POLAR REGIONS--ANTARCTICA
A continent twice the size of the United States lies sleeping beneath a
mantle of snow and ice at the south pole. No vegetation save a few
mosses and lichens exists anywhere on this vast expanse. No four-footed
animals rove over it; no human beings inhabit it.
Hundreds of thousands of square miles of pack-ice, glaciers, and
ice-walls jealously guard it on all sides. On one side, for a distance
of five hundred miles, extends a great ice barrier whose perpendicular
ice-wall is from thirty to three hundred feet in height. Behind this
wall are vast ice-fields, and beyond these immense plateaus of ice
having an elevation of six thousand to twelve thousand feet where fierce
winds and a biting cold prevail. On these elevated plains the
thermometer stands in the middle of summer sometimes as low as forty
degrees below zero.
Great fields of ice and huge icebergs cover the sea in all directions
and in winter extend far beyond the antarctic circle. In these regions
the ice forming on the surface of the ocean attains a thickness varying
from five to seventeen feet. Long ranges of snow-clad and ice-mailed
mountains are found with ermined peaks towering from ten thousand to
fifteen thousand feet in height.
A long winter night, with its intense darkness relieved at times by the
light of the moon and brilliant chromatic displays of the aurora
australis, succeeds a day of perpetual sunshine. All these are on such a
scale of sublimity that no pen can adequately describe nor brush portray
them. Nowhere else on the face of the globe does there exist such a wide
expanse of utter desolation. Yet an undefined attraction lures bold men
to fathom the mysteries of these forbidding regions. Dating from 1772,
many exploring expeditions have visited the south polar regions in the
interests of science.
The compass is the mariner's guide across the trackless ocean, and it is
essential to find out everything possible about that mysterious agent,
magnetism, which directs the compass needle by its attractive force. The
earth itself is a huge magnet with positive and negative poles. The
poised needle of the compass maintains its relative position because of
the magnetic poles of the earth, one located in the north polar regions,
on the western side of the peninsula of Boothia, and the other in the
south polar regions, on Victoria Land. Except in a few localities the
compass needle does not point due north and south--that is, toward the
real poles of the earth, but toward the magnetic poles. And these
magnetic poles are ever shifting, as is shown by the changing direction
of the compass needle, which year by year increases or decreases its
deviation from true north and south.
It is necessary to chart the variations of the magnetic needle for the
use of the navigator. To observe the deviations and to locate the south
magnetic pole have been the chief objects of south polar expeditions for
several years, geographical information being of secondary importance.
The marine life of the south polar regions is abundant. In the latter
part of the eighteenth century ships sailing in the regions north of the
antarctic circle discovered whales and fur-bearing seals. Soon sealers
and whalers of different nations began to frequent the prolific new
regions. Then various European nations and the United States sent out
exploring expeditions to the south polar regions to gather scientific
and geographical information as well as to assist the charting of coasts
and the determination of magnetic variations.
On account of their uninhabitability, their difficulty of access, and
their unknown commercial value, the antarctic lands have claimed far
less attention than the north polar regions. The famous explorer,
Captain James Cook of the royal navy, was commissioned by the British
Government to undertake various exploring expeditions, and in carrying
out his instructions he made several voyages to the antarctic. In 1773,
with his two vessels, _Resolution_ and _Adventure_, he crossed the
antarctic circle--so far as is known, the first time that it had been
crossed by a human being. He continued farther southward, but finding an
alarming increase of pack-ice and icebergs, he soon retreated north. In
January of the following year he succeeded after a third trial in
reaching latitude 71 deg. 10' south, the farthest south attained during the
century.
[Illustration: An antarctic summer scene]
In 1839 an expedition was sent out by the United States Government under
Captain Charles Wilkes. The exploring squadron consisted of five ships
and more than four hundred officers and men, scientists, and crews.
Wilkes was the first to discover the so-called mainland of the antarctic
continent, in January, 1840. He then followed along this unknown
coast-line amid icebergs, fogs, and storms for over fifteen hundred
miles, taking such observations as were possible. For his polar
achievements in discovery and exploration he was awarded a gold medal by
the Royal Geographical Society. Considering that he was supplied with
improperly equipped ships, he certainly accomplished wonders.
The British Government, realizing the necessity for better magnetic
charts of the south polar regions, and urged by the scientific societies
of England, sent out a second expedition to the antarctic under the
command of Sir James Ross. The expedition sailed from England in the
fall of 1839 in the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, both of which were
subsequently lost in the unfortunate Franklin expedition.[2] On this
voyage Ross made many discoveries, the most important of which was
Victoria Land. On this land is the south magnetic pole toward which the
south-seeking end of the needle always points. Ross greatly desired to
plant at the south magnetic pole the flag that had been displayed at the
north magnetic pole in 1831, but he was unfortunately caught in the
pack-ice and compelled to abandon the attempt.
