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Northern Advocate, 17 February 1926, Page 2

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ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION. A GLORIOUS EPIC. An address was delivered at tac luncheon of the Whangarei Rotary Club yesterday by Mr IL C. Risliworth upon South Polar exploration, ami the interesting discourse was amplified by references to a map showing' the territory from Ross Is I ind to the South Pole, and indicating where the pack ice belt lies some 400 miles northward in the Ross Sea, which at times is open to navigation. COOK THE FIRST VOYAGER. .

The first navigator to explore in the Antarctic regions was Captain Cook, in the brig Rcsoluton, of 4(12 tons, in 1772. He reached C 7 deg. 15 min. and there met the pack ice, which lie was uuablo to penetrate, so he sailed to New* Zealand.

THE CLARKE BOSS EXPEDITION The first land in the South Polar regions was discovered south of Cape Horn, by a Russian, Bellinghausen, in 1819. Then in 1839, Captain James Clarke Ross, who had been to the North .Magnetic. Polo, sailed with two ships, Erebus and Terror to the south. His objective was the South Magnetic Pole, and he had conceived it to be his duty as an Englishman to plant his country’s flag there. He believed that the Pole would be legated in the Antarctic Ocean, but, although he penetrated 400 miles through the'pack ice in Ross &ea and pushed on for another 500 miles to what is now Ross Island,, his voyage was in vain after (finding Antarctica. It was, however, a wonderful voyage, as Ross was the first man to break through tho previously unpenetrable pack ice which guards the South Polar regions. To have done that with a sailing ship was a notable achievement. On Rogs Island are two mountains, named after his ships, Mt. Erebus, 13,000 ft and Mt. Terror, 10,000 ft. The former is an active volcano. The next assault on tho South Pole was made by a Norwegian, Carston Egeberg Borchgrevink, in 1899. He has the honour of having effected the first landing and ho spent a winter at Cape Adair, westward of Ross Island, but he was unable to penetrate into the interior owing to the mountains being impassable. 1 IMMORTAL SCOTT. Then in 1901 Captain Scott organised an expedition which has a., particular interest to New Zealand, as he made the Dominion his starting point. In his ship, the Discovery, he broke through the pack ice and lauded at Hut Point on Ross Island. Prom that depot Scott, Shaekleton and Dr. Wilson sledged 430 miles south to tho 82 deg. parallel. Owing to lack of food and to the fact that Shaekelton was seriously affected by scurvy he had to return. The dogs were untrained and they fared barly, eventually dying, and most of the return journey was made by man-hauling the sledges. During the next summer Scott made another notable journey over the western mountains for 300 miles with seaman Evans. Scott returned without mishap in 1903, after two relief ships, the Morning and Terra Nova, had been sent to the Antarctic to bring him home. In 1908 Shaekelton left New Zealand and reached Ross Island,, building his hut at Cape Boyds. He, with Mclntosh and Wild, made a remarkable journey of over COO miles southwards. They discovered and ascended tho Beardmore Glacier, the largest known, and he named it after the. well-known Glasgow shipbuilder. Shaekelton’s little party reached a plateau 1000 ft above the barrier, and they got within 100 miles of the pole, when lack of food forced him to return. The explorer received tributes from the scientific world and was also knighted. SCOTT’S FINAL ATTEMPT. Scott then organised his last ex pedition, which was the best equipped of airy. The . company included emin ent scientific men, astronomers, geolo gists, zoologists and, a cinematograph operator. Two motors, were also taken, ond these were the forerunners of the caterpillar tractors which were so greatly developed during the war. Scott loft Lyttelton in the Terra Nova in November, 1910, and had a severe passage through the pack ice, but reached Ross Island in January and built a hut at Cape Evans, being unable to get to Hut Point on account

iof tho frozen sea. He had with him jlB ponies and 33 dogs. Immediately j the explorer sot out on a depot-laying expedition and sledged a ton of food to One Ton Camp, 140 miles south, I Tho name of this camp is written largely in the history of his last expedition. On his return he found that five of the ponies, upon which he placed so much reliance for transport, had been lost. This was a severe setback. Bowers, at great personal risk, had tried to rescue them from an icefloe around which killer whales were awaiting prey. . AMUNDSEN’S CHALLENGE. But worse news was in store for Scott. While on his way to New Zealand he called at Melbourne, where he received a briefly worded cable from Raold Amundsen. All it said was: ‘‘Am going South.” When tho Norwegian left home he had announced publicly that he intended to go to the North Pole, but after leaving, he altered his plans. Scott did not disclose his information to the public, nor is it eiear that he thought Amundsen was going to attempt to reach the South Polo but rather to cruise round the Antarctic Circle. • However, when the Englishman returned from the depot-laying journey to Hut Point he 'was informed by those on the Terra Nova, which during his absence had been cruising eastward close along the barrier edge, that they had encountered Amundsen and the Fram in the Bay of Whales. Amundsen had camped two miles inland with 135 dogs. This intelligence, following immediately after the serious loss in means of transport, deeply affected Scott, but with characteristic moderation and control he wrote in his diary: “We

