Norwich bulletin., 1916-09-23

Pesca, but again the intrepid leader when within 20 miles of his goal. Still undaunted, Shackleton piloted his damaged vessel Into the harbor of Punta Arenas, Chile, the most south erly city in the world, and there shifted his crew to an S0-ton wooden vessel, the Emma. On July Il, the dead of winter in the Antarctic zone, he set sail again, spurred to frenzied haste by the realization that when he left his men in April they had full rations for only five weeks. Of course, these supplies have been subdivided so as to extend over much longer period, but it has now been 19 weeks since the two parties separated. The Emma also failed to get through the pack ice and was forced to return. The fourth attempt a rescue in the Chilean ship Yelcho, which Sir Ern- est was able to provision at PEnta Arenas, town of S,G00 inhabitants succeeded.
 The northern shore of Elephant Is- land just touches the 61st parallel of latitude. The island is one Of the south Shetland group, and is about miles wide. To the northwest is Cape Horn, distance of 550 miles, and to the northeast lie the Falklands, some TOO miles away. Further to the east is South GeorgIa For many years credit for the discovery of these islands was given to Dirk Gerrits, a Dutch navigator who was supposed to have sighted them in 1898. The first authentic information about the group came from William Smith, AA. English navigator who sighted them in 1919 and took possession in the name of England. The following year Minetenant Bransfeld, of the British navy, was sent to survey the islands and since that time they have become quite generally known through British and Aemrican seal CTS.
 "The whole group is mountainous and practically devoid of vegetation, except for Hchens and little grass. The only hope entertained for the marooned men is that they have been able 10 supplement their rations with the flesh of aloatrosses, penguins and seals which haunt the islands. "A graphic picture of the manner | in which starving Antarctic explor- l CTS amuse themselves was narrated | by Sir Ernest Shackleton in an ad- dress before the National Geographic 1 Society in Washington, after his fla
 which he attained the then fu1thest south,' only 97 miles from the South | Pole. It was on the homeward trir ] that rations ran low, and this is the explorers description of his situa-
 tion, one which for many weeks un- doubtedly has been duplicated in the case of the 22 marooned men:
 We were very hungry. In fact we had been hungry for over three
 months. But we had one consolation we were able to talk about food anG
 we talked about it from morning rn- | til night. We were living now or
 three portions of half cooked horse meat and four biscuits and two cups of cocoa for the daily ration. We 1 got up every morning at twenty min- ! utes to five and got under way al quarter to seven. Well, when we ha6 warmed up on the march we would | begin and we would say, "Now boys | we are on the ship again. What will we have today?" Well, it might be
 my turn and I might say: T walked up this morning and put my hands ur in the bunk and found chocolate and | biscuits to eat while dressing. Then we would have breakfast ct eight o'clock and have fried eggs, even cof- fee, cocoa, bread and butter, then nothing more until Il o'clock when we would have golden sirup pie and then | we would fill our pockets with al-
 nonds and raisins to keep the wolf | from the door until one o'clock, when we would have a whole course lunch | then tea at four, dinner at six and nothing more until midnight when the real feed of the day was to com mence."'
 Such entertainment would seem tc | be the self-inflicted torterez or Tan talus to starving men, but where the
 reality is lacking the imagination sometimes sustains the spirit.
 "The problem of fuel and clothing for the Elephant Island group proba- | bly, has been even more distressing than that of food for the Shack1etor ship the Endurance was crushed tc
 pieces last October and mure Of the expedition's supplies sank with her. | How the explorers fight frost bite when the thermometer ranges from
 30 to 50 degress below zero was tol6 by Shackletor in the same address: ''We were frost-bitten as we lay ir our sleeping bags; and whenever g
 man was frost-bitten he would take
 his frozen foot out and put it inside | the shirt against the chest of an al- most equally unfortunate neighbor and it was always a question as tc who was the most uncomfortable, th< | frost-bitten one or the one who was
 bringing the frozen foot back to life 1 again."
 I