SHACKLETON'S FARTHEST SOUTH 



401 



LOCATING the; magnetic pole 



The northern party, consisting of 

 Douglas, Marson, Rackay, and Davis, 

 left Cape Royds for the Magnetic Pole 

 on October 5, 1908. We picked up the 

 depot left by the motor car fifteen miles 

 out. The party hauled two sledges by 

 relays, the total weight being 600 pounds 

 per man, with provisions for ninety- 

 three days. 



The thawing sea ice, compacted of 

 brush and crushed pack, made progress 

 laborious and slow. The sea ice south 

 of the Drygalski Glacier was beginning 

 to break up. The first attempt to cross 

 to the glacier failed, owing to numerous 

 deep chasms. We crossed further east 

 on December 6, and followed a difficult 

 route over crevassed pressure ridges. 



We attempted the glacier between the 

 mountains Nansen and Larsen. After 

 sledging among high pressure ridges, 

 where the sledges and party were often 

 nearly lost in the crevasses, we abandoned 

 that route. A blizzard then covered the 

 glacier deeply drifted with snow and the 

 sledges were extricated with difficulty. 



Subsequently violent blizzards remov- 

 ing the loose snow enabled the party 

 to ascend the steep slope of a branch 

 glacier to the main glacier between the 

 mountains Larsen and Bellinghausen. 

 Thence there was fair traveling to an 

 inland plateau at an altitude of over 7,000 

 feet. Strong southerly winds, 50 0 of 

 frost, and shortened rations made travel- 

 ing trying. 



The party reached the Magnetic Pole, 

 260 statute miles northwest of the Dry- 

 galski depot, on January 16, and hoisted 

 the Union Jack. The position of the Pole 

 was determined by Marson with a Lloyd- 

 reak dip circle as in the vicinity of lati- 

 tude 72 0 25', longitude 15 0 4' east. 



The duration of the journey was 122 

 days. We traveled, including relays, 

 1,260 statute miles. The coast was trian- 

 gulated by Marson with a theodolite 

 from McMurdo to the Drygalski Glacier. 

 There are also geological, magnetic, and 

 meteorological results. Minerals, appar- 

 ently vanadium and widely spread mona- 

 stite, were found. 



In March, 1908, a party headed by 

 Lieut. Adams, left Cape Royds to ascend 

 Erebus, the great Antarctic volcano. 

 They climbed with a sledge to an altitude 

 of 5,500 feet, thence carrying their equip- 

 ment on their backs. They reached an 

 altitude of 9,500 feet on March 7. The 

 temperature was 50 0 below freezing. 

 Then a violent blizzard raged for thirty 

 hours. Resuming the ascent on March 9, 

 they reached the old crater of the vol- 

 cano at over 11,000 feet. 



Unique fumaroles or smokeholes were 

 found. The old crater was chiefly filled 

 with large felspar crystals, pumice and 

 sulphur. Sir Philip Brocklehurst had 

 both feet badly frostbitten. One toe was 

 subsequently amputated. The summit 

 was reached on March 10. The active 

 crater is half a mile in diameter and 8oq 

 feet deep. It was ejecting vast volumes 

 of steam and sulphurous gas to a height 

 of 2,000 feet. 



wilke's discoveries confirmed 



The Nimrod on the voyage to pick up 

 the expedition reached the ice sheet off 

 Mt. Erebus on January 3. Various par- 

 ties of the expedition were taken on 

 board at different points, Lieut. Shackle- 

 ton's being the last, on March 4. 



On the voyage homeward in the 

 Nimrod from latitude 69 0 48', longi- 

 tude 166 0 11', they discovered a new 

 range of coast mountains trending 

 first southwest and then west. The 

 approximate altitude of these mountains 

 is from 5,000 to 7,000 feet. They are 

 mostly tabular and form part of an ap- 

 parently deeply eroded plateau. This 

 discovery by Shackleton is an extension 

 of South Victoria Land westward to 

 about 70 0 30' south, 162 0 east, which ap- 

 pears to render certain its continuity with 

 Wilkes Land. 



Gen. A. W. Greely, in his admirable 

 "Hand-book of Polar Discoveries, " suc- 

 cessfully demonstrates the general cor- 

 rectness of Wilkes' discoveries, which 

 were acrimoniously disputed by Captain 

 Ross, R. N., whose own Parry Moun- 

 tains have been proved non-existent. 

 The very high land seen by Wilkes, when 

 he discovered the Antarctic continent, on 



