THE NORTHERN PARTY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 15 February 1913, Page 5

THE NORTHERN PARTY

LIEUT CAMPBELL CONTINUES HIS STORY SIX MONTHS IN AN IGLOO [Press Association. —Copyhiqht. ) (Copyright Report.) WELLINGTON, Feb. 14. Further particulars cf Lieutenan Campbell's party are as follows i While awaiting the ship in February, cold blizzards from the were experienced. which caused the seais t° a to the sea earlier than usual, the seal, objecting to the" cold autumn gales Ihus on March Ist, when Lieutenant Campbell decided that the winter would lia\ e to be faced, and that it would be necessary to prepare for winter, very few seals were to be seen. By March 20th the ia-co, although unfinished. afforded shelter. The igloo was constructed by digging a deep trench, and with ice axes cutting out a chamber at the end of this measuring -lott bv 9ft. The trench was afterwards rooied in with sealskins and snow, forming a Ion"- passage. Doors were formed by sacks, and bv having three of these they were able to keep' the temperature in the living room about zero. _ The iglco afforded shelter inst m time for Dr. Yeviek's tent, in a terrific gale, had collapsed on the 19th. three of the poles breaking, and, the tent being blown to ribbons. After lying under the nuns all day his party "made their way to Lieutenant Campbell's tamp. about- a mile away, arriving there in a frost-bit-ten and exhausted condition. They were ■revived with "lioosh, ' and slept that night, two in a sleeping bag —a most uncomfortable experience. PARTY ALWAYS HUNGRY. By the time the winter had set in. in spite of killing everything seen, only 16 seals and 80 Adelie penguins had been secured. The rations, which had previously consisted of two pannikins of seal "hoosh," and one biscuit per man per day, had to b? cut down to half that amount, and not having anv salt the food had aiwavs to be cooked in salt water. Seaweed was sometimes used as a ration, but certain members of the party could never nsod to 'One lucky find was 35 fish in the stomach of a seal, which, fried in blubber, proved excellent. Until the middle of July, when three more seals were captured., the party was aiwavs hungry. For ccoking and lighting purposes a- | blubber stove and lamps were constructed, the fuel for the stove being seal bones and blubber. The lamps were simplv old tins filled with melted blubber, with rope twine for wicks. On two occasions in blizzards the ventilation got blocked with snow, and the party was almost asphyxiated, the lamps and stove refusing t-o burn until a passage was dug out. Of luxuries, there was enough sugar to give each man 12 lumps every Sunday, and one stick of chocolate every Saturday: half a pannikin of tea on Sunday, the leaves being re-boiled for Monday, and. then being kept for sraok;ng (the tobacco having run out) ; half a pannikin of cocoa five nights a- week. The recreations consisted of lectures, and the reading aloud of our two books. "David C'ppperfield," and "The Life of Stevenson." Concerts were held every Saturday night. Swedish exercises were compulsory during the latter part of the winter. On Sunday evenings divine service was held- The party suffered much from enteritis. Browning was very bad the whole winter .but this never affected his spirits, and to his rrreafc credit ha wa? cheerv and willing through it all. The condition of the party's clothes and footgear caused a lot of frost-bites, but luckily none were serious. RETURN OF THE SUN. LEAVING THE IGLOO. With the return, of the sun enough seals werf procured to return to full rations of meat arid blubber. saving enough for sledging purposes. Sufficient oil had been saved to cpok breakfast and supper, but lunch had to consist of raw 7 seal and penguin. A start was made for Cape Evans on September 30tli. The progress was slow the parfcv all being weak, and Browning too weak to pull. Terra- Nova Bay remained open, and .they were forced to cress the rough ice on the Drygalski Barrier tongue.' so ablv described bv Professor David, in Sir Ernest Shackleton s "Heart of the Antarctic." During thi c : part of the journey tliev experienced cold blizzards .and on two occasions nearly came to grief over ice-cliffs. They successfully negotiated the. Drygalski by the evening of the 10th October, thus taking ten days to make tlm passage. During that time an enormous •rr Q vasse had to be crossed by a snow bridge, which measured. 175 paces. Lieutenant Campbell found the Drygalshi cut by barrancas, but most of the crevasses were bridged. Descending on to the sea ice. the party encountered a bad sceiv pick. the pressure on the ridges at tim-fs being so bad that a road, had to be cut with ice axes. The next barrier their track was the Nordenskiold glacier tongue. No crevasses wero found- on this, and the passage proved quite easy, but on returning to the sea-ice a screw pack was again found. '

Ueutenant Comobell eyam:nod the roast very closely for signs of Professor David's geological depot, first •examining Tripp Island, where a geological collection was obtained, and then proceeding to Deoot Inland (which is not shown or the Admiralty chart). Hero Professor

David's depot of geological specimens and letters were found and taken along. Better surfaces "■vers met_ with after leaving the depot. Browning had to be carried en the sledge wheh the ice was etncoili, his condition being pmicalPROVISIONS ''STRUCK "

The following ■extract is taken from Lieutenant Campbell's d:ar> . and begins nu Ocfober 20t.1t : 'Turned out at *1.30 a.m. Kino day. l>ut bank of cbiud.s to southward ; a cold westerly wind. A two hours' march brought us to Cape Roberts, where I saw through my glasses a bamboo stuck on the top cf the cape. Leaving the sledges. Priestley and t climbed the cape, where we found a record left bv the western party on the jiri'vicns year before ,tliev wen' picked, up. gi\ ing their movements ; also iK'ar by a -depot of provisions i hey had left behind. We nave such a \cll that the. others carno up the slope. seemeu almost 100 good tf> be true. 1 here were one and three-quarters tins of biscuits, a- small bag of raisins, ditto of sugar, Lea. cocoa, butter and lard, some clothes, diaries, and specimens from Granite Harbour. I decided to camp and have a dav off. Dividing the provisions between the two tents, we soon had "hoosh" going, and such a feed of biscuits, butter and lard as we had not. had for nine months, following up with thick sweetcocoa. After this wo killed and cut up, a. sea!, as we are getting short of meat, and there is every prospect of a blizzard coming en. Another "lioosh. and more biscuits and lard in the evening, then we turned into our bags, and quite torpid with food, discussed our plans on arriving at Cape Evans .as we had quite decided that we should find no one there." (Campbell -and his companions always imagined that the ship had picked up' Captain Scott and the main party, and been blown north, adverse circumstances, or shortage of coal, preventing her from relieving them.) "Still discussing our plans we fell asleep. What with news from the main party, and food, although both were a year old, it was the happiest day since we last saw the ship. I awoke in the night, finished ray share of butter, and most of my lard., then dozed off again." Lieutenant Campbell lef:- Cape Roberts on October 20th, and marched to Buller Point, finding the surfaces very much improved. They found and took on the food depot at Cape .Beriiacchi.

NOTE FROM DR ATKINSON

At Buller Point a note was found telling of the attempt that Atkinson had made to relieve Lieutenant Campbell. The signing of the note by Dr Atkinson gave rise to much anxiety and doubt. For this reason, the party fiien commenced a forced inarch direct to Cape Evans, but after going about miles found the ic.e so new and rotten that they were forced to return, in their tracks and make the detour of MacMurdo Sound. Even then some of the leads were so rotten that the sledge had to be taken across at the rush.

DEATH OF THE SOUTHERN PARTY.

Arriving at Hut Point a note was discovered from Atkinson giving the sad. news of the loss of the southern party and of the start of tjie .search party. The whole party, even to Browning (who was still unfit) expressed keenest disappointment at being too late to tr.l'.s part in the search.