Part 13 (2/2)
The range was named Admiralty Mountains, and the various peaks after the different Lords of the Admiralty. With patriotic pride the leader recorded that ”the discovery of this land restored to Great Britain the honour of having discovered the southernmost known land, which had been so n.o.bly won by the intrepid Bellinghausen, and for more than twenty years retained by Russia.”
The amount of ice along, and off, the sh.o.r.e prevented a landing being made, but it was found to be possible to get ash.o.r.e on an island not far away from the mainland. The island was named Possession Island, in commemoration of the fact that on its sh.o.r.es the ceremony of taking possession of the newly discovered lands in the name of Great Britain was duly celebrated. Situated in lat. 71 56' S. and long. 171 7' E., the island was found to be of igneous formation and accessible only on its western sh.o.r.e. There were no signs of vegetation on the bare volcanic rocks, ”but myriads of penguins completely and densely covered the whole surface of the island, along the ledges of the precipices, and even to the summits of the hills, attacking us vigorously as we waded through their ranks, and pecking at us with their sharp beaks, disputing possession; which, with their loud, coa.r.s.e notes and the insuperable stench from the deep bed of guano, which had been forming for ages, and which may, at some time, be valuable to the agriculturists of our Australian colonies, made us glad to get away again, after having loaded our boats with geological specimens and penguins.”
As the voyage continued, the height of the mountains lying further to the south of Admiralty Mountains was observed to be from 12,000 to 14,000 feet, the majority being obviously of volcanic origin. While noting these characteristics, a phenomenon was witnessed which, for the moment, suggested that they were in the presence of a mighty volcanic upheaval. An angle was being measured, when, in the line of sight, an island, about one hundred feet high, suddenly seemed to rise from the ocean. All eyes were turned upon it, the dark colour of the new arrival standing out in such p.r.o.nounced contrast with the whiteness of the ice around it. Then one, more observant than the rest, drew attention to the fact that a large berg previously observed at the place where the island had risen, had completely disappeared. At once the riddle was solved.
The berg had turned over, and, as the lower portion was composed of earth-stained ice, it stood out in such strong relief against the other ice that the mistake was easily accounted for.
One of the mountains slowly coming into view on the horizon as the s.h.i.+ps continued their way was so remarkably like Mount Etna in appearance that it was so named by the members of the expedition, but official requirements of the case necessitated another name being given to it.
It was entered in the record as Mount Melbourne, while another, lying beyond it, was named Mount Monteagle. These were the highest mountains seen up to that time, and presented an imposing appearance. Yet others were sighted in the course of a few days which quite eclipsed them.
These were the two volcanoes which were named after the two vessels, Mount Erebus and Mount Terror.
Mount Erebus, 12,400 feet high, was in active eruption when first seen, and has been so on every occasion that man has looked upon it since. At the time of its discovery it was giving a display that was extraordinarily grand, the more so by reason of its surroundings. It was snow-clad to within a few hundred feet of its conical summit, while its huge base rested on a wide stretch of ice, gleaming and s.h.i.+mmering in the sunlight. Between the ice wall, hundreds of feet high, which marked the coast line, and the vessels, the water was blue and clear, reflecting the hue of the sky above. From the crater alternate bursts of smoke and flame were flung up, the rumbling sound of the explosions floating down through the frozen stillness in a faint echo like that of heavy distant artillery fire. In the official account it is described as follows:--
”A volume of dense smoke was projected at each successive jet with great force, in a vertical column to a height of between 1500 and 2000 feet above the mouth of the crater, when, condensing at its upper part, it descended in mist or snow, to be succeeded by another splendid exhibition of the same kind in about half-an-hour afterwards, although the intervals between the eruptions were by no means regular. The diameter of the column of smoke was between 200 and 300 feet, as near as we could measure it. Whenever the smoke cleared away, the bright red flames that filled the mouth of the crater were clearly perceptible, and some of the officers believed they could see streams of lava pouring down its side until lost beneath the snow, which descended from a few hundred feet below the crater and projected its perpendicular icy cliffs several miles into the ocean.”
So far as the leader of the expedition was concerned, there was another circ.u.mstance in connection with the position in which the s.h.i.+ps were that appealed to him very particularly. He had, a few years earlier, succeeded in locating the North Magnetic Pole. Bearings, taken in the neighbourhood of the two volcanoes, revealed the fact that the South Magnetic Pole was only about 170 miles distant. An effort was made to penetrate to the South so as to sail over, or otherwise locate, the exact position of the magnetic pole; but the weather conditions, which had been so favourable to them up to that point, now told severely against them. The thermometer fell rapidly, and the temperature went so low that the spray, flung up by the s.h.i.+ps, froze, as it fell, into solid ice on the bows. Men were kept constantly breaking it away, but still it acc.u.mulated, considerably interfering with the speed of the s.h.i.+ps.
