ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14017, 24 March 1909, Page 7

ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION.

v: '?":;■;■ ':/■."... '■% />////?,• v ! :. ; . C■',// '::-'■':':/:- '~-/:-: ■■• [ ''.■•;.?":.':■-'' ; , : ,: v' . : • : ;■■:' THE ROD'S RETURN. i,. . /'-" ■■■ ■ ■-, - > - t ' '.' '": ' . . 0 •.,-■,/■/,..■' • :■■. ' . ' '■:■•/.■' ' I ARRIVAL AT STEWART ISLAND. 11 ' , . ' /.. . ,\ V ,• , . « '>" , . ,' :■';. - .';' l '' '■/- \ ■ '~' ■ ■ . •■• -■ ■ !.. -;'-. ...'" " ■ , : ' i I ' A SUCCESSFUL EXPEDITION. : 5 * • • '.'■'* '•' ■ ; . \ [BY TELEGRAPH,—PRESS ASSOCIATION.] ' f . •* . „ ':■"■ -~-.' ">• . ■ . . i Christchorch, Tuesday. ."■ Telegraphic advices have been received that the British Antarctic exploration ship [ Nimrod, with Lieutenant Shackleton'e ; party ; ;aboard, arrived at Half.mooh Bay, j Stewart Island, at nine o'clock this morning, v 3 ;', .It ; was orginally intended > that Lyttelton, the headquarters 'in New Zealand of the expedition, sliould be the firsthand touched at, but it was later arranged that r the vessel should call in at' Half-moon Bay in order .that despatches might be cabled * to London papers giving the first news of the results the expedition. ' .Up to the present little is known in Christchurch /as 1 to what the expedition has - achieved, beyond the news that the party has come kick "all well and suc--5 , cearftol."-"-; The Nimrod is expected to arrive at Lytteltou on Thursday afternoon, 1 when the exact measure of the success will be made known. . .' . . When ,the Nimrod loft Lyttelton on December lof last year to bring the expedi j tion back from their winter quarters, it was stated that she Mould return either in b March, or April, the date depending upon the circumstances ''existing iin McMurdo t Sound, the main camp of the party, and on the date of the breaking up of the ice r barrier. The Nimrod has returned well up to time, this in itself being an indication. ' : that the work of ; the>pole-seekers .had progressed smooth]v. _ r The explorers spent over a year in Antarctica,; winter quarters having been esp ■■• tablished in McMurdo Sound, ,the old station of the {Discovery/' The explorers were i, divided into three parties, one" of which, six strong, and probably headed by Lieu- , tenant Shackleton, was to make a dash for the Pole, another to go westwards towards , King Edward VII. Land," under Professor David, and the third to go to the east. ' ■ ' [BY TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT.! .. , | " . '. ; ..- - Dunedi-n, Tuesday: " >'" The Otago Daily .Times correspondent wired from - Half-moon Bay to-day as follows :— The • Antarctic exploration steamer Nimrod arrived here this morning, at nine o'clock. ,' Extraordinary' measures were adopted, to prevent the leakage of any . news relative to the expedition. Beyond Lieutenant ;Shackleton, K.N.R., leader' of ' the explorers, none ;of the party cam© ashore. Lieutenant Shackleton despatched \ i • a number of messages apprising friends of those on board of their safe return, and .: conveying news of the 'expedition to his principals in England, but he was abso- . lately uncommunicative 'to residents . and visitors who crowded to the beach in the • hope of gleaning a few crumbs of information respecting the expedition, ~ i " The Nimrod took her'departure for Lyttelton after a stay of two hours."

SEEKING .THE POLE. . ) PAST ACHIEVEMENTS. CAPTAIN SCOTTS RECORDS. ; " In view of the return of the British Antarctic expedition, a resume of past achievements by explorers in the Antarctic circle I- will be of interest:— • _s.;^.;S ; ';^\:'-\^-. ' The Southern Ooean. was firet discovered by Fernando de Magalhaehs, or, as he is > commonly called, Magellan, a Spanish navi- ; gator, '"■ who,-with five , ships and ' 226 ; men,; sailed on September 20,':. 1519, for the East. . Indies. ; Thence he coasted down the east-; „ ern shores of South America, -discovered and passed through the straits which now • bear his; name, and next year buret into c the South Pacific Ocean. ■, Having rounded ) the "southernmost point of the South American continent, Magellan bore away north . into :, warmer . ...seas,,*' and discovered V the ; i Philippine Islands. , In an. encounter with I ' the, natives of the. island ; ; of Ma tan "he was I > killed 1521, and, like many another intrepid explorer/- never* returned home to ; relate the etory of his wonderful discoveries ; in ; unknown/ seas. ■ ' ' ,''. . CAPTAIN .COOK. Magellan only went as far south as the 55th parallel ""» of ; latitude,' and to Captain Cook was left the honour of being the first: to cross the Antarctic ('circle. After Cook's 5 visit to New South Wales a strong belief' was entertained -bv scientific men • that a i huge continent, called Terra Auetralis Incognita, lay to the south of Australia. He , started with two vessels, the '■ Resolution and i the Adventure, in . search' of • the' un- • known world,;and in 1773 crossed the Ant- • arctic circle. :• Next year he penetrated as

