Hugh Robert Mill

“ The ship failed to return in Feb. as ex- pected, and the winter of 1912 had to be passed in an ice cave on Inexpressible I. (about lat. 75 S.) , the party subsisting mainly on seal meat cooked over blubber lamps devised with much ingenuity. This winter, spent almost without stores, was a triumph of adaptability to the hardest possible conditions, and although there was much illness the whole party was able to march when a start for Cape Evans was possible on Sept. 30 1912. The Drygalski glacier tongue was crossed and the party made its way southward along the sea-ice close to shore. ”

“ Endurance " was crushed on Oct. 27, when the expedition of 28 men with 49 dogs abandoned her and camped on the floe. This was in lat. 69 5' S.,. long. 51 30' W., and three weeks later the shattered wreck sank through the ice. The attempt to sledge over the ice westward towards the E. coast of Graham Land was unavailing, as the ship's boats could not be left behind and were too heavy to drag. The party therefore camped on the drifting floe, keeping up scientific observations and maintaining their health and spirits though in continual danger from the floes ridging up or cracking asunder. ”

“ Scott's Journey to the South Pole (1911-2) . The main object of Capt. Scott's expedition being the great southern journey, steps were taken at the earliest date to lay out depots for the main expedition of the following year. The vital point being transport, means had been taken to provide three alternatives to man-haulage. There were landed at Cape Evans 17 Siberian
ponies, 33 Siberian sledge dogs and three motor sledges on the design of which Scott had taken immense pains. The motors were practically useless on account of mechanical defects and were abandoned early in the great march. ”

“ Hope at the mouth of the Beardmore glacier in lat. 83 30′ S. on Jan. 20 where he left a depot. The return journey was one of terrible hardship aggravated by scurvy, and the party narrowly escaped Scott’s fate. Mr. Spencer Smith died, but the rest reached Hut Point on March 18 1916. In their anxiety to get back to the Cape Evans party, Mackintosh and Hayward attempted the journey on the sea-ice on May 8, but the ice was not strong enough and they were lost. It was July before the rest of the southern party reached Cape Evans. ”

“ The route selected was at first about a day's march to the E. of that taken by Shackleton and consequently far to the E. of that followed by Scott on the " Discovery " expedition, the reason being to get the smooth Barrier ice beyond the influence of the great pressure ridges which disturb the surface near the mountains. But the Plateau was to be reached by Shackleton's way up the Beardmore glacier at which point the tracks converged. ”

“ Vahsel died during the drift, and the expedition broke up at South Georgia.
Shackleton's Weddell Sea Party (1914-6) . Sir Ernest Shackle- ton had completed his preparations for an attempt to cross the Antarctic regions from Weddell Sea to Ross Sea before the outbreak of the World War, and carried out his expedition at the direct order of the Admiralty, which declined his offer of the ships and men for war service. He left England on Aug. 8 1914 in the " Endurance " and sailed from South Georgia on Dec. ”

“ After remaining two days at the Pole to secure sufficient observations to fix the position, Amundsen and his party returned to Framheim in 38 days, picking up the depots in succession and making an average of 23 m. per day in fine weather without any untoward incident. The health of the men and the ii surviving dogs was perfect throughout the 96 days of the double journey. ”

“ Amundsen left again with four companions, Helmer Hansen, Oscar Wisting, Sverre Hassel and Olav Bjaa- land, four sledges and 52 dogs. At each original depot they rested a day and gave the dogs a full feed from the stores; but on Nov. 8 they left the depot in lat. 82 S., carrying four months' provisions and travelling about 30 m. a day over the smooth Barrier surface, the men using ski. At every degree of latitude the sledges were lightened by fornu'ng a depot of provisions for the return journey. ”

“ From this point the homeward track was laid farther S. than the outward so as to avoid the great ups and downs, and the travellers pushed on in frequent bad weather on short rations supplemented by the flesh of the dogs. ”

“ Bad weather was experienced, frequent blizzards making the advance difficult. Depots with stores were provided for the returning parties at Mount Hooper in lat. 80 35' S. on Nov. 21 (Day and Hooper of the motor party, who had dragged a sledge so far, left to return three days later) , at the Mid Barrier in lat. 81 35' S., at the South Barrier depot in lat. 82 47' S. on Dec. i and at the entrance to the Beardmore glacier in lat. 83 30' S. on Dec. 10. The last of the ponies had broken down and been shot, and from this point Meares and the dog- teams returned northward. ”

“ Terra Nova " of Scott's expedition. Good rock exposures were found containing coal and fossils. The magnetic pole party from the main base, under Lt. R. Bage with E. N. Webb and J. F. Hurley, travelled out 300 m. with man-hauled sledges and reached 6,500 ft. above sea-level at a point only a few miles from that reached by Sir Douglas Mawson and Sir Edgeworth David from McMurdo Sound on Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition. The western party from the main base under Mr. F. H. Bickerton, with A. J. Hodgeman and Dr. L. A. Whetter, reached a point on the Antarctic circle in long. ”

“ Scott (1910-2) . Capt. Robert F. Scott's expedition, planned with the double purpose of reaching the South Pole and complet- ing the scientific study of the Ross Sea area, reached McMurdo Sound in the " Terra Nova " on Jan. 4 1911 (after seeking in vain for a safe position near Cape Crozier) , and erected a com- modious wooden house for the main base at Cape Evans on Ross I. about half way between Shackleton's base at Cape Royds and the Old " Discovery " headquarters at Hut Point. ”

“ See, in addition to the books referred to in the 11th ed., R. Amundsen, The South Pole (two vols. 1912) ; L. Huxley, Scott's Last Expedition (two vols. 1913) ; R. E. Priestley, Antarctic Adventure, Scott’s Northern Party (1914) ; G. Taylor, With Scott, the Silver Lining (1916) ; Sir D. Mawson, The Home of the Blizzard (two vols. 1915) ; J. K. Davis, With the “Aurora” in the Antarctic (1920) ; Sir E. Shackleton, South (1919) . ”