i OF THE U Promt and London %50 \ C \0'S CinE 1 1 CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 FROM HAVRE TO PUNTA ARENAS .... 25 THE DIARY OF THE EXPEDITION PART I THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 29 PART II AUTUMN, WINTER AND SPRING, 1909 . . . .140 PART III THE SUMMER OF 1909-1910 250 25124 1 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Winter Quarters of the Expedition at Petermann Island ( Folder — Frontispiece) South Polar Chart 6 The Pourquoi-Pas ?' a Rio 10 Plan of the Pourquoi-Pas ? 10 Sections of the Pourquoi-Pas ? and of an Ordinary Boat 10 The Staff Before Departure 24 Departure from Havre 24 Our First Iceberg 29 Coaxing at Pendulum Cove 48 Cormorants on their Nests 60 The Magnetic Hut on Wandel Island after Five Years 64 Threatening Ice-Blocks 68 The Fight with the Ice at Wandel 72 Adelie Penguins on the Ice in Marguerite Bay 96 Jenny Island and its Terrace 100 On the Summit of Jenny Island 104 Ice-Floes off Alexander I. Land 108 Glacier Face in Marguerite Bay 112 Embarking in the Norwegian Boat in Matha Bay 132 Rock Formation in Matha Bay 136 Penguin Rookery on Petermann Island 140 One of the Meteorological Shelters in Autumn 144 The Same Shelter in Spring 144 Penguins' Tracks at Whaleboat Point 148 vii ILLUSTEATIONS PAGE The Huts for the Transit Instrument and the Seismograph 149 Sending up a Meteorological Balloon 149 A Sea Leopard 154 A Crabbing Seal 155 A Sea Leopard 155 Shrove Tuesday Masquerade 158 Shrove Tuesday Parade 158 An Arch op Ice 160 Meteorological Observatory on Megalestris Hill 161 Our Quarters, Spring, 1909 166 Crossing a Bridge of Ice 170 A Difficult Descent 174 The Descent of the Glacier 175 Hauling the Norwegian Boat over the Glacier ISO The Argentine Islands 180 On the Pace; 188 Clouds Round the Glacier Peak and an Ice-blocked Channel 192 The Staff ln July, 1909 200 The Camp on the Glacier 224 The Return of Aveline, Besnard, and Herve 232 The Pourquoi-Pas ? and her Surroundings in October, 1909 236 We Beoln to put the Stores on Board 2 1 1 An Argument ! 24S Out for a Walk 248 hovoard and wandel islands, as seen from petermann 252 An Icebero off Petermann Island 256 On the Edge of the Pack 2Sii The Pourquoi-Pas t Charging a Big Floe 292 vm INTRODUCTION THE distance between Europe and the Antarctic is the principal cause of the apathy so long shown toward exploration in the latter region, while in the direction of the North Pole, on the contrary, explorations grew more and more numerous. Recently, however, the South Pole has emerged from darkness. Voyagers and scientific men during the last two centuries have realized that our knowledge of the natural physical conditions of the globe must necessarily remain incomplete as long as there continues so large an unknown zone as that represented by the great white spot covering the southern extremity of the world, twice as vast as the whole of Europe. The general public, too, has been aroused to a passionate interest in the subject. There is good reason, for there is no other region of which the study is more gratifying to explorers or to the scientific men who give their attention to the observations and collections made by the explorers. Everything there, indeed, is new, much is unexpected, and whoever makes up his mind to go thither is certain of important discoveries to reward his pains. The circumnavigatory voyages and the expeditions of the Englishmen Cook and Eoss, the Russian Bellingshausen, the American Wilkes, the Frenchman Dumont d'Urville, combined with the gallant incursions of the English and American sealers, Biscoe, Morrell, Weddell, Palmer, Pendleton and Balleny, the German Dallmann, and the Norwegians i I INTRODUCTIOI Larsen and Evensen, narrowed very considerably the limits of the great Terra Incognita which is supposed to exist, and already warranted the view that if the Arctic polar cap is composed of a frozen sea bounded by the northern coasts of Europe, Asia, and America, the Antarctic polar cap, on the other hand, is solid land or at least a vast frozen archipelago surrounded by sea. A Belgian officer, Commandant de Gerlache, has the credit of spending the first winter amid the Antarctic ices on board the Belgica in 1897, his achievement being from all points of view a fine and productive piece of work. It had also the merit of exciting public attention, and undoubtedly it is to his example that we owe the very fruitful pilgrimages of the last few years to the Antarctic. In fact, after the wintering of the Anglo-Norwegian Borekegrevinck Expedition on Eoss Land, Europe organized a regular siege of the Ant- arctic. Beginning with 1902, there were to be seen the English captain, Scott (who had just started out again, having Shackle- ton with him as a partner) exploring Ross Sea and Victoria Land and making a magnificent raid across the great ice bar- rier ; the German professor, Van Drygalski, on the Gauss, wintering in the pack-ice in that difficult sector of the Ant- arctic Circle which lies south of Kerguclcn and discovering new lands there ; the Swedish professor STordenskjold, accom- panied by the Norwegian captain Larsen, wintering under dramatic conditions — but conditions very important for science — east of Graham Land, whence the audacious dash of the Argentine captain Irizar brought him home; the Scottish doctor, Bruce, on board the Scotia, discovering Coates Land in Weddell Sea and bringing to a close one of the greatest of surveying campaigns ; and finally, in 1904, the little ship Francais, commanded by me, attempting to verify and continue the discoveries of De Gerlache, while wintering on the west coast of Graham Land. In connexion with this great joint effort one is pleasantly 2 INTEODUCTION struck by the absolute harmony between the heads of the expeditions and the savants who organized them; and also by the genuinely scientific spirit which animated them all. It is to be hoped that in the conquest of the Antarctic such will always be the case, to the great benefit of universal science. I am sure that in our enlightened age there will be thereby no diminution of the slight glory which explorers are able to shed on their own countries. In 1908 Sir Ernest Shackleton accomplished his fine and gallant piece of exploration, too well known to all for it to be necessary to dwell on it here, which brought him within 179 kilometres (112 miles) of the Pole. And we on the Pour- quoi-Pas ? were doing our best — without, however, any desire to challenge comparisons — in the region to the south-west of South America, with results which, thanks to the zeal and energy of my colleagues, the scientific world has been pleased to consider important. The exploration of the Antarctic, therefore, has started and seems as though it will never cease until the conquest, however arduous and long of accomplishment it may still look, is complete. Captain Scott, indeed, has just set out again for the conquest of the South Pole itself, and we hear of great expeditions preparing in Germany and America. Lastly, the Argentine Eepublic, which has for several years kept up a permanent observatory on the South Orkneys, is anxious to establish another on the west coast of Graham Land, at the place where we wintered. The diary of our late expedition forms the subject of my new book ; but I think I ought first of all to explain why I chose as my working-centre this inhospitable region, so unpromising at times and so distant from the actual Pole. James Eoss in 1841, while skirting, in the sector of the Antarctic Circle lying south of Australia, a line of coast trend- ing to the south — called by him Victoria Land — discovered an immense ice-cliff rising absolutely vertical and continuing 3 INTRODUCTION eastward. This has since been known by the name of the Great Barrier. Borchegrevinek in 1900 climbed this cliff and ascertained the existence of an ice-plain stretching as far as the eye could reach. Lastly in 1902 the Discovery Expedition, skirting the Great Barrier, found King Edward VII Land bounding it on the east, and then, during the course of the winter on Victoria Land, crossed the barrier in a magnificent dash as far as 82° 17' South latitude. It was quite natural that Shackleton should return to these same regions, staked out by the explorers of his own country ; and it was equally quite natural that, after he had announced his intention of going there, I should abstain from directing my course thither, in spite of the attractions ; for one can sail as far south as 78° and from that point a vast flat plain seems to extend to the earth's axis. But, of necessity, two expeditions of different nationality, with the best intentions in the world and with the best of hearts, could not have avoided coming into rivalry over the glorious prize of the Furthest South ; and, great sporting interest as this rivalry would have had, it could not but have prejudiced completely the observations and perhaps the ultimate results. I must hasten to add, too, that I have no reason for supposing that we should have rivalled the magnificent results attained by my friend Sir Ernest Shackleton ; and therefore the pecuniary sacrifices which my country made would have been entirely wasted. Besides, the Antarctic is a vast enough field to allow a number of expeditions to work there together with advantage. I resolved to return to the region which I had begun to explore on the Francais in 1903-1905, i.e. that mountainous pro- jection, due south of Cape Horn, which seems as if it had once been a continuation of America and is improperly known under the general name of Graham Land. There I should be able to continue the researches of the Francais (themselves considered so valuable) in all branches of science, and to 4 INTRODUCTION verify, complete, and expand them. To the South Graham Land came to an abrupt end in 67° of latitude. Beyond, Alexander T Land rose amid the ice, scarcely visible and never yet approached. Was it a solitary island or part of a continent ? West of it an unknown zone stretched as far as King Edward VII Land. The Belgica, carried along by the drift, was able to make some interesting soundings in part of this zone, but the work required continuing as far as possible westward, where nothing had been made out except a small island, reported by Bellingshausen but questioned by some geographers. Had we any right to go on calling by the name of the ' Antarctic Continent ' this portion of our globe where the only indications of land to which we could point were two isolated peaks at a distance from one another ? My exact object was to study in detail and from all points of view as wide a stretch as possible of the Antarctic in this sector of the circle, regardless of latitude. I knew that I had chosen the region where ice confronts the navigator as far north as 61°, where innumerable icebergs dot the sea, and where the coast-line is fringed with high mountains, to all appearance insurmountable. I had no hope therefore of approaching the Pole. Nevertheless, lest any one should cry ' Sour grapes ! ' I must hasten to say that if I had had the chance of stumbling on a road by which I could realise the dream of all Polar explorers I should have made for the Pole enthusiastically and shmdd certainly have spared nothing to reach it. I had no means of foreseeing, however, what we might discover, and the unknown nature of my undertaking when I made choice of this sector of the circle rendered the organiza- tion of the expedition all the more difficult, since it was neces- sary to be ready for any emergency, and it w T as impossible, as in the case of an attack on familiar ground, to concentrate one's preparations for a struggle against forces which could not be foreseen. 