THE _SOUTHERN CROSS_ EXPEDITION
British continue the Work--Carrier Pigeons in the Ice--Withstanding
a Nip--A Sea-quake--Cape Adare Station--A Cosy Camp--Edible
Fish--Death visits the Camp--Penguin Peculiarities--A Derelict
Blue-bottle--The Welcome Postman--A Thrilling Episode.
The first British expedition for many years was that which sailed from
the Thames in 1898 on board the _Southern Cross_, under the leadership
of C. E. Borchgrevinck, with the object of penetrating as far as was
possible to the south and exploring the Antarctic continent, or as much
of it as could be visited during a year's stay in those latitudes.
[Illustration: THE _SOUTHERN CROSS_ IN THE ICE PACK.
At work with the Theodolite.]
The leader of the party had already been on this continent in 1894, when
he voyaged into the Antarctic on board a whaler. He had landed on South
Victoria Land and Possession Island, and had reached as far south as 74 deg.
10' S. He had discovered a sheltered beach, near Cape Adare, which he
recognised as an ideal site for the headquarters of an exploring party
equipped for a prolonged stay. On the same occasion he was fortunate in
finding a lichen growing on the rocks of Cape Adare, which was the first
instance of terrestrial plant life being observed in the Antarctic.
Imbued with enthusiasm as to the prospects of successful observation
being carried out from this point, he strove to arouse public interest
in the project. He found plenty of interest but not much financial
support, until he had the good fortune to meet Sir George Newnes, Bart.,
in 1898. That gentleman caught some of the enthusiasm which actuated
Borchgrevinck, and undertook to provide the necessary capital to enable
the expedition to be formed and despatched. Thereafter there was no
delay in the matter of organising the expedition. The _Southern Cross_,
a small barque-rigged steamer of 276 tons, and built by Colin Archer,
the builder of the _Fram_, was secured, and placed under the command of
Captain Bernhard Jensen. With stores and equipment for some years, a
crew of Norwegians, an efficient scientific staff, and a large kennel of
Arctic dogs, she left St. Katherine's Dock on August 22, 1898, amid much
popular demonstration and sailed for Tasmania.
Arriving at Hobart early in December, she took in further supplies, and
sailed again, on December 19, for the Antarctic. On December 30, in
latitude 61 deg. 56' S. and longitude 153 deg. 53' E., she encountered the first
ice, and a few days later was among the floes. Some carrier pigeons had
been taken on board at Hobart, and they were liberated when the vessel
was well within the ice limit. One was absent for about a week before it
returned to the ship, but the majority returned almost at once.
On January 14, 1899, land--Balleny Island--was sighted in latitude 65 deg.
44' S. and longitude 163 deg. 38' E., and the _Southern Cross_ was soon fast
in a pack. Advantage was taken of the opportunity to lay in a store of
seal flesh for the dogs. Two varieties were met with on the ice, leopard
seals and white seals, both so unaccustomed to the presence of man that
the explorers had no difficulty in walking up to them and killing them
as they lay on the ice.
After being held for a week the first nip was experienced. The movement
in the ice was very pronounced, and high pressure-ridges were thrown up.
When the pressure caught the ship there was some uneasiness in the minds
of those on board as to how she would stand the strain. She disposed of
all fears, so far as she was concerned, by rising a clear four feet when
the nip was at its worst, thereby adding another instance to the record
of her builder as a cunning designer of ships for ice navigation.
For a period of forty-eight days they were held in the pack, and the ice
then becoming more broken it was decided not to try any further to reach
to the south of Balleny Island; instead, it was determined to go direct
to Cape Adare, and establish the headquarters while the summer was still
with them. On February 12, a few days after getting into open water, and
when the vessel was making good progress under sail and steam, she was
noticed to shake violently. No ice was in sight, nor anything else that
could account for it, but there came a tremor which lasted for a couple
of seconds, followed by another after an interval of three seconds. The
phenomenon was noticed by men in all parts of the ship, and no
explanation could be given for it. A couple of days later they ran into
heavy weather, during which the temperature fell so low that everything
became covered with ice, an experience which was very similar to that
which befell the ships forming Sir James Ross's expedition in 1842. The
ship had to lay-to for two days until the weather abated, and, on the
second day after resuming her course, land was sighted, and the
_Southern Cross_ steamed into Robertson Bay in sight of Cape Adare and
the spot where the headquarters of the expedition were to be built.
The camp consisted of four huts, which were promptly erected and filled
with the stores and equipment. The landing party, consisting of ten,
made their home in one of the huts, utilising the others for the storage
of provisions, equipment, and other impedimenta. The dwelling-hut was
constructed with three doors, opening inwards, so as to facilitate the
escape of the residents should they become snowed in. Between the outer
and the middle doors there was a four-foot lobby, off which a small room
opened on either side. One of these was devoted to the development of
photographs and the storage of the more delicate instruments, while the
other was the taxidermist's studio. Both these rooms were lined with
wool and fur, and were entered through small sliding trap-doors two
feet above the ground. The interior of the hut formed one room, fifteen
feet square, and with ten bunks constructed along the north and east
walls, each bunk being closed in, so that the occupant could lie within,
out of sight of the others, a very serviceable arrangement under
circumstances where ten men are compelled to be in one another's company
morning, noon, and night for several months at a stretch. The windows
faced the west, and were double framed, with a space of three inches
between the frames. The walls were also double, with _papier-mache_
packing between, while the ceiling was seven feet above the floor, also
packed with _papier-mache_, and had above it an attic where stores which
required keeping fairly warm were placed.
