The Home of the Blizzard / Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914

blizzards a general rush was made to continue some long-standing job. Often all that could be done was to clear the field for action, that is, dig away large accumu

succeeded by intense stillness. "Dead calm, up with the wireless masts!" Every one hastily dashed for his burberrys, and soon a crow

ayed, while between them stretched the aerial. For four weeks messages were sent out, and many of them were caught by Macquarie Island. Nothing was heard in Adelie Land, although, between certain hours, regular watches were kept at the receiver. The aerial was about sixty-five feet from the ground, and it was r

der way," the air-tractor sledge had to be efficiently housed, and all these and many other things could be done in weather during which it was out of question to hoist a mast into position. At first we were fastidious and waited for a calm, but later, as we grew

coils of frozen rope (one hundred and twenty fathoms) had become kinked and tangled, so we dragged it up the ice-slope, straightened it out and coiled it up again. Several 'dead men' to hold the stays were sunk into ice-holes, and, during the afternoon, one mast was dragged into position

to secure an efficient holding for the stout "strops" of rope. April 24 was a typical day: "We spent the morning fixing up 'strops' for the wireless masts. The wind was blowing strongly in fifty- to sixty-mile gusts with drift

ns. Round the steel caps at each doubling a good deal of fitting had to be done, and Bickerton, in such occupation, spent many hours aloft throughout the year. Fumbling with bulky mitts, handling hammers and spanners, and manipulating nuts and bolts with bare hands, while suspended

ht secure. No warning was given, as he did not notice that it had fallen. It whizze

the mast and stays, or from friction on the sharp edges of the blocks. Unknown to us, this had happened to a strong, new manilla rope by which Murphy was

ain, that fingers would promptly become numb and feet unbearably cold. The usual restorative was to stamp about and beat the chest with the hand

on the glacier absorbed a good many hands. In July, despite the enthusiasm and preparation for sled

t when we should raise the top-mast. We pulled it up half-way and Bickerton affixed a pin in its centre, above which two stays were to be attached. Suddenly, down came the wind in terrific gusts and, after securing the stays, the job had to be given up.

k, upwind, that it carried away. Fortunately the insulators of the aerial were entangled by the stays in th

as a stronger block was to be affixed for the aerial, some one had to climb up to wire it in position. Bi

ning of that day when the engine started and gradually got up speed in the dynamo. The sharp note of the spark rose in accompanying crescendo and, when it had reached its highest pitch,

electricity-and discharges from the drift

then every one conceived a mania for "drawing" sparks. A rather stimulating experience-the more so as it usually happened unexpectedly and accidentally-was to bru

All had worked keenly to make the "wireless" a success, and the final event was considered t

o, recorders were regularly needed to assist the magnetician in the absolute Hut. There, if the temperature were not too low and the observations not too lengthy, the recorder stepped out into the blizzard wit

s near the equator the whole force is exerted, swinging the needle in the horizontal plane, and in such regions ordinary ships' compasses pivoted to move freely only in a horizontal plane give the greatest satisfaction. On approaching the magnetic poles, compasses become sluggish, for the horizontal deflecting force falls off rapidly. The force, acting in a vertical direction, tending to make the needle dip, correspondingly increases, but is of no value for navigation purposes. However, in the scientific discussion of terrestrial magnetism, both the

ian is the straight l

es and passing through

cupying two men for several hours together, are necessary to obtain standard values as a check upon th

-15 degrees F., is no joke. The magnetician is not so badly off, because he is mov

it were repeated with just the right intonation. The Absolute Hut had a superadded dignity. The Hangar, in passing, scarcely seemed to have

e of upsetting magnetic equilibrium, are left outside. Walking in soft finnesko, the magnetician opens an inner door, to be at once accosted by darkness, made more intense after the white glare of the snow. His eyes grow accustomed to the blackness, and he gropes his way to a large box almost concealing the feeble glimmer of a lamp. The lamp is the source of the light, projected on to small mirrors attached to the magnetic needles of three variometers. A ray of light is reflected from the mirrors for

n the ice-sheet. In order to make the determinations it was necessary to excavate a cave in the glacier. This was done about three-quarters of a mile s

th ascertained at many stations, around and up to with

sed till it curved as a low arc across the sky. It was eerie to watch the contour of the arc break, die away into a delicate pallor and reillumine in a travelling riband. Soon a long ray, as from a searchlight, flashed above one end, and then a row of ve

the great sombre pall of the sky. North-west, northeast, and south-east it would elusively appear in nebulous b

act observations in the meteorological

se were the nights when "curtains" hung festooned in the heavens, alive, rippling, dancing to the lilt of lightnin

nd the observer would be kept busy fol

ms; lustrous in the radiance of the southern lights; furrowed beneath the icy sweep of the wind. We had come to probe its myster

has not yet been finally demonstrated, though it is generally agreed to be a discharge of electricity occurring in the upper, more ra

g edges of the "curtains" in the zenith, but all measurements indicate

e was amassed to support the fact that auroral exhibitions correspond with periods of great magnetic disturbance.

