ANTARCTIC DAYS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22580, 19 November 1936, Page 13

ANTARCTIC DAYS

CAPTAIN'S MEMORIES SCOTT AND SHACKLETON THE SHIP DISCOVERY The first Antarctic expeditions of Scott and Shackleton a generation ago are recalled by the arrival in Auckland hy the Itangitata yesterday of Captain I!. G. England, of Sydenham, London, who took part in both of them. Captain England was second-in-com-mand of the relief sliip Morning in Captain Scott's expedition of 1901-04, and in her made two voyages to the Ross Sea, spending the winter of 1902 in New Zealand. He was commander ol the Nimrod and second-in-command ot Sir Ernest Shaqkleton's expedition, which left England in 1907, and which ultimately penetrated to within 97 miles of the South Pole. However, his command terminated after the vessel's first voyage from New Zealand to tlio Antarctic and back. Leaving the sea soon after, Captain England established a transport business. "1 have great hopes of buying Captain Scott's famous old auxiliary barque Discovery 1. and presenting her to the nation," said Captain England. "She has been lying idle in the Thames for a long while, and I have made some progress in negotiating with her owners. She was built specially for Scott's first expedition, and her timbers are as sound to-day as ever they were. "It seems to me that the Discovery ought to be preserved as a national possession. The lives and deeds of Scott and of Shackleton, who was a lieutenant in her in 1901, are an inspiration to all British people. More than that, her barque rig is interesting, for sail is fast disappearing from the seas. I estimate that there will be no difficulty in keeping her afloat for a century, and she will be more and more venerated as time goes on. My idea lias been to moor her in Falmouth Harbour near the famous old clipper Cutty Sark. The cost of maintaining her there with a ship-keeper on board would not be very great."

Modern Antarctic expeditions were much more liberally equipped than in his day, Captain England remarked. The Discovery was a vessel of only a little over 700 tons gross, and some of the other ships were much smaller They sailed for the south loaded to capacity—he well remembered that the Ximrod had loss than 2ft. freeboard—and on the return voyages they were empty and tossed about like corks. The difference between the quantities of stores and equipment landed at their bases by Scott and Admiral Byrd was enormous. "Then there is wireless," he added. "When we went south we were right out of the world. Now the men of an expedition can talk to their wives and mothers every night if they wish. Times have changed indeed." Captain England is accompanied by Mrs. England, who was formerly Miss Turner, of Chribtchurch.