Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
113
be a happy geologist when he saw these samples and compared them to the granites that
he had collected that season in the lower Ferrar Glacier drainage.
Barne had also wanted to approach the land to the north of the Goorkha Craters
(Cape Murray) on his return, but it took the party too long to round the eastern end of
the disturbed zone. November 25 was a clear day when Barne sat down and executed a
sketch of the coastline that went from the southern flank of Mount Discovery all the way
to Cape Selborne and covered sixteen running feet of paper. In concert Mulock carefully
ran sights and angles on all the peaks.
Over the next week overcast skies with intermittent storms forced the men to navi-
gate mainly by compass as they unknowingly veered west of the line back to the BluV de-
pot. When clouds lifted enough to see landmarks along the western coast, they were able
to set their course right, and they were then aided by a strong southerly breeze that filled
their sails, landing them at the depot on December 5. A rock collected for Ferrar from the
end of Minna BluV was the last objective of the party, which then pulled on in to the ship
on December 13, having covered the final distance in six days.
In addition, to its considerable discoveries in Victoria Land, the Discovery Expedi-
tion extended the known length of the Transantarctic Mountains another 250 miles to
the south, with no end in sight. In so doing, the expedition set a record for the highest
latitude reached at either pole. Due to the limited views into Barne and Shackleton Inlets,
however, uncertainty remained as to whether the mountains south of Barne Inlet con-
stituted a continuation of the continent or were an extended archipelago of islands. The
answer would be left to Shackleton and the next expedition to assault the pole.
In promoting the British Antarctic Expedition of 1907-1909, Shackleton had been explicit
that two goals would be reaching both the Geographic and Magnetic South Poles. In the
spring of 1908 a number of short sledging trips paved the way for the southern party,
including the staging of supplies at the old winter's quarters at Hut Point. A depot party
cached 167 pounds of pony food (four days' supply) and a gallon of oil 138 miles south at
Depot A. The northern party, David, Mawson, and Mackay, left Cape Royds bound for
the Magnetic South Pole on October 5.
On October 29 the southern party, Shackleton, Adams, Marshall, and Wild, set out
on their campaign, with four ponies, the motor car, and a support party of five. The mo-
tor car turned back before reaching Hut Point, where the combined parties assembled
for several days before heading south across the ice shelf. Thirty-eight miles south of Hut
Point the support party turned back, with hearty farewells and good luck to the four
whom they left.
With their four ponies each pulling an eleven-foot sledge weighing six hundred
pounds, the southern party faced a distance of 1,450 miles to the pole and back again to
Cape Royds. Before they had gone a mile, a storm forced them to pitch camp. They were
laid up the following day as well, but on November 9 the winds were calm and the sun
shone brightly. Crevasses were an immediate problem, but these were left behind as the
party rounded Minna BluV, setting a course due south across the ice shelf.
The four ponies, named Grisi, Socks, Quan, and Chinaman, pulled fairly strongly,
but their small hoofs sank deep into the snow, sometimes up to their bellies, so progress