Two volcanic mountains were discovered on an island near Victoria Land.
These mountains Ross named Erebus and Terror from the two ships in which
he sailed. The former, thirteen thousand feet in height, was in violent
eruption, and the latter, ten thousand feet high, was quiescent.
An expedition which has accomplished very great results in antarctic
research was sent out under Captain Robert F. Scott of the British navy
in the vessel _Discovery_. Through the influence of the Royal
Geographical Society this expedition was admirably financed, the English
Government and private parties contributing four hundred and fifty
thousand dollars toward its equipment.
The _Discovery_ left Cowes, England, in the summer of 1901, and, after
making a series of magnetic observations south of Australia, steered for
the south polar regions. Pack-ice was met almost at the antarctic
circle, but Scott gradually worked the vessel through the pack and
reached the base of Mount Terror where he landed a party. Then with the
remainder of his men he coasted eastward along the great ice barrier for
five hundred miles. It was found that the barrier had receded thirty
miles since its front was examined by Ross in 1841 and that its front is
wearing away at the rate of one-half mile a year. A captive balloon was
used in making investigations of the ice front. If the unfortunate case
of Andree be excepted, it was the first time that the balloon was used
in polar research.
The vessel remained in a safe harbor near Mounts Terror and Erebus,
where it lay frozen in for two winters. Every precaution was taken to
insure the safety of the land party in case the ice should break up and
force the ship out of the harbor. Suitable huts were erected on shore
and a portion of the provisions was landed. Magnetic observations and
other scientific work were carried on daily.
During the warmer season of the year many journeys were made into the
interior. In order to be able to advance as far as possible, sledge
journeys were made along a selected route to establish provision depots.
This being done, Captain Scott with two companions and nineteen sledge
dogs started for a protracted journey into the interior. They travelled
three hundred and fifty miles inland over the great ice-field but did
not even then reach the end of it. Then, having lost most of the dogs,
and the provisions being low, the party set out on their return to the
ship.
The few remaining dogs being disabled, the men were obliged to haul the
sledges. Having suffered great hardships, the party reached the vessel
after an absence of three months.
On this journey a long range of mountains with many high peaks was
discovered. The highest peak, fifteen thousand one hundred feet, was
named Mount Markham. The latitude reached was 82 deg. 17' south, being the
farthest distance south attained. On a subsequent journey a plateau of
nine thousand feet elevation was reached, where the evenness of the ice
surface for miles seemed scarcely broken. The length of this journey was
three hundred miles.
At the end of the second winter two relief ships appeared at the edge of
the ice with orders that Captain Scott should return home at once. The
_Discovery_ was still sealed up in the harbor with solid ice from twelve
to seventeen feet thick, and it was a problem how to free the vessel.
The solid ice extended out more than six miles from the harbor.
The crews set resolutely to work making holes in the ice in a direct
line from the imprisoned vessel to the open water. In these holes
powerful explosives were placed which cracked the ice. This labor
consumed some nine days. Then the great ocean swells broke up the ice,
freeing the vessel. The _Discovery_ forthwith sailed for England by way
of Cape Horn, arriving home in September, having gathered much valuable
information during her sojourn in the south polar regions.
Although practically no vegetable life has been found in these regions,
an abundance of animal life exists in or contiguous to the sea,
dependent on shrimps, fish, and such other life as the sea affords.
Seals, penguins, petrels, cormorants, and gulls are found in
considerable numbers. In fact, no persons tarrying in these regions need
starve for lack of food, such as it is.
[Illustration: The penguin defies the cold]
During the two years spent by the _Discovery_ in the south polar ice,
seals and penguins formed staple articles of the diet of the men. Though
the flesh of both of these creatures has a strong and peculiar flavor,
it was found to be an agreeable change from pemican and other preserved
material. So vigorous were the men's appetites, stimulated by the
excessive cold, that when they labored hard sometimes seven meals were
served daily.
Because of the thick layer of fat covering their bodies, penguins were
used as fuel when the coal began to give out. Penguins are strange,
interesting sea fowls having an inquisitive and fearless nature. At one
of the rocky shore rookeries millions of these grotesque birds were
seen.
