صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

Antarctic Exploration

Norway and from many of the scientific societies of the world.

During the winter and spring of 1913, Captain Amundsen lectured in many American cities, and received special gold medals from the National, American, and Chicago Geographical Societies. Presentation of the National Geographical Society's medal was made by Rear-Admiral Robert E. Peary-an interesting meeting of the discoverers of the North and South Poles.

On March 20, 1912, the Fram left Hobart for Buenos Ayres, whence in June, 1914, Captain Neilsen expects to take her via the Panama Canal to San Francisco. From there, Captain Amundsen will attempt an Arctic drift which may take him completely across the Polar basin, and possibly over or near the Pole itself. Wireless communication with civilization during the entire trip is believed to be practicable.

(2) The British expedition under Capt. Robert Falcon Scott, making his second attempt to reach the South Pole--the most perfectly equipped and expensively outfitted ever engaged in Polar work-left London in the chartered Terra Nova on June 1, 1910, carrying sixty men, Eskimo dogs, Manchurian ponies, and provisions for three years. Headquarters were established at Cape Evans, 14 miles north of the headquarters of Scott's former Discovery expedition; and two exploring parties, under Lieut. V. K. N. Campbell and Lieut. E. R. G. R. Evans, were landed.

The Antarctic spring of 1911 was devoted to field work and the laying of depots. A telephone line of 15 miles was constructed and operated between headquarters and Hut Point. Scientific work was continuously prosecuted, some of the time at temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees below zero, during the winter.

On Nov. 2, 1911, Captain Scott left his base, Hut Point, for the South Pole. He marched at first by night, to give the ponies the benefit of the day temperatures, following the tracks of the motors, at an average of about 15 miles a day. The motor party turned back at 81° 15'; and after most difficult trayeling in snow-sometimes drifting and sometimes meltingScott's party reached 83° 24' on Dec. 4. On Dec. 9, having descended the Beardmore Glacier, through snow in which only 8 miles were done in 14 hours, the. ponies were destroyed, the forage VOL. I.-Mar. '13

1

264 B

having been exhausted. The travelling grew worse, and on five successive days only 5 miles a day was made in from ten to eleven hours' work. After Dec. 16 the rate increased, owing to better conditions, and from 13 to 23 miles a day was attained. The 86th parallel was crossed on Christmas Day; and on New Year's Eve a depot of provisions was laid, and the sledges repaired (at 86° 56').

On Jan. 3, 1912, when 150 miles from the Pole (87° 32′ s. lat.), the last supporting party, under command of Lieutenant Evans, was despatched northward, with a message from Captain Scott that he would remain another year to complete and continue his work. From that point, at an elevation of 9,800 feet above sea level, he was to go forward with a party of fiveDr. Wilson, chief of the scientific staff; Captain Oates, of the Inniskilling Dragoons, in charge of ponies and mules; Lieutenant Bowers, of the Royal Indian marines, and Petty Officer Evans -all fit and in good condition, and with a month's provisionsexpecting to reach the Pole in less than a week.

On Feb. 10, 1913, a wireless message from the returning Terra Nova brought the news that Scott and his four comrades had reached the South Pole, but that all had perished. Advancing south from 87° 32′ s. lat., from which point he had sent back reports, Scott with his party travelled the remaining 150 miles in 26 days, and on Jan. 29, 1912, reached the Pole. From Amundsen's hut ('Polheim') at the Pole, Scott took the records and a letter to the King of Norway. The Scott party, by its observations, located the exact South Polar point about half a mile distant from Amundsen's Polheim.

Upon the return, disasters followed one another in rapid succession. The weather was exceptionally severe, and during the entire journey there was not a single fine day. The temperature on the plateau, in 85° to 86°, was from 20 to 30 below zero; and on the ice barrier, 200 miles farther north and 10,000 feet lower, it was 30 below in the daytime and 40 below at night, with a steady head wind. The fuel in the depots was found mysteriously insufficient. The weakened party proved inadequate to these unforeseen obstacles, and progress became more and more slow.