For the next half century scarcely any attempt was made to solve the mysteries of the great ' frozen southern regions, but during the "last 10 or 12 years many scientific expeditions added much to t ur knowledge of the Antarctic. - OTHER EXPEDITIONS. On September . 28,. 1894, Leonard Kristen,sen, m the Norwegian A steam whaler Antarctic, left Melbourne, and touching at Hobait, sailed again !on October 3, ' r ' ' '■

1 " '-I - ■ . - - ■ :;-- "' "- " ■■■-•• '■-■ ;: " '■" ; 1334, for, the south. '■'-' Reaching Cape Adare on January *: 16, 1895, Kristensen landed at Robertson Bay, being the first party that ever set foot on Victoria Land, in latitude 74dcg. south and longitude 173deg. east. '■ " ' "; Another Norwegian was; the next .to visit the great" lone land, of the South. An expedition equipped by" Sir, George , Newnes sailed from London in the Southern Cross, Captain. B. Jensen, on August 22, 1898 This expedition, which was : led' by C.' : E. £ ;Bofchgrevirick, the wellknown explorer, reached Cape'Adare on J February 17, ; 1899. '[ ;In the ' following month Borchgrevinck ascended , the high land '' at Capo Adare, which he estimated lat 3670 ft ■ above sea 'level. ,He also ' visited Duke of York : Island and Geikie Island, and penetrated as far south as latitude : 78deg. " 50rhin., ■•'..■; the most southerly point ever reached by man up '' to : : that * time. By his observations Borchgrevinck fixed the ; position of the magneth South Pole at .latitude.'"73deg. ;i 20min.soith," longitude 146deg. east! One member of the expedition, !N. Hansen, died, and was, buried in the cold inhospitable regions. The expedition returned ■ to Stewart's Island .in April, 1900. A Belgian expedition, in charge of De Gerlache, left Antwerp in the Belgica on August 16, 1897, and spent a year exploring the Antarctic region, -returning in 1899. • : ,' : ": ; r# THE DISCOVERY'S VOYAGE. j" The last and most important Antarctic expedition, and one ..which will still, no doubt, be fresh, in the minds of meet people in the- Dominion, was that undertaken by Captain R. F. Scott, R.N.R.; in the British .. ship Discovery. Lieutenant Shackleton was a member of the intrepid party of. explorers who accompanied Cap- '. tain Scott oil that occasion. The Discovery j suiled from Lyttelton >'* on December 21, ; 1901, and from Port Chalmers, ; her .final .1 port, of 'call, three days later., At that time the nearest point to the South Polo j that: had been attained; was 770 miles, but Captain , Scott .'got to within 450 miles of it. ; The exact geographic point at which his "furthest south" was situated. '■', was 82 degrees 17, minutes. His journey, thus far towards the goal was accomplished for , a distance of 380 miles from the Discovery over the ice with dog sledges," the undertaking ;occupying^ : -59 days. .Captain .-, Scott would ;. undoubtedly have achieved ; more, but for V the fact ,that his % dogs \ collapsed, and his food supplies,gave out. He was thus driven back:-'. upon his , provision de- ~ pots.- , ■ - -■ ■ ;/ . I .-; -. , ' ..' , ■ .The story of the Discovery's sojourn in j the Antarctic regions is full of; romance. The second winter was more severe than the first. • The temperatures went down to minus 67.7 in June, and a heavy southerly blizzard buried the ship in the drift. Captain Scott, under the circumstances, decided that, it was hopeless to reach further eouth than he had done the previous year, > and so confined his . exploration to . the south-east, and to ice-capped Victoria Land, ■■■ on the west. The party that went southwest, under Lieutenant Barnes, after a continuous struggle against distressing weather : reached the latitude 90 south. Here -the straits were found to contain immense" : glaciers. Throughout the whole expedition of the Discovery important data was col- , lected»:' as. ,to • temperatures, .. and magnetic . observations .; made; The. value of the various discoveries made to science was s inestimable. , The observations taken, for instance,« showed that ' there were no appreciable differences in the level of the ice barrier, and as far 'a*, could be ascertained there 1 were ■no elevations of any kind. - ' .*■' '"-';'. -; - • •>■•;. /'■'.' ": ;■;''.. ;, ': : '•" ■'•'"' ,■

