THRILLS OF ARCTIC

Taranaki Daily News, 23 March 1935, Page 15 (Supplement)

THRILLS OF ARCTIC

EXPLORERS’ ADVENTURES ICE TRAIL IN GREENLAND. DISASTER SAVED BY SECONDS. Thrilling experiences during 103 days’ sledging over a distance of 1180 miles in Greenland were described in a recent lecture to the Royal Geographical Society, London, by Mr. Martin Lindsay, leader of the British trans-Greenland Expedition of 1934. The object of the expedition was to explore the unknown strip of land 350 miles long behind the East Coast of Greenland, the longest stretch of unexplored country within the Arctic Circle. It was also hoped to complete the last two principal contours of the map of the ice-cap. Both objects were fulfilled. The expedition left Jakobshavn on May 24, and at 'the start was accompanied by seven Greenlanders, making a party of 10 men with nine sledges and 86 dogs. “The natives worked well at first,” said Mr. Lindsay, “but after the fifth day three of them insisted on going home, and even the offer of double wages was no inducement to them to stay. One week in June was the worst we ever experienced. Always wet to the skin, we had to relay our heavy loads through morasses often waist deep, extremely exhausting to men and dogs. For weeks members of the ’party were unable to remove their clothing. “We experienced great difficulty in persuading the dogs to wade or swim the streams. They would cower shivering on the banks until one less timid than the rest could be induced to lead the way.” PERIL OF FIRE. The expedition almost lost all its possessions by fire. One evening when camp had been pitched somebody smelt burning, and saw smoke belching forth. “It was only a matter of seconds before the fire was extinguished,” said Mr. Lindsay, “but only a few seconds more would have been sufficient to cause disaster. Had we been standing a few yards farther away we should have lost the tent, with almost everything we possessed inside it. We were then 450 miles from the end of our journey.” For some time the expedition, which had gone to map the country, was unable to §ee it owing to the weather. Slowly the run southward was made. The dogs ceased to be interested in the man leading on ski. “That we kept them going was entirely due to the brilliant driving of Andrew Croft,” said Mr. Lindsay. “The word brilliant is used advisedly. There are probably not more than half-a-dozen men in the world who could have driven those dogs at that stage of the journey. Without Croft’s driving our transport System would have collapsed.” ICE RIFT MILES IN LENGTH. The expedition saw two remarkable things on this part of the journey. One was a rift in the ice several miles long, 20ft or 30ft broad, and of unknown depth. It stretched across the expedition’s front and looked like a huge canal. The other was the fresh tracks of a fox travelling inland, 100 miles from the coast. With two and a-half days’ man food and one day’s dog food in hand, the expedition met with the Eskimos. Mr. Lindsay expressed his “most heartfelt gratitude” to the Prince of Wales, the patron of the expedition, and to “three individuals without whose assistance the expedition could not have taken place: Sir Archibald Mont-gomery-Massingberd, Chief of the Imperial General Staff; Herr Daugaard Jensen, Director for Greenland in the Government of Denmark; and Colonel R. .V. G. Gam, then commanding the 2nd Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers.”