5 INTEODUCTION I had entertained this project of a new expedition even before the end of my former one, and since my return to France, encouraged by the satisfaction the scientists showed with the results I had achieved, I had been looking for the means of realizing my plan. I submitted my programme to the Academy of Sciences, which appointed a committee to consider it and after a favourable examination decided to give its gracious patronage to this new expedition, issuing detailed instructions as to the work which it would like us to undertake. The Museum and the Oceanographical Institute similarly consented to be patrons. With such backers, success was surely inevitable. Still it took me many long months before I could discern the possibility of raising the necessary funds, though I had no lack either of sympathy or of encouragement. The Paris Press never ceased to raise its powerful voice, in my behalf, while devoted friends like MM. Joubin and Eabot, and my own family, too — in spite of the prospect of a long and painful separation — never let me be discouraged. At last my efforts had a result. I was lucky enough to interest in my work MM. Berteanx, Doumer, and Etienne, who were joined first by MM. J. Dnpuy and E. Poincare, and tljen by M. Briand, Minister of Public Instruction and M. G. Thomson, Minister pf Mai inc. Soon, after a favour- able report had been issued by the Committee on Exploration, I was assured thai a handsome grant-in-aid would lie included in the Budget for presentation to the Chambers. On the proposal of M. Doumer, indeed, the Chambers agreed to a vote of 600,000 francs in the Budget of the Ministry of Public Instruction. 1 This proof of confidence on (he part of the French Governmenl and the patronage of our great learned societies were !<> me the finest recompense for the 1 W'lul.' the expedition was a1 work in the Antarctic, M. Doumer twice persuaded the Chambers to vote a sum of 50,000 franca, which brought the (ioviTiiini'iil rrunt u|. to 700,01)0 franca. South Polar Chart. Showing routes of the Charcot (1908-10) and Shackleton (1908-9) Expeditions. INTRODUCTION efforts which I had made. To this sum were added later 100,000 francs subscribed by generous donors, including a- sum of 10,000 francs from the Geographical Society of Paris and grants from the Museum, the Paris Municipal Council, and the Chambers of Commerce of the big French towns. The Ministry of Marine put at the disposal of the Expe- dition three naval oilicers and promised me 250 tons of coal, the dredging outfit which had already been used on the Fran- ?ais, and all the necessary instruments, maps, and documents which could be provided by the Surveying Department and the arsenals. The, Prince of Monaco, whose own labours and great generosity have given such an impulse to surveying work, offered the Expedition a complete oceanographical outfit. The Museum, the Bureau des Longitudes, the Montsouris Observatory and private observatories, the Meteorological Department, the Agronomic Institute, the Pasteur Institute, and several celebrities in the world of science enriched with loans and gifts our scientific arsenal, already increased by purchases from the funds of the Expedition, until it became one of the richest and completest ever carried by a polar expedition. 1 Large as was our banking-account in the end — 800,000 francs — most South Polar expeditions sent out by other coun- tries have had at their disposal much larger sums, and it is not one of the least of my grounds for pride that we succeeded in organizing ours in so perfect a way at so small an expense, especially when one considers that the ship (which alone cost 400,000 francs) was brought back with the greater part of the equipment in good condition. Account must be taken of the outlay necessary on the wages of the crew for iwo years, the costly scientific instruments of which I have just 1 When we reached Buenos Aires the Meteorological Department of the Argentine Republic, under the direction of Mr. Davis, lent us still more instru- ments. INTEODUCTION spoken, the food for thirty men for three years, and all the stores required. If I was able to attain so good a result, my thanks are due for the generous interest shown by indi- viduals, including perfect strangers, by the governments of Brazil, the Argentine Eepublic, and Chili, and also by the great majority of our own purveying firms. As soon as the scientific staff was definitely constituted, my future colleagues had several months in which to perfect themselves in the duties they would be called upon to perform, while availing themselves of the bounteous hospitality offered them on the yachts of the Prince of Monaco, at the Montsouris and Paris Observatories, at the Meteorological Department, and in the Museum laboratories. May I be allowed to make special mention here of the excellent relations which have always existed between other Antarctic explorers and myself ? Seeking to gain every advantage, I have frequently addressed myself to MM. de Gerlache, Bruce, Scott, Shaekleton, Otto Nordenskjold, and Van Drygalski, and all of them have been kind enough to pour out for my benefit their precious stores of experience. The ship was not only the most important factor in the Expedition, but also that which demanded attention from the very first. My earliest idea was to try to buy back my old vessel the Franfais, and I caused negotiations to be opened with the Argentine Eepublic for this purpose. But I learnt that this excellent little ship, renamed the Austral, was to be used for the revictualling of the station on the South Orkneys and in the establishment of a new observatory on Wandel Island. 1 Next, with the aid of my friend M. Charles Boyn, ex-Naval Paymaster and now Director of the Agence Generate Maritime, we tried to purchase a whaler, either in 1 In December, 1007, while leaving Buonos Aires on this double duty the Austral was wrecked on a shoal in the Rio do da Plata, going down with all the instruments she had on board, while tho crew were saved by the French liner Magellan. 8 INTRODUCTION Scotland or in Norway ; but our search was in vain, for all the vessels offered to us were of ancient build and required considerable alterations. Moreover, our programme involved wintering on board, which made necessary the fitting-up of -pecial accommodation ; and all these alterations and im- provements would in the end have brought the price up nearly as high as that of a new boat. After collecting the needful information in the countries which have concerned themselves most about polar explo- ration and from the mouths of competent men, we decided with M. Boyn to submit our list of requirements to ' Pere ' Gautier, the clever St. Malo shipbuilder, who had been so successful in the matter of the FranQais. My demands were considerable, and all the more difficult to fulfil because of the limitation of my pecuniary means. I wanted, in fact, a very good weather-boat for the navigation of the Antarctic seas, at the same time one powerful enough to resist shock against ice and the grinding which it might have to undergo, fitted with holds capable of taking 250 tons of coal and about 100 tons of food and stores, with comfortable accommodation for the crew of twenty-two and the eight members of the si aft', and finally with laboratories. Pere Gautier, with an eye only to the building of a fine boat and the solving of a difficult problem, undertook the job with enthusiasm and presented us with an extremely modest estimate. So the construction of the Povrquoi-Pas f, under the superintendence of M. Boyn, was entrusted to Gautier and Son of St. Malo, and the result proves once more the skill, conscientiousness, and disinterested character of the doyen of French shipbuilders. The engine had to be strong, powerful, and economical. We chose a compound engine, of 450 horse-power built by the firm of Labrosse and Fouche" of Nantes, under the superin- tendence of M. Laubeuf, their head marine engineer. The Pourquoi-Pas ?, commenced in September, 1907, 9 INTRODUCTION was launched on May 18, 1908. The robustness of her con- struction and the care devoted thereto, the simultaneous power and elegance of her lines, were the admiration of all discriminating eyes. Admiral Nevy represented the Ministry of Marine at the launch, M. Eabot the Ministry of Public Instruction. My wife as godmother of the vessel, supported by M. Doumer as godfather, broke the customary bottle of Mumm on the stern — and as she broke it at the first attempt a prosperous career was assured in advance for the Pourquoi- Pas? A few weeks later, when the engine was in its place and the rigging was completed, Monseigneur Eiou came to Saint- Malo to baptize the Pourquoi-Pas ? as he had formerly baptized the Franqais. The dimensions of this ship, which obtained the highest character at the Bureau Veritas, l were : — Length at water lino ..... 40 metres Beam . . . . . . . . 9- 20 metres Depth of keel . . . . . . 5" 10 metres Load water-draught . . . . . 4' 30 metres Her rigging was that of a three-masted barque, and her masts, sturdy but short, had been selected at heavy expense among the finest specimens in Brest Arsenal. In the case of the wooden scantlings as of the anchors and chains, every- thing was made about three times as strong as on an ordinary ship of the same tonnage. The powerful ribs were brought very close together, and at the bow as also in the bilge the spaces between the timbers were tilled in with chocks of wood. Two very thick plankings covered the ribs, being themselves protected against the wear and tear of the ice by an exterior sheathing. An interior planking, caulked and coal-tarred, made a kind of extra hull inside. The whole vessel, except that the bilge was of elm, was built of the best oak. On every side she was strengthened by special services. 1 The French ' Lloyd's '—Trant. 10 The Pourquoi-Pas ?'s Rig. The Plan "f the Pourquoi-Pas ? Sections of the Puurquoi-Pas r (to left) and of an Ordinary Boat of the same Tonnage (to right). INTRODUCTION Her bow, which would be called upon to withstand the severest shocks, had been particularly looked after. This was very compactly built and furnished inside with powerful belts, outside with armour-plates and thick galvanized iron sheeting, while its lines were rounded to enable it to ride up over the ice and break it by the weight of the vessel. Thus the Pourquoi-Pas ? was a superb piece of work, of remarkable sturdiness — through which quality alone, as will be seen, she was enabled to escape from the rude ordeal through which she went. The same care and solidity were shown in erecting the engine as in constructing the hull, and spare parts and repairing- tools were provided in sufficient quantity to allow all the necessary repairs to be executed on board. A steam windlass was furnished by the firm of Libaudiere and Mafra of Nantes, which served equally for working the anchor-chains and cables, the dredge-nets and the various fishing-tackle. The accommodation on board had to meet the necessities of our work and our life in winter-quarters, while providing the maximum of comfort. I believe I may say that the arrangements made gave generally excellent results. Fore- ward, under the deck, were the very spacious quarters for the crew, with eighteen berths, lockers, tables, etc., the height of which between decks was two metres, the same as in all the living-rooms. Behind this and communicating with it was a small ward-room for the subordinate officers, out of which opened the cabins of the skipper and chief engineer and the two-berthed cabin of the quartermaster and second engineer. In order to give as much space as possible for the stores I had the deck raised over the central portion of the vessel, thus making a poop-deck, on which were placed the quarters of the staff. Out of the big central ward-room opened six cabins, each two metres square, and two others slightly larger. Of these last two, the starboard one was occupied ii INTEODUCTIO^ by the second officer, while