THE NIMROD'S DEPARTURE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14386, 2 December 1908, Page 4

THE NIMROD'S DEPARTURE.

A YEAR lias almost elapsed since Lieutenant Shackletoii's exploration, ship tlie Nimrod, in tow of the s.s./Eoonya, left Lyttelton for Antarctica. ajnid a scene of memorable holiday .enthusiasm, and yesterday the stout little vessel again slipped away from her New Zealand headquarters bound for. the frozen South. The general interest manifested in thii country in the. doings of Lieutenant Shackletan and his hardy band of explorers isnot- the'less keen because of the period of suspense, not yet nearly at an end, which must elapse before tho story of their expedition is made known. The last heard of tho party was on the return of the Ninirod in March last, when it was evident from the narrative forwarded by the commander of the expedition himself and from the interesting accounts given by Dr Miehell and-members of the ship's company, that tho vessel's first acquaintance with Antarctica was of a lnost eventful character and like to have provided her and her crew with a grave off the inhospitable rampart of the great ice barrier. Lieutenant Shackleton suffered, it may be remembered, some disappointment in tho establishment of mnter quarters for his party. His original intention was to have located his camp at a. position which, after the arrival of the Ninirod at the ice barrier, proved to be no longer available, the ice having, in fact, broken away. Under these circumstances he made an effort to reach the site of tho winter quarters of Captain .Scott's Discovery expedition, of wliich

lie hud hfiftii himself n, member. Tliis position, however, proved inaccessible, mi nttompt to ram through the ice in order to imclj it being a failure. OMif?«l to look elsewhere,' Lieutenant Shiicltlftloi) oyiiiltimlly fixed upon winter quarters lit Cape Jloydd, under the Hliiuloff of lh» ftctfyo volcano Mount Rrcbiin, "tlio w»tjii«l of Antarctica." Here, at n «ft« «saj<J to ho well-sheltered, near «. penguin rookery, and about twenty ni!|«s north of' Captain Scott's wintftl' qii/irters, tlm storea and equipment of the. Nimrod wore lunded, and it wan hfiiifio that the /ship made a speedy return |xwjfigo to New Zealand shores, lenvmjj Mmitannnt Sluiekloton and his party in cm-Jlent spirits and confident of iwldinjj /tome noteworthy achievement to the record of South Polar cxplorar tjon. What have been the.fortunes of tho. party «inco it hade farewell to the JMmrod in February last it is impossible, of course, to conjecture. Hardship and unexpected disaster are tho constant familiars of the intrepid adventurers into these lands of frozon solitude and silme, broken only by the crash of falling ico, the cry of the sea bird, or the rush of the blizzard; and Lieutenant hhaekleton and his companions may have had their full share' of bath. Success may have in unexpected measure crowned their efforts, however, ind many w jU anticipate eagerly some tidings of tho outcome of the expedition, of what has been tho issue of the project for a- dash for the Polo by motor car and of opicr carefully-Wd. plans. As the long Antarctic winter night sets m about the last week in April, no doubt the period that has elapsed since the return of daylight in August covers the- most serious efforts of the explorers to carry out the objects of the expedition. According to the original plan disclosed, the expedition designed to attempt to achieve the "farthest south" was to make a start about the middle of .October. Speaking a year ago as to what he and his party had hopes of achieving, Lieutenant Shackleton observed that the mystery of what lay to the south of King Edward Land remained still to be penetrated. To use his own words: " The question to be solved is whether the vast ice harrier .is the. remains- of a sea frozen in the last.glacial age, fed by the snow year after year, or whether it is 'a greatglacier coming, from an. enormous mountain range in the Far South. - The glacial theory, if proved, would mean the existence of an Antarctic continent with an area perhaps greater than that of Australia." Lieutenant Shackleton's pre/gramme, as briefly sketched prior to his departure, contemplated that the various expeditions sent ~ out in the summer months would get back to the wintering place in January next, by which time the Nimrod would have arrived at the ico to take the explorers oh. board again. Then, if possible, the region known, as' AVilke's Laud would he circumnavigated and investigated. The Nimrod would carry as large a supply of coal as possible, andobserva-. tiou and exploration •would, be carried on till the end of the navigable season, when -a return would be made 'to Lyttelton, en route for England, which it* was hoped to reach at the end of 1909. But such.a programme in such circumstances'naturally lies very much "in the lap of the gods." In the meantime the Nimrod will cany south with her many good wishes for a successful voyage'and'a happy return later on bearing. Lieutenant Shackleton and his party safe and sound, and flushed with a success in their efforts realising their most sanguine expectation?.