must proceed with our plans exactly l as though this had not happened; to go forward and do our best, for the honour of our country, without fear or panic. There is no doubt that Amundsen’s plan is a serious menace to ours. He is 60 miles nearer the Polo, and, having only dogs, he ■ can start earlier in the season than we can with our ponies.” SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. In the winter of 1911, Wilson, Bowers, and Cherry-Garran started on June 26 on their memorable and wonderful journey to Cape Crozier, primarily to get the embryo of Emperor penguins for scientific purposes. Scott describes this journey as the

hardest in the annals of polar travel. Being mid-winter it was made in total darkness, and the distance was 67 miles. The ice disturbance around the cape was appalling as the ice, hundreds of feet deep, was gradually working northwards and piling up, causing great crevasses. The journey took three weeks, the temperature being from minus 40 deg. to minus 77-J deg., or over 100 degrees of frost, and at times the progress made was not more than a mile a day. Such low temperatures, said the lecturer, were beyond imagination. After surviving awful hardships the party secured five! Emperor penguin eggs and one bird from the nesting places on the floating ice below Cape Crozier, and' finally got back. At one stage a blizzard blew the tent away, but, as by a miracle, it was recovered. The eggs gained proved to be fertile, and scientists have since stated that in the embryo they discerned scales instead of feathers, thus establishing the connection between reptiles and birds.

THE GEEAT THEUST. Scott' started bn the trek to the Pole on November 1, 1911. Amundsen had had sot out on September S, but had to return owing to the severity of the weather, and he restarted on October 19, reaching the Pole on December 16, 1911. Scott reached the Pole on January 17, 1912. When. Scott started ho took with him the two motor sledges under Day and Laslily and three supporting- parties under Atkinson, Moares and Lieut. Evans. Meares had the dogs and the others the ponies. As the march progressed the temperature fell, and the wind was so keen that at every halt snow walls the height of the ponies had to be built to shelter the animals. One by one the ponies were fed to the dogs. It was considered that dogs and ponies could never ascend the Beardmore Glacier, so Meares returned with the \logs, and the last of the ponies were killed and stored in a depot. Progress up the Beardmore Glacier was exceedingly arduous, as of course all sledges had to be man-handled. The journey through the mountains involved a climb to 10,580 ft, after which there a plateau with a slight dip towards the Pole. *

Atkinson’s party started on the return first, and then the party of Lieut. Evans, leaving Scott, Dr Wilson, Bowers, Oates and Petty Officer Evans to finish the journey. The associates of the commander had been judged by him as his most capable companions in the dash to the Pole. Tribute had been paid by Scott to the splendid manner in which his selection was received by disappointed members of the expedition. Lieut. Evans was bitterly disappointed, but Scott was right, because the officer was attacked by scurvey on the return journey and his life was saved by Seamen Crean and Lashly, both of whom received the Albert Medal. FORESTALLED.

On January 16 Scott came across Amundson’s camp and saw the Norwegian flag planted by that explorer. The tracks of many dogs told the rest of the story. Scott’s entry in his diary is wonderfully restrained. Ho says: “It is a terrible disappointmoJnt. I am very sorry for my loyal companions. All the day dreams must go. It will be a wearisome return.’’

Next day, three miles ahead, they found Amundsen’s records in a tent and a letter which the Norwegian had left

to be forwarded by Scott to King Haakon. The Union Jack was planted on a cairn half a mile distant from Amundsen ’s calculation of where the Pole was.

That tho discovery that they had been forestalled in reaching tho Pole had deeply affected Scott and his party was clearly evident, but to- the everlasting credit of tiro great Englishman no bitterness could be noted in his wonderful diary. His words were: ‘ ‘ Tho wind is cutting us through. Great God, this is an awful place, ' and terrible enough for us to have ' laboured to it without the reward of priority. Now for the run home and a desperate straggle. I wonder if we can do it.” THE FINAL TURNING.