the port cabin, used by my wife as far as Punta Arenas, communicated with mine ; and in the Antarctic it served at once as bacteriological laboratory, infirmary, and lumber-room. My own cabin opened into the fore passage which gave entrance, also to a large photo- graphic laboratory, a bath-room, etc. Below two small ladders, of four steps each, led from the ward-room into the zoological laboratory aft on the starboard side, and on the port side into a passage leading to the after deck, where were the physical science and hydrographic laboratories. These two laboratories were built in the form of a rooting over the deck. By this arrangement it was possible to warm all our apartments with a single stove in the ward-room, which when lighted kept up a constant temperature of from 12 to 14°. Boofed over on the fore-deck were the cook's galley and offices and a passage which opened to starboard onto a ladder- way used in bad weather at sea. This communicated with the poop-deck on the port side by a door easy to block Tip, only used during our winter-quarters, when the ship had her tarpaulin over her. The accommodation for the staff communicated with the open air both under this fore-rooling and aft. The illumination was provided by a large sky- light and by a scuttle in each cabin. Abaft of the engine was a store-room lined with lead, intended for our supplies of spirit, and two sail-stores. On the deck right aft there were kept under cover various appliances, including in particular the .surveying apparatus. The quarters of the crew and of the staff alike, as well as the cook's galley and the laboratories, had a lining of fell two centimetres thick inside the planking. This felt is indis- pensable to prevent ice forming inside — which would inevitably have occurred without it, however thick the partitions. For the same reason every scrap of metal communicating with the outer air was covered with cork. The coal-bunkers were three in number, one on either 12 INTRODUCTION side of the boiler, and a large central one foreword of the boiler. They held 250 tons of closely stowed coal-briquettes. The large provision-store had no opening except a hatch in the ward-room, so that nothing could be taken out except under our eyes. Beneath the cabin for the crew were the water-casks, holding 18 tons, and a fairly large hold for the general stores. I provided each member of the staff with his cabin-furni- ture, of which the principal items were a folding-bed, a bureau, and a washstand. Every one could arrange these as he pleased, being at liberty also to have made for him all the cupboards and shelves he might consider necessary. Wherever it was possible I had fitted up cupboards and lockers in the ward-room and the alley-ways. In addition to two book-cases in the ward-room a shelf ran round all the cabins, whereon we found room for nearly 3,000 books. The laboratories were arranged according to the suggestions of those who were to work in them. Forward of the poop was the steering-department, containing one of the two steering-wheels, the chart-table, and the usual navigating instruments. Lastly, at the top of the mainmast was the distinguishing feature of all polar vessels, the ' crow's-nest ' which is so indispensable for a voyage amid ice. This was reached by a rope-ladder starting from the top-mast cross-trees. Usually the voice is sufficient to convey orders on deck, but to make assurance doubly sure we had installed a ' Le Las ' loud-speaking telephone, which was kindly offered to us by its inventor and which did its work admirably during the whole of the trip. The Pourquoi-Pas ? was the possessor even of a work of art. Father de Guibriant, one of our brave missionaries in China, to whom I had once done a service without knowing it. insisted on offering to our ship the French naval emblem, a magnificent piece of silver and copper work, designed by Connte de Chabannes La Palice and executed by R. Linzeler. 13 INTRODUCTION It is worth while to direct particular attention to the lighting arrangements for an expedition called upon to spend several months in the midst of almost total night. I had placed in profusion everywhere, and in particular in each cabin, excellent little slow-burning petroleum-lamps. On the advice of the Marquis De Dion, moreover, I had installed De Dion-Bouton electric lamps, supplied by an eight h.p. motor and accumulators by the same firm. To shelter these from frost they were placed under the fore roofing, against the partition of the various offices heated by the cook's galley. At the outset I decided that our electric lighting must be considered a luxury, only to be used twice a week and on exceptional occasions. As a matter of fact, under the able superintendence of Bongrain, seconded by the ex-torpedo artificer Lerebourg and the motor-engineer Frachat, this installation, hitherto unknown on Polar expeditions, worked constantly for two years, practically without a moment's stop, thus showing the excellence of the motor and the accumu- lators. I cannot too much insist on the invaluable assistance that it was to us. In the Polar regions, where for most of the time fresh water can only be obtained by melting down snow or ice, it is necessary to devise practical means of providing it. To this end, I had set up in communication with the kitchen- furnace a great water-butt with a capacity of 250 litres, into which, through a hole pierced in the roof could be thrown lumps of ice as required. Thanks to this plan, wc had, without any expense or trouble, as big a water-supply as we needed. As long as the engine-boiler was alight, moreover, a pipe running from il enabled us to melt the ice in the butt rapidly, to feed the water-casks and the boiler itself. We took a good number of boats, for my previous experience had taught me that, in addition to those requisite for the service of I he ship, it might be useful to have others not only to facilitate the various tasks in which we were all engaged, 14 INTRODUCTION but also for transport over the ice and even for establishing rescue and revictualling-posts. We had a big canoe, a dinghy, two stout whale-boats such as the Norwegian sealers carry (of which one had been on board the Francais on the former expedition), two small Norwegian boats known by the name of ' prams,' four dories — those flat light vessels used by fishermen on the Newfoundland banks, fitting one into another — two ' Berthon ' boats, and a little folding affair of the 1 Williamson ' type. Lastly ' Pere ' Gautier built for us a strong picket-boat, specially adapted for work amid ice, with a rounded prow protected by iron plates. This excellent sea- boat was fitted with an eight h.p. De Dion-Bouton motor, which did its duty admirably, in spite of its long and very arduous service and was of great use to the expedition. In addition to the ordinary instruments and equipment for every long-distance voyage, we took ten ice-saws and the same number of chisels, a dozen small and large ice- anchors and a stock of stakes, ice-hooks, shovels, pickaxes, crowbars, and spades. The excellent Lucas apparatus, which takes up so Little space and yet allows soundings to be taken to the depth of 6,000 metres, was set up on the quarter-deck and was worked at the start by a dynamo, which was afterwards advantage- ously replaced by a small steam-engine. Foreward, on the starboard side, was the steam-bobbin for the steel-wire cable of the dredger, which could be lowered to a depth of 4,000 metres. I had taken the greatest care in my preparation for our excursions, and making the Discovery expedition my model had arranged everything as if for independent groups of three persons each. I had six tents made, each holding three persons, six Nansen kitchens sbghtly modified by myself, six mess-services, etc., all for three, while the provisions for the excursions of which I shall have occasion to speak later were also divided into portions for three, in such a way that 15 INTRODUCTION it would only be necessary to empty each into the cooking- pot, thus avoiding labour which would have been painful in a low temperature and after tiring journeys. The ship's wardrobe was abundant, being chiefly composed of woollen clothes of all kinds and knitted things, while stockings and mittens were to be counted by the hundred. We pro- vided ourselves with lengths of cloth and a sewing-machine. MM. Linzeler, Vimout, and Denian had sent considerable presents to swell the stock on board. In case of our unex- pectedly being obliged to winter away from the shelter of our ship, I thought it best to bring reindeer-hide suits and a bed-sack of the same material for every man. We were not called upon to make use of these furs, except the bed-sacks which are so necessary on excursions. Generally speaking, we were comparatively lightly clad, but one indispensable article of clothing was the ' anorak,' a kind of overcoat of pliable but close-fitting canvas, with a hood to it, which went over the ordinary clothes and counteracted the cold admirably by keeping out draughts. For ordinary work a stout mackintosh was sufficient ; but on excursions the material known as ' Burberry ' is certainly all that one can desire for lightness and absolute imperviousness to wind and snow. My previous experience had caused me to give very serious attention to the all-important question of foot-wear, and we took with us a large and varied stock of ordinary boots, of boots of leather with wooden soles (of which a friend, M. Perchot, gave 70 pairs), of sabots lifted with leggings of tarred canvas such as the Icelandic fishermen wear, of strong moun- taineering boots, of socks like those of our Mountain Infantry, made for us by one of the regimental tailors, and of /inskoex and homagers from Norway. These last-named, a sort of mocassin of reindeer-hide, well tested on recent expeditions, arc the only kind of fool -wear of use on journeys in extreme cold when one is at a distance from the ship. Their drawback 16 INTRODUCTION is that they get very slippery on hard ice, thus making them really dangerous on glaciers. To remedy this I had made, after the model of those recommended by Captain Scott, a kind of canvas sandal fitted with strong frost-nails, which WB could put over them — a very practical invention. To protect the eyes against snow-ophthalmia I had made some yellow-glassed goggles and masks with cross-shaped slits in them. It will be seen from the story of the Expedition that, thanks to these precautions, we had not a single case of this ophthalmia. We took a dozen sledges of the type universally adopted on Polar expeditions, several pairs of skis for each man (not only for use on journeys but also for amusement), as well as some toboggans, snow-shoes, and the usual equipments for mountaineering and other excursions, ropes, axes, knapsacks, lanterns, etc. And I must not forget the ' Thermos ' bottles, which are of the greatest assistance in these latitudes, where one suffers almost as much from thirst as in warm countries and where flasks cannot be used. With regard to all the material coming from Norway, whether clothing and furs or such Polar apparatus as skis, sledges, etc., Mr. Crichton Somerville, a resident in Chris- tiania, was kind enough to devote his care and ability to choosing it or having it made. The possibility of coming across an ice-plain, such as that which constitutes the Eoss Barrier, directed my notice to the advantage of taking some motor-sledges. The Marquis De Dion and M. Bouton, with their usual generosity and their enthusiasm for any new idea, proposed to present the Expedi- tion with the desired vehicles. Captain Scott was interested in the same matter. We decided to make our experiments together, and I shall always remember the pleasant and profitable time which I spent with him and his assistants, Missis. Skelton and Barnes. The trial took place in