THE ANTARCTIC MASTER.

Southland Times, Issue 17304, 28 March 1913, Page 7

THE ANTARCTIC MASTER.

ypng NEWS REACHES ENGLAND. HOW IT WAS RECEIVED. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, Feb It. Though the papers for the past four day* have been fall of matter concerning the terrible catastrophe to Captain Scott's Antarctic Expedition, and though practically every public speaker has made reference to that disaster, tg would be wrong to say that the polar tragedy has been the topic of the day. Generally speaking, the fate of Captain Scott and bis gallant comrades has been a subject avoided by men In their dally Intercourse—a sure sign that Englishman have been more deeply moved by the belated news of the explorers' fate «H«n they care to show. One noted the same Indisposition to talk about those “regrettable Incidents” which marked tha course of the South African war. The more serious they were the less Englishmen talked about them. Minor reverses were readily discussed, but “facers” like Maggersfontin did not move tha average Englishman to “a multitude of words”. Each man seemed to desire tp make the graver Incidents of the war his own private sorrows. In perhaps a somewhat lesser degree this has been the case with regard to the year old tragedy just revealed to ns. Few people one meets seem inclined to Introduce the subject, and fewer still to discuss It at any length, at any rate just at present. There seems to be a vague Idea abroad that there are facts relating to the catastrophe yet to be disclosed, and there Is undoubtedly an uneasy feeling that there are disclosures to come which may make very unpalatable reading. Heaven alone knows where these Ideas have sprung from, but It Is certain that they are harboured by a large number «f people. Probably the cabled news of Commander Evans's polite refusal to respond freely to press pumping at the Antipodes Is the sole cause for the suspicions that have ventured abroad in regard to the expedition. There has been, at any rate, nothing In the latest messages received in London to suggest that anything material has been concealed. How the nation has been moved by the tragedy was clearly shown by the scene at St Paul’s to-day. when a great congregation assembled to pay tribute to the dead heroes of the South Pole. A NATION’S TRIBUTE. St Paul’s has been the scene of many services In memory of great and distinguished men. but X doubt if It ever contained within a congregation more profoundly moved than that which gathered there to-day. Within and without a great mam of people had come together to commemorate the heroic men Whose bodies lie In the frozen embrace la that vast Sahara of snow,' the mysteries of which they had set out to explore Although this service was not timed to begin until noon thousands of people awaited' the opening of the doors for the ten o’clock service. The major part af tha Cathedral was thrown open for the general public, and every part of the great -building, with the exception of tha comparatively few reserved seats, soon became full, and large printed notices were posted outside informing the arriving crowds that all the available ■pace was occupied. Still the crowds eon tinned to arrive, and the vicinity of the churchyard was thronged by a dense mass of people who struggled to get the gates In tbs vain hope of obtaining "admission to the Cathedral. Even the privileged ticket-holders, some of whom arrived upwards of an hour before the time appointed for the service, had a considerable difficulty in fighting their way to the entrance doors. IN THE CATHEDRAL. Inside St Paul’s the scene was remarkably solemn and Impressive, despite the fact that the service was characterised by the greatest simplicity. ■ As far as the eye could see to the dim religious light, there was a. solid phalanx of people attired- in mourrw tog, many of them ladles. riFrom the down to the humblest- citizen everyelam of society was represented at the great service of mourning. Cabinet Ministers, officers of the Navy and Army, the representatives of the great learned and scientific societies and foreign Goverznents. City magnates. Including the Lord Mayor, who attended in full State, business and working men—all came to pay their homage to the gallant explorers. A pathetic little assembly were the relatives of the explorers, adw occupied seats in the northern transept. Among these were Mrs Scott (mother of Captain Scott) and Miss Scott (sister). Mrs. and Miss Oates (mother and sister of Captain Oates) Miss Bowers (sister of Lieut. Bowers), and Mrs Godfrey Randall (sister of Doctor Wilson). Meanwhile the hand of the Coldstream Guards was tuning the minds of the great congregation to the solemn significance of the occasion. Handel’s Largo fittingly introduced the note of the service, and just as the final crashing bars of Beethoven’s Funeral March sounded triumphantly through the lofty building, the IClng entered and took his seat. He was attired as an Admiral of the Fleet, aptly appropriate to the occasion. The picture presented In the Cathedral was a remarkably Impressive one. Most of the members of the congregation wore deep mourning, but the brilliant uniforms worn by the Ambassadors and other distinguished persons relieved the ■ombre monotony.