The outward journey was 883 miles and it had taken 78 days, so that the travellers would have to average from 11 to 12 miles a day and would also to have pick up their depots, which meant that any obliteraton of the outward tracks would involve dangerous delays. From this point on the party showed iserious signs of fatigue. Frequently they suffered from frostbite and snowblindness. Petty Officer Evans was the first to lag behind, seemingly having suffered mentally after falling into a crevass. Every effort was made to rally him, but he was the first of the heroes to die, and his body lies preserved at the foot of the Beardmore Glacier.

With ebbing the shaken party pushed op, the daily mileage dwindling. It became a race against time. On March 3 Captain Oates’ feet were badly frost-bitten, and ho gradually became worse, marching on

■stoically with the''utmost difficulty. The temperature fell alarmingly to minus 41 deg.-, but the party struggled on until March 11, when Scott’s diary entry was: ‘‘Oates is very near the end. Wlia± he or we will do, God knows. I practically ordered Wilson to hand over the means of ending our troubles: thirty opium tabloids apiece. We now have seven days’ food and are about 55 miles from One Ton Camp. Six miles a day is our utmost limit. Six by seven equals 42, leaving us 13 miles short. The cold is intense. The literal fact was that the heroic men were slowly starving, their ration being insufficient for human ' life in such low temperatures.

“AN ENGLISH GENTLEMAN.”

On March 17 Captain Oates said he j could not go on, and he wanted to be left in Ms sleeping bag. “This'we could not do,” wrote Scott. That night he slept, praying that he would not wake, but he did. It was blowing a blizzard and Oates said: “I am just going outside, and may be some time.” Scott writes: “He went, and we'have not seen him since. We knew that poor Oates was walking to his death, but though we tried to dissuade him, we knew it was the.act of a bravo man and an English gentleman.” THE LAST CAMP. On March 21 the i survivors, Scott, Dr. Wilson and Bowers, pegged their last camp. A severe blizzard came on and lasted nine days. The party had food for two, and it was impossible j to move. Every day they were ready to push on to do the march of 11 miles to One Ton Camp, where there was food awaiting them. The end was at hand, arid Scott calmly .set about writing a series of letters that for ever must remain among the literature of the nation, as no one can read them without emotion. Ho wrote to his mother, Ms wife, his brother-in-law, to Mrs Wilson, Mrs Bowers, his friend. Sir- James M. Barrie, Sir' Edgar Speyer, one of the organisers of the expedition, Ms agent in Christchurch, Mr J. J. Kinsey, his old chieftain, Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman, and also to Vice-Admiral Egerton. His letter to Mrs Wilson reads: '“lf this letter reaches you, Bill and I will have gone out together. Wo are very near it now, but I should like to tell you how splendid he was at the end; so everlastingly cheerful, ready to sacrifice himself for others. No blame to me for landing him in this mess. His eyes have a clear blue look of hope; his mind is peaceful with the satisfaction of his faith in regarding himself as part of the great scheme of the Almighty. I can do no moro to comfort you than to tell you he died as he lived —a brave man, the best of comrades, and the staunchest of friends. My whole heart goes out to you in pity.” Then Scott wrote his message to the public, giving a lucid account of the disaster. He blamed the loss of the ponies, thus narrowing means of transport of food, the adverse weather, the breakdown of Edgar Evans, the frightful temperatures experienced 'on the homo journey, culminating in the breakdown of Oates, and the final blizzard. The conclusion of his immortal message reads: _

“We are weak, and writing is difli : cult, but for my own sake I do not regret this journey, which has shown that Englishmen can endure hardships, help one another, and meet death with as great a fortitude as ever in the past. Things have come out against us; therefore, we have •no cause of complaint, but bow to the will of Providence, determined still to do our best to the last. Had- we lived I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale. It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more.” Then follows the last poignant entry in the diary: “For God's sake, look after our people.”

Eight months later they were found. Wilson an,d Bowers were in the dttitude of sleep and Scott, who had died later, had thrown back the flaps of his sleep-

ing bag and -was lying on Ms diary with his arm flung across Wilson, his lifelong friend. The search party built a cairn over the little tent, and erected a cross whereon is inscribed: “The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”' Today that cross and cairn will stand out clear and phre, for in that land of eternal snow, there is no decay , no life no worm or bird or beast to defile that imperishable tomb.