mid- winter at Lautaret. We had the assistance of Lieutenant 2 17 INTBODUCTION de La Besse, who had long given attention to motor-sledges. General Picquart, Minister of War, put at our disposal during the eight days of the trial ten men from our Alpine garrisons. The results seemed most encouraging. M. Coursier, engineer at the De Dion-Bouton works, who was present, set to work vigorously and thanks to him we were ahle to take three motor-sledges, on which we built great hopes. Unluckily we never came across, in the region we visited, any surface on which we could use them. MM. de Dion, Bouton, and Coursier must set against this failure the services to the Expedition of the picket-boat and the electric installation. We carried nearly three years' stock of provisions, and in my selection of these I applied to the leading firms of France, England, Germany, Norway, and America. Owing to the progress of the preserved foods industry, the only real diffi- culty in provisioning an expedition like ours lies in the necessity of choosing with due regard to variety and space alike. A catalogue of what we placed in our store-rooms would occupy several pages, and I shall simply say that we had almost everything that it was possible to take and that the choice was made with the most scrupulous care, limiting ourselves to the first quality always. The food-products and preserves which can be taken on journeys are nowadays generally familiar, and a description of them would be tedious. I must, however, remark on the convenience and excellent manufacture of all sorts of compressed foods, soup, milk, meats, etc. The same is true of dried vegetables, some of which give remarkable results, especially cabbages and potatoes. In the course of the narrative, however, it will often be neces- sary to refer to the question of food. Generally we may divide provisions into four classes : those for daily use, those for excursions, those kept for storage-dcp6ts or for emergencies, and, lastly, luxuries. T shall have occasion later to speak of the provisions for excursions. As for what is placed in the storage-depots, 18 INTRODUCTION handy tins of biscuits form the bulk of those ; for in the Ant- arctic one may always expect to find penguins or seals, which supply excellent fresh meat, as well as fat at need for fuel. It is not too much to say that with biscuits, a knife to kill and cut up animals, and matches to kindle the fat, one can live, at least in most parts of the Antarctic. Numerous agreeable gifts were made to swell the stores of the Expedition not only in France, but also abroad — at Bio Janeiro, Buenos Aires, and Punta Arenas. At all places of call, both going and returning, nothing but fresh food was eaten. In the long run one grows tired of even the best of pre- served stuff, especially meats, and it is very probable that the majority of the meals composed exclusively of these, left but an indifferent memory in the minds of the members of the Expedition. Nevertheless, I believe I may say that no expedition was ever better provisioned than ours, as regards both quality and quantity, and that we never ran short of anything on board. So well stocked with wine was the steward's room that during the whole duration of the voyage the crew were able to have their daily ration and often double. In the ward-room wine was served at discretion to those who drank it and of such good kind that for several weeks I amused myself by having it brought on in bottles with fine green seals, to pre- tend it was of special quaUty. But this innocent joke was needless ; for our cellar, thanks to generous givers, was furnished with the best brands, and those who had thus thought of our well-being would have been rewarded could they have seen the pleasure with which we uncorked the noble vintages. The question of the consumption of alcohol on expeditions has been often discussed and settled in various ways. Per- sonally I consider it neither more nor less dangerous on a Polar expedition than elsewhere, provided that moderation 19 INTRODUCTION is observed. I even think that rum in certain cases is one of the most useful of medicines ; but from the start I have made a point of waging unrelenting war against the aperitif, the great curse of France. We kept on board an ample stock of antiscorbutics, such as sauerkraut, tomatoes and lime-juice. These combined with vegetables and fruit, either dried or in jam, etc., were evidently more than sufficient to save us from the scurvy that attacked the expeditions of old ; but it will be seen that these ordinary precautions were useless against what one may call modern scurvy — or, more strictly speaking, preserved- food sickness. Almost as important as the question of the choice of eatables is that of the cases in which they are put up, the good construction of which insures their keeping. I laid down certain requirements in this respect, which unfortunately were not always scrupulously carried out by our French firms. The loss is their own, for if later expeditions discover our store-depots they will be able to form their judgments on the more or less good state of preservation of the different brands. I desired first of all that everything should be put up in cases easy to handle, of a weight not exceeding 30 kilos, but with many of the goods the need of taking a large quantity and the comparatively small space at our disposal, compelled us to stow them away without their superfluous coverings. These were kept, however, on the storage-dep&t provisions. An expedition fortunate enough to have abundant funds would do very well to have its stores put up in ' Venesta ' cases, which are at once strong, water-tight, and light. Matches — on the usefulness of which I need not insist — were packed in little zinc boxes handy to open and easy to carry on sledges and even in knapsacks. I pass over in silence the necessities of ordinary life, the thousand little trifles which were nevertheless indispensable for the. repair and upkeep of our varied stock or for what we 20 INTRODUCTION had to make for ourselves, our drugs and our surgical instru- ments. It turned out that very little had been forgotten, for we never had to want for anything essential. Coal was of course the sinews of the Expedition. The Minister of Marine gave us at the start 250 tons in briquettes. At Madeira Mr. Gordon-Bennett with his habitual generosity telegraphed spontaneoxisly to his representatives to fill our bunkers at his expense. The Brazilian Government gave us 100 tons when we reached Eio, and on our return filled our bunkers both at Rio and Pernambuco ; and finally on our way back the Chilian Government gave us 70 tons. I had myself sent to Punta Arenas 300 tons of briquettes presented by French mining companies. This important stock the Chilian Government, with great kindness, deposited in its own hulks until our arrival, assisting us then to put on board what we wanted and keeping the remainder until our return. We were thus able to set out with our bunkers absolutely full of coal of the best quality. It will be seen that in the Ant- arctic we had the opportunity of replenishing them again. Our numerous spirit-motors necessitated us having on board eleven tons of what is esteemed a most dangerous cargo. We had made for this a lead-lined hold aft, in which the 18-litre cans of Motricine were carefully stored, enclosed two and two in wooden cases. A hand-ventilator supplied air to the bottom of this hold to drive out the dangerous vapours, which are heavier than air. At every change of the watch this ventilator was set working, and thus we managed to carry this risky cargo without any mishap. As far as the choice of the staff of the Pourquoi-Pas f is concerned, I can only repeat what I said in the case of our former expedition. It is extremely easy in France to find fellow-scientists ready to give up their time, and even to expose their lives, without the slightest hope of recompense. Several of ray comrades on the Franfais wished to join this expedition too. One of my fondest hopes would thus have 21 INTEODUCTION been realized. But Lieutenant Matha, after his long leave of absence, had to make some return for the well-merited confidence placed in him by our naval authorities ; and Engineer P. Pleueau had his duties toward the commercial company which had wisely selected him for a difficult enter- prise in Siberia and Mongolia. My very friendship for them both obliged me to advise them to renounce this time all ideas of accompanying me. But I was glad to see at my side again my devoted friend and valued collaborator from the first, E. Gourdon. The staff, as finally constituted, consisted of three naval officers, a geologist, two naturalists, a doctor, and myself. The various departments under our programme were assigned as follows : — H. Bongrain, sub-lieutenant. Second officer. (Astrono- mical observations, hydrography, seismography, terrestrial gravitation) ; J. Bouch, sub-lieutenant. (Meteorology, atmospheric electricity, physical oceanography) ; E. Godfroy, sub-lieutenant. (Study of tides, atmospheric chemistry) ; E. Gourdon, D.Sc. (Geology and glaciology) ; J. Liouville, M.D. (Assistant doctor to the Expedition, zoology) ; L. Gain, B.Sc. (Zoology and botany) ; A. Scnouque. (Magnetism, actinometry, scientific photo- graphy) ; J.-B. Charcot, head of the Expedition, commander of the Pourquoi-Pas f (Bacteriology). Apart from their special departments, the naval officers assisted me in the navigation and other duties on hoard. I am happy to be able, to say that it was thanks to the. enthusiasm, energy, and attainments of my colleagues that (he Expedition was a success, and my gratitude Inward them i- all Hie wanner since they enable me, without laying myself 22 INTRODUCTION open to a charge of personal vanity, to assert that we succeeded. I had the same ease in getting together the crew and had to make choice from among 250 applications. Almost all the old crew of the Fran^ais rejoined me on the Pourquoi- Pas ? thus giving me a nucleus of seasoned and devoted men. Chollet had been my navigator for 24 years, Guegen had been on four expeditions with me, Jabet and Libois on three. The new-comers, animated by an excellent spirit, and sailors in the best sense of the term, were spurred on by the example of the veterans to display the same qualities as they. The crew consisted of — Rosselin, F., chief engineer. *Poste, second engineer. *Guegen, F., stoker. Monzimet, stoker. *('liollet, E., skipper. * Jabet, boatswain. *Besnard, assistant boat- swain. *(lnegen, J., sailor. Herv6, ,, Thomas, ,, Dufreche, „ Lerebourgh, „ Aveline, ,, Dennis, ,, Xozal, „ Boland, „ It would be difficult to discover a better crew than ours, more energetic, devoted, courageous, patient, and intelligent. All asked but to be allowed to do their best and always went about their work cheerfully and enthusiastically. There was no punishment-book on board, and the need of one was never felt. 1 The names preceded by an asterisk are those of the men who took part in the Fraii^ais Expedition. Boland and Nozal, who signed on as sailors, were mercantile marine cadets. By the terms of their agreements they were treated on board like the other sailors and worked like them, but their very superior training made thorn most valuable assistants to MM. Bongrain and Roach, and I thought it riu'lit tu promote them later to the rank of lieutenant. 23 Lhostis, stoker. * Libois, stoker and carpenter. Frachat, motor engineer. Modaine, cook. *Paumelle, mess steward. Van Acken, second steward (a Belgian taken on board at Punta Arenas, where he was living). 1 INTEODUCTIOX As soon as the Pourquoi-Pas f was launched, staff and crew set to work on the final preparations and the embarka- tion and stowage of food and material. In order not to lose time, the stowage was begun at Saint-Malo, while the engine was being put on board and the rigging finished, and was completed at Havre. 