Putnam patriot., 1912-04-12


 which were only thirty yards away At 4 a. m. the pack began to move again. We left the ponies with fuli nosebags and rested till a. m., when the pack was again stationary. We marched north. found the ponies. and made desperate efforts to save them Powers and Oates risked long detour over the pack and led the animals over many jumps, while the remainder of us dug a trench to the lower part of the barrier The edges of the foes were high above water and very un- even. Killer whales hung about with in few yards. The ponies, failing at the jump, were irretrievably lost One pony only won through. The pack was moving again as we left 1t and drifted clear to the north
 On March 4 we ascended hills east of Castle Rock, and on the 5th the party with the two remaining ponies and the dog teams was safely housed at Hut Point. By this incident We lost three of our strongest ponies. This was a severe blow to the ex. petition, but not enough to wreck it's plans if the remaining animals could be preserved. The heavy swell which caused this disaster broke more than ten miles of fast sea ice, large frag- ments of the barrier, and two miles of glacier tongue, a feature which had remained otherwise unchanged since discovery in 1902 The hut was found almost completely filled with hard snow, the windows broken, and the door unhinged With much labor we cleared and repaired if It then af- forded good shelter.
 While forced to wait for the sea breeze to blow over we settled down to very primitive life
 With old tins and discarded frag- ments of metal we constructed an ex- cellent blubber stove and several blub- Der lamps. We fed almost entirely on seal meat Seals could only be obtain ed at a distance over hills, and were sometimes scarce, but the supply nev- CT failed entirely, thanks to the in genuity shown by my companions in improvising arrangements with the slenderest resources. With splendid health We were quite comfortable and enjoyed the discovery of box of old magazines.
 On March 15 the Western Geologi- cal Party returned, bringing our total to sixteen persons. This party had spent six weeks making close survey of the Dry Valley, Lower Ferrar, and Koettlitz glacier regions, thus com pleting an important part of our plan for the geological survey of the coast
 Preparing for the Winter.
 On March r Lieut.. Evans led par ty to Corner Camp, completing the de- pot arrangements for the coming sea son. The temperature at the barrier had already fallen to minus 40 de grees Throughout the month ice con tinually formed over the sea, but strong winds quickly drove it north. After March 25 the ice remained fast in the sheltered bays. but continued to drive out of the sound Huge land ice falls on the southwest slopes of Mount Erebus prevented any possibil- ity of returning to Cape Evans by land, but with the freezing of the bays I decided to make and attempt to reach the station, partly by land and partly by sea ice.
 With eight compnions l started on April II. and, though caught by a storm on sea ice, we reached Cape Evans early on the 18th. We found the station, which had been left in Simpsons charge, in excellent order, and arrangements for comfort remark ably perfect. Numerous self-recording instruments were in full swing, and all records complete to date. All the news was good, except the loss of one of the nine remaining ponies and one dog. During our absence there had been much wind the mean velocity for two months being twenty-four miles per hour For nineteen per cent. of the whole time the wind had been over gale strength All observations pointed to an exceptionally severe sea- son.
 On April IT returned to Hut Point with a fresh sledge party carry ing supply stores. As it was impos- BLUE TUT NO IT dAFA SA tAS route taken, I left Meares and five others in charge of those at Hut Point, and again returned to Cape Evans on April 90. Sea ice continued to drive out of the sound until the first week in May. It was not until May 13, three weeks after the sun had gone. that the men and animals left Hut Point and safely returned to the main station. The sound froze solid in May and later in Winter packed ics extended to an unprecedented dis tance northward. despite numerous gales.
 Lectures and Football.
 After the return of the absentees we settled down very comfortably in our Winter hut It's arrangements for lighting, heating. cooking, and ven tilation proved eminentiy satisfactory. A comfortable stable had been built for the ponies and some shelter i'm proyised for the dogs during the four Winter months. The temperature al the station was rarely below minus 4e degrees, at lowest minus 50 degrees The wind averaged fifteen miles aD hour but sometimes blew hard wiff the temperature minus 30 degrees Every one was very fully occupied