The type of penguin found here is a very handsome bird, decked out in
rather gay colors, having a jet black head, bluish-gray back and wings,
a yellow breast and bright spot of orange on the neck, and an
orange-colored lower bill. As though proud of his multicolored dress he
walks with slow and majestic step. His height is about four feet and his
average weight eighty-five pounds. He makes free use of his voice which
is loud and shrill. Whenever a group of penguins see an object that
excites their curiosity they will stand around it in a circle and gaze
at it intently. Lieutenant Shackleton had a graphophone as a part of his
equipment, and whenever it was used, during the season when penguins
were about, they used to gather around the instrument by the hundreds,
seeming to be quite as much interested as his human listeners.
When all other birds flee at the approach of the antarctic winter the
eccentric penguin defies the cold and hatches its single egg in the dead
of winter, with the thermometer ranging from eighteen to seventy degrees
below zero. It does this by carrying the egg between its legs, resting
it on the back of the foot while a fold of heavily feathered loose skin
completely covers it up.
After the chick is hatched it takes the place of the egg and is carried
around in this queer receptacle. When the chick wants food it utters a
cry. Thereupon the parent bends its neck down, and the little one
thrusts its head into the parental mouth to help itself to regurgitated
food. The adult fowls of both sexes are fond of nursing the chickens and
frequently quarrel over the possession of the little ones, often with
fatal results to the younglings. Over half of the chicks die or are
killed by kindness.
The expedition to the antarctic commanded by Lieutenant Ernest
Shackleton must always be considered one of the most important among
those fitted out for the work of polar research. Shackleton had been a
member of the Scott expedition and therefore was well acquainted with
the character of the work. The members of the staff, about twenty-five
in number, were selected with great care, and the results of the
expedition demonstrated Lieutenant Shackleton's wisdom.
The _Nimrod_, a wooden steamship built for seal hunting, was purchased
and equipped for the expedition. She was a small vessel, scarcely more
than one hundred feet in length. Her foremast carried square sails; her
main and mizzen masts were schooner-rigged. Under steam her speed did
not exceed six knots. The equipment included a generous outfit of
scientific instruments, a supply of dogs and sledges, ten Manchurian or
"Shetland" ponies, and a gasoline motor-car. The vessel was equipped at
Cowes, England, but made her final start from Lyttleton, New Zealand,
New Year's Day, 1908. In order to save her supply of coal for future use
she was towed to the antarctic circle.
The following winter months, May to September, were spent on Ross
Island, near the winter quarters of the _Discovery_, in McMurdo Bay,
about thirty degrees south of New Zealand. This bay, or sound, forms a
curve in the shore line of Victoria Land, the coast of which is the best
known part of the antarctic regions. Up to the present time it is the
most accessible entrance to south circumpolar regions known; it is also
the most convenient location for winter quarters, being only two
thousand miles from New Zealand.
In the following March a party of six--David, Mawson, Mackay, Adams,
Marshall, and Brocklehurst--prepared for the ascent of Mount Erebus, the
volcano, then active, discovered by Ross and named after one of his
ships. The crater rim was only a few miles distant, and during the
first three days the party could be seen from the camp by means of a
powerful telescope--tiny black specks struggling up the ice-clad slopes.
Three craters were discovered, the youngest and highest of which was
found to be thirteen thousand three hundred and fifty feet above sea
level.[3] During the ascent the party nearly perished in a gale which
blew their tents into tatters. The crater rampart was finally reached,
however, and a number of excellent photographs were made.
During the entire stay at Ross Island the steam column from the crater
furnished the means whereby the direction of the upper currents of air
might be instantly noted, and the condition of activity did not differ
materially from that observed in Stromboli. When the barometer was low
the steam column was heavier and denser; the glow of light was also
brighter. With a high barometer, on the contrary, the conditions were
reversed, the steam column was insignificant and the glow was scarcely
visible. As a rule, the ascending column of steam was projected three
thousand feet or more before it was caught by the upper air current.
Measurements showed the principal crater to be half a mile in diameter
and nine hundred feet deep. Great deposits of sulphur and pumice were
observed.
In the last week of October a party composed of Shackleton, Adams,
Marshall, and Wild started on the trip to discover the south pole. The
journey to the point farthest south occupied seventy-three days. After a
few days out from the winter quarters no bare rock was seen--the
landscape being one of ice and snow.
Shackleton's journal of January 8 notes the fierce gales blowing at the
rate of seventy or eighty miles an hour, while the temperature had
dropped to "seventy-two degrees of frost." "We are short of fuel," he
writes, "and at this high altitude, eleven thousand six hundred feet, it
is hard to keep any warmth in our bodies between the scanty meals. We
have nothing to read now, having left behind our little books to save
weight, and it is dreary work lying in the tent with nothing to read,
and too cold to write much in the diary."