24 i hi Staff beiore Our Departure. Bongrain. Linuville. Gain. Gourdon. Roucli. Charcot. Senouque. Godfroy. eparture from Havre. August 15. 1908. FROM HAVRE TO PUNTA ARENAS Firmly convinced of our sincerity of purpose, the town of Havre showed its goodwill toward us in a touching manner on August 15, 1908. It was in the midst of a sympathetic crowd, collected from far and wide to prove that France is never indifferent to the labours of her sons, that our friends and relations wished us a good journey and all success, while the strains of the ' Marseillaise ' answered the parting salute of the Pourquoi-Pas t The same day we reached Cherbourg, where the Super- intendent of the Dockyard, Admiral Bellue, gave us a warm welcome. His anxiety to aid us in putting on board the coal and material given to lis by the Minister of Marine proved once more the interest taken in our work by the naval authorities. Owing to continued bad weather we were forced to stop at Cherbourg until August 31. Impatient to begin our \ "\age, we weighed anchor on the first break in the weather, but off the Casquets we were assailed by one of the worst storms of the year, which caused many disasters at sea. The Pourquoi-Pas ? early gave proof of those excellent qualities which stood us in such good stead later ; but after battling for twenty-four hours we put into Guernsey to save useless consumption of coal and avoid the necessity of turning back. We left Guernsey again on September 5, to reach Madeira Eoads on the 12th. Three days later we set off once more, and on the 22nd we made a twenty-four hours' call at Porto Grande, Saint Vincent. On October 12 we were at Eio Janeiro, where an un- 25 FEOM HAY BE TO PUNTA ABEKAS expected reception awaited us from the people and Govern- ment of Brazil and the French colony, headed by our vice- consul, M. Charlat. Baron Bio Branco, Minister of Foreign Affairs, received the whole Expedition at the Itamaraty Palace, and the Minister of Marine, Admiral Alexandrino de Aleucar, did us the great honour of coming on board the Pourquoi-Pas f The entire contents of the arsenal were put at our disposal so generously that, for fear of appearing indis- creet, we dared not express a desire ! Presents and kindnesses were showered on us from all sides by individuals, in addition to the gifts from the Government, while the wife of Captain Barros Cobra (one of the most devoted friends of the Expedi- tion all through) honoured us by sending a special silk flag for the Pourquoi-Pas ? embroidered by her own hands. On the 20th we left the magnificent and flourishing country of Brazil for Buenos Aires. The relations I had kept up with the Argentine Republic since the never-to-be-forgotten recep- tion of the Frangais Expedition, on both the outward and the home voyages, led me to believe that we should be wel- comed ; but Argentina was determined to show that she can always do still better. On the motion of Dr. Pinero, the Chambers decided to vote unlimited credit to meet the needs, whatever they might be, of the Expedition. The Pourquoi- Pas ? went into dry dock to undergo all the improvements possible. With splendid generosity all materials were pro- vided that she could want. I had the honour of being pre- sented to the President of the Republic by our Minister, M. Thi6bault, and the French residents vied with 1 he Argentine people in making our stay at once profitable and pleasant. I met once more my warm and sincere friends, Dr. Fernando Perez and his brother Manuel, Professor Lignieres, Colonel Nunez, Dr. Pinero, Admirals Garcia and Barilari, Chief Engineer Sumblad Rosetti, MM. Lainez, Py, Thays, Davis, and Lahille, Father Sola and many others whose friendship had only been increased by lapse of time. 26 FROM HAVRE TO PUNTA ARENAS On November 23 we left Buenos Aires, and on December 1 we anchored in the roadstead of Punta Arenas. This was our last place of call in the civilized world, but not the place which showed us the least sympathy. The Chilian Govern- ment had put at our disposal all the resources of the town, and the French representative at Santiago, M. Desprez, demonstrated to us by his kindly messages, both as we went and as we came back, that France was watching over us at this distant stage on the way to the lands where we were about to hide ourselves so many long months. The little French colony and the inhabitants of the town feasted us and made much of us, and I hope to be able to show in the following narrative all the good which the Expedition derived from its stay here, and how grateful is the friendship which must bind me henceforward to those of its inhabitants whose names I shall have occasion to mention. At Punta Arenas my wife, who had bravely accompanied me so far, left me, to return and watch over our home during my absence. This expected and inevitable separation was, nevertheless, a wrench which only our high ideal of duty enabled us to bear with. Certain people may have smiled over the presence of a woman on board during the first part of the journey, and even have found in it an excusefor be- littling the grave and serious side of our work. But others — happily the majority — only saw in it a touching proof of love, courage, and interest in the object which I had in view ; it is the opinion of these latter for which I care. My own thought was to labour for my country and for the honour of a name made illustrious by my father and rendered still more, dear to me by her who, in adopting it as her own, was willing to aid me in sharing its responsibility. 27 THE DIARY OF THE EXPEDITION PART I THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 r\ECEMBER 16, 1908.— In fine calm weather we weigh anchor from Punta Arenas at 9 p.m. M. Blanchard, the kindly French consul, coming on board on his launch Laurita at 8.30, brought with him the Governor, M. Chaigneau ; M. Henkes, one of the Norwegian directors of the Magellan Whaling Company ; M. Grossi, an Italian merchant ; and our fellow-countrymen, MM. Poivre, Beaulier, Detaille and Rocca. We drank a glass of champagne, and shook with emotion the hands of all these kind-hearted people, now become our friends, and then away we went ! The Laurita saluted us with three blasts of her whistle, while her passengers cheered and shouted ' Vive la France ! ' The crew of the Chilian Government hulk did the same, and at the very end of the roadstead the look-out man standing all alone on a big steamer gave us a loud Godspeed. December 17. — The night has been calm and clear, but by morning the mountain-tops are wrapped in clouds, and there is a slight southerly breeze, which, however, does not prevent us from making rapid progress. We leave Magellan Straits for Magdalena Sound and Cockburn Channel, and about 1 in the afternoon we are among the Furies Reefs ; but there is a heavy sea and a strong west wind, and the baro- meter is falling. We run the risk by taking this course of 29 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' losing the hours which we hoped to gain, and worse, if we are caught by a gale forcing us to lie to or run for shelter — especi- ally as our boat is heavy laden and the deck is piled with coal-briquettes, which block the scuppers. We do not hesi- tate, therefore, to go about and make for Murray Channel, and we thread the Brecknock. Thanks to a very good Chilian map, at 8 p.m. we are able to anchor in the picturesque and well-sheltered little bay of Port Edwards, at the entrance of Whaleboat Sound. December 18. — At 7 a.m. we are under way, and in spite of fog and rain we easily make Beagle Channel. The weather remains heavy all the morning and it pours with rain, but in the afternoon it clears up finely at times, allowing us to admire the wonderful scenery through which we are passing. The wind blows very strong from the south-west. We pass a small Chilian steamer from Punta Arenas, exchanging salutes, and at 9 p.m. we anchor in Lapataia Bay. The gusts are very strong, but our anchor holds firm. December 19. — At 3 a.m. we are again on our way. It would have been tempting to touch at Ushuaia, whose houses we could make out and where we were sure to meet again our friends of 1904, with a hearty welcome in store for us. But every stoppage is time lost, and we have to take advantage of the fine season. The gusts are still strong, but soon calm sets in, with very clear weather and an absolutely cloudless sky. A strong current carries us rapidly along through the narrow, picturesque Murray Channel, and soon we make out Orange Bay, the quarters of the Arromanche Mission, where we ourselves stayed with the Francais in 1904. At midday we are abreast of False Cape Horn, and the swell from the south-west becomes very rough. It increases when at 2 p.m. we pass the real Cape Horn, which in this magnificent summer season has a smiling aspect. There is not a breath of air, and, deprived of the assistance of her sails, our vessel, being overladen above, has a rough shaking. In the evening 30 THE SUMMEE OF 1908-1909 we pass astern of a big three-masted barque going east, with which we exchange signals. By chance it is a French ship, the Michelet of Nantes, which signals to us ' Bon voyage.'' At 10 we see on the horizon another three-master going east. December 20. — Since midnight the wind has been blowing very strong from the north-east, with a storm of snow, the Antarctic's welcome to us. The choppy sea becomes very rough and catches us broadside on. We set our fore top- mast staysail and the two lower topsails, but we are ship- ping water to an extent dangerous for the engines. So at 8 a.m. we let her bear away 25° when all goes well, except for those — and there are many on board — who pay their tribute to sea-sickness. The sea washes in an unpleasant way over the deck and into the ward-room and the cabins. Next morning the wind falls and it becomes clear and cold, with the thermometer at zero. The evening is calm, but with a very great swell. We brail up generally and head for Smith Island, formerly known to the American sealers as Mount Pisgah Island, but nowadays better called after the man who in 1819 discovered the South Shetlands. December 22. — At 7 a.m. a cape, which must be part of Smith Island, reveals itself through the mist, and as the weather clears up completely the whole of the imposing snow-covered island appears at a distance of 30 miles. We take Boyd Strait, where we meet our first iceberg, floating in complete isolation, and go a little out of our way so as to skirt it, for the edification of the crew and such of our colleagues to whom the spectacle is new. The sw T ell has ceased, the weather is remarkably clear, and we can distinguish the greater part of the South Shetlands archipelago. Two soundings are taken in Boyd Strait, one giving 2,800 metres, the other 690. We stand in for Deception Island, and as the narrow entrance of its central haven opens before us we see two littlo whaleboat8, one of which is returning with a whale in tow. The other heads for us. It is the Raun, flying the Norwegian 3i THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' flag. Soon we are abreast, the whaler's crew raising cheers in our honour, and the captain offering, in excellent English, to lead the way for us into the centre of the island. Thinking that they were returning from fishing, we accepted the offer, but we learnt afterwards that as a matter of fact these good fellows were going out and insisted on having the honour of piloting us in spite of the loss of time involved. Although it was expected, yet for those of us who had already visited the Antarctic in 1904 (when we knew that we were the only human beings there) the meeting with vessels quietly carrying on their work in this region had something impressive and almost uncanny about it. This sensation affected us still more strongly