On Feb. 17, Petty Officer Evans, thought to be the strongest man in the party, died from

Antarctic Exploration

concussion of the brain, the effects of a fall on the ice. Captain Oates also suffered severely from frost bites and weakness; and on March 17, made desperate by his own condition and the delay he was causing his comrades, walked from the tent, remarking, 'I'm going outsideI may be some time,' and was never seen again.

Scott, Wilson, and Bowers pushed on to within 11 miles of One Ton camp, 155 miles from Hut Point, where they arrived March 21, with fuel for one hot meal and food for two days. The gale confined them to the tent for four days, on the last of which Scott wrote his thrilling and memorable message to the public, reciting briefly the arrival at the Pole, and declaring that the disastrous results were due not to faulty organization, but to misfortune in all the risks which had been undertaken. 'For my own sake, I do not regret this journey, which has shown that Englishmen can endure hardships, help one another, and meet death with as great fortitude as ever in the past. But if we have been willing to give our lives to this enterprise, which is for the honor of our country, I appeal to our countrymen to see that those who depend on us are properly cared for. Had we lived, I should have a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman.'

Ten months later, a party from Cape Evans, under Surgeon Atkinson, found Scott's last camp, recovered the records, and buried the bodies under a cairn, over which a cross was erected. It was then learned that the relief party despatched from the base station in March, 1912, might in all probability have averted the disaster, had it been able to press on to a junction with Captain Scott and his returning party.

No specific reason has yet been given for the death of Scott and his comrades. He blames no one in his message; says that his organization was not faulty; but that there was a shortage of fuel, for which he cannot account. The official investigation ordered by the British Admiralty will doubtless disclose many facts now unknown. The scientific data of the Scott party also await examination and discussion by experts before their value will be fully defined.

Great Britain recognized generously and spontaneously the heroism of Scott and his com

[graphic][graphic]

From Amundsen's 'The South Pole'; Copyright by Lee Keedick.

DISCOVERY OF THE SOUTH POLE.

1. Amundsen and His Companions Bidding Farewell to Their Tent at the South Pole.

2. Amundsen

Taking an Observation at the South Pole.

Antarctic Exploration

rades. A memorial service, attended by King George, was held in St. Paul's, London. Pensions were granted the families of the officers, and more than $1,000,000 was raised for a memorial. Upon Mrs. Scott-who received the news of her husband's death by wireless, in the Pacific, while on her way to join him-was conferred, in her own right, the order and cross of Grand Commander of the Bath, which would have been awarded to him had he lived.

In welcome contrast to the tragic fate of Captain Scott was the successful return to Hut Point of Lieut. V. L. A. Campbell's Northern party, which had been marooned a year before, but which had arrived in safety at Cape Evans on Nov. 7, 1912, after a winter of the severest hardship and 200 miles of the most difficult travelling, The party burrowed an igloo into a snowdrift, isolating it with sea weed, and subsisted for six and one-half months on seal meat and blubber, eked out with biscuit, cocoa, and sugar. Continuous gales and illness weakened them so that they were unable to leave their base until Sept. 30; but they carried on scientific work during the entire winter.

The scientific work of the three parties of the Scott expedition was extensive and satisfactory. It is thought that complete data may supply evidence bearing on the theory that the Antarctic continent in past ages formed the connecting link between Australasia and South America. Coal, marble, and semi-precious minerals (none in commercial quantities) were found by both auxiliary parties.

Dr. Wilson and Lieutenant Bowers, of the Southern party, collected specimens of plant fossils and coal from the Beardmore Glacier at an elevation of 8,000 feet. The former are attributed to the late Palæozoic or early Mesozoic period. Early Paleozoic corals and igneous rocks were also discovered at

lower altitudes. The complete memoranda are said to furnish proof of the former existence of two different periods of temperate climatic conditions in the South Polar regions.

Victoria Land was the region chosen for the work of the Western party, under Mr. Griffith Taylor, geologist. It surveyed the land between Mount Discovery and Granite Harbor, and collected other material for a detailed physiographical study. Coal was found at Granite Harbor; but its inaccessibility renders it unavailable for commercial VOL. I.-Mar. '13

purposes.

