The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1909-02-17
AN ANTARCTIC STORM
Drawing the PeriIs of a South
Polar Winters Night.
FIERCE FURY OF THE GALE.
Adventures Of Party Of Explorers In
4 Journey Over the Broken Pack
lce-The Solid Wall Of Wind That
Thanked a Friendly Iceberg.


The arctic explorer has always had
hardship and danger enough, but the
antarctic discoverer has far more ter
rible conditions to meet Luckily he
meets them with all the equipment
and method that arctic exploration has
taught mankind. Yet they are most
dangerous, as the story of those who
have lived through the south polar
winter night can testify. One of the
experiences of Bernacchi on the cruise
Of the Southern Cross some years
ago shows what an antarctic gale
means
He and comrade, Ellifsen, started
out on a short sledge journey to carry
provisions from one camp to another.
1t was in September, and the broken
Ice pack over which they must travel
was but foot and half thick and
likely to break in pieces afresh or pile
up in deadly masses at the mercy of
the sea and wind The two men had
three sledges and eighteen dogs. They
had hardly started before the wind
rose and a gale threatened Halfway
to their destination there was an ice
berg imbedded in the pack Ice, and
they FASTENED to reach this before the
storm should break.
For five hours they toiled over the
Ice, the wind gradually rising The
gale broke in fury just as they reach
ed the iceberg, under whose lee they
pitched a tiny silk tent, into which
they crawled after having fed their
dogs as best they could. Hour after
hour the wind ragged, and the Their
nometer went to 0 degrees below zero.
The snow drifted over and into the
tent. Sleep was impossible.
The explorers who had met typhoons
In the China seas and cyclones In the
tropics, found by the aneroid as well
as by their own sensations that this
gale surpassed them ALL Worst Of all
1t seemed as If the ice was beginning
to crack They knew well that the
iceberg which protected them from the
full force of the storm was the most
dangerous place possible In other
ways, as the Ice was sure to separate
first Immediately round the berg,
throwing tent, men and dogs into the
icy seas. The cracking of ice was now
to be heard above the roar of the
wind. They dared not stay In their
shelter.
A little to the east, Bernacchi re-
membered. was cave in the body OF
the iceberg. Once in that, they would
not at least be precipitated into the
sea, even If they were carried away,
iceberg and all. 1t was so dark that
the wall Of the berg could not be seen
even when the hands touched It, The
two explorers CROPPED as best they
could along the slippery walls, both
hands on the Ice and their bodies
pressed against it. Halfway around
they left the lee side and met the
gale. 1t came like a solid thing, bear
ing them back and down. Not one
inch could they move against 1t, and
further exposure meant death. They
CROPPED back, blinded, deafened and
almost paralyzed with cold, to shelter
Then they commenced a toilsome hunt
for a foothold on the lee side some
where. Toward morning they found a
low spur or projection, upon which
they scrambled and lay down perfect
~ exhausted In the -Snowdrifts, which
grew each moment. To this they owed
their lives, for the snow soon covered
them and kept in the warmth of their
bodies.
They dared not sleep for fear of
never waking, SO they reused each
other alternately. At last day broke,
and the gale abated. Crawling over
the snow, their garments frozen stiff
as boards, their boards solid Jumps of
ice, they managed to reach their tent.
The ice had not broken, though it was
cracked here and there. They took
food, silent, fed their dogs, who were
deep in the drifts, but alive, and then
courageously went ahead, mot caring
to be beaten" as Bernacchi expressed
1t. 1t was o'clock at night before
they reached camp, but the next day
they were exploring and taking photo
graphs and observations just as usual.
Man may seem puny against nature,
but he conquers her from the arctic to
the antarctic by his uncomfortable
soul. = William Rittenhouse in For
ward.