when we found ourselves in Deception Island basin, in the midst of a veritable flotilla of boats, all at work as though in some busy Norwegian port. Our pilot brings us up very close to the smooth, precipitous face of the high black cliff on the west side of the passage, and after a sharp turn the whaling-station appears before our eyes, marvellously sheltered in a fairly big bay notched out of the great crater-basin of this weird and picturesque island. We find two three-masters and two steam-vessels, surrounded by several little steam-whalers, this fleet belonging to three different companies. Pieces of whale float about on all sides, and bodies in process of being cut up or waiting their turn lie alongside the various boats. The smell is unbearable. The captain of the L'nuti asks me to come and visit his little steamer, which I found, despite the trade in which she is engaged, astonishingly clean, and takes me into a little ward-room which is neat, comfortable, and almost elegant, with a fine coal fire burning in a stove. Next we go on board the largest of the steamers, the Oobcniador Borics, on which i> .M. Andresen, manager of the Magellan Whaling Company. Willi great difficulty we make our way amid the bodies of whales and I am taken into a large and extremely clean 32 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 ward-room, whose furnituro is almost luxurious. A parrot r which ought to be feeling very much out of it iu the Ant- arctic, is talking solemnly, and here too there is a fine coal fire in the stove. As on board the Raun, my eyes look on this with a little envy, for on the Pourquoi-Pas ? we put up with the damp without lighting a fire, so as to economize our coal. M. Audresen is in bod, but the captain of the Raun does not hesitate to go and wake him. I let him do this, for I bring the mail with me and I expect that this unlooked-for surprise will win me pardon for my early visit. M. Andresen shows himself at once a true Norwegian, amiable, cordial, and anxious to be of service to us. I give him the letter from the directors of his company, which I received through the kind intervention of MM. Detaille and Blanchard, asking him to furnish us, if he can, with 30 tons of coal ; and at once he tells me that, in spite of the shortness of fuel, he will make arrangements to satisfy us. So pleased is he at receiving a mail which he did not expect, and which will gladden the whole of the little colony, that he thanks me with an embarras- sing gratitude for having taken charge of the letters. Then I leave him to go back to bed, after making an appointment to see him again next day. I bring the captain of the Raun back to the Pourquoi-Pas ?, where we drink a glass of port together. He makes an admirably turned and sympathetic little speech, wishing us a safe voyage and abundant success r and then returns on board his own ship and sets out at once on his whaling cruise. The comparatively good anchorages in the bay are occupied by the whalers, and we seek in vain to anchor in deep water with a treacherous holding-ground. The smell, moreover, being really unbearable, we lose no time in moving and making for the further end of the basin, where Pendulum Cove used to be. With difficulty we discover, so to speak, this no longer existing cove, and let fall our anchor at 2 a.m. near the spot 3 33 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' where the corvette Uruguay anchored in 1905. There has heen no night, and the weather is magnificently calm. I cannot find any document showing who really discovered this island where we are nor who christened it with the name of Deception, most inappropriate in my mind ; for it was far from being a deception for us or for the other navigators in this region, who could count on finding here the safe shelter so rare in the Antarctic. It cannot have been discovered by Smith, who only explored the north coast of the South Shet- lands in 1819 ; nor by Bransfield, who, returning with Smith to these regions, some time after, was unable to circumnavigate the islands and considered them part of a continent. I am inclined to think it was known to the Spaniards, or, to be more exact, to the ancestors of the Argentinans. An historical incident, which I, like many others, borrow from the excellent and painstaking works of the learned American explorer Edwin Swift Balch of Philadelphia, 1 probably is U> be placed on Deception Island. Mrs. E. Fanning Loper, niece of Captain Nathaniel Brown Palmer, whose share was so great in making known this part of the Antarctic, lent to Mr. E. S. Balch log-books, letters, and various MSS. which had been her uncle's. The following story is noteworthy : ' In 1818 he [Captain Potter] became second mate of the brig Hersilia, bound to Cape Horn for seals, Captain James P. Sheffield, master. On this voyage he and a sailor were left upon one of the Falkland Islands to obtain provisions for the brig, while the Hersilia went in search of the. fabulous Auroras. Soon after the departure of the brig, the Esprito Santo, from Buenos Ayres, hove in sight off the island, and "young Nat," as lie was then called, piloted her into the harbour, and found that she was bound to a place where there were thousands of seals, but [her captain] refused to divulge the situation. Three days later the Hersilia returned, and " young Nat " 1 Antarctica Add* >»la, by Edwin Swift Balch, from the Journal oj the Franklin Inatituli , I'Vbnuuy, I'.Mt, 34 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 told Captain Sheffield about the Esprito Santo, and said he could follow her and find the sealing ground. Captain Shef- field, having great confidence in his second mate, followed his advice, and in a few days discovered the South Shetlands, at that time unknown in the continent of North America. The Esprito Santo was anchored there, and the crew was much surprised to see the brig, but their admiration for " young Nut's" skill was so great that they even assisted in loading the Hcrsilia, and [she] returned home with 10,000 of the finest skins.' Now what makes me suppose that this anchorage was none other than Deception is the fact that in the following summer, 1820-1821, there was at this island a squadron of five American sealers commanded by B. Pendleton, with Palmer as captain of one of them, the sloop Hero, and no one seemed astonished at the marvellous shelter for which they apparently unerringly made. This squadron, fitted out at Stonington, Connecticut, then one of the most important whaling centres, was composed of the brigs Frederick, Captain B. Pendleton, and Hersilia, Captain J. P. Sheffield, the schooners Express, Captain E. Williams, and Free Gift, Captain F. Dunbar, and the little sloop Hero, Captain N. B. Palmer. It was while the flotilla was stopping at Yankee Harbour, afterwards renamed Port Foster, that Pendleton saw, with Palmer, from the top of a peak on the island some land to the west, and sent Palmer reconnoitring on his 40-ton Hero. Palmer, who continued his explorations successfully next year, discovered on this excur- sion either the north coast of Graham Land, close to Trinity, or else the archipelago to which De Gerlache has very rightly given the name, by which it will continue to be known, of Palmer Archipelago. (The Frangais in 1904-1905 made a sur- vey of the north-west coast of this.) E. Fanning 1 says : — ' On the Hero's return passage to Yankee Harbour she got becalmed in a thick fog between the South Shetlands and 1 Voyages Round the World, pp. 434-440. 35 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' the newly discovered continent, but nearest the former. When this began to clear away, Captain Palmer was surprised to find his little barque between a frigate and sloop of war, and instantly ran up the United States' flag ; the frigate and sloop of war then set the Eussian colours. Soon after this a boat was seen pulling from the commodore's ship for the Hero, and when alongside the lieutenant presented an invitation from his commodore for Captain Palmer to go on board ; this of course was accepted. These ships he then found were the discovery ships sent out by the Emperor Alexander of Eussia. To the commodore's interrogatory if he had any knowledge of those islands then in sight, and what they were, Captain Palmer replied he was well acquainted with them, and that they were the South Sketlands, at the same time making a tender of his services to pilot the ships into a good harbour at Deception Island, the nearest by, where water and refreshmenl s such as the island afforded could be obtained ; he also inform- ing the Eussian officer that his vessel belonged to a fleet of five sail, out of Stonington, under command of Captain B. Pendleton, and then at anchor in Yankee Harbour, who would most cheerfully render any assistance in his power. The commodore thanked him kindly, " but previous to our being enveloped in the fog," he said, " we had sight of those islands and concluded we had made a discovery, but behold, when t lie fog lifts, to my great surprise, here is an American vessel in as fine order as if it were but yesterday she had left the United States ; not only this, but her master is ready to pilot, my vessels into port; we must surrender the palm to you Americans," continued he, very flatteringly. His astonish- ment was yet more increased, when Captain Palmer informed him of the existence of an immense extent of land to the south, whose mountains might be seen from the masthead when the fog should clear away entirely.' Personally 1 am disposed to think there is nothing im- probable in (his tale, especially as the kindly welcome given 36 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 by the American sealers to a foreign expedition was singularly like that which we enjoyed 87 years later at the hands of Norwegian whalers. Nevertheless, H. R. Mill, while noting that Bellingshausen, when he put into Sydney Harbour in March, 1820, was informed by the Russian consul of W. Smith's discovery of the South Shetlands in 1819, adds that in the account of his arrival at Yaroslav Island (this is the name which he gave to Deception) Bellingshausen only makes slight mention of his meeting with Palmer : ' The American captain Palmer, whom we invited on board, told us of the prodigiously rich harvest of seal-skins which had been made here.' J Still, as Fanning says, claiming that Bellingshausen in his admiration for the young captain called the coast visible to the south Palmer Land, this name was adopted in the Russian and English maps published after the return of the Russian ships — a point in favour of the American version. In any case, it is certain that the sealing flotillas, both American and English, made Deception Island one of their most important centres until the almost complete extermina- tion of the fur-seal in the South Shetlands, and it is more than probable that the little Chilian schooners which continued to come for a few years more to look for the precious booty in this archipelago put in here. Scientific expeditions also came here, apart from Bellingshausen's, which did get so far. In 1829 the Chanticleer, commanded by Foster, who was sent out by the British Government to make pendular and magnetic observations, took up its quarters at Pendulum Cove, so named after the pendulum experiments made there between January 9 and March 4 of that year. Foster died as the result of an accident on the return of the expedition, but his narrative was forwarded by Lieutenant Kendall and Dr. Webster, to whom we owe a detailed description of the island. We owe another to the American Lieutenant Johnson, commander of 1 Tin Siege of the South Pole, by Hugh Robert Mil), London, 1905. 