Part 14 (2/2)

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 pa.s.sed, 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 lat.i.tude 73 20' S. and longitude 146 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.

CHAPTER XVI

THE REVIVAL OF ANTARCTIC INTEREST

Modern Means and Methods--Private Enterprise leads--The _Valdavia_--The _Belgica_ Expedition--International Action adopted--The German Expedition--An Ice-bound Land--Fresh Trade-Winds.

Towards the end of the last century there was a distinct revival, in European scientific circles, of interest in the still unsolved problems of the frozen South. Many causes contributed to this. The gradual narrowing of the northern sphere, and the activity displayed in that region by the Americans, to whom it especially appealed, led the European geographers to remember the great amount of work yet to be done in the South. The achievements of the Ross expedition, which had satisfied public curiosity for the time being, now only stimulated curiosity as to how much more could be ascertained by the use of modern steams.h.i.+ps and all the other improved appliances that had done so much to help in Arctic work.

For a time private enterprise operated, and several vessels were despatched, from time to time, some with excellent results; but something more than private enterprise, working individually, was required if all the benefits of a thorough exploration were to be obtained. In her brief experience in 1874, H.M.S. _Challenger_ examined, by means of sounding and dredging, the floor of the ocean to the south of Kerguellen Island. The evidence collected pointed to the existence, still further to the south, of an area of land approaching continental dimensions. In 1898 a German steamer, the _Valdavia_, with Professor Carl Chun on board, left Cape Town, rediscovered Bouvet Island, which had not been visited from the time it was first seen by Captain Cook, and collected further evidence, by sounding and dredging, of the existence of extensive land nearer the Pole.

A Belgian, M. Adrien de Gerlache, fitted out a s.h.i.+p, the _Belgica_, and sailed from Antwerp, in 1897, to explore the area lying to the south of South America. In the early part of the voyage a new strait was discovered between Danco Land and Palmer Land, but in February 1898 the s.h.i.+p became involved in the ice and remained in it for a year, drifting between 69 40' and 71 35' S. lat.i.tude and 80 30' and 102 10' W.

longitude. During the winter they had a period of seventy days'

darkness, spent on board, the effect of which was extremely depressing to their spirits and injurious to their health. It was found that the sea floor had shoaled up to the shallow depth of from 200 to 300 fathoms, suggesting the proximity of a large area of land, the actual existence of which, however, the members of the expedition were not able to observe.

An international agreement was then arrived at, through the influence of the International Geographical Conference, under which three nations, Germany, Sweden, and Great Britain, undertook to despatch to the Antarctic, three separate expeditions, one from each country. They were to sail from Europe in 1901, and while working on similar lines, and as much in common as was possible, each was to have its distinct sphere of operations. The British undertook the exploration of that area south of Australia, where Ross had located the volcanoes Mount Erebus and Mount Terror; the Swedes selected the lands lying to the south of South America, while the Germans gave their attention to the seas already visited by the _Valdavia_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: POLAR OUTFIT USED BY THE _BELGICA_ EXPEDITION.

Tent, Sledge and Snow Shoes.]

The German expedition sailed from Kiel on August 11, 1901, on board the _Gauss_, and was under the command of Professor Erich von Drygalski.

Their first objective was Kerguellen Island, and the chief work carried out was of a purely scientific character. It was originally intended that all the expeditions should return to Europe after pa.s.sing one winter in the Antarctic. The Germans did so, but both the Swedes and the British were unable to carry out this part of the programme, the former in consequence of the loss of their s.h.i.+p in the ice, the latter because their s.h.i.+p was hard and fast in the southern ice. The Germans were more fortunate in escaping the ill effects of what was an unusually severe ice season; but the other nations, by the longer stay they had in the frozen regions, were able to return with a much more comprehensive collection of information.

Leaving a small party at Kerguellen Island, the _Gauss_ sailed to her allotted area, already revealed by the voyages of Cook, Bellinghausen, Biscoe, and Kemp. The ice barrier prevented her reaching a very high lat.i.tude, but the connection between Knox Land and Kemp Land, appearing as isolated coasts on the old maps, was proved. On this land, during the winter, large quant.i.ties of ice are formed, to drift out to sea in the form of huge packs which effectually guard the sh.o.r.e from intrusion.

Forcing a way through the pack, the _Gauss_ found a brief stretch of open water, the depth of which was found to shoal rapidly from 1500 to 120 fathoms. This led them to a rugged, steep coast line, occupying the position of what Ross had defined in 1841 as ”ice cliffs.” The land was too high and steep to permit them to land, and the s.h.i.+p, becoming involved in the ice within sight of it, winter quarters were established on the ice.

Severe gales hampered them in their work, but otherwise the winter pa.s.sed without any untoward incidents. The rocks composing the cliffs of the coast were found to be ancient crystalline formations. The interior of the land was entirely covered, so far as could be seen, by a solid ice-cap forming one of the most extensive glacial regions now known to exist. It seemed to be slightly receding, though no definite evidence of this could be obtained in so short a time as that at the disposal of the explorers.

One of the most useful observations made was that relating to the direction of the winds. The trade-winds blowing in the ”roaring forties,” and which serve so good a purpose in carrying s.h.i.+ps round Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope to and from Australia, blow from the west towards the east. At the position occupied by the _Gauss_, inside the Antarctic Circle, it was noticed that the prevailing winds were from east to west. Thus, if a clear pa.s.sage could be found, vessels sailing round the southern ocean could select either an easterly or a westerly route as suited them best, instead of having, as at present, to follow that indicated by the wind.

At the expiration of the period allotted to them for their stay, the explorers were able to get free from the ice, and return to Germany. In this, as has been said, they were the only one of the three expeditions keeping to time. They arrived home after an absence of twenty-eight months, fourteen of which were pa.s.sed in the South Polar ice.

CHAPTER XVII

THE SWEDISH EXPEDITION

Sails in the _Antarctica_--Argentine Co-operation--First Antarctic Fossil--Building the Winter Station--A Breezy Corner--Electric Snow--A Spare Diet--New Year Festivities--The Missing s.h.i.+p--Relief that never Came--A Devastating Nip--Castaway--The Unexpected Happens--A Dramatic Meeting--Rescued.

The expedition to explore the land lying in the Antarctic region to the south of South America, which, under the international arrangement of 1895, was allotted to Sweden, was placed under the command of Professor Otto Nordenskjold, with whom was a.s.sociated Professor Johan Andersson, both members of Swedish Universities. The steam barque _Antarctica_, Captain C. A. La.r.s.en, who had already had considerable experience in the Polar regions, was selected as the vessel in which the expedition was to proceed to the field of operations. The original plan was for the expedition to leave Europe in 1901, and to be back in Sweden by May 1903.

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