for soutn as ; »xaeg. - av/uum., m !««•(,»- i tude 109 west. , As h& found no land after circumnavigating the • globe in i high 'latitudes,' unknown southern continent was eliminated from the maps of the day. < It was a little more than' half-a-century later that-Captain John Briscoe, -in the i service of Messrs; Enderby, of London, first proved the existence of the long-sought continent, y On February 27,11831, Briscoe j found land in latitude 65deg.;57min. south, l and longitude 47deg. f2omin. feast, and was the first man to set foot on the Antarctic Continent.' Skirting the ■ coast, he* found ' the land ran east and west s for 200 miles, ' and named• it Enderby ' Land,' after his em- • ployer. '• Nearly 12 months : later, - on . February 15, 1832,' he .'sighted ? more land i in latitude 67deg.lmini' south, and longi- ' tude : 71deg. 48min. west, > which he named 1 ; Graham's Land. ...... 1 -Just' eight years earlier Waddell had, '' penetrated to latitude 74deg. south, in longitude 35deg. west, .but* missed by a. few degrees : the land which • Briscoe dis- .'■ covered. ' ~ > ' ' f '- : '' : '- ■> : ,'. ', SIR JAMES ROSS.. , , ' J In 1839 J Captain Sir James'-Clark' Ross was ■ sent by the \ British Government on a voyage of ? discovery \ to the i South * Polar regions. ,On January 8, 1841, Ross discovered land in platitude 70deg.;41min. * -south; and longitude 172deg. 36min. east, - and followed up the' coast line for eight i degrees, giving the country the name of . Victoria ; Land. In about : 78deg. south he found ' an active j volcano, 12,000 ft ; high, " whichK he called Mount Erebus, and an. * -extinct volcano, which; received the name E of Mount Terror.' 'Both these mountains - were then supposed to' be on the "mainland, but have since been proved to be situated on ah island. "' . ■• ' - "' ' I i:■; The year ore, : Ross' expedition D'Ur- . ville, in tha: Piench exploring vessel As- ; trolabe, four.d land in 68deg. south and ' 140deg. east, which he called AdelieLand, . This is supposed to be part of i the great continent to which Victoria Land belongs. *:i A glance at ; a map showing all these r 'diß- i c : . coveries will j.rove almost conclusively | that'an enormous .continent- exists, far L larger than Australia, and much higher. $ VJi\ possesses several ■ high mountains, - be[sides a vast elevated plateau, 9000 ft high. j

