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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LI. No. 1326 



of 28 were men selected from nearly 5,000 

 volunteers, eager for polar adventure. 



Two days later the ship entered the pack 

 which was found very far north, and proved 

 to be increasingly unfavorable. Five hundred 

 bergs were passed in a single day, and the 

 Endurance sailed over the projecting foot of 

 a berg 150 feet high. After steaming over 

 700 miles through the pack Coats Land, dis- 

 covered by Bruce in the Scotia, 1904, was 

 sighted from 72° 20' S. on January 10, 1915. 

 This land was skirted its entire length, from 

 72° 34' S., 16° 40' "W., to about 74° 04' S. 

 22° 48' W. Beyond this coast Shackleton 

 discovered new land, which he named Caird 

 Coast> which he followed about 200 miles to 

 its junction with Leopold Coast of Filchner, 

 1912. The extreme northerly point of Caird 

 Coast is in about 73° 20' S., 26° W. and the 

 southern point in 76° 30' S., 28° W. 



Shackleton thus describes it : " It is fronted 

 by an undulating barrier, which terminates 

 usually in cliffs ranging from 10 to 300 feet 

 in height, but in a very few places sweeps 

 down level with the sea. At the southern 

 end of Caird Coast the ice-sheet, undulating 

 over the hidden and imprisoned land, is burst- 

 ing down a steep slope in tremendous glaciers 

 bristling with ridges of ice and seamed by 

 thousands of crevasses. Along the whole 

 length of the coast we have seen no bare land 

 or rock. IN'ot as much as a solitary nunatak 

 has appeared." 



On January 18, 1915, the Endurance was 

 beset in the pack, in 76° 34' S., 31° 30' W., 

 never to be released. Thus ended the chance 

 of landing and of crossing Antarctica. 

 This besetment occurred in midsummer, when 

 unusually low temperatures of zero and below 

 were observed. 



Held fast the ship drifted with the main 

 ice-pack and reached an extreme southing of 

 77° S. 35° "W. The drift was first to the 

 west and then to the north-by-west attaining 

 April 9, 1916, 62° S., 54° W. Crushed by the 

 ice the Endurance sank November 21, 1916, 

 in 69° S., 53° W. when the crew took to the 

 ice. They were then 346 miles from Paulet 

 Island, the nearest place of safety, which two 



separate attempts to reach, by travel over the 

 ice-iioes, proved impossible of attainment. 

 They were forced to depend on the northerly 

 drift of the main pack for safety. Their 

 drift life of four and a half months was 

 marked by vicissitudes and miseries insep- 

 arable from storms, with tent-shelter only, 

 and lack of heat. Food was also insufficient, 

 their daily ration for a while being below ten 

 ounces of food, and despite continuous hunt- 

 ing they finally were forced to eat their dogs. 

 Storms were frequent and one blizzard caused 

 intense suffering with temperatures of 21 to 

 34 degrees below zero. Dredging, soundings, 

 weather observations, hunting and games were 

 carried on in such manner as to preserve the 

 morale of the men. 



There had been a northerly drift of about 

 1,500 miles, making good a northing of 573 

 miles before the Endurance sank. This drift 

 continued until the end of the antarctic sum- 

 mer, in March, found them outside of the 

 antarctic circle and in sight of Joinville 

 Island, with the close ice-pack so disintegrated 

 as to make travel thereto impossible, either 

 by boat or by sledge. On April 7, 1916, after 

 the breaking up of floes had several times 

 threatened the loss of boats and party they 

 sighted Elephant Island. Launching their 

 three boats vmder conditions of great and 

 continuing danger they were day after day 

 obliged to take refuge from closing ice on the 

 nearest floe or berg of size. Almost as by 

 miracle they reached and landed on glacier- 

 covered Elephant Island, where a narrow 

 fringe of tide-swept beach was the only visible 

 land. Fortunately penguins and seal were 

 present in such numbers as to save them from 

 immediate starvation. With coming winter 

 there was such danger of the party perisliing 

 that Shackleton with five men sought relief 

 from South Georgia, over 800 miles distant. 

 This journey, across the most tempestous 

 storm-swept southern ocean in approaching 

 winter, and the crossing of South Georgia by 

 land, are among the most thrilling experi- 

 ences in polar history. Tortured by thirst, 

 benumbed by cold, water-soaked whether on 

 duty or in their sleeping bags, their skiU as 