ucture and temperature various excavations were made in the sea-ice, in the ice of the glacier, and in that of the freshwater lakes. The work

soft purple hue, blends in a colour-scheme with the lilac plateau. Two men crunch along in spiked boots over snow mounds and polished sastrugi to the harbour-ice. The sea to the north is glazed with freezing

d intractable is sea-ice. It is always well to work on a definite plan, channelling in various directions, and then removing the intervening lumps by a few rough sweeps of the pick. At a depth of one foot, another temperature is taken, and some large samples of the ice laid by for the examination of their crystalline structure. Th

r-temperature, say -10 degrees F., and it rises in a steep gradient to approximately 28 degrees F.; close to the freezin

liance. This is more noticeable near the surface when the sun is shining. Deep down in a shaft

ld scatter, tinkling over the surface of the glacier. Of course, when two men were at work, each took it in turns to go below, and the one above, to keep warm, would impatiently pace up and down. Nevertheless, so cold would he become at times that a heated colloquy would arise betwee

t when dissected in detail it is found to be formed of many crystalline, interlocking grains, ranging in size from a fractio

are one-twenty-fifth to one hundredth of an inch in diameter, and, en masse, present a dazzling white appearance on account of the air spaces which occupy one-third to one-half of the whole. In time, under the influence of a heavy load of accumulated layers of

lly demonstrated. In some places cracks and fissures filled with snow-dust traversed the body of the ice, and in other places long strings of beaded air-bubbles had become enta

risms are of fresh water ice, for in freezing the brine is rejected and forced to occupy the interstices of the prisms. Water of good drinking quality can be obtained by allowing sea water ice to thaw partially. The brine

cialists, was zoological collecting. Seals and birds were made the prey of every one,

the ice-foot, the snow petrels and Antarctic petrels were in their element. Wheeling, swinging, sinking, planing and soaring, they were radiant with life-the wild spirits of the tempes

es, darting across the jutting points and ever onward in their long migration. In the summer they flew for weeks from the west-a never-ending string of snow, silver-grey and Antarctic petrels, and Cape pigeons. The silver-grey petrels and Cape pigeons were only abroad during that s

ple. With wings outspread, it is a miniature aeroplane requiring no engines, for the wind itself supplies the power. A slight movement of the tail-feathers and wing-tips controls i

a number of specimens, the ratio of weight to horizontal area exposed to the wind. This subject is one which has lately exercised the curiosity

NTARCTIC BIRDS IN R

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region of eighty-five miles per hour, and every time the clumsy, ponderous creature secured its first hold, back it would be tumbled. Once it managed to raise itself on to the flat surface, and, after a breathing spell, commenced to shuffle towards the shelter of some pinnacles on one side of the harbour. Immediately its broad flank was turned to the wind it was rolled over, hung for a few seconds on the brink, and then splashed into

rs of both hemispheres, but never living amongst the polar ice. The southern coast of Australia and the sub-antarctic islands were their favourite haunts, but the ruthless slaughter of t

hair seals by one obvious characteristic: their method of propulsion on land is by a "lolloping" motion, in which the front and hind flippers are used alternately. The hair seals move

h their mottled-grey coats, are the commonest. They haunt the coasts of Antarctica and are seldom fo

loe in the sunshine it has a glistening, silver-grey skin-another distinguishing mark bein

n the under side to a dark greenish-brown on the back. Its neck is ample and bloated, and when distended in

eals. Early in April, Hurley and McLean were the first to obtain proof that the sea-leopard preyed on other seals. Among the broken floe-ice close beneath the ice-cliffs to the west of Winter Quarters, the wind was driv

he narrative. The habitat of these monstrous animals ranges over the cold, south-temperate seas; sea elephants are but occasional visitors to the ic

ts the body beneath the skin and acts as a conserver of warmth. They are largely of va

g to it. In this rough condition it was taken into the work-room of the Hut to be cleaned. The blubber froze, and then had the consistency of hard soap and was readily severed from the pelt. It was found th

