“SHACKLETON’S LUCK.”

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 16326, 23 August 1913, Page 10

“SHACKLETON’S LUCK.”

The published' extracts ( from Captain Scott’s diaries whet curiosity, as they probably are intended to do, without satisfying it. It is simply perplexing for example to find Captain Scott referring to “Shackleton’s luck” in connection with some of the incidents of his own ascent of tho Beardmore Glacier. “ Hereabouts Shaokleton found hard, blue ice,” runs one entry quoted from tho diaries in the cabled summary of the second instalment of the magazine article describing Captain Scott’s journey. “It seems extraordinary the difference in fortune and Shackleton’s luok becomes more evident.” Sir Ernest Shackleton discovered and named the Beardmore Glacier, and readers of his narrative will remember that the “ hard, blue ico ” over which ho had sometimes to travel was not the least of his troubles. “ Our distance, three miles for the day, expresses more readily than I can write it tho nature of the day’s work,” ho wrote one day when halfway up the glacier. “We started at 7.40 a.m. on the worst surface possible, sharp-edged blue ice, full of chasms and crevasses, rising to hills and descending into gullies; in fact, a surface that could not be equalled in any polar work for difficulty of travelling. . - . Wo aro a mass

of bruises where we havo falleai on the sharp ice.” Apparently Captain Scott, who was using the charts prepared by the earlier expedition, found this ico covered with soft snow, which would reduco tho danger of severe falls but increase the difficulty of hauling tho sledges and possibly mask the crevasses. This circumstance, liowover, would hardly explain tho reference to “ Shackleton’s luck ” and Captain Scott would have been tho last man to forget that tho party which had

covered the same ground in 1908 had laboured under 0 the severe disadvantage of not knowing what lay ahead from day to day. But wo shall have to wait for the publication of tho complete diaries before getting much additional information on these points. Tho records of all tho expeditions go to show that tho Antarctic is full of surprises and Captain Scott may have found some of his confident expectations disappointed as he moved southward on the frozen trail.