Some further particulars of the vicissitudes which have befallen the Antarctic exploring expedition sailing in the Discovery are contained in a Press Association Special Service telegram despatched from Lyttelton, New Zealand, on Saturday.
When Captain Scott, Dr. Wilson, and Lieutenant Shackleton left their most southerly depot on their dash to the south they took with them only four weeks’ provisions. Moreover, as they proceeded the snow became softer, and the extra strain thus involved told quickly upon the dogs, which became very weak and ultimately all died. In these circumstances to push further southward then 82deg. 17min. would have been to court disaster.
The return journey was still more trying. Thick fogs enveloped them, and for five days the party had to steer a course practically in the dark. Then they had to go on short rations, and to add to their difficulties Lieutenant Shackleton burst a blood vessel in one of his lungs. Only indomitable pluck pulled him through, and he will have to be careful of his health for some time.
Such were the hardships of the sledge work on the various journeys made by the Discovery’s men that they are described by the officers of the Morning as being palpably aged by hard living, though nevertheless well and cheerful.
A party under Lieutenant Barnes were returning from a sledge journey to Cape Crozier when a blizzard struck them ten miles from home. Lieutenant Barnes abandoned his tents and sledges and left the dogs to find their way to the vessel. Snow fell so heavily that the party could not see two yards ahead. While they were descending a slope the seaman Vince disappeared. His companions then discovered that they were within a few yards of the edge of a huge precipice.
Seaman Hare had a wonderful escape. He got separated from his party, and lost the track. He fell from sheer weariness, and a search party sent after him gave him up as lost. Hare slept under a slum drift for thirty-six hours, and then rejoined the ship unharmed.
Lieutenant Armitage, second in command, on a sledge journey which he made to the westward, and which lasted fifty-two -days, attained an altitude of 9,000 feet. At this height respiration was difficult. The party descended an ice slide to a glacier 3,000 feet below. The descent was perilous in the extreme. At one point of the journey they slid a distance of 1,300 feet in one minute ten seconds, hanging by straps to the backs of the sledges. On the return journey Lieutenant Armitage fell into a crevasse and hung thirty feet below the surface. If he had not been harnessed to the others he would have fallen a depth of 2,000 feet. In some places the sledges had to be lowered fifty feet and then hauled up on the other side.
At Cape Adare the Discovery found Mr. Borchgrevink’s huts in good preservation.
Some symptoms of scurvy appeared among the men on the sledge journeys, but these disappeared on the parties returning to the ship. The frozen mutton contributed by the Canterbury farmers to the expedition is highly appreciated. It was served as a special treat on Sundays. Many complaints were made as to the character of the tinned provisions taken by the Discovery from England. The tinned fish specially prepared for the dogs caused disease and mortality among them. One member of the Morning’s company says that the opening of a tin of vegetables was a sure method of clearing the cabin.
The names of the Discovery’s crew who returned on board the Morning are –Lieutenant Shackleton, Petty Officer Macfarlane, Seamen Hare, Vubert, Peters, Page, Walker, Duncan, Buckridge, and Brett. Their places have not been filled, as Captain Scott still has 41 on the Discovery.