"It (January 9, 1909) is our last day outward. We have shot our bolt and
the tale of latitude is 88 deg. 23' south. We hoisted her majesty's flag,
and the other Union Jack afterward, and took possession of the plateau
in the name of his majesty. While the Union Jack blew out stiffly in the
icy gale that cut us to the bone we looked south with powerful glasses,
but could see nothing but the dead white snow-plain. There was no break
in the plateau as it extended toward the pole, and we felt sure that the
goal we have failed to reach lies on this plain. We stayed only a few
minutes, and then taking the queen's flag, and eating our scanty meal as
we went, hurried back and reached our camp about 3 P. M. Whatever
regrets may be, we have done our best." On their return journey the
party killed the two surviving ponies for food.
Early in October, 1908, a party consisting of David, Mawson, and Mackay
started on their journey to locate the south magnetic pole. Like the
journey of the southern party, it was a trip of hardship, intense cold,
and physical suffering. On January 16, 1909, partly by experiment and
partly by calculation, the point of vertical position of the needle was
found in latitude 72 deg. 25' south, longitude 155 deg. 16' east. The
position found by Professor David was very close to that obtained by
Scott of the _Discovery_ expedition and about forty miles from that
which Ross calculated in 1841. In the interval of nearly seventy years,
it is safe to assume that the position of the south magnetic pole has
shifted forty miles.
In spite of the knowledge obtained in other directions, Shackleton
frankly admits that the secret of the great ice barrier cannot be
learned until the structure and trend of the mountain ranges which seem
to form its edge are traced. The investigations showed, however, that it
is composed of densely packed snow. It was found that at least one part
of the ice barrier is receding, and that Balloon Bight, noted by Captain
Scott, had disappeared in consequence of the recession. Not the least
important part of the exploration was the discovery of forty-five miles
of coast. Shackleton also was able to strengthen the opinion that
Emerald, Nimrod, and Dougherty Islands do not exist.
The hardy Shetland and Manchurian ponies, first used by Evelyn Baldwin,
proved a valuable equipment in polar research. Shackleton's gasoline
motor-car and Scott's captive balloon were of considerable but limited
use.
During 1910 and 1911 three different nations--England, Norway, and
Japan--were represented by expeditions in south polar regions. The
Norwegian expedition under Captain Roald Amundsen was especially
equipped for quick travel, having eight sledges and more than one
hundred trained dogs.
The expedition made its way to the head of Ross Sea, a large bay of the
Antarctic plateau, nearly due south of New Zealand. The camp there was
made the base of supplies. Depots for provisions were first established
in latitudes 80 deg., 81 deg., and 82 deg.
A start for the pole was made September 8 with eight men, seven sledges,
and ninety dogs. The weather was too severe for the dogs, however, and
the party returned to camp. By the middle of October summer weather had
set in, and on the 20th of the month five men, four sledges, and
fifty-two dogs started on the poleward trip. Three days later they
reached and passed the first depot; on the 31st the second depot was
reached; and on November 5 the sledges reached the third depot in
latitude 82 deg. Additional supplies were thereafter cached, in depots
about one degree apart, to be used on the return trip. Snow cairns were
built at frequent intervals to mark the trail. The last cache of
supplies was left at latitude 85 deg.
From this point the way was a steep and difficult climbing over the
range, or barrier, that had proved so difficult for Shackleton. Peaks in
height from ten thousand to fifteen thousand feet loomed up on every
side, and glacier surfaces proved to be the easiest paths.
When a height of nine thousand feet had been reached the rugged upraise
opened out into a nearly level plateau. On December 10 observations
showed latitude 89 deg., and on the 14th of the month the party reached
latitude 90 deg. and achieved the conquest of the South Pole. The Norwegian
flag was planted, and after three days spent in checking observations
the party returned in safety. The expedition returned by way of
Tasmania. The vessel employed was the _Fram_, the small steamship used
by Nansen.
Captain Scott, who commanded the _Discovery_ in the expedition of 1901,
went with the men in his command to Ross Sea and made his head-quarters
near the head of that body of water. He at once sent out exploring
parties, one of which started for the pole. According to reports made in
April, 1912, he had accomplished a great deal of work in surveys and
geological research, probably more than all that of his predecessors.
The same reports brought also word that the Japanese expedition under
Lieutenant Shirase had surveyed a considerable extent of the Antarctic
coast.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 2: In April, 1831, Ross had the honor of fixing the location
of the north magnetic pole on the Boothia Peninsula in latitude 70 deg. 5'
north and longitude 96 deg. 46' west.]
[Footnote 3: According to the observations of Ross its altitude was
twelve thousand three hundred and sixty-seven feet. Inasmuch as a change
in altitude results from each eruption, both determinations may be
correct. The admiralty charts give twelve thousand nine hundred and
twenty-two feet, the determination of the expedition of 1901.]