37 » 2 I THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' the Sea Gull, one of the Wilkes Expedition, who stopped there with his ship in 1839. Dumont d'Urville on the return voyage of his first South Polar Expedition in 1838 passed along the south-west coast of Deception, of which he published an excellent view from the clever pencil of Goupil, an artist on board the Zelee and great-uncle of my wife. Lastly, the Argentine corvette Uru- guay, whose name is universally known through the magnifi- cent way in which she saved the Nordenskjold Expedition in November, 1903, touched at Deception on January 9, 1905, having been generously sent out by the Argentine Government to look for the Francais, about whose fate there were fears, happily unfounded. According to the descriptions of Webster and Johnson, the area of the island, whose centre is 65° 56' South by 60° 40' West of Greenwich, is about 50 square kilometres, while its diameter is about 19 kilometres from north to south and 15 kilometres from east to west. In the interior is a great marine lake, very probably produced by the blowing up of a volcano beneath the surface of the sea. This inner basin is almost elliptical in shape, with a diameter of 9 to 10 kilometres and an area of about 22 square kilometres. It communicates with the sea by a very narrow strait, about 180 metres long, on the south-west side of the island. Its depth, which is only 5 or 6 metres at the opening, increases rapidly toward the centre; according to Kendall, to 177 metres. (It will be seen that a sounding taken by us at the same spot shows a tilling up of the basin or else a rise in the level of its bottom.) The inner banks of the island are as a rule flatter than the outer shores. At the entrance of the crater-shaped bay, how- ever, there stands an escarped cliff with perpendicular walls 240 metres high. On the shores are several lakes resembling the ruins of small craters, while others occur on the beach of the island, having no visible communication with the large central basin. Thus Lieutenant Johnson found at the end of 38 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 the bay a small orator 450 metres in diameter, separated from the main basin by a wall 120 metres thick, rising gradually to the height of 6 metres. Into this lake the wall descended perpendicularly, and its surf ace- level was the same as that of the main basin. The descriptions of these explorers do not differ much from what we could have given ourselves, at least as to general lines ; but when one examines Foster's map, which is much the completest and most detailed, one sees that some fairly large modifications of detail have taken place, affecting the small lakes and the heights of the peaks and the shores of the inner basin. Coves have filled in, capes have altered, old lakes have dried up and new ones have formed. But the most important and interesting change — I might even add, the most lamentable — is that which affects Pendulum Cove, which may be said to exist no more. At the time of Foster and the American whalers Pendulum Cove was, as the Chanticleer's plan shows, a narrow fjord, shaped like a comma, admirably sheltered, with little depth of water and good holding-ground, making it, in fact, the only really good anchorage in the island. When the Uruguay arrived in 1905, Pendulum Cove had dis- appeared. The fjord had filled in, either through landslips or by upheavals, and there only remained just at the entrance a low crescent-shaped beach, quite close to which the bottom held fairly well. This state of things was what we also found, and the plan which we made differs only in a few insignificant details from that published by our friend Lieutenant Jallour, second in command of the Uruguay. Foster during his stay at Deception saw no volcanic erup- tions, but he found on the edge of the basin numerous vents, from which steam was ejected violently, and many hot springs with a temperature as high as 88°. These, too, are the only active volcanic manifestations which we noted. The water of these numerous springs was sulphurous, and had a tem- perature of 68°. Smiley, the American sealer, who visited 39 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' Pendulum Cove in February, 1842, and found there a ther- mometer left behind by Foster in 1829, reports that ' certainly the island was then undergoing great changes,' that the whole southern shore was actively volcanic; — ' in flames ' — and that he saw ' no less than thirteen eruptions.' Webster, Johnson, and Dumont d'Urville agree in saying that very little snow settled on Deception, the last-named stating that not only were the shores free from it, but also several of the high peaks. As far as we were concerned, we found a lot, coming down as far as the beach. But it is true that we stopped there in December, while the others paid their visits in March, except Webster ; and he was there from January to March. The fur-seals, hunted down without mercy or precaution by the American and English sealers, have entirely vanished. This was the cause of the abandonment of Deception for such long years ; but the comparatively new methods employed with so much success in the north in hunting the balaenoptera (rorqual) and the considerable profits assured by this industry, and by the great competition in the northern seas, have restored to this Antarctic island some of its former business. From the whale-hunter's point of view, there are two sorts of whale, the ' right ' whale and the ' rusher ' — a division which coincides with a zoological classification, the former being properly speaking, a balaena (Balaena Australis in the southern, Balaena Grocnlandis in the northern seas), and the others being balaenopteras. The commercial value of the balaenas is much superior to that of the balaenopteras, not only on account of the quantity and quality of their oil, but also — and perhaps especially — because of the dimensions and quality of their bone, of which the price in the market is high. The bone of the balaenoptera, on the contrary, is very short and of scarcely any use, and the oil which can be extracted from its fat is comparatively scanty. Still, these latter cetaceans having been left alone until recent 40 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 years, their inferior value is largely compensated for by the numbers of them captured. Hunted without mercy, the right whale, on the other hand, has become very scarce gener- ally. Perhaps it visits the Antarctic, since Ross says he has seen one, and so does Larsen ; but all the other explorers agree in asserting that they have never met one more south than the regions known as Sub-antarctic. The old-time whalers set out in a boat to 'stick' their prey by means of a harpoon fastened to a long rope, which uncoiled as the animal fled. They thus had themselves towed by it until, when it was exhausted, they could finish it off with other harpoons. But they only attacked the right whale, which when wounded makes right off, and once dead floats on the surface. They paid no attention to the so-called 4 rushers,' which when wounded plunge deep, rush at their foes, or in any case describe a zigzag course, and whose bodies nearly always sink, thus threatening not only the loss of the quarry, but also that of the hunting gear. It is to a Norwegian whaler, Swen Foyn, who died a millionaire through it, that is due the invention of a special weapon, which now makes huge fortunes for some people and enables a vast population of workmen and hardy labourers to five. In the bow of a 40-ton steamer is mounted a cannon, which discharges a harpoon attached to a strong grapnel-rope. When the animal is hit, the two shanks of the harpoon open and explode a small shell. The body is hauled back by means of a steam windlass, fastened alongside, inflated by means of a large trocar communicating with the engine, to prevent it from sinking, and towed to the melting-house. Sometimes, as happened to us at the Faroes and at Deception, a single one of these little boats may be seen coming back with three balaenopteras, sometimes even with six. The recent Antarctic Expeditions, from De Gerlache's down to that of the Franqais, have certainly done much for this revival of industry in the Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic 4i THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' regions, and I personally claim to have done my small part, though I should have liked to see my fellow-countrymen, severely tested as they have often been in the cod-fisheries, attempting to take advantage of it. Nevertheless, the bold initiative of my former fellow- explorer, the merchant captain Eallier du Baty, who went to try his luck with his brother and three sailors on a 40-tonner in the Kerguelen Islands, and the praiseworthy persistence of MM. Bossiere, the concessionaires of the islands, who recently managed to establish a whaling company in this French archi- pelago, lead me to hope that one day my exertions will have a result. Perhaps the men who make up the crew of the Pour- qnoi-Pas ? and who have been so vividly impressed by what they have managed to see at Deception may on their return have a good influence over their fishermen comrades. At any rate, since the return of the Nordenskjbld Expedition an Argentine company, having as its managing director the famous and able Norwegian captain Larsen, has established itself in South Georgia and is making huge profits every year. It was three years ago that the chase of the balaenoptera began in our exploration zone ; and in the South Shetlands since our visit one Chilian and two Norwegian companies have set up at Deception, while another has taken as its head- quarters Admiralty Bay in George I Land. As far as these whalers are concerned, it has been a pleasure to me to note how useful the Francais Expedition has been to them in supplementing the discoveries of the Belgica ; for we were able, of ourselves, to supply them with the only existing chart of I he north-west coast of the Palmer Archipelago, and another of the Bismarck estuary, to guide them to a good anchorage at Port Lockioy and a shelter at Wandel Island, to say nothing of our notes on the numbers and species of balaenopteras, on the movements of the ice-floes, on the winds, etc. December 23. — In spite of the late hour at which we an- chored, every one is up very early to take advantage of the 42 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 fine weather and set to work. Bongrain is putting up a tent, in which he is going to make observations with the pendulum. Rouch, while continuing his meteorological observations, is undertaking others on the electricity of the atmosphere. God- froy is mapping the contours of our anchorage and making soundings, which differ but little from those of the Uruguay. Gourdon is collecting geological specimens. Senouque is busy with magnetism and the measurement of rays, and the zool- ogists, Liouville and Gain, are scouring the neighbourhood, collecting and classifying all they can find. The crew either help in these different observations or are busy with work on board. As for myself, I am beginning the editing of the reports on the start of the Expedition, which we shall be able to send to France, together with our mail, through the whalers. Every one finds time at intervals to learn ski-ing, gliding down some admirably suitable slopes of deep snow which, at the end of what used to be Pendulum Cove, run down into a little lake covered with ice and snow. The good spirits engendered by this pastime, new to so many of my comrades, causes the valley to ring loudly with merriment. The cove in which we are anchored has a flat, black beach, bare of snow up to high-water mark, at which point there rises the steam from the spring of hot sulphur-water. At the junction-line of snow and beach there is a regular hedge of whale skeletons, from which, though they are mostly strip- ped of their flesh, there comes a powerful and sickening odour. There is a good deal of offal from the fishery now in progress, and the blue waters of the basin are tinged red with blood. It is clear that there was a whaling station here last year or the year before, for on a large board fixed to two uprights is the legend, ' Sobroan Harbour.' High escarped and snow- clad mountains rise at the end and side of our anchorage, while to the south is a black hill with steep walls, 80 metres in height, on the top of which can be seen the cairn left by the Uruguay. 