The San Francisco call., 1909-03-24
SHACKLETON'S
TRIP NEAREST
SOUTHERN POLE
British Naval Lieutenant's Long
Antarctic Expedition Breaks
All Records
Union Jack Hoisted III Miles
From Earth's Magnetic
Extremity

LONDON. March 2s-Lieutenant E
H shackleton of the British navy.
commander OF the Antarctic expedition
which returned on the barkentine Nim-
rod to InvercargiI. n. z, today, suo-
ceeded in getting within III miles
OF the south pole.
The Nimrod expedition left England
in July, 1907. and after reaching the
ice fields and making The most elabo-
rate preparations, the main expedition
started on sledge journey that occu-
pied 12s days and covered 1908 miles
to the southwark. The explorers
reached latitude IS IS and longitude
162 west
At the highest point the land was
5000 feet in. altitude. trending south
ward in vast held Of snow. no noun
tains being in sight.
IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES
A second party pushed forward to
the southern magnets pole at latitude
- %. longitude 15z vsst The British
4
flag was left flying at both points. The
ascent OF Mount Erebus was accom-
alished with difficulty and geological
discoveries of great importance were
made. The results attained have
thrown much light on the past history
of the Antarctic continent The ex-
petition suffered no loss Of life.
from the usual preparations for
journey across the snow and ice. He
took with him motor car which
could be converted into sledge and
substituted ponies for dogs and light
woolen clothing for heayy furs
Briefly summarize5 Ire results Of
the exssaftscA spea's point was
reeeAea within istf4gses IF tie soutA
pole; that the ma gnetie pole was also
reached; eight mountain chains were
discovered and 100 mountains
Mount Erebus. 1920 feet high, was
assembled by the party; new coast and
high mountains were located running
west from Victoria and coal fields
were discovered in the antartic
continent. The theory OF the exist
ence of an area of atmospheric calm
around the south pole was disproved
Ponies Are Eaten
"In latitude 81 81 we shot a pony
and made depot of oil. biscuit and
pony meat. taking the rest Of the pony
meat to exc out our dried rations We
reached the Discovery most southerly
latitude on November 26. The Discov-
cry now became soft with large sun-
dulations. The ponies were attacked
by snow blindness and the second Of
them was shot, the depot being made
in latitude 50 IS. longitude 10. On
November 80 we killed our third pony.
In steering south and southeast we
were now approaching a high range OF
new mountains, trending to the south
east On December we discovered a
glacier 30 miles long and approx
mately 30 miles wide, running in
south and southwesterly direction. and
on December 5 we started to ascend It
at latitude SO SO, longitude 172. The
glacier was full OF bad crevices. It
took the whole of the next day for us
to fight our way 500 yards. There were
manv dangers to be faced, for at any
moment one might be thrown into some
unknown depth AS it was, on Decem-
Der the last remaining pony broke
through a snoElid and disappeared in
a crevice. Fortunately the swingle-
tree snapped and we saved Wild and
the sledge, which was damaged. The
party was now hauling a weight of 250
pounds per man.
.sThe clouds disappeared on Decem-
Der S and we discovered new noun
tain ranges trending south and south
west
"on December Is we reached an
altitude of $500 feet. In latitude So
degrees 10 minutes 3 seconds we made
depot and left everything there but
our food. instruments and camp equip
ment. and reduced our rations to 20
ounces per man daily. On the 2sth we
reached a plateau at an altitude of
900 feet. thence gradually rising in
long ridges to 10000 feet
Finding that the party was becoming
weakened, we decided to risk making a
depot on the plateau. On January we
proceeded with one tent. utilizing the
poles of the second tent for guiding
marks for our return During January
Z. S and the wind blew 20 miles an
hour, with " degrees of frost 1t was
impossible to move. and members of the
party were frequently frost bitten in
their sleeping bags On January . we
left camp and reached latitude ss.ss,
longitude 162 east. this being the most
southerly point ever reached. Here we
hoisted the union jack presented to US
by her majesty the queen. No noun
tains were visible, and we saw only a
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