Part 62 (2/2)

Rough, stormy weather prevailed during the greater part of the month and the wind reached the force of a gale on nine days. Much snow, soft hail and sleet fell and some very cold days were experienced. The average temperature was 40 degrees, the maximum being 44.7 degrees and the minimum 27.8 degrees F.

A heavy snowfall occurred during the early morning hours of June 3, and the temperature was below freezing-point all day. In the afternoon we had rather an enjoyable time tobogganing down a steep talus-slope on the east coast. A considerable struggle was necessary in order to get the sledge to the top, but the lightning slide to the bottom more than compensated for the labour.

We made wireless inquiries concerning the 'Aurora' at night, and were informed by Hobart that a search for the Royal Company Islands was included in her programme. It was therefore presumed that she was engaged in prosecuting this search and would probably not reach us for some days.

Hamilton killed a very fine sea leopard on the 5th and the skin, apart from being unscarred, was handsomely marked. It should make a splendid specimen. The stomach contained more than the usual number of worms and one specimen of tape-worm, seven inches long and three-eighths of an inch wide, was preserved.

Everything was going along in the usual placid manner on the 7th, when, as we were just taking our seats for lunch, some one rushed in with the information that the 'Aurora' was in sight. There was a scramble to various points of vantage and she was soon observed coming up the east coast very slowly. At 2.30 P.M. she dropped anchor in North-East Bay, but, as it was blowing strongly and a nasty sea was running, no boat was launched, though one may imagine how anxiously we watched for some movement in that direction. As soon as it became dark a message was ”Morsed” to us to the effect that a boat would bring mails and goods ash.o.r.e in the morning if the weather moderated, and with that we had to be content. Needless to say, business ash.o.r.e was for the time being paralysed, but a message was sent to the Secretary in Hobart advising him of the s.h.i.+p's arrival.

True to his intimation of the previous night, Captain Davis brought a boat ash.o.r.e at 9.30 A.M. and with him came several visitors who were to be our guests for some days. They were Mr. E. R. Waite, Curator of the Canterbury Museum and his taxidermist, and Mr. Primmer, a cinematographer. Conspicuous in the boat was a well-laden mail bag and no time was lost in distributing the contents. Letters, papers, and magazines were received by every member of the party, and all the news was ”good.” Some stores were brought along and, after getting these ash.o.r.e, we took the visitors across to the Shack and invited them to make themselves at home.

Captain Davis also came along to the Shack and afterwards looked over the wireless station. He returned to the s.h.i.+p just after lunch, and Sandell, Sawyer and Blake took the opportunity of going on board.

Hamilton, in the meantime, piloted the visitors on a short trip round to Aerial Cove, introducing them to Catch Me, where they were duly baptized. They afterwards climbed up Wireless Hill and had a look at the station, returning to the Shack much impressed with the rough nature of the country.

Blake went off to the s.h.i.+p again, taking the stores which had been got ready for transport to Lusitania Bay, as the captain had agreed to land them when he visited there in a few days' time.

Amongst the cases which were landed was one containing the recording apparatus for the tide-gauge. The other parts of this instrument had been left on the island in December, but for some reason the clock and charts had gone astray and were not found till the vessel was being unloaded in Adelie Land. Some thermometers and a Robinson anemometer had also been overcarried and, when they came to light, the latter was immediately placed in commission.

Captain Davis sent a boat ash.o.r.e on the morning of the 12th with an invitation to come on board and lunch. I accordingly went out to the vessel and, after lunching, had a thorough look over her, mentally contrasting her spick-and-span appearance at the time with what it had been when I left her in December. I went ash.o.r.e again in the afternoon and a.s.sisted the visitors to get their loads down to the boat, as they were returning to the s.h.i.+p, which was leaving next morning on a sounding trip down the island.

On the 14th we started to carry the stores across to the Shack on our backs. We soon realized that seventy or eighty pounds was not a light load over a half-mile stretch of rough, s.h.i.+ngly beach, but succeeded in transporting the onions, apples and potatoes before finis.h.i.+ng for the night. The other articles were brought over during the next two afternoons.

The tide-gauge pipe, weighing about six hundredweights, and the box for the housing of the recording gear had been landed in December round in Aerial Cove, where a site had been chosen for the erection of the gauge.

Experience showed me that the place was unsuitable, so I took Hamilton, Sandell and Sawyer round to the cove on the 15th and we decided, as we had no boat, that it was impossible to carry the pipe round to the east coast.

