The Home Of The Blizzard Part 68

In addition, several pieces of fossilized wood and coaly matter were discovered scattered through the "catch."

Bage, under Davis's direction, took temperatures and collected water samples at fifty, seventy-five, one hundred, two hundred and three hundred fathoms, using the Lucas sounding-machine on the fo'c'sle. The temperature gradient from the surface downwards appeared to give some indication of the depth of ice submerged in the glacier-tongue alongside which we were lying.

On the 29th a cold south-easter blew off the ice-cliffs and the sun was trying to pierce a gauzy alto-stratus. The 'Aurora' steamed north-east, it being our intention to round the northern limit of the Mertz Glacier.

Gradually a distant line of pack, which had been visible for some time, closed in and the s.h.i.+p ran into a cul-de-sac. Gray, who was up in the crow's-nest, reported that the ice was very heavy, so we put about.

Proceeding southward once more, we glided along within a stone's throw of the great wall of ice whose chiselled headlands stood in profile for miles. There was leisure to observe various features of this great formation, and to make some valuable photographic records when the low south-western sun emerged into a wide rift. Hunter trailed the tow-net for surface plankton while the s.h.i.+p was going at half-speed.

At ten o'clock the s.h.i.+p had come up with the land, and her course was turned sharply to the north-west towards a flotilla of bergs lying to the east of the Way Archipelago, which we intended to visit.

On December 30, 1913, the 'Aurora' lay within a cordon of floating ice about one mile distant from the nearest islet of a group scattered along the coast off Cape Gray.

Immediately after breakfast a party of eight men set off in the launch to investigate Stillwell Island. The weather was gloriously sunny and every one was eager at the prospect of fresh discoveries. Cape Hunter had been the home of the Antarctic petrels, and on this occasion we were singularly fortunate in finding a resort of the Southern Fulmar or silver-grey petrels. During the previous summer, two of the eastern sledging parties had for the first time observed the breeding habits of these birds among isolated rocks outcropping on the edge of the coast.

But here there was a stronghold of hundreds of petrels, sitting with their eggs in niches among the boulders or ensconced in bowers excavated beneath the snow which lay deep over some parts of the island.

The rock was a gneiss which varied in character from that which had been examined at Cape Denison and in other localities. All the scientific treasures were exhausted by midday, and the whale-boat was well laden when we rowed back to the s.h.i.+p.

Throughout a warm summer afternoon the 'Aurora' threaded her way between majestic bergs and steamed west across the wide span of Commonwealth Bay, some fifteen miles off the land. At eleven o'clock the sky was perfectly clear and the sun hung like a luminous ball over the southern plateau. The rocks near the Hut were just visible. Close to the "Pianoforte Berg" and the Mackellar Islets tall jets of fine spray were seen to shoot upward from schools of finner whales. All around us and for miles sh.o.r.eward, the ocean was calm and blue; but close to the mainland there was a dark curving line of ruffled water, while through gla.s.ses one could see trails of serpentine drift flowing down the slopes of the glacier. Doubtless, it was blowing at the Hut; and the thought was enough to make us thankful that we were on our good s.h.i.+p leaving Adelie Land for ever.

On the morning of December 31, 1913, Cape Alden was abeam, and a strong wind swept down from the highlands. Bordering the coast there was a linear group of islets and outcropping rocks at which we had hoped to touch. The wind continued to blow so hard that the idea was abandoned and our course was directed towards the north-west to clear a submerged reef which had been discovered in January 1912.

The wind and sea arose during the night, causing the s.h.i.+p to roll in a reckless fas.h.i.+on. Yet the celebration of New Year's Eve was not marred, and l.u.s.ty choruses came up from the ward-room till long after midnight.

Next morning at breakfast our ranks had noticeably thinned through the liveliness of the s.h.i.+p, but it is wonderful how large an a.s.sembly we mustered for the New Year's dinner, and how cheerfully the toast was drunk to "The best year we have ever had!"

On January 2, 1914, fast ice and the mainland were sighted. The course was changed to the south-west so as to bring the s.h.i.+p within a girdle of loose ice disposed in big solid chunks and small pinnacled floes.

