ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION.

North Otago Times, Volume CIV, Issue 13656, 26 August 1916, Page 7

ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION.

SHACKLETON'S MOTOR CAR. : •At the time.when steps-are being taken to' semi a. relief ship out to Sir Ernest ■Shaqkleton's party at the South Pole, it may. be, interesting to recall a few of the- adventures experienced by the explorer in 1908, when, he took a motor-car into that unpromising, roadless region. Shackleton's idea, in taking a car in addition to ponies and dogs, was that in the. absence of macadamised roads and tarred turnpikes they might find a hard snow, surlaee 011 the .Great lee Barrier. The car selected, was a 12-15 h.p. Arrol-J.ohnston witli a four-cylinder air-cooled engine.. The carburetter was protected, with a jacket connected to the exhaust from one of the cylinders. The exhaust from the other cylinders was utilised as a foot-warmer. A special non-freezing oil was supplied by Messrs Price. , Of wheels there, were,, several patterns, which could be-fitted interchangeably with rubber tyres or wooden blocks, ami runners were, also, provided for soft snow surfaces. ; it was all experimental. It must. have, .■been a thrilling moment ; when, in •Shackleton's own words, Day,,.the mechanic, "started..the,engine,,, and oil' /the car .went with the ,throbbing sound which lias become so familiar in the civilised world, and was now heard for the first time- in tl ..ntarc.tie," However, the first rmivwas not a recordbreaking one, as the wheels, fitted with light tyres and chains, clogged, up, and several iee-cracks opened at inconvenient moments as though the eternal ice would' engulf the modern invader who had dared to "molest.its ancient, solitary reign." After a run of half a mile the car was left, till after lunch, and on the return of the party it was found that a couple of large Adelie penguins were, solemnly regarding the strange intruder, We are nof able to say positively what was passilig in the miuds of these birds at': the . moment, but may conjecture that they were acting as a pair of Antarctic Special Constables, who wanted to know why Shackleton had left his car for more than 'twenty minutes untended, and whether lie had a. special license 'for driving in an atmosphere below zero. The starting up of the engine in temperatures of ten degrees below zero never gave much difficulty. It. was the driving wheels which refused to act; up to expectations, They sank deep in the snow and then spun round. But the car went splendidly 011 the bare,earth and easily climbed "the steep gradient of Pony Glen," a. local lest hill then used for the first time in history. / In the following spring—that is September in those parts—the car was fetched out of its winter quarters and began to distinguish. itself, though at the first attempt to start it was found that the leather of the clutch had frozen to the metal and had. to be warmed off. Prom this time the car was continually used for conveying stores to the depots, towing sledges behind it, and it was found that in nine hours three men could do with the car what would have taken six men three days-to do without it. Owing to the variation of hard and soft, surfaces, the wheelsliad to be changed frequently. It was. found that ordinary wheels with rubber tyres and non-skid chains, as> a rule, gave the best results, At very low temperatures the tyres lost their resilency, but there were no punctures. The car did its duty in preparing the way for the big dash south, and it was with reluctance that Shackleton decided, that it must stay behind and not accompany him to the Pole. "The use of sledge runners," says Shackleton, "under the front wheels, with broad, spiked driving wheels, might have enabled us to get over some of the soft surfaces, but this equipment would not have been satisfactory on hard, rough ice, and constant changes would occupy too much time. I had confidence in the ponies, and I thought ft best not to attempt to take the car south from the winter quarters.'' So ends the effort of taking a car into the heart of the Antarctic, with credit, it must be acknowledged, to all concerned.