Then they found in front of them a great wall of ice rising out of the sea, without a break or opening, to a height of some hundreds of feet.
They sailed along it for miles, but the only change was that it increased in height until it towered a thousand feet above the level of the ocean.
Although it was then midsummer, and the warmest part of the year, the highest temperature during the day was never above twenty degrees below freezing. At the corresponding period of the season in the Arctic, every iceberg gives evidence of the warmer weather by commencing to melt, so that from all of them streams of water are to be seen pouring down the sides. But the bergs in the Antarctic showed no such streams of water.
All were solid, and the heat of the sun at midday was not able to cause even the surface to thaw. During a gale, encountered in this locality, the waves, as they broke over the sides, covered the rigging and sails with hard, clear ice until it was almost impossible to handle the ropes or furl the sails.
As February went by and they were still unable to work nearer the site of the magnetic pole, the leader sought for a haven where the s.h.i.+ps could pa.s.s the winter, so as to be ready to recommence the work directly the weather moderated with the approach of spring. But no such place was to be found, the mighty barrier of ice stretching away to the horizon with never a break in its ma.s.sive towering front. Nothing was to be done except turn the vessels to the North and make the best of their way into milder lat.i.tudes until the winter had pa.s.sed.
On the voyage towards the North, one of those accidents occurred to the _Terror_ which, fortunately for the welfare of sailors, are not possible nowadays. The bobstay of the bowsprit was smashed by coming in contact with a ma.s.s of floating ice. At the time the temperature was such that the bows of the vessel, as well as the bowsprit and its rigging, were all covered with ice, which the men had to be continually trying to keep clear. With the s.h.i.+p pitching to a heavy head sea, this was by no means easy, yet it was simple compared to the work of repairing the damaged bobstay. The men carrying out this work had to be slung over the bows, and every time the s.h.i.+p pitched, they were plunged into the freezing water, often being entirely immersed. The temperature of the sea at the time was twelve degrees below freezing, and two hours were occupied in effecting the repairs, man after man going over the bows to take the places of those who were literally frozen out. The commander, with pardonable pride, commented upon the pluck and hardy determination of his men in carrying out this arduous task.
As they sailed to their winter quarters in an easterly course, they pa.s.sed the locality where the s.h.i.+ps of the American expedition had reported a discovery of land forming part of the great Antarctic continent. A sharp lookout was kept for it, but no indications were seen, and, when the two s.h.i.+ps sailed over the spot where the continent was supposed to exist, the conclusion was forced upon the leaders that the Americans had been misled, as they had themselves on more than one occasion, into regarding the combination of ice and cloud as land. So suggestive of land did this combination often appear, that it was only by the most careful and critical observation that similar mistakes were not to be recorded against the _Erebus_ and _Terror_.
Early in April they arrived at Tasmania, leaving that colony in the following July for New Zealand, where they stayed until December, when they sailed once more to the Antarctic.
It was the intention of Ross to sail to the South along the 146th meridian of west longitude, but the existence of heavy pack ice proved an effectual obstacle to their progress. The s.h.i.+ps became involved in the pack, and only managed to force their way clear by the beginning of February. This meant a great loss of valuable time, for they were only able to reach 76 42' S. lat.i.tude before they had to return. They sighted the great barrier of ice lying to the south, with what appeared to be high mountains, snow covered, rising behind. As no definite observations could be made to demonstrate whether the heights were mountains or only the summit of the Antarctic ice-cap, the discovery was not claimed as being new land.
The vessels made their way to the Falkland Islands, where they pa.s.sed the winter, and on December 17, 1842, they sailed, for the third time, to the South. The object of this voyage was to further explore Louis Philippe Land and reach as high as Weddell had done. Excellent progress was made, and, on the last day of the year, they sighted an island to which the name Etna Island was given, as it was a volcano greatly resembling, in miniature, the great volcano of Sicily. Further to the south high peaks appeared, and, with the new year, a number of islands, as well as what appeared to be portions of the mainland, were discovered. Amongst others, the expedition found and named Paulet Island, c.o.c.kburn Island, Snow Hill Island, and Mount Haddington, places which were to be made still more familiar over half a century later by the dramatic events which occurred to the Swedish expedition in 1901-3.
In addition to the discovery of land, it was also found that the waters off this coast abounded with whales, and, by the time that the two s.h.i.+ps returned to the Cape of Good Hope, in March, they were able to claim, for the record of the third trip, the double discovery of land and of all the essentials for a profitable whaling industry. The s.h.i.+ps had circ.u.mnavigated the Antarctic region, and for many years thereafter whalers were the main visitors. Until 1898 no official British expedition sailed for the Antarctic, though there was a brief stay, just within the Antarctic Circle, of H.M.S. _Challenger_ in 1874.
CHAPTER XV
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 leaders.h.i.+p 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 lat.i.tudes.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE _SOUTHERN CROSS_ IN THE ICE PACK.
At work with the Theodolite.]
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