oms the variety of specimens was not great, including seaweeds up to eighteen or more feet in length, a couple of forms of starfish, various small mollusca, two or three varieties of fish, several sea-spiders

han ten fathoms had become so coated with ice

eropods, worms, crustaceans, ostracods, and jel

r the cold is absorbed in the production of a surface layer of ice. This constancy of the sea's temperature is favourable to organic life. On land there is a wide range in temperature, and only the meagre mosses and lichens, and the forms of insect life which live

the intestines of animals and birds, cultures were successfully made from the following natural sources: lich

long periods are not the rule, while the climate is not favourable to organic existence, one would be surprised to find them in any great number. The fact remains that internal parasites were found in the intestine of every animal and fish examined, and in all the birds except the Wilson petrel. External parasites were present on every species of bird and seal, though individuals were often

"worms" is neither of them a pleasant occupation. To be really successful, the enthusiasm of the speci

rmining the colour-index and haemoglobin value of their blood over a period

ing a mere prelude to more serious matters, or the last resort of a feeble intellect, it was the all-engrossing theme. The man with the latest hare-brained theory of the causation of the wind was accorded a full hearing. The lightning calculator who estimated the annual tonnage of drift-snow sweeping off Adelie

s of wind-mileage and direction, amount of drift, temperature and so forth, which wer

n a calibrated spring. The pull was transferred to a lever carrying a pencil, which travelled across a disk of carbonized paper. The disk, moving by clockwork, made a complete revolution every hour. The recording parts of the instrument were enclosed in a snow-proof box in which there

rring unexpectedly or during the night; while it took a little time to get the instrument into running order. Ev

. Over the scattered boulders to the east of the Hut, across a patch of polished snow they push to the first low ridge, and there they stop for breath. Up on the side of "Annie Hill," in the local phrase, the tide sweeps by with fiendish strength, and among the jagged rocks the man clutching the puf

commonly indicated. I remember the final fate of this invention. While helping to mount it one day, the wind picked me up clear of the ground and

ILLUST

, when the steady south-by-east gale was broken after noon by a

les per hour, and the maximum of the ave

d upon the fact that the wind remained steady from the interior of the vast frigid continent. The air which flowed over the Hut had all passed through the same temperature-cycle. The atmosphere of the interior, where the plateau stood at an elevation of, say, eight thousand feet, might have a temper

ompression is a well-known phenomen

ees. The uniform conditions experienced during steady high winds were not only expressed by the slight variation in the temperature, but often in a remarkably even barometric curve. Thus on July 11 the wind-velo

ce of worry. Repairs and readjustments were unavoidable, as the instrument was constantly working at high pressure. In order that these might be carried out efficiently, the whole apparatus had to be carried down to the Hut. Here, Bickerton and Correll were continually in consultation with the meteorologist on the latest breakdown. Cups were

ous resting-places that it was hunted from pillar to post. A radical operation by Correll-the insertion of an extra spring-became necessary at last. Correll, when not engaged designing electroscopes, improving sledge-meters and perfecting theodolites, was som

ILLUST

tide

The Wheel is revolved, and through wire connections (indicated above) displaces vertically the Pen. This traces a recor

of the rocks belong to days of snowy nimbus enshrouding the horizon. When the sky has broken into cloudlets of fleece,

rth they are emerald. Scenic changes are swift. Above the mounting plateau a lofty arch of clear sky has risen, flanked by roseate clouds.

straw-yellow, light terra-cotta to a diffuse brick-red; each reflected in the dull sheen of freezing sea. Out on the infinite horizon float icebergs in a mirage of mobile gold.

olunteers to assist Bage in carrying the tons of stones which formed its permanent base. The nearest large collection of boulders was twenty yards away, on the edge of a moraine, but these after a while became exhausted. Pl

a regular service was plying to the foundations, and, at the same time, the dogs were being trained. This occupation was continued, weather permitting, for several weeks before Midwinter's Day. Thus the drivers gained experience, while the animals, with a wholesome dread of the whip, became more responsive to commands. Eage

ing and sledging, summer and sledging, the ship and home. It was the turn of the tide, and the future seemed to be sketched in firm, sure outline. While the rest explored all the ice-caves and the whole extent of our small rocky "selection," Hannam and Bickerton shouldered the domestic responsibilities. Their menu du diner to us was a

du

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a Terre Adel

a la Menth

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ng Union J

Groseill

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render the usual accompaniment-t

NTER'S DAY MENU AT THE MA