There * were, i however, i-at numbr of }. subsi- ! deuces of ; snow-cruet. Observations at the \ base of operations were taken continuously. | ; The Discovery expedition ? discovered, probably, the only =" fossils yet found iu ; Antarctic proper. These x fossils ). were ? the f remains of ! plant leaves, and had an .important , bearing on,: climatology. They! \ were | embedded in sandstone, ■ and were obtained | at a remarkably high altitude. Undoubted glacier marks were found at a good height above the barrier and morraihes' were found on Cape Royds, 1500 ft above the- sea; • Important- biological;-discoveries, were,! also made. The fossils referred, to were taken by scientists to prove that they had grown in a much"! milder climate, than is now found in-that region. . It was thought pro- ! bable that they belonged to the miooene i age. Another j important result of the Discovery's exploration was to determine that the glaciers and ice of the Antarctic form- I erly extended further than now. , - . I Of, all expeditions towards the, South Pole, that of the Discovery is looked upon as having achieved the most interesting results. Land was observed by Captain Scott to, the extreme eastward of Rosa Sea, and this he named after our present King. The winter quarters" of the Discovery were, near the. volcanoes Erebus and Terror, both found to bo on ah island. Captain Scott beat Ross' " farthest couth",;'by about 260 geographical miles, turning northward from a, point in latitude 82.17. One of the novel revelations made ': by Captain.. Scott's explorations,J was * a low ice cliff, running east and west*, in latitude 78. This 'does not, apparently, represent land, but a nearly level and possibly stationary mass, with resemblance to a glacier. Scott made his most notable : sledge 'journey over the surface of this ice-covered strait, or glacier. ' ' A FRENCH EXPEDITION.' .' A French expedition, under the command of Dr. Jean Charcot,' is at present exploring the Antarctic. It sailed six or seven months ago in the Pourquoi Pas ! from St. Malo, France,-for Graham-Land; and will endeavour to reach., Alexander Land. Dr. W. S. Bruce, of the „ Scottish Oceanagraphical Laboratory, is said to be planning a Scottish expedition to,the same region, and a groat expedition is alec being organised by -M l .; Arctowski, ,of the'; former" itelgian expedition. I THE SCIENTIFIC WORK. : HOW,THE TIME HAS BEEN SPENT. , The scientific staff has doubtless "not beuii idle on the homeward run. f ; A special room had been set aside.for ornithological work, and shortly before leaving the ice a" comprehensive ' collection of birds was ' to bo taken aboard, to ; bo skinned and prepared ,on the ~ journey up. - Two large tanks wore iflso taken down, and it was hoped bytheueo, of these to bring back a. number of penguins and young seals \alive. At .about* the time the Nimrpd left JLyttelton the sledge journeys" south, east, 'and west, would , have been • well started. Captain Scott relates, in reference to the Discovery expedition, ; that on August 12 it was moderately light at noon. ' On September ,1 everything was ready for a start I on the following day, the winter being i then at an end; Lieutenant Shackletoh's ! first trip would be to Hut Point, 22 miles to the south-west of the winter' quarters at Cape Royds. Captain Scott's old hut is ; still there.in an excellent state of preserva- j tion, and it was Lieutenant ] Shackleton's intention to leave stores there for the out- j ward and inward journeys of the southern .j party, the hut being constituted their base. | Six men (probably with Lieutenant Shack- | leton as their leader) were to make the I long southern • trek towards the Pole (some \ 850 miles distant from" Cape Royds), estab- j lishing depots with food supplies every 50 miles.' If they should get near : enough to jj make a final, dash for- the Pole, three off the fittest men were to push on, the other | throe ; falling back on the nearest hut, and j waiting a certain time for their comrades, j ( or 'setting out to meet them if necessary. j 'One of the other two parties of three would probably .be * headed by Professor - David. j Three men would be left at the base hut at Cape'- Royds to take records ; and report to the Nimrod upon the. state of affaire when she arrived. , During .last winter the members of the expedition in their hut at Cape Royds would have been fully occupied,:a; definite plan work having been mapped but. All, the harness for tho dog trains would have to be made; " stores would "require to be got together in their, various kinds,; and packages made op for conveying and" for leaving at the different depots;: Mr. Murray hoped to be able to continue his trawling operations through holes in the ice; some 18 puppies had to be trained to sledge work, : and the dogs and ponies had to be exercised daily. In addition, someone was continually on watch to guard'' against: the possibility of fire, in view of ' the large quantities of petrol and paraffin stored in proximity to the hut. It was thought that if the motor car should prove unsuitable for travelling purposes it would be found most useful for hauling the odds and ends of stores left on the edge .offthe ice by the Nimrod, using the engine for winding pur-

poses. In the extreme case of shortage of fuel arising , from any, unforeseen cause, the exhaust of the engine could ,be utilised for heating the hut. :'i The ponies • and dogs would have been exercised out in the open near the hut during fine weather, and especially during the prevalence of auroras. THE NIMROD'S VOYAGE. Prior to her departure from Lyttelton the Nimrod underwent a thorough overhaul. Every t part of the vessel , received attention, and, in the words of one of the crew, she was 'a much better ship- than when she left London. /New stays and running gear, were extensively installed, the whole of ; this work having been carried out by two members of the Nimrod's company. The. foredeck was .sheathed with 2Jin timber, to stiffen, that portion of the vessel, and ensure i everything .* being kept The Nimrod took down sufficient stores for 38 men < ; (the ; number including the whole of the ship's company and the shore party) for' 12 months. *, ; Provisions - were landed from the Nimrod at, the beginning of. 1908 to suffice , the exploring , contin- . gents for two years - . Supplies,; selected .at Home by ; MVi Eeid^ ) to the : extent of ;60, tons, were brought out by. the Tongariro, in addition to which considerable supplies were procured in ; New Zealand, and taken on th© Nimrod's last i trip. •; The Nimrod sailed • for the frozen j South in December last. Captain Evans was in command, with Mr. Macintosh as chief officer. > The alterations to . the vessel were carried out by- Mr. M. J. Miller, and the overhaul of v the engines by Andersons, Ltd. With the exception that Captain ' Evans succeeded Captain England, ; the. personnel of the officers remained .unchanged. The crew was the same save for -two new - hands, • who were chosen . from numerous * applicants, one of them (D. Nelson) having been on the Morning. There were four new .; men in the engineer's department. Messrs. Davis (chief officer), Harberd (second mate), Dunlop (chief engineer), . Dr. Michell, Messrs. McGowan (second -engineer),' v Cheetham (third mate), ; Bilsby (carpenter), Aneell (steward), Montgomery (cook), Patten, and Ellis (A./'remained by the ship since her return from Antarctica in ' March of last year, with the exception of short holi- : day tours.' "■' ■ .'-■'. - '.; i ;':- *•;'-• -■ ' ' s ' <%;»■,