A sounding realized two hundred fathoms some ten miles off the coast, which stretched like a lofty bank of yellow sand along the southern horizon. On previous occasions we had not been able to see so much of the coastline in this longitude owing to the compactness of the ice, and so we were able to definitely chart a longer tract at the western limit of Adelie Land.

The ice became so thick and heavy as the 'Aurora' pressed southward that she was forced at last to put about and steer for more open water. On the way, a sounding was made in two hundred and fifty fathoms, but a dredging was unsuccessful owing to the fact that insufficient cable was paid out in going from two hundred and fifty fathoms to deeper water.

Our north-westerly course ran among a great number of very long tabular bergs, which suggested the possibility of a neighbouring glacier-tongue as their origin.

At ten o'clock on the evening of the 2nd, a mountain of ice with a high encircling bastion pa.s.sed to starboard. It rose to a peak, flanked by fragments toppling in snowy ruin. The pyramidal summit was tinged the palest lilac in the waning light; the mighty pallid walls were streaked and blotched with deep azure; the green swell sucked and thundered in the wave-worn caverns. Chaste snow-birds swam through the pure air, and the whole scene was sacred.

A tropical day in the pack-ice! Sunday January 4 was clear and perfectly still, and the sun shone powerfully. On the previous day we had entered a wide field of ice which had become so close and heavy that the s.h.i.+p took till late in the evening to reach its northern fringe.

From January 5 onwards for two weeks we steamed steadily towards the west, repeatedly changing course to double great sheets of pack which streamed away to the north, pus.h.i.+ng through them in other places where the welcome "water-sky showed strong" ahead, making "southing" for days following the trend of the ice, then grappling with it in the hope of winning through to the land and at last returning to the western track along the margin of brash which breaks the first swell of the Southern Ocean.

The weather was mostly overcast with random showers of light snow and mild variable winds on all but two days, when there was a "blow" of forty miles per hour and a considerable sea in which the s.h.i.+p seemed more active than usual.

Many soundings were taken, and their value lay in broadly [...] Of course, too, we were supplementing the s.h.i.+p's previous work in these lat.i.tudes.

[TEXT ILl.u.s.tRATION]

Section Ill.u.s.trating The Moat In The Antarctic Continental Shelf

One successful dredging in eighteen hundred fathoms brought up some large erratics and coaly matter, besides a great variety of animal life.

It was instructive to find that the erratics were coated with a film of manganese oxide derived from the sea-water. Several tow-nettings were taken with large nets automatically closing at any desired depth through the medium of a "messenger." Small crustaceans were plentiful on the surface, but they were if anything more numerous at depths of fifty to one hundred fathoms. Amongst the latter were some strongly phosph.o.r.escent forms. The flying birds were "logged" daily by the biologists. Emperor and Adelie penguins were occasionally seen, among the floes as well as sea-leopards, crab-eater and Weddell seals.

Friday January 16 deserves mention as being a day full of incident. In the morning a thin, cold fog hung along the pack whose edge determined our course. Many petrels flew around, and on the brash-ice there were dark swarms of terns--small birds with black-capped heads, dove-grey backs and silvery-white b.r.e.a.s.t.s. They were very nervous of the s.h.i.+p, rising in great numbers when it had approached within a few hundred yards. One startled bird would fly up, followed by several more; then a whole covey would disturb the rest of the flock. Hamilton managed to shoot two of them from the fo'c'sle, and, after much manoeuvring, we secured one with a long hand-net.

Soon after, there was a cry of "killer whales!" from the stern. Schools of them were travelling from the west to the east along the edge of the pack. The water was calm and leaden, and every few seconds a big black triangular fin would project from the surface, there would be a momentary glimpse of a dark yellow-blotched back and then all would disappear.

We pushed into the pack to "ice s.h.i.+p," as the water-supply was running low. Just as the 'Aurora' was leaving the open water, a school of finner whales went by, blowing high jets of spray in sudden blasts, wallowing for a few seconds on the surface, and diving in swirls of foam. These finners or rorquals are enormous mammals, and on one occasion we were followed by one for several hours. It swam along with the s.h.i.+p, diving regularly underneath from one side to another, and we wondered what would happen if it had chosen to charge the vessel or to investigate the propeller.

