ANTARCTIC PERILS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16300, 5 August 1916, Page 8

ANTARCTIC PERILS.

SHACKLETON'S COMRADES.

THREE REACH LONDON.

GRAPHIC NARRATIVE.

Australian and N.Z Cable Association.

(Received 1.30 a.m.) LONDON. August 4. Messrs. MacNish. Vincent, and McCarthy, three of the crew of the Endurance, who volunteered to accompany Sir Ernest Shackleton in a small boat from Eelephant Island in search of assistance, have i arrived in London.

Mr. MacNish, in an interview, was optimistic a3 to the chances of the rescue ' of those marooned on Elephant Island, | especially as they are nnder the able leadership of Lieutenant Wild. " The worst feature is,".he said, " that they may think our small boat foundered. There , was only one chance in a hundred that the boat would get through. When we first landed at Elephant Island, Lieutenant Wild prospected and found a camp site on the north-west of the island. We christened it 'Wild's Beach,' and it was wild in every sense of the term. The wind blew everlastingly, and we had to crawl on our hands and knees to make headway. In the Weddel Sea it was absolutely calm, and we called it 'Windless Sea.' But at Elephant Island it was always blowing gales. The journey we made for assistance was worse than we had expected. When things seemed hopeless Sir Ernest Shackleton rose as usual to the occasion. 'We are going to get there all right.' he said, and we did. We had the greatest difficulty in making South Georgia, as there were enormous seas breaking on a dead leeshore. If Sir Ernest Shackleton had not set a reefed sail we would not ■ have been alive now. We had to bale I continuously. Th»? wind shifted at the i critical moment in our favour. Our water | was exhausted, as we had reached the | wrong side of South Georgia. All of us were frostbitten. We managed to kill three albatrosses, and they gave us a supply of much-needed food. We had tasted nothing nicer since we had dog cutlets when the Enduraince was smashed."