ARTARCTIC TRAGEDY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15824, 24 July 1913, Page 7

ARTARCTIC TRAGEDY

CAPTAIN SCOTT'S DIARY. TRIBUTE TO THE SCIENTISTS. TERRIBLE CONDITIONS. Preaa Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, July 23. (Received July 23, at 10.55 p.m.) The instalment of Captain Scott's diary, which i 3 published in the August number of the Strand magazine, deals with the wintering at Cape Evans, and paya a tribute to the excellence with which the scientists fitted out their quarters.

On St. George's Day they saw the last of the sun, after which there wa6 only a long and mild twilight. The scientists lectured twice weekly, and all hands devoted their time to perfecting the arrangements for the southern advance, impelling Captain Scott to chronicle : "It b well with the scientific interests, which gave solid justification for the expedition. Nothing, even priority at the Pole, can prevent the expedition from ranging as the most important that was ever directed to the Polar Tegions. I consider it a triumph to have collected such men."

Captain Scott speaks admirably of Dr Wilson's expedition to the Emperor penguin rockery at Cape Crozier. The journey was performed in 109 degrees of frost. No civilised being had ever encountered such a temperature, and the men were sheltered only by a canvas tent. Captain Amundsen experienced it in the Arctic, but the cold was tempered by Eskimo igfoos.

A blizzard assailed the party, but tlie members staggered along in almost complete darkness. A gale wrecked the tent, and the men were compelled to lie in their sleeping bags all night and for half a day, Wondering how all would end. They were without food for 48 hours!

"This," says Captain Scott, "is one of the most gallant stories in Polar history. That men should wonder in the depth of the Polar night in the face of dismal cold and the fiercest gales is something new, but that they should persist for five weeks is heroic. They obtained no mean scientific results, contributing greatly to our knowledge of penguins, and secured much information regarding climatology.'*

Captain Scott describes the coming of a blizzard. The barometer fell rapidly, and the wind blew in fitful gusts, rising from four miles "an hour to 68, and then decreasing to 20 miles., all within a minute. The suction of these gusts was enormous' and destructive.

Experiments which were carried out on the Ferrar glacier showed that the ice advanced 37 feet in seven and a-half months, confirming the belief as to the slow movement of coastal glaciers Captain Scott recounts the discovery of two species of wingless insects in thousands under pebbles in Granite Harbour. As the spring drew on Captain Scott, with the others, marched miles to the western mountains to complete certain observations and gain sledging practice. (Received July 23, at 11.40 p.m.) Captain Scott's diary states that on November 1 the fateful southern journey was begun. The weather was sweltering, the air breathless, and the glare intense, although the temperature was minus 22 degrees. "One's mind,' 1 6ays Captain Scott, " sought a comparison in a lot of sunlit streets an 3 scorching pavements; yet six hours ago my thumbs were frostbitten." Night marching was resorted to as it' was more pleasurable. By- November the motors had broken down, yet they proved their utility if they had been furnished with engines to withstand the climate. The article is illustrated -with some remarkable photographs of icebergs and ice formations.