Close to a big floe to which the s.h.i.+p was secured, two crab-eater seals were shot and hauled aboard to be skinned and investigated by the biologists and bacteriologist. When the scientists had finished their work, the meat and blubber were cut up for the dogs, while the choicer steaks were taken to the cook's galley.

After lunch every one started to "ice s.h.i.+p" in earnest. The sky had cleared and the sun was warm and brilliant by the time a party had landed on the snow-covered floe with baskets, picks and shovels. When the baskets had been filled, they were hoisted by hand-power on to a derrick which had been fixed to the mizen mast, swung inboard and then shovelled into a melting tank alongside the engine-room. The melter was a small tank through which ran a coil of steam pipes. The ice came up in such quant.i.ty that it was not melted in time to keep up with the demand, so a large heap was made on the deck.

Later in the afternoon it was found that holes chipped in the sea-ice to a depth of six or eight inches filled quickly with fresh water, and soon a gang of men had started a service with buckets and dippers between these pools and the main hatch where the water was poured through funnels into the s.h.i.+p's tanks. The bulwarks on the port side of the main hatch had been taken down, and a long plank stretched across to the floe. At nine o'clock work was stopped and we once more resumed our western cruise.

It was found that as the region of Queen Mary Land approached, heavy pack extended to the north. While skirting this obstacle, we disclosed by soundings a steep rise in the ocean's floor from a depth of about fifteen hundred fathoms to within seven hundred fathoms of the surface, south of which there was deep water. It was named "Bruce Rise" in recognition of the oceanographical work of the Scottish Expedition in Antarctic seas.

On the 17th, in lat.i.tude 62 degrees 21' S., longitude 95 degrees 9' E., the course ran due south for more than seven hours. For the two ensuing days the s.h.i.+p was able to steer approximately south-west through slackening ice, until on the 19th at midday we were in lat.i.tude 64 degrees 59' S., longitude 90 degrees 8' E. At length it appeared that land was approaching, after a westward run of more than twelve hundred miles. Attempts to reach the charted position of Totten's Land, North's Land, Budd Land and Knox Land had been successively abandoned when it became evident that the pack occupied a more northerly situation than that of the two previous years, and was in most instances thick and impenetrable.

At 10 P.M. on the 19th, the ice fields still remaining loose and navigable, a dark line of open water was observed ahead. From the crow's-nest it was seen to the south stretching east and west within the belt of pack-ice--the Davis Sea. We had broken through the pack less than twenty-five miles north of where the 'Gauss' (German Expedition, 1902) had wintered.

All next day the 'Aurora' steamed into the eye of an easterly wind towards a low white island, the higher positions of which had been seen by the German Expedition of 1902, and charted as Drygalski's High Land.

Dr. Jones' party had, the year before, obtained a distant view of it and regarded it as an island, which proved to be correct, so we named it Drygalski Island. To the south there was the dim outline of the mainland. Soundings varied between two hundred and three hundred fathoms.

On January 21, Drygalski Island was close at hand, and a series of soundings which showed from sixty to seventy fathoms of water deepening towards the mainland proved beyond doubt that it was an island. In shape it is like a flattened dome about nine miles in diameter and twelve hundred feet in height, bounded by perpendicular cliffs of ice, and with no visible evidence of outcropping rock.

The dredge was lowered in sixty fathoms, and a rich a.s.sortment of life was captured for the biologists--Hunter and Hamilton. A course was then made to the south amidst a sea of great bergs; the water deepening to about four hundred fathoms.

During the evening the creva.s.sed slopes of the mainland rose clear to the south, and many islets were observed near the coast, frozen in a wide expanse of bay-ice. Haswell Island, visited by Jones, Dovers and Hoadley of the Western Party, was sighted, and the s.h.i.+p was able to approach within eight miles of it; at ten o'clock coming up to flat bay-ice, where she anch.o.r.ed for the night. Before we retired to bunk, a Ross seal was discovered and shot, three-quarters of a mile away.

Next day, January 22, an unexpected find was made of five more of this rare species of seal. Many Emperor penguins were also secured. It would have been interesting to visit the great rookery of Emperor penguins on Haswell Island, but, as the s.h.i.+p could only approach to within eight miles of it, I did not think it advisable to allow a party to go so far.