Before they had everything completed on shore, a furious gale sprang up,
and from February 23 to 26 all the energies of the party were required
to keep the ship from being lost. She dragged her anchor and drifted
dangerously near the coast before steam could be got up, and even when
the engines were at full speed, she could barely do more than hold her
own. Once, two steel cables and a hawser were run out round a jutting
rock to afford her some stay, but they snapped like threads when the
puff caught her, and for the rest of the time she was kept standing off
and on under the lee of Cape Adare. During the winter the explorers had
further experience of the character of these southern gales, the wind
often attaining a velocity of eighty-five miles an hour, representing a
force capable of lifting up and carrying bodily away such a thing as a
whale-boat; while the air was, at such times, filled with pebbles and
small stones blown from the high lands behind the camp. On one occasion,
so fierce was the strength of the wind, that it was found impossible to
crawl on hands and knees, and with the assistance of a guide-rope, from
the hut to the thermometer-box a couple of hundred yards away. The
heaviest member of the party, a man over thirteen stone, was blown from
the rope and nearly lost while attempting the journey.
On March 2 everything was in order at the huts, and the shore party
landed to take up their residence. The flag presented to the expedition
by the Duke of York was hoisted, the _Southern Cross_ dipped her ensign
to it, everybody cheered, and the vessel steamed out of the bay for New
Zealand, leaving the devoted ten the only occupants of the great unknown
continent which lies 2500 miles to the south of Australia.
[Illustration: THE AURORA AUSTRALIS.
_Drawn by Dr. E. A. Wilson._]
They were not long before they commenced work. Cape Adare was explored
and its height determined to be 3670 feet above sea-level. Vegetation,
in the form of lichens, was traced up to a thousand feet, to which level
it was found the penguins made their crude nests and hatched their
young. Snow lay deep after three thousand feet, but no signs of life,
vegetable or animal, were discovered at that altitude. In the waters
below and around the cape several specimens of algae, medusa, hydroids,
and other low forms of marine life were secured. In addition to these
specimens it was also discovered that there was abundance of fish in the
deeper waters of the bay. These were caught, both by net and line, and
the members of the expedition were agreeably surprised when it was found
that they were nearly all edible, for a constant diet of preserved food
soon palls, even on the healthiest appetites. As the ice spread farther
out over the bay the fishing was conducted through a hole cut through
the ice, and it was no uncommon experience of the fisher to be suddenly
confronted with the startled eyes of a seal which had risen from the
depth below, under the belief that the opening was a blow-hole for his
convenience.
On May 15 they saw the sun disappear below the horizon, above which it
would not reappear until July 27. The sun, as it disappeared, presented
a curious optical phenomenon. Its reflection appeared as a large red
elliptical glowing body which gradually changed into a cornered square,
while the sky, in its immediate vicinity, revelled in a blaze of
colours. As the sun slowly sank, the colours grew in intensity, reaching
the height of their vivid beauty as the last of the globe sank out of
sight. The Aurora Australis continued to give them displays of
colouring throughout the time when the moon was not shining and the sky
was otherwise dark. The temperature sank very low, at times, during the
night, -25 deg. Fahr. being recorded, soon after the sun went below the
horizon, while later on the records were as low as -57 deg. Fahr. Inside the
hut, however, the cold was not severely felt, the construction proving
excellent for the comfort of the men. The numbers of seals killed for
the dogs enabled them to cover the roof with the skins before it became
snowed over, while the ample supply of fur and woollen clothing kept the
expedition well clad.
[Illustration: EMPEROR PENGUINS.
The most southerly inhabitants of the Globe.
_From "The Siege of the South Pole," by Dr. H. R. Mill. By permission of
Messrs. Alston Rivers, Ltd._]
With one exception the winter passed without an untoward incident, the
exception being the illness of the zoologist of the party, who, after
being carefully nursed by the doctor and all the others, succumbed to
internal complications and died on October 13. This was the only
fatality during the expedition, and the loss of one out of so small a
party naturally had a saddening effect on the survivors. Before he died,
he indicated a spot a thousand feet up the slope of Cape Adare where he
wished to be buried, and, needless to add, his comrades loyally carried
out his last wishes. He died just at the time when the penguins, the
study of which had so engrossed him, were returning over the ice to
their nesting quarters. The first one arrived a few hours before his
death, and it was taken to him, at his request. The place where he
sleeps is on the line where vegetation ceases and above which the
penguins do not build.
