LIFE ON ELEPHANT ISLAND.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14196, 13 January 1917, Page 5

LIFE ON ELEPHANT ISLAND.

PATIENCE AND A BANJO. MR FRANK WILD'S VIVID STORY. Into the offices of . the Observer, London, « them- stepped a- .remarkable man from the world of ; : adventure.- From the . story he .had; to tell, ,, even from his ap- !' pearance — his well-knit figure, his. keen eye.?, his short-pointed heard — he might | have come from' t he pages of romance. !• For months lip was the. man who kept i the flami* of life burning; and the spirit I of hope, strong m the little party which |. was marbonctd, ij^ Sir^'•!Er^es■t > -Hhaeklel ton's expedition",-. to;- r the" Antarctic, on I Elephant Island. He— for we speak of Mr Frank /Wild, Sir Ernest's second 1 m command — with ten • other member.** of [ the -party, -has just arrived -in London. ' The need of patience was the 1 impression from all his experiences. which was uppermost m his mind. "It was a.waiting game nearly all the time," he said. "'Hi*'. Endurance was crushed m the ico : on October. 27,, v 1915,. nnd. until.! April 9 we were pn ; the -. ice— waiting all the 1 time. We tried • -sledging, but the- _ice was too badly broken -up.' Boating was' equally impossible;- because, the ice .was not open enough. We simply, drifted, slowly, to-. the- -north, about six hundred, .mile?). It was the wovst time we had. 'We • got- to -Elephant r Island on April 9 <and landed on thFi~lsJ:lv.^n a, narrow •spit of shnvp. a;-huirdred 'and fifty yards -long— the only place on-. that. side- of tho island whfere we' could havej landed," for the -cliffs- rose- perpendicularly from 3000 to 5000. feet; -■ ' : ', ■ : ;;■ ;'/ ; ; TH^;icE^HOtikr ' : . ... ' { Jt. seemed, impossible. '.to. live •on.the spit of Jdnd, .for the' winds were ra strong thai;. w e - could, .not ..put up a siiitablei building, and the low part of the shore had previously been washed; over by the sea. So we" .began digging the ice hole m winch, Sir Ernest, as you. have read, left us.'. '. .... .. ' '. "For three' weeks 'the 1 wol'k kept. us fairly busy. We dtog about : 15 or 16. feet into" a small glacis, or slope. We had got the place almost big .enough to live m when we f oiihdi- there 'was 'water run-i ' nninag — a sub-joe stream — and every : blow we gave filled the entrance .right up witli snow.. would, take us' half a ; day each day to get theSsnbwre.trioVed. '.'"'■' 1 "In the" end' ,we foiled' it pjaite' impossible .%p niake-' a; habitation ; and, -wo just had to"clia;ncß ; b;£fng ivs&h'&l. 6ft -the spit.. There'we'" made a. hixt' by" buildiii* .two stone 'waUs and laying' the boats on "\hem fore and) after;' and : using the torn canvas dl'thetetitfiMn which we had. been, living for the "roof "and side; We- got this hut' in weather-proof cov^jr tibn- m something ' iike a '/wepk^ .;' The 1 roof, however, was no more than Jjo.m" ■feet high, and ; we' suffeVed" for a long ' time ,m. consequence; from' stiff backs: Nor was , the; accommodation, any tool great. The floor, space was only 18 'feet by 12 for the 'whole party of '-22., ' Five | : slept on the' thwarts of one'; beat ,and»| six on the thwarts of .the other"' and thei rest> oh. the floor — a floor of pebbles from] , the be<ach. > . ' : • , *•., • : , SATURDAY : N|G^T ', SING-^QNQS./ ." "Thpugh the. • party ' suffered a great deal from exposure , before peachiagthfe - island, the only 'cases of" illness- were , those ; due to fi'ostbite, for whic.li , eighk r members had to be treated. .Hudson's fingers, w«re very.jbad, and Blackborbugh had : to'h'ave;five.;tpes. amputatedi •" ' «, "We .lived, principally on penguinsand j v s^al/ Seals,' hotoeyer, were very scarofe owing to an -ices foot forming all roun(l the '-shore) and •preventing thenrfrom gepting-, up, and. j)enguii>s m the- soft '. were difficult tf> ; catch 1 . / ' ■ " ,' : "■Foi*- five moivthft, at . a time on. the island there was nothing' to do. '/, We had very few books and no games.- Bin) we had one banjo, and on Saturday nights we always : had some little's-iing-song and toasted' sweetheart* and wives. It i* art ! old custom which v b have 'always kept up on ' our expeditions. ' . y "The strongest ■ diunk for .months w.nh te(a, and for a. long time we did' not. even j ' have that, liot water and ' sugar ' bein^ | the- substitute. Sugar was served Wit three lumps t» each man four times a week; and we used ;to savci one of theste alldwaiiceji '< for .the Saturday night toast." ' ; > • ■ ,- THE DAY'S MEALS. ',« . l Describing a typical day, Mr Wild said : "The cook turned out' 1 at seven J o'clock and usually took until ten to ''get breakfast ready!^Tliis irieial consisted nearly, always of penguin, steaks and penguin 'legs,' the steaks being fried : m blubber and the- legs boiled m water. Jf it "was a. bad day, everyone renjained m v sleeping bags except the\ cboks, : and lunch would . be served 'to 1 each* man •at one o'clock. Lunch 1 foui 1 times a week was a biscuit and three pieces of sugai*^ 'two days every; week it wasr nothing ai all, and on; the rdipainin'g day it was mil food. If the '.weathei* continued bad all h?inds remained, m, sleeping bags, and dinner, another 'meat. «meal ? was ><erved between five and .sv*.. By six' o'clock we werfe generally m bed. In the mid;winter. month, June-July, fher6 was drily four hours' .daylight.:,.. . ■'."•■.'"'■' , "On fine. day^ the meals were se"i-yefl about the same time, and aftei'^break'fast, if. there were any penguins or seals the men would kill and flkin 'them'. In the afternoon they went out for a walk, which was always limited' to about a hundred yards,- the spit terminating m a mound a. hundred feet high. \Th« main part /of the- island; was quite inaccessible; : ' l ' "Our" lamp oil , was .mads of blubber^, the oil being poured into : old sardine tins. Surgical bandages that' had 'been . used 1 , for,. the cases of frost-bite supplied 1 the wick. The lamps made a red fiamb and aii awful smoke, oifering no inducement to sit up late. / | "In all the months of waiting: wb ; never once lo^t hope of relief. The c'on'i fidenoe of the whole party m Sir Ernest , Shackloton- and : 'liis» luck was. l trem.eri ; dous, 1 and) one moi-ning at ' the* end? of August, when we' Kadi- only three v days' meat m hand and' very little 'el'&e,', we saw a ship passing,, and kneAv that. , our I faith was justified." % ' That . thei expedition, despite its disasters^ 'has achieved interesting-re-I suits Mr Wild indicated by saying that , "Ori the 'voyage- m- Enduraneb: : new i land was discovered eastf' of the- Weddell Sea. near Coats Land; and later, duringr the drift' m the' ice; 1 we '• disproved' the ejfistenca of, what hae beefn called New South' Gf eehlaridi ' artd Mors rell Land. These 'land's' were probably a large ' berg; for Wei drifted right over them and found there from two hundred to two' thousand-' fathoms) 'of water!"