The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1904-04-08
FROM
THE ANTARCTIC
STEAMER DISCOVERY,
WITH RELIEF VESSELS, AR
RIVES AT LYTTLETON.

LYTTLETON, New Zealand), April
! 1.-THE British Antarctic steamer Dis
covery and the relief steamers Morn
/ ing and Terranova arrived here today.
/ The relief ships, which left Hobart
| December 5th reached the Discovery
! February 14th and found an the men,
| bers of the expedition in excellent
health and spirits. Scientific work
/ was continued by the explorers
throughout the winter of 1903. A new
route was found and a depot was
/ establish 1000 feet up the glacier.
Captain r. f. Scott, R. NJ, of the
| Discovery, says the winter of 1903
passed pleasantly and that the mem
bers of the expedition enjoyed much
greater comfort than in 1902. Sledging
operations began in September under
severe conditions owing to extremely
low temperature which frequently fell
to 60 degrees below zero. In Novem-
Der one party reached a point 100 geo.
graphical miles southeast of the ship.
There was no trace of land and evil
dence was obtained showing that this
was a vast floating ice plain.
Captain Scott, with another party,
made two excursions westward in
October over a glacier They gained
the summit October 18th and crossed
the magnetic meridian October goth
in longitude 1862 deg. east. Pro-
ceeding still westward, the party reach
ed point 27O miles from the ship, in
latitude rs deg. south longitude 1861
deg east. The interior of South Vic
] fFNrsia fg fol
plateau stretching continuously at a
height of 5000 feet. The glacier valley
affords magnificent scenery.
In the middle of December the
party attempted to cut a canal through
the ice which was frozen from seven
to eight feet thick, but the effort was
futile, owing to constant refreezing, and
the party desisted. The open water
was then seventeen miles from the
ship.
The relief ships arrived simurlta-
neOusly January 5th. The ice began
to break at the end of January, as
sisted by systematic dynamiting. On
February 18th a general breaking up
brought the relief ships to Hut point
and on February 18th two heavy
charges of dynamite placed the Dis
cOvery in open water. On the sue
ceeding days the gale blew the yes
sells apart and the Discovery was
driven ashore, where she remained
for eight hours in critical position
before she freed herself.
ION February 18th" said Captain
Scott I'VE got seventy tons of
coal from the relief ships. Before a
fresh gale drove US north we kept
close along the coast line, and parted
company with the other ships at Cape
Washington with a clear sea to the
north. We entered Wood bay and
Robertson bay but in attempting to
pass around Cape North we met with
heavy pack ice.
1--WE found that we had not sufn-
cient coal to enter Smith inlet, and
skirted the pack to the east and the
north. On March I'd we found that
Balleny and russell Islands were
identical. We passed through the
group and continued west to Iongi-
tude 1856 when want of coal obliged
us to turn north. The report of a
coast line in this direction we found
to be a mistake, as no such land
exists. HaTW
I'VE arrived at Auckland island
March 18th, with only ten tons of coal
in our bunkers. The Terranova and
the Morning rejoined us March goth
after experiencing terrific weather.
The shortage of coal alone compelled
our early return"
The expedition in addition to maxi
ing geographical discoveries achieved
scientific results. The task
of eXtricaing the Discovery from the
ice was so difficult that at one time
1t was feared that the vessel would
have 10 be abandoned, and prepara-
tions were made to remove the in
struments.
Wilkes land was found to have no
existence and the Discovery sailed
over the region where that place had
been charted since the time of the
explorer Ross.
Much information was secured re-
garding higher forms of life, mostly
of birds, including the emperor pen
gum, which hitherto has never been
found. The only vegetation found
were masses of lichens, but fossil re-
mains of higher forms of plant life
were obtained.
The general evidence indicates that
an immense continent once connected
the Antarctic and Australasia. The
main practical interest of the expe-
1itiOn lies in the results of the con-
tinuous magnetic observations in the
neighborhood of the magnetic pole.
Thousands Of photographs were taken.
CHANGES ON THE COPTIC.
The s. S. Coptic is due this after