Immediately his Majesty had taken bis seat the opening chorda of “Rock of Agee” were heard, and the huge congregation Joined in the singing, led by the choir. Then came the Invocation, and while the people bowed their beads the Lord’s prayer was said. After came the Psalms "Domlnus reglt mo" and “Demine, refugium”. They were preceded by the antiphon “Lead me O Lord, In Thy righteousness", and the closing antiphon was “Lead me, Lord, lead mo in Thy righteousness; make Thy way plain before my face. For it Is Thou, Lord, only that makeat me dwell in safety". These words formed the closing movement of Wesley’s beautiful anthem, “Praise the Lord, O my soul”. The Benedlctus followed, and the closing antiphon ”1 am the Resurrection and the Life said the Lord”, was taken from Croft's Burial Service. The Lesson 1. Cor. xv.. 26. was read by the Dean, and of all the well-known lines of the Burial Service none sounded more appropriate than the comparison of this earth's victories with the victory of life over death —Death is Swallowed up in Victory. As the congregation rose to its feet the drums of the Guards were gradually increasing in volume, as the poignant notes of the ‘Dead March” from the organ and the brass Instruments reverbrated through the great cathedral, emblematical of the Christ lan. Then cams the Liturgy of St Chrysostom. "All we go down to the dust; and weeping o’er the grave we make our song. Alleluia”. In the first of the dosing collects were included the names of the five heroes;— Robert Falcon Scott. Lawrence Edward Grace Oates, Edward Adrian Wilson, Henry Robertson Bowers and Edgar Evans. The service closed with the Lord’s Prayer, the Leaser Litany and versicies, and responses and four collects. These collects Included the prayer In the PostComnrnnlon Service, beginning “Assist ug mercifully, O Lord”, which Is always connected with travellers, and the two collects in the Burial Office. In the first of these, which began; “Almighty God, with Whom do we live", the wording of the passage running "Wo give Thee hearty thanks, for that It hath pleased Thee to deliver this our brother out of the miseries of this sinful world”, wag altered to suit the circumstances, and "this our brother” became “the souls of our brothers", giving the full Christian and surnames in the order named In Commander Evans's despatch. The congregation Joined In the closing won. "Jesu. lover of my soul”, which was sung with impressive effect, and the Demi pronounced the Benediction. The King left the cathedral to the strains of the National Anthem, and as the congregation slowly dispersed the band played Beethoven's Funeral March. “HE WAS A BRICK”. An Interesting review which throws •OM light on Captain Scott's undoubted influence with men over whom he happened to be officially pUeM. appeared totfae ♦‘Qrimaby Telegraph” this week. Wjm JJIHWTI—-*wOtttW -Vlotlnwvae Mr.

OJS. Cruncher, a teacher of navigation who served with Captain Scott In the Antarctic. Like Captain Amundsen sad Lieutenant Shaokleton, Mr Crouch er doesn't believe that H was merely a blizsard that brought Captain Scott and his sard that brought Captain Scott and lha party to grief, and like them he apparently attributes their Inability to compass those last ten miles to One Ton uunp to the enfeebling efforts of scurvy er some Insidious allied disease. Said Mr Croucher :

