SHACKLETONS "FARTHEST SOUTH" 237 



"We started on December 5* to ascend the glacier at latitude of 83 :33, 

 longitude 172. The glacier was badly crevassed as a result of the huge pres- 

 sure. The surface on December 6 was so crevassed that it took a whole day 

 to fight our way 600 yards. 



"On December 7 the pony, Socks, breaking through a snow lid, disap- 

 peared in a crevasse of unknown depth. The singletree snapping we saved 

 Wild and the sledge, which was badly damaged. The party was now hauling 

 a weight of 250 pounds per man. 



"The clouds disappearing on December 8 we discovered new mountain 

 ranges trending south southwest. Moving up the glacier over the treacherous 

 snow covering the crevasses, we frequently fell through but were saved by our 

 harness and were pulkd out with an Alpine rope. A second sledge was badly 

 damaged by the knife-edge crevasses. 



"Similar conditions obtained on our way up the glacier from December 

 18, when we reached an altitude of 6,800 feet. In latitude 85:10 we made 

 a depot and left everything there but our food, instruments, and camp equip- 

 ment, and reduced our rations to twenty ounces per man daily. 



"We reached on December 26 a plateau after crossing ice falls at an altitude 

 of 9,000 feet, thence rising gradually in long ridges to 10,500 feet. Finishing 

 the relay work, we discarded our second sledge. There was a constant 

 southerly blizzard, the wind drifting the snow, with a temperature ranging 

 from 37 to 70 degrees of frost. We lost sight of the new mountains December 

 27. Finding the party weakening from the effects of a shortage of food and 

 the rarified air and cold, I decided to risk making a depot on a plateau. 



"We proceeded on January 4 with one tent, utilizing the poles of the 

 second tent for guiding marks for our return. The surface became soft and 

 the blizzard continued. For sixty hours during January 7, 8, and 9 a blizzard 

 raged with y2 degrees of frost and the wind blowing seventy miles an hour. 

 It was impossible to move. Members of the party were frequently frost- 

 bitten in their sleeping bags." 



And then follows this laconic description of the discovery of "farthest 

 «outh" : 



"We left camp on January 9 and reached latitude 88:23 longitude 16:32. 

 This is the most southerly point ever reached. Here we hoisted the Union 

 Jack presented to us by the queen. No mountains were visible. We saw a 

 plain stretching to the south." 



Continuing the story Shackleton says ; 



