HOW NINNIS DIED.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 28 February 1914, Page 5

HOW NINNIS DIED.

DR MAWSON'S NARRATIVE

SWALLOWED IN A CREVASSE.

(Received Last Night, 1.35 o'clock.) LONDON, Feb. 27. Dr Mawson, in a. personal narrative published in the Daily Mail, states:

"December 14th was a beautiful day. and .myself wero in the ; highest spirits. Owing to our arrival on an unbroken plateau, our trouble seemed ended. Mertz was acting as trail-breaker »a quarter of a mile ahead of myself, with tlio firat dog team next. Then came Ninnis, with a sledge carrying anost of our vital necessities. Thus plan was adopted in order that the first sledge would suffer if a crevasse wero unexpectedly found in the closing of the crevasses, of which we had already negotiated scores with my team. I called out 'Crevasse!' This put Ninnis on his guard.'' Looking back, soon after crossing one crevasse, nothing met my ewe excepting an expanse of snow and ice. Then the possibility of Ninnis paving fallen into the crevasse dawned upotf me. Hastening back, we caone upott a yawning abyss. When our eyes became 1 accustomed to the dark blue light,, wo heard a dog moan- i ihg, and We- s«bw it upon' a ledge 170 feet below. There was no trace of Ninnis. We called' for hours- without , an answer.. Meantime the dog ceased moaning in the eerie, and stillness of the shrouded depth. The remaining sledgp contacted only one man's food for one and a half; weeks, and nono for the l six'dbgSi. We- isftpro--1 vised, a tent from' a tont cover, and by : utilising a pair of ski and A' theodolite, • nine hours after the accident,, we read a burial service the crevasse where Ninnis aa& t&en started on the return jonriiey.' y