looks_ none the worse for his polar tea experiences. AURORA AT EXPORT PIER. By 10.30 the Aurora came to a stop eft the wharves, and with the assistance of the Dunedin she was quickly berthed at the export pier, where a large crowd had assembled. All who had anything to do with the picking up of the Aurora must be pleased with the way the Otago Harbor Board did it, and with Mr Bardsley'e) control of the detaik. OTHER REGENT EXPEDITIONS. 1. Tho Discovery expedition, led bv Captain Scott. Shackleton was with him. This was a national expedition; the object, ''an advance to the south." The expedition reached the Antarctic on Bth February, 1902 ; made its furthest south, 82.16.23; on 30th December, 1905; kit on 16th February, 1904. 2. Shaeklcton's expedition (privatelv managed). One of the main objects was to reach the South Pole. This exwditior. reached the .Antarctic on the' 3rd February, 1908 : attained its furthest south (88.23) on 9th January, 1909; left on 4th -March, 1909. _ 3. Captain Scott's last expedition, a national undertaking to reach the South Pole. It got to the Antarctic on 4th January, 1911. Captain Scott and four other members of the party perished after leaching the Polo. They found themselves forestalled by Amundsen. 4._ Captain Amundsen's Norwegian expedition, the object of which was"" a. dart to the Pole." He readied Ross Sea on 14th January. 1911; got to tho Polo on 16th December of the .same year : and left on the 30th January, 1912." SIR E. SHACKLETON'S PLANS. In tho 'Geographical Journal' for Febrnaiy of 1914 Sir Ernest Shackleton stated that his object was to cross the South Polar Continent from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea, a- distance of roughly 1,700 miles, taking scientific observations throughout tho journey, including the collection of typical rocks if and when discovered. He intended the party to consist of six men with 120 dogs, two sledges driven by aeroplane, propellers with aeroplane engines, and an aeroplane with clipped wings to taxi over tho ice. . The bare statement that Shackleton proposed to walk from tho Weddell Sea to the Rosa Sea conveys very little to the mind until one looks at the map and perceives that it means the stupendous task of bisecting the South Polar continent and passing by or near to the Pole itself. Nansen's great scheme was to drift across the North Polar region in the Fram, and thus traverse by sea what was called " the roof of the Earth." Shackleton's enterprise, spoken of in the same way, may be called an attempt to travel by land across the Earth's foundations—to step off America-, do a "right incline" on the ice, and step on to New Zealand. Two ships were engaged. The Endurance, which sailed from Buenos Ayres, conveyed Sir E. Shackleton and some of the party. It was intended at first that she should go to South Georgia and then on to the Weddell Sea, there land her explorers, and then return to South Georgia, afterwards' going back to the ice. These plans wero evidently altered, Sir E. Shackleton deciding to keep the Endurance in the ice.

The other vessel, tho Aurora, left Melbourne late in 1914 with food supplies. She made M'Murdo Sound in January, 1915, and waited off Cape Evans till May of that year, when she was blown off the land and gob locked in tho pack ice, and got strained and damaged, and did not emerge till the 14th March t-iiis year.

Mr Alfred H. Harrison, writing in the 'Nineteenth Century' of, July, 1914, said: "The route between the Weddell Sea and the South Polo has not yet been traversed, but tho route between the South Pole and Ross Sea is partly known, though from the Plateau to the Ross Sea it is probable that the line to be taken will be one lying between Shackleton's and Scott's former route_ along ihc Beardmoro Glacier and that 'taken by Amundsen, so that in the course of the whole journey very little old ground will be covered again. The advantage of this change of route between the Plateau and the Ross Sea should be that fewer blizzards are likely to be met, as the line will be further from the mountains on tho west of the Ross Sea. At any rate, this will give an opportunity of testing Dr Simpson's theory."

The reference hero is as to what Dr Simpson 'wrote by way of comment on the recorded facts tliat Scott in his last expedition was troubled by a succession of blizzards and warmer temperature until towards the end of his journey, while Amundsen had more -uniformly clear and cold weather. Dr Simpson's words are: " One can now say definitely that the blizzards which have been so fateful to British Antarctic exploration are local winds confined to the western half of the Ross barrier." The determination to abandon manhaulage for the method of transport by dog sledge met with general approval when Shackleton's plans were disclosed. Scott refers to man-haulers pulling easily without a- halt at the rate of about two miles an hour, while Amundsen says that the dogs with the greatest ease covered the day's march at a pace of kilometres (4| miles) an hour, and he and

his men. never had to move a foot—all they had to do was to let themselves be towed. Scott's average rate from the Barrier to the Pole and back was half that of Amundsen's party, and while Scott was making long marches each day Amundsen had often completed the appointed journey for the day in six or seven hours. Further points in favor of the dogs are : that a dog does not perspire in the coat, but in the tongue; that they travel lightly over snow; that if a blizzard comes oil a dog makes a hole, in the enow and lies there warm and resting; that an Eskimo dog can go long distances without food, and will eat any food, even if diseased, without bad effects; that if a dog dies or breaks down he becomes food for the survivors, whereas a sick man cannot be left to perish; and that the companionship of the dogs is a relief from the terrible monotony of journeys in the snow. Experts in dealing with the prospects of the expedition agreed that the chances of success depended very much on whether Shackleton would havo time to arrange for food depots. If the Endurance arrived in November, 1914, the transcontinental journey would begin at once, while if she reached Weddell Sea too late in the season the party would go into winter quarters, lay out depots in the winter and spring, and set out on the journey as early as possible in 1915. Amundsen's journey of 1,860 miles occupied 99 days, at an average of over 18£ miles per day. He started with 52 dogs and returned with 11 dogs. /Shackleton proposed to take six men arid 120 dogs across the continent. At the same pace as Amundsen made. Shackleton s 1,700 miles would take about 90 davs.