Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1915-01-21
RELATES TERRORS
Of The ANTARCTIC
Sir Douglas MawSOn Tells Of
Thrilling Escapes.
TWO COMPANIONS KILLED.
Explorer. Starving, Tempted to Eat
One of Them - Unconscious For
Hours. Wakes UP In Snowdrift
Lived Thirty nine Days on Single
Dos-Thought of Suicide.

Thought OF Suicide.
How il feels TO contemplate eating
- human being and that human being
companion with whom one has been
intimately associated in dangerous eX-
ploring work for months was told when
Sir Douglas Mawson arrived in New
York from Liverpool on the Orduna OF
the Cunard line. Sir Douglas plans to
deliver "a short series of lectures before
the leading American geographical so.
cities ana then gci.rn TO Australia
preparatory 10 making another eXpe-
dition into the antarctic.
Sir Douglas and two companions set
out from their base in Amelie Land In
1912 TO make an exploration of the &c
ographical and archaeological features
of the South American polar cont
nent Sir Douglas was accompanied
10y a British naval officer. Lieutenant
b. s. MINES, and the Swiss ski cham
pion. Or. Y. MerZ. Sir Douglas alone
survived
we turned homeward just at the
best season OF the year, but that bless
eel antarctic couldn't give us IA single
good day" said Sir Douglas Things
began to look black
One day Merz went ahead explor-
ing. and MINES and had charge OF
the sledS. | was in the lead. and sud
denly, almost before | knew it. found
myself travelling across one OF the
antarctic creyaSSeS We had crossed
hundreds of them. and this one did not
look particularly dangerous. But "a
crevasSe is Il place where the snow
has formed n natural bridge over "a
great rent or hole i'm the ice surface.
and they are always dangerous. so /
called out to MINES. 'Crevasse: look
out" and kept on my way. | didn
hear anything behind, and | didn't look
back for some time When did /
saw nothing. MINES had disappeared
Falls to Death.
I'VE made out afterward that while
| had crossed the creyasse diagOnally.
MINES, on hearing my warning. had
changed his course so as TO 20 straight
across. The crust Of snow broke. and
he went TO his death
About Jan. / Merz began TO refuse
his food. 1t Disguised him. he said
He "uSt have had perforation of the
intestine. Tor he died very suddenly
ou tAr morning of Jan $
IL thought for two days about eat-
ing Mcrz was awfuly short of
food and about 100 miles away from
the base. But finally decided that If
/ did get back TO civilization it would
always leave bad taste in my mouth
SO | buried him and went on
Il was dragging the sled with the
cooking things and the remains of Gin
ger. the dog y couple OF days later
my feet felt very sore | hadn't looked
at them in some time. SO crawled in
under ledge and liz fire TO see what
was the matter When / took off my
shoes the solcs of my feet came Off
with them in two large pieces There
was nothing else to do. 50 I slapped
them back on again and bandased them
ana went on nay way i'm agony
1T was just two years ago. Jan. ID
1913. that had my narrowcst escape
l was walking along. dragging the sled
when / crashed through crevasse.
It's all over now thought 20 myself
why in heavens name didn't eat the
last of that grub on the sledE And
just then brought up with an awful
wrench The heavy sled stuck ut the
top Of the crcvasse. hung there and
spun around i'm midair like a spider in
his web
Thought OF Ending It All.
For awhile ! thought OF slipping the
harness and ending it all. and then ]
thought that ! wasn't meant 10 end
there. had so much good luck to get
even that far that / decided 10 try 10
20 TO the finish climbed up the rope
land over hand laboriOusly till ] got 10
the top and threw one leg up on the
solid ice. At least it seemed sohd. but
when threw my leg on it the crust
broke again. and again | dropped and
spun around and around OH the end OF
my rope. But | climbed up again and
got out
After ! got 90 the top | must have
been unconscious for some hours.
There was Il binding snowstorm rag
ing. and the next thing that 1 remem-
Der | woke up in snowdrift, covered
inches deep in snow.
For thirty-one days l was all alone
on the ice. ! had no soles on my feet:
all my hair had fallen out. For thirty
nine days had lived ON single dog.
and eight of those days there was an
other man living on the same dog But
AZ last ! got 20 the hut ut my base
Just in time to see the Aurora leaving
the harbor. and / had just intelligence
enough left TO know that there was no
possibility that she would he back for
twelve months. That was Feb. .. 1913.
The Aurora had sailed for Port Stan.
ley. in the Falkland islands. But she
had left search party OF six men. so
shat ! was in good hands.
in that year the seven Of MS ate
over 1000 penguin eggs. boiled. scram
bled pOached and omelets. Omelets
was our favorite way OF cooking the