On the night of the 22nd, the 'Aurora' was headed northeast for the Shackleton Ice-Shelf. In the early hours of the 28rd a strong gale sprang up and rapidly increased in violence. A pall of nimbus overspread the sky, and blinding snow commenced to fall.

We had become used to blizzards, but on this occasion several factors made us somewhat apprehensive. The s.h.i.+p was at least twenty-five miles from shelter on an open sea, littered with bergs and fragments of ice.

The wind was very strong; the maximum velocity exceeding seventy miles per hour, and the dense driving snow during the midnight hours of semi-darkness reduced our chances of navigating with any certainty.

The night of the 23rd had a touch of terror. The wind was so powerful that, with a full head of steam and steering a few points off the eye of the wind, the s.h.i.+p could just hold her own. But when heavy gusts swooped down and the propeller raced on the crest of a mountainous wave, Davis found it impossible to keep steerage-way.

Drift and spray lash the faces of officer and helmsman, and through the grey gloom misty bergs glide by on either hand. A long slow struggle brings us to a pa.s.sage between two huge ma.s.ses of ice. There is a shock as the vessel b.u.mps and grinds along a great wall. The engine stops, starts again, and stops once more. The yards on the foremast are swung into the wind, the giant seas are broken by the stolid barriers of ice, the engine commences to throb with its old rhythm, and the s.h.i.+p slowly creeps out to meet the next peril. It comes with the onset of a "bergy-bit" which smashes the martingale as it plunges into a deep trough. The chain stay parts, dragging loose in the water, while a great strain is put by the foremast on the bowsprit.

Early on the 24th the s.h.i.+p was put about and ran with the wind, while all hands a.s.sembled on the fo'c'sle. The crew, under the direction of Blair, had the ticklish job of replacing the chain stay by two heavy blocks, the lower of which was hooked on to the lug which secured the end of the stay, and the upper to the bowsprit. The running ropes connecting the blocks were tightened up by winding the hauling line round the capstan. When the boatswain and two sailors had finished the wet and chilly task of getting the tackle into position, the rest put their weight on to the capstan bars and the strain on the bowsprit was relieved. The fo'c'sle, plunging and swaying in the great waves, was encased in frozen spray, and along all the ropes and stays were continuous cylinders of ice. The 'Aurora' then resumed her easterly course against the blizzard.

Sat.u.r.day January 24 was a day of high wind, rough seas, watery decks, lively meals and general discomfort. At 11.30 P.M. the waves had perceptibly decreased, and it was surmised that we were approaching the berg, about thirty miles in length, which lay to the west of the Shackleton Ice-Shelf.

At 6 A.M. on the 25th the sun managed to glimmer through the low rack flying from the east, lighting up the carven face of an ice-cliff along which the 'Aurora' was coasting. Up and down we steamed until the afternoon of the 26th, when the wind lulled away to nothing, and the grey, even pall of cloud rose and broke into fleecy alto-c.u.mulus.

At the southern extremity of the long berg, fast bay-ice extended up to the land and for twenty miles across to the shelf on which the Winter Quarters of the Western Party had been situated. Further progress to the south was blocked, so our course was directed to the north along the western border of the berg.

When not engaged in sounding, dredging, or tow-netting members of the land party found endless diversion in tr.i.m.m.i.n.g coal. Big inroads had been made in the supply of more than five hundred tons, and it now became necessary to s.h.i.+ft many tons of it from the holds aft to the bunkers where it was accessible to the firemen. The work was good exercise, and every one enjoyed the s.h.i.+ft below, "trucking"and "heaving." Another undoubted advantage, in the opinion of each worker, was that he could at least demand a wash from Chief Engineer Gillies, who at other times was forced to be thrifty with hot fresh water.

After supper on the 28th it was evident that we had reached a point where the shelf-ice veered away to the eastward and a wide tract of adhering sea-ice barred the way. The floe was exceedingly heavy and covered with a deep layer of soft snow. Emperor and Adelie penguins, crab-eater and Weddell seals were recognized through gla.s.ses along its edge. As there was a light obscuring fog and dusk was approaching, the 'Aurora' "hung up" for the night.