264 D

The Western party also examined the land near the Ferrar and Koettlitz glaciers, and found a remarkable subterranean passage, 20 miles long, under the ice to the sea, traversed by seals; thousands of dead, wingless insects new to science, and many fossils.

The Northern party, under the scientific direction of Mr. Priestly, made collections of volcanic and glacial rocks from the neighborhood of Robertson Bay and the Bay of Whales; and igneous and sedimentary rocks and wood fossils between Mounts Nansen and Melbourne. Professor David's specimens, left on Depot Island in 1909, were found and brought back.

At Cape Evans constant scientific work was carried on during the winter of 1912. In December, 1912, under Mr. Priestley's direction, a detailed geological survey of Mount Erebus was accomplished.

The ascent was

made on sledges to a height of 9,500 feet, by a different route from that followed by the mountain's previous explorer, Professor David. The summit was marked by a stone cairn; but the weather conditions prevented the use of the hypsometer to ascertain the elevation.

(3) Lieut. Wilhelm Filchner, of the Deutschland, explorer in Tibet and Persia, planned to lay down depots or stations from the head of Ross Sea, as far inland as practicable; then, proceeding by sea completely around the continent, to attack it from the opposite side, and to march directly across the Pole toward his ship, which would be sent to await his arrival. On its way from the Falkland Islands to Montevideo, the expedition made important discoveries in oceanography, and demonstrated steady and powerful currents constantly setting southward out of the Atlantic basin into the Antarctic. On Jan. 7, 1913, after more than two years spent in scientific investigations both on land and sea, the Filchner expedition reached Buenos Ayres. No attempt to gain a high latitude had been made; and while new land, to which the name of Kaiser Wilhelm was given, was located and mapped, the expedition has published no accounts of popular interest. Capt. R. Vahsel, navigator of the Deutschland, died on the way back. The Aurora had also located, by deepsea soundings, a rocky ridge on the bed of the ocean, 200 miles south of Hobart, Tasmania, from 543 to 918 fathoms deep.

(4) Closely following Amund

Antarctic Exploration

sen, the Aurora, which had taken Dr. Douglas Mawson's Australian expedition to the Ross barrier, arrived at Hobart on March 12, 1912, and reported having landed the party in two detachments on Adélie Land and Sabrina Land-for permanent work and study. Dr. Mawson's chosen field was about 2,000 miles of coast land, facing westerly between Cape Adare and the Gaussberg, located by the von Drygalski German expedition, upon which no human being, except a few Frenchmen in 1840, had ever set foot, and which had not even been sighted from a ship for more than half a century.

The Pole was not Dr. Mawson's goal, and no attempt was to be made to attain a high southing. The objects of his expedition, which has been generously supported from the public treasury as well as by private contributions, are commercial and scientific: to ascertain what may be the resources of the Antarctic in mines and fisheries, particularly in whaling and sealing-in short, what may be the encouragement for investing the capital of Australia in a field to which it is the nearest of any land. The Carnegie Institution of Washington equipped the Australian expedition with a complete outfit for magnetic observations and records.

Dr. Mawson has bestowed upon the land discovered by him the name of King George v., having received official permission to do so. Difficult exploring conditions, which led to the loss of two members of the expedition, were reported in March,

1913.

On Feb. 25, 1913, Professor Mawson sent a wireless, viâ Macquarie Island, that he had decided to remain and prosecute work another season. Except for the loss of Lieut. B. E. S. Ninnis, R.F., by an accidental fall in a crevasse, and of Dr. Xavier Mertz, the Swiss scientist, the results, thus far, had been satisfactory. Hundreds of miles of coast between Victoria Land and Adélie Land had been defined.

(5) The Japanese Kainan Maru, Captain Shirase, arrived at Hobart on March 16, 1912. Its tale was brief and comparatively unimportant. The first attempt from Sydney having failed, it had put to sea a second time (Nov. 19, 1911), and had arrived at the Bay of Whales four days before the victorious Fram left it on her homeward trip. The Japanese party cruised to the eastward, along the ice-bound shores of King Edward VII.

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
« السابقةمتابعة »