LIEUT. SHACKLETON'S STORY CONTINUED.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12184, 27 March 1909, Page 5

LIEUT. SHACKLETON'S STORY CONTINUED.

CHRISTCHURCH, March 2fi ON OUR RETURN JOURNEY i°L Pl"¥., "P our outward sledge tlio blizzard had blown awaj th flaes from the poles. After that, witlr a sSI jp on the sledge (the sail being i mi £> wsed out of one-of the floorcloths of he tent) we did marches daily, assisted JO to 29 miles a day, crossing crevices it full speed. We reached the upper Slacier depot on the 19th January. Tho navelhng down the glacier was not so ?asy a job as we had expected. We ONLY LEFT FOUR DAYS' FOOD to carry us to the depot at the foot of tho glacier but owing to the bad crorasses, rendered worse by the' snow n inch covered them lower-down, our ing of the ?oth January we had ALL OUR FOOD Uur last meal consisted of boiled pony maize. Seeing the absolute necessity 3i reaching the depot we tried to malce forced marches, but. through the deep snow and amongst the crdftfeses"we only ' succeeded by 2 a.m. on the morning of the 2/th in covering 16 miles in 22 aours hauling. /We eventually reached < within a mile of our depot on the afternoon of the 27th, and whilst somo >t us pitched camp Dr Marshall went on md got some food consisting of hors© meat and biscuit from the depot ' ADAMS FELL HALF AN HOUR BEFORE fee oame to camp in his harness, but , 3ire6tly ho had recovered a little he ivent on again pulling. After leaving the depot we got soon on to the ice barrier again, and reached Gresi depot m the 3rd February. Wild during this mmc was suffering from dysentery,.duo bo something being ; wrong with the torse meat. After leaving Gresi depot, ;he whole party was'similarly'affected, md for one whole day we were unable :o leave camp at all Helped by strong southerly winds wo eventually' reached -hinamen depot. With no food remainng at Chinamen depot we loaded horseneat and digging down in the snow ?OUND THE FROZEN BLOOD OF THE HORSE. This we added to our stock of food, ;he daily ration now consisting of (for :he whole day) cne pannikin of half'ooked horsemeat with b'ood and four biscuits, two pannikins of tea, and half i spoonful of cocoa in warm water per nan. Wo reached depot "A'' with no :o6d left. We reached the Bluff depot, helped by strong southerly" winds, on srd February. This depot ■.was made by Joyce in January, and here for the second time since the middle of November, WE HAD A SQUARE MEAL. The other time was on Xmas Day on the plateaux when we had a fnll feed sonsi&ting of peitkmican/ pony ■fhtioii, emergency cxol, and a emalVphim pudding, weighincc about half a pound. Wo. bored tho plum p"d "ing in tl>e cocoa water to v give cil. -Leaving the bluff depot we TMADE A FORGtep MARCH tho second day of 24 miles, as Dr Marshall had a relapse of dysentery and we were very anxious to get to the ship, as parly as possible! Though he was snf-1 fering much he kenfc going in his harness all that day. On tlio 17th in the afternoon he was too ill to proceed, but though he wished to go on I decided to leave him in camp with Adams-in charge whilst Wi!d and I puslird on to the ship for relief. We reached Hut Point in a blizzard on the night of the 28th. On the morning of Ist March I . hellographed the ship, which had been lying at shelter at Glacier Tongue. At : iwo o'clock the same afternoon, with A RELIEF PARTY OF THREE MEN, McKay, Mawson, and ; McGillan, we started back to pick up the r^st of our party. We found Dr Marshall much better, and eventually we all arrived at Hut Point late on the 3rd March, burnt a flare to the shipj which pickea us up oarlv on the'4th During the morning we sailed north, and only just in time, for we were two days pushing through heavy new pancake ice. 'We tried to push to the westward beyond Capp North, bub were HELD UP BY HEAVY OLD PACK ICE, not before we had found 45 miles of now ccast mountains, ranging from •r>ooo to 7000 feeb in height. After a boisterous passage we arrived afc Half Moon on the 23rd March. In answer to a question regarding the expedition, that-resulting in THE ATTAINING OF THE MAGNETIC5 POLEi Lieut. • Shackletoh said:'that this had been a very important part of the work, and was a most difficult one for those who engaged in it. The party did 800 miles of relay work over the sea ice. They hauled one sledge for a certain distance, then returned, and hauled up the other sledge, and they did this from sth October to 15th December and under the relay system every mile of ground had of course to be covered three times. The surface of the sea ice was very sticky with salt, and made tho sledge travelling extremely laborious. WHAT ABOUT THE PROVISIONS? asked tho reporter. The party had, Lieuc. Shackletdn said, to eke out their provisions, and lived on seal and penguin meat. One of them, fasting the teal cil in the blubber lamp, pronounced it excellent, and from that time on seal blubber was always part of the ! menu. The party was entirely unsup--3 ported by ponies, and their provisions t | were much the same as ours, excepting ' I that they had dried milk instead of 3 • plasmon. The equipment was similar *' to ours. "Could you say a word as to : THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ATTAINMENT OF THE POLE?" 3 Mawson, with the Lloyd creak dip : circle, absolutely fixed the position of j; tho South Magnetic Pole, which is a j matter of great interest to science, and helps tho forwarding of- that branch of .. knowledge. It is a -matter of groat importance in all magnetic survey work. B This party arrived at a point on the so:i coast on a glacier 180 miles from win- ' I ter quarters c AVITH PRACTICALLY NO PROIi VISIONS, r except a few biscuits. On arrival there = they obtained seals' anS penguins. I , had left instructions at the winter quar- [* ■ tera that if they had not returned there by the Ist February, tho ship was to 7 ! search the coast for thorn. This seems i «". fairly simple th'ng to do, but one c must realise that it was a practically v I unknown coast with heavy pack ice ex--0 ! iond'nec out from it. 111 CAPTAIN EVANS HAD A MOST 7. ! ■ TRYING JOB " manopuvririir in blizzards and through X ( the pack, whilst »?oing up that coast to & search for a black" flag only about two S feet wide. He went as far as Cape 3- Washington, and then-keeping in shore, g (Continued on page 8.)