I had been making some tidal observations on an upright, fixed in a comparatively quiet spot on the east coast, and it was here that I contemplated erecting the gauge. Two snow-gauges, eight inches each in diameter, were amongst the meteorological equipment and it appeared that if these two were soldered together a suitable pipe could be made.

Further, the pipe was to be protected from the violence of the seas by planks fixed round it. Sandell agreed with the idea and forthwith set about soldering the two together and making a suitable float, the one supplied being too wide. All that now remained was to erect the gauge.

The two following afternoons were devoted to stowing the new stores. We carried everything across and stacked them at the south-west end of the Shack. Unfortunately, the boots which we had ordered did not come, but Captain Davis let us have five pairs of light bluchers out of the s.h.i.+p's stores, and we reckoned that these with extra soles and a few hobnails would hold out till August or September, when a sealing vessel was expected.

The 'Aurora' returned from the south of the island on the 19th and reported having had a rough experience in the north-east to south gale which blew on the two previous days. The wind came out of the north-east very suddenly on the 17th, and some very strong squalls were experienced. A calm prevailed for several hours in the evening, but a south-east gale then sprang up and blew all day on the 18th, gradually working into the south and dying away during the night.

Early on the 20th the 'Aurora' steamed out of the bay, bound north as we thought, but she returned again in the evening, and we signalled to know if anything were wrong. They replied, ”All well, but weather very bad outside.” She lay at anchor in the bay all next day as it was snowing and blowing very hard from the south-west, but at 8.45 A.M. on the 22nd she disappeared in the north and we did not see her again for some months. A few hours after her departure the wind increased in force, and a continuous gale raged for the next five days.

Sandell and I now made a start at erecting the tide-gauge, and after the lapse of five days got the instrument into position. We could work on it only at low tide, for much rock had to be chipped away and numerous wire stays fixed. The work was therefore of a disagreeable character. Its appearance when finished did not by any means suggest the amount of trouble we experienced in setting it up, but the fact that it stood the heavy seas for the following eighteen months without suffering material damage was a sufficient guarantee that the work had been well done.

A tremendous sea was running on the 25th as a result of the previous two days' ”blow” and a heavy gale still persisting. Spray was scudding across the isthmus, and the sea for a mile from the sh.o.r.e was just a seething cauldron. The wind moderated somewhat on the 26th, but strong squalls were experienced at intervals throughout the day, and on the 27th a strong wind from the south-west brought rather heavy snow.

On the following day a westerly gale sprang up which s.h.i.+fted suddenly to south-south-west and south-west in the evening and was accompanied by fierce hail and snow-squalls throughout the night. Without moderating to any extent the gale continued to blow on the 29th and pa.s.sed through west to west-north-west, finally lasting till the end of the month.

Something in the nature of a ”tidal” wave occurred during the night of the 28th, for, on rising the following morning, I was considerably astonished to see that the sea-water had been almost across the isthmus. To effect this, a rise of twenty or twenty-five feet above mean sea-level must have taken place and such a rise appeared abnormally high. Our coal heap, which we had hitherto regarded as perfectly safe from the sea, was submerged, as shown by the kelp and sand lying on top of it, and the fact that seven or eight briquettes were found fifteen feet away from the heap.

Nothing at the wireless station was damaged and work went on as usual.

The wind used to make a terrific noise in the aerial wires, but this did not affect the transmission of messages. The howling of the wind round the operating-hut interfered with the receiving, at times making it extremely difficult to hear signals; particularly on nights not favourable for wireless work.

Hamilton was at this time concentrating his attention on s.h.a.gs or cormorants. This species of cormorant is peculiar to the island, being found nowhere else. They are blue-black, with a white breast, and on the head they have a small black crest. At the top of the beak are golden lobes, while the skin immediately round the eye is pale blue. They remain on the sh.o.r.es of the island all the year and nest on the rocks in or very close to the water. They form rookeries and build nests of gra.s.s, laying three eggs about the end of November. The period of incubation is six weeks. They live entirely on fish, and, on that account, neither the birds nor the eggs are palatable. They are very stupid, staring curiously till one gets almost within reach of them, when they flap heavily into the water. They are easily caught when sitting on the nest, but a s.h.a.g rookery, like most other rookeries, is by no means a pleasant place in which to linger.

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