CAPTAIN SCOTT AS LECTURER.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1715, 11 January 1905, Page 80 (Supplement)

CAPTAIN SCOTT AS LECTURER.

(From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON.. November 11. Nearly seven thousand people assembled in the Albert Hall last Monday evening, to hear Captain Scott. R.N. lecture to the members of tne Koval Geographical Society on the National Antarctic expedition. Sir Clements Marknam presided, supported by Mr Choate, t?ie united States Ambassador, and on the platform were the officers and crews ot the Discovery, and the Morning, to right and left of the platform were nung tlie siedgetiags carried by Captain ocott and liis two companions in the dash ‘‘’furthest south,” to latitude bZiteg. 17min. Tue lecturer met witn an enthusiastic reception, and for two and a hair hours the audience gave him tueir undivided attention as the tlir.iling experiences of the expedition were recounted. Captain Scott began oy referring, with the aid of a chart, to the extent of our knowledge of the South Polar regions prior to 1901, and went on to describe tne objects and History of the National Antarctic expedition, and to relate the more important events connected witn the three years’ sojurn in the Far South, lie went on to g 4 ve some iuea of the various routine scientific observat.ons which occupied the time of the party, and described how the second winter passed in even greater comfort than the first, mainly ow.ng to their experience of the conditions under wh cli tney were living. To New Zealand people it is a twice-told tale by now, so 1 need not quote the details given by the gallant captain, thrilling though tney were to the vast audience which hung upon the lecturer’s words on Monday evening. Captain Scott’s most exciting day in the Antarctic was perhaps the 13th of November, 1903. \\ itli two companions he had gone out on a short expedition, and they had lost their way. They did not know where they were, and were steering only by dead reckoning. But on November 13th, in thick weather, they began to descend. As they were going downhill one man slipped, and was swept off his feet. Tlie other man was dragged down, and the sledge descended on to the captain, who was in front. The three men and the sledge went down the iceliill at a tremendous pace, sometimes leaving the surface for many yards at a. time They eventually reached a level patch, and pulled up safely, and by wonderful good luck found themselves in a locality which they recognised. They had not. only escaped sudden death, but had found their bearings at last. That same day they were all three pulling at the sledge, when the captain ordered one of the men to keep a few feet to the right to steady the sledge. Within a few seconds the captain and the remaining man walked into a crevasse, and hung over the edge, suspended in mid-air by their sledge-straps. The third man hung on to the rope, and in some miraculous manner helped bacx the two men who were dangling in space in a helpless condition. “If that man had not had sufficient presence of mind to throw himself down and avoid going over, I should be many miles from the Albert Hall to-niglit,” said Captain Scott. During the evening Captain Scott was presented with the special Antarctic medal struck by the lioyal Geographical Society, and the United States Ambassador also presented him with the 1904 gold medal of the Philadelphia Geographical Society, awarded ‘“'for eminent geographical research. Per mare, per terrain.” Captain Colbeck was likewise presented with a piece of plate, illustrating the Antarctic regions, this being a testimonial from the Royal Geographical Society for the services rendered by the Morning in her two voyages. The piece of plate was in the form of a punch bowl. The handle represented Scott Island, the globe marked the voyages made, ancl the supporters were figures of three kinds of Antarctic seals. During the evening Sir Clements Markham was presented by Captain Scott with a very interesting trophy from the officers and men of the Discovery in the form of a model of a man drawing a sledge on which two boxes of food, two buckets, sleeping bag, kit bag, anc tent were strapped.