“I cannot think the party were lost In a blizzard. No blizzard could finish Captain Scott I have been with him when wo were snowed up for four days. We used to have bllzzzards so often, and got so used to them, that nobody ever complained. He was a brick! He used to come and talk to us on walking parties, and if any of us felt downhearted or upset, or wondered whether we were going to find the depots, he was the first roan to put new llfo into the party. "At night time, after the day’s march wds done, it was always Captain Scott who came round with a cheerful” Are we all right and comfortable?” He took a personal Interest in everybody. I remember once when the dogs were a bit awkward, and we wondered how we were going to manage, that Captain Scott harnessed himself to the sledge and said “We are going to pull ou ”f lve * ' A,? never asked you to do anything with taking a hand In it himself. If he had any doubt about the cre^ ses went In front'of toe party, and he was the first man to fall Into the crev“ 3 e . It Is an Interesting fact that Mr. Croucher was Invited to accompany the present expedition by Captain Scott He was at Alexandria, en route to as second officer on a vessel belonging to the Mercantile Steamship Co™pany when he received a letter from bis old leader expressing the hope that he could count on him going again. rhance” •T would have gone had I the chance , said Mr Croucher. "but I could no. get away from the ship In time. 1 shall always have cause to regr „ttfor he did me a lot of good- He regrett ed my leaving the Navy, hutwhenl did he wrote and asked the people ployed me as to my prospects. mat a seaman likes to see In an officer Is sea manlike qualities, and lUch an officer and a seaman oi the tyi* wnjen has made the English Navy what It Is. There is a sort of cast-iron barrier between officers and men In the navy so far as social matters go, but Captain Scott could talk to you as though you his equal, although there wM Stlll juat that something about him which always made you remember who he was. A SOLDIER AND A MAN. By a tragic coincidence Captain Oates, who perished in the blizzard on March 17th 1912, which -eventually overwhelmed the rest of Captain Scott’s Southern Party, died on his 32nd. birthday. The gallant soldier came of a family noted for their love of adventure. Hailing originally from Yorkshire, the Oates's came to Essex about the end of last century and took possession of a fine old historic mansion, Gestlngthorpe Hall, situated between Halstead and Sudbury on the Suffolk border. x . ■ .. Captain Oates’s father, the late Mr N. E. Oates, and his uncle, were both great travellers, and Gestlngthorpe Hall is full of historic trophies and natural history specimens brought by them from the wilds of Central Africa. South America, and other lands. Leaving Eton at the outbreak of the Boer war, Captain Oates Joined the Innlskllllng Dragoons, and saw service In South Africa. While In charge of a small detachment he was surrounded, the enemy sending a messenger summoning him to surrender. To that demand he replied that he had come there not to surrender but to fight. In the fight that followed he was badly wounded, and after lying for seven hours In a ditch was picked up and invalided home. ~ It was bn March 13, 1901 that Lieut. Oates (as he was then) and 20 men ef the Innlskllllngs showed their metaL These men, all of them raw recruits, under fire for the first time, occupied a small advance trench. They were opposed by a force three times their number. Commander Schleper summoned them to surrender, but Llent Oates Indignantly refused. Several men had been wounded when the Boer commander again demanded their surrender, telling them, under cover of a white flag, that all prisoners taken after refusal to surrender would be shot. Schleper, knowing that he had to deal with youth and Inexperience, was of course, only bluffing'to get a cheap surrender, but Lieut. Oates and his men were not to know that. Anyhow they decided to fight on . Then as ammunition ran out Lieut. Oates directed his men to retire one by one. The majority of them got away safely In this fashion, and when at length the Boers rushed the trench they found only wounded men in possession. They made no attempt te capture them, but paid tribute to the Innlskllllngs' gallantry by making the sufferers as comfortable as circumstances permitted, and left them to be picked up by .the British ambulance later. A broken ankle and a severe wound In the leg were Lieut. Oates’s portion. Among his friends Captain Oates was extremely popular. He was a witty raconteur with an apparently Inexhaustible fund of anecdotes, and a man whose high spirits and unfailing good humour under most depressing circumstances must have been of Inestimable value to his comrades during their weary Antarctic campings and Journeylngs. And his last act In this life was, in Captain Scott's words "the act of a brave man and an English gentleman”. He knew he was doomed, and he knew that by sticking to him his comrades were Imperilling their lives, and he knew they would never leave him whilst, he had breath In his body. So he left them In the hope that by seeking death he might speed his chums to safety. CAPTAIN SCOTT AND SEAMAN EVANS. According to a special "Chronicle” cable from Christchurch, giving details of an Interview with Lt Evans, “great surprise had been expressed here at Captain Scott’s references to Seaman Edgar Evans. He accompanied Captain Scott on his first attempt to reach the pole ten years ago, and the leader then praised him highly. There . Is no word of commendation for him on this occasion. There Is In this extract from the "Chronicle” cable a suggestion that Captain Scott’s reference to Seamen Evans’s “astonishing failure” meant a good deal more than mere physical failure. This suggestion hardly fits in with the contents of a letter Captain Scott sent to Mrs Evans from the Antarctic. Therein Captain Scott said:— “It Is possible we may not finish our work this year, and In that case he will stop with me for another season. If so, you must try to remember that he is certain to be In the best of health, and that It will be all the better when he does come home. When that time comes, I hope he ylll get some good billet, and not have to leave you again. He is such an old friend of mine and has done so weU on this expedition that he deserves all I can do for him, so I hope you won’t be anxious or worried”. Of course there is no telling what mental effects a long sojourn in the Antarctic might produce, especially upon a man. who if Dr Nansen. Captain Amundsen, Sir Ernest Shackleton and others versed In polar work are correct in their surmises—was suffering from the terrible scourge, scurvy, and it may be that In the later stages of the 111-fated expedition Seaman Evans failed in other than physical respects. But In Captain Scott’s letter to Mrs Evans there is no hint that the Commander had any fault to find with the brawny sailor whom he refers to as “such an old friend.” Mrs Evans, the widow, stated in the course of an Interview that her husband had told her at the time they were married —some eight years ago— that he would only go away If he wore wanted to Join another expedition with Captain Scott. That was the only thing which would tempt him from home, but he had firmly made up his mind to Join Captain Scott If he went on another expedition. “He liked Captain Scott, and was a great favourite of that commander, it was no surprise to me, therefore, when be decided to go this time. He had always an ambition to get further south than he had been before. That wish ran through his last letters to roe. He was very enthusiastic on the subject. I knew be would go If Captain Scott wanted him at any time, and I had to make up my mind to It.” A CURIOUS PARALLEL, Mrs Bowers, the mother of Llent. EC. B. Bowers, who died with Captain Scott, learnt of the death of her son by reading the English telegrams posted dally at J°alle'a Library, Rome. "Wjhe was overcome with grief and the ■ wltarabQck. oafi waw taken-to-tho -Ho tel.

Lndovlcl, where she now 11m. It was only a few weeks ago that she parted with Mrs Scott, when the explorer’s wife left for New Zealand, and Mrs Bowers came to Rome to wait the return of her son, who was to have sailed from New Zealand by the Orient line to Naples and to continue the journey to England overland. , Twenty years ago Mrs Bowers __ lost her husband, who was also In the Navy. She was on her way to join him, when a telegram reached her at an Intermediate port announcing that he had been accidentally drowned. Her son was particularly requested by Captain Scott to take part in the expedition. over a thousand volunteers for the post he occupied being refused.