It was a pity he did not live to see the return of the penguins, for
they came in myriads with the approach of spring. They advanced over the
ice in a long line, walking in single file, and apparently in
detachments of about sixty birds in each. They must have marched for
many miles, as there was no open water nearer from whence they could
have come, and they are not able to fly. As soon as they reached the
land they spread out in such a way as to suggest that each pair went to
the nest they had occupied before. These were simple affairs, consisting
of little more than a few pebbles arranged in a ring on beds of guano.
As a rule, two eggs were laid in each nest, and, for a month, male and
female shared the labour of sitting on them, commencing in November and
remaining on the nests until the young came out in December. The chicks
were fed by the parent birds until they were fairly well grown, when
they were driven into packs and left to look after themselves, with only
occasional help from the older birds. When they were able to look after
themselves, without further assistance, the parents departed. On such
occasions a curious habit was observed. The birds of a detachment seemed
to wait for one another until all were ready, when they would strut, in
a solemn procession, to the water's edge. Usually the white breasts of
the birds were spotlessly clean, but the time they spent on the nests
made them very dingy in appearance. As they strutted down to the water's
edge they were all sadly in need of a bath, yet, on arrival at the edge,
they would stand about, shiver, flap their diminutive wings, and
manifest all the hesitation which is shown by timid bathers when about
to take a plunge. Nothing would induce them to enter the water until
they were ready in their own good time, attempts, on the part of the
explorers, to drive them in, merely resulting in the birds turning round
and strutting on to the land again. When at length the time came for the
plunge, one would flap his wings, utter a cry, and take a header,
whereupon the others would follow, one after the other, all in line and
so rapidly that they presented the appearance of a stream being poured
out of a bottle. The plunge over, they returned to the shore, spotless
and clean.
As the gales were not over when the birds were sitting, they were
watched to see how they would prevent themselves from being blown away
by the fierce gusts. Almost as soon as the barometer gave indications of
the approach of a gale, the birds were seen to turn their heads towards
the south-east, the quarter from whence the wind came, and lie close to
the ground, with their heads down and their breasts pressed close to it.
On no occasion was a bird seen to be blown away from the nest.
During December, when the weather became milder, the interesting
discovery was made that insect life exists on the Antarctic land. Some
specimens were found among the mosses growing on the shore, and the
excitement which followed the discovery led one of the Finns, two of
whom were included in the party, to unconsciously play an effective
practical joke on the others. He found a dead blow-fly in a case of jam
and brought it to the hut as a trophy. For a time there was even greater
excitement, until some one thought to ask where the fly had been
captured.
On January 29, 1900, the _Southern Cross_ returned. She arrived in the
bay at a time when the explorers were sleeping after some heavy
journeys. The captain landed, and walking up to the hut, pushed the door
open and entered. He had the mail-bag with him, and flung it on the
table with a loud cry of "Post." In a moment the bunks were empty, the
sound of a strange voice rousing all the men, to say nothing of the
prospect of receiving news from the world out of which they had been so
long.
As there was no time to be lost, if they were to penetrate further to
the South before the mild weather passed, they moved on board the ship
as soon as they could, and by February 2 the _Southern Cross_ steamed
away again with all on board. They made excellent progress, passing
Mount Melbourne on February 6, approaching near enough to the coast
opposite to Mount Terror to permit them to land, after which they
steamed along the great ice-barrier until they found an opening, into
which they steamed, so as to enable a sledge party to land and push
forward to the South. It was this sledge party which reached "farthest
South," being on February 16 in latitude 78 deg. 50' S., the highest
latitude reached up to that time.
But it was while they were ashore at Mount Terror that one of the most
exciting incidents of the whole journey occurred. The party landed at a
small beach which lay under cliffs towering five hundred feet above. In
order to get photographs of it, the boat was despatched back to the ship
for a camera, while Borchgrevinck and Jensen remained ashore. The boat
had not gone very far when a great roar sounded in the air. Those on
shore feared for the moment that a slide had begun in the cliffs over
their heads; but it was not the rocks that were moving. A mighty
glacier, which entered the sea near where they were standing, was
shedding an iceberg from the parent mass, and the noise was caused by
the rending of the ice as the millions of tons mass tore itself free.
The beach was barely four feet above the water, and, as the berg crashed
into the sea, it sent up a great wave that swept along the coast. The
men on the beach barely saw it coming before it was over them. Pressing
themselves against the face of the cliff at the highest point they could
reach, they held on for dear life while the icy water surged up and
over them. After the first wave had passed, others followed, though
these only reached up to their arm-pits, and had it not been for a
projecting point of rock, which served to break the force of the waves,
there is little doubt but that both would have been swept away. The full
force of the waves was shown only a few yards away from where the two
had stood, stones being torn loose and the mark of the water being left
twenty feet up the face of the cliff.
Having reached "farthest South," the homeward journey was begun on
February 19, and three days later the _Southern Cross_ steamed into Port
Ross, in the Island of Auckland. The expedition was then practically at
an end, having succeeded so well in its objects that it was able to
claim that it had located the Southern Magnetic Pole as being in
latitude 73 deg. 20' S. and longitude 146 deg. E.; had discovered insect and
plant life on the Antarctic continent; had reached the farthest South,
and had added very considerably to the geographical and scientific
knowledge of the world.