43 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' Two men go to look for the bottle buried in it. It is broken^ but the message is intact. It was meant for the Fran^ais, which but for her accident would probably have returned via Deception. I was destined therefore after all to receive the message, four years late. This is how it ran (in Spanish) : — ' Deception Island, January 8, 1905. " This day I have visited this bay with the corvette Uruguay with the object of getting news of the Expedition under the leadership of Dr. Charcot, and not having succeeded I am going to Wiencke Island to leave a message there. ' (Signed) Ismael F. Galindez.' I read this document with emotion. For do I not owe much gratitude to this generous and hospitable people of Argentina, which not only enabled my first expedition, reach- ing Buenos Ayres in so wretched a state, to set out again under the best possible conditions, sent us a boat to carry our coal to Ushaia, and left a store at Orange Bay for our return, but also, in its anxiety over our absence, despatched the Uruguay to look for us? The Uruguay, as we know, after leaving Deception went to Wiencke Island, where we had said we should leave a cairn — as we did, on Casabianca islet in Boosen Channel. Stopped by the ice and overtaken by a north-easterly gale, the Argen- tine corvette was unable to sail round the island and on her return announced that she had not found our cairn. It was immediately concluded that we had been lost, probably before being able to reach the Antarctic. This was the first news we heard on reaching Puerto Madryn on March 5, 1905. After breakfast I set out with Liouville on the picket-boat for the whaling station. Just as we leave the anchorage we pass a cliff some 10 metres in height and of singular aspect, black with white spots. It is an ice-cliff with an intermixture of lava and lava-dust, a formation known by the name of fossil ice. About an hour later we reach the whalers' cove 44 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1900 With great difficulty — for, in order to let us come alongside, the crew of the Gobernador Bories has to move five or six corpses of whales, some of which burst with a report like that of a cannon — we arrive at the great factory-ship, where we are received by Captain Stolhani and M. Andresen, our kind friend of the day before. M. Andresen, with charming courtesy, offers to send me thirty tons of coal on two trips of one of the little steamers, so that the Pourquoi-Pas ? need not come alongside the Gober- nador Bories (necessarily disgusting because of the oil on board) nor stop in unpleasantly close proximity to the whale corpses. So good had been the catch that the coal is beginning to run short ; but a Hamburg collier is expected every day, l and if she is late one of the little whalers can go to Punt a Arenas with a request for some of the precious fuel to be sent. On my part I ask M. Andresen if I can be of any use to him, when he tells me that Madame Andresen, who accompanies him and is probably the first and only woman that has ever come to the Antarctic, is rather ill, and that a workman on board, one of the cutters-up of the whales, has met with a serious accident. There is no doctor on the station, and the wounded man is coming back on one of the whalers from the Admiralty Bay Station, where they hoped, in vain, to find a doctor. While deploring that the service which we are able to do them is of so melancholy a character, I am happy to be of some use to these excellent people, and immediately Liou- ville and I examine Mme. Andresen, whose illness is, very fortunately, of a slight nature. It is different with the wounded man. The poor fellow has had four fingers sliced by a steam- chopper, and a regular amputation is essential to save not only his hand, but very probably his life. Liouville puts on a temporary dressing for him, but it is decided to come and operate to-morrow morning. 1 It will bo seen later that this vessel, the Telephon. was shipwrecked at the entrance of Admiralty Bay. 45 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' I have a long talk with M. Andresen, who gives me some interesting and useful information. There are on Deception Island three whaling companies, one Chilian and two Nor- wegian ; but apart from some Chilian firemen, the 200 inhabi- tants of the island are Norwegian. One of the Norwegian companies has as a factory-hulk a steamer of about 2,000 tons, coming from the Falklands, the other has the two three- masters, old sailing vessels which came from the Cape of Good Hope, towed by their little steam launches, while the Magellan Whaling Company, the best equipped, uses as factory-hulk the 3,000-ton steamer on which we are. All these floating factories are supplied by the little iron whale-boats like the Raun which piloted us in. These last-named are excellent vessels in spite of their insignificant dimensions, and appar- ently make light of the terrible seas of these latitudes. Another company has its headquarters, as I have said, at Admiralty Bay in King George I Land. The catches are so abundant that all these vessels are insufficient, and in the stress of competition they only make use of the most valuable part of the whales' bodies, letting at least 40 per cent, go to waste. For three years the whale-hunting has lasted here from the end of November to the end of February, when the companies separate, some going to hunt on the Chilian coast or in the Magellan Straits, the others in the waters of the Cape of Good Hope. England, claiming that the South Shetlands, the South Orkneys, and part of Graham Land belong to her equally wilh the Falklands, compels the whalers to pay her a small royalty, which passes through the hands of the Governor of the Falklands. M. Andresen tells us that, as regards ice, the summer of 1900-1007 was a bad one, while during the, last two summers there has been very little, at least in the region covered by the whale-boats. These vessels, not being built to resist ice-floes, of course avoid them carefully, although they succeed in 46 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 slipping through them easily enough when they are loose. The end of November, the whole of December, and the begin- ning of February are as a rule seasons of good weather, the gales to be feared coming from the south-west. I am aston- ished at this last statement (though I cannot refuse to accept it, since all the whalers on the station whom I have asked have told me the same), because during our two summer cam- paigns in 1904 and 1904-5 our gales, which were frequent and violent, always came from the north-east, 1 and that in regions not far from Deception Island. The balaenoptcras pass this way in considerable numbers during December and January, but begin to go south at the end of the latter month. My hosts therefore listen with the greatest interest to the informa- tion which I am able to give them concerning the navigation in February of De Gerlache Strait, so fine a ground for whale hunting, and of Bismarck Estuary, where I do not advise them to go on account of the reefs and ice-floes, and finally concerning Port Lockroy, the only good anchorage which we discovered, and which I recommended from the first as a shelter for whalers, since they can reach it by three separate channels and run no risk of being stopped by floes. On the other hand, I do not commend Port Charcot, on Wandel Island, which cannot hold more than two small boats, or one of medium size, and becomes dangerous with the north-east winds. A visit to Port Lockroy seems their best chance, according to my information, and I think that M. Andresen has decided to put it to the test in February. After fixing up an appointment on board the Pourquoi- Pas f on the next day but one, I bid good-bye to our kind hosts. The anchorage chosen by the whalers has the advan- tage of being quite close to the entrance of the bay, while 1 It seems as if the whalers' observations were at fault, or we misunderstood them, for on our return to Deception we were able to testify that the frequent gales came from the north-east. M. Andersen must have meant that the gales from the south-west were the only dangerous ones at the anchorage. 47 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' providing an excellent shelter from the sea. Its only draw- back lies in its great depth and bad holding-ground. Also, in strong gales the ships sometimes drag their anchors, and one of them, it seems, stranded on the opposite side of the basin. The Gobernador Bories, which was probably the first to arrive, is anchored by the stern, quite close to a wide low beach like that at Pendulum Cove, so that she is able by means of a hose to bring straight on board all the fresh water necessary. On the beach is a little granite monument recently erected in memory of M. Andresen's predecessor, who was washed over board last year during a whale hunt. We return on board to dinner. In my absence the various works have gone on. Gain and Gourdon have been on an excursion, and have met on a neighbouring beach, covered with snow and ice, a herd of 155 seals, Crabbing and Weddell's Seals mixed, who seem to have given them a vocal concert like those which we heard sometimes on the Francais. I write my mail until 1 a.m., when I go to look for Bongrain and Boland, who are making a series of pendulum observations in their tent, and take them some cakes and some Mariani wine to warm them. December 24. — Weather as fine as ever. Liouville goes off to operate on the unfortunate workman, and Gourdon accom- panies him to administer the chloroform. They are late in returning, for the operation was a long one ; but both are hopeful of its success. Thus we have been able to do a real service to these good fellows ; for without our aid the patient would have died of gangrene. M. Andresen had quite made up his mind to send him on a whale-boat to Punta Arenas if we had not turned up ; but it is doubtful whether he could have got there in time. The work begun the previous day starts again. Rouch on the picket-boat has dredged the basin, bringing up an impor- tant zoological harvest. He has also taken soundings, and where Foster's chart shows 97 fathoms he has only found 63, 48 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 which seems to prove that the filling up is not limited to the shores, but that the crater-shaped basin is also gradually changing. The whalers, too, who have the English chart, have frequently noticed this. A whale-boat brings us in the morning 16 tons of Newcastle coal stacked loose on deck, and so as not to lose time another luings xis 14 tons in the evening. Our men, assisted by the Norwegians, work enthusiastically, and at 6 p.m. our bunkers are full. I have a long talk with one of the whaling captains, a grave, well educated and intelligent man. He confirms all that M. Andresen and the others told me yesterday, and gives Die also some details about whale hunting; among other things, the practical method by which the whalers recognize at a distance the different kinds of balaenopteras. The Hump- back Whale (Megaptera), which is of little commercial value, spouts very low and has a protuberance on its back. The Fin Whale (the common balaenoptera), which is of medium value, has a fairly large dorsal fin and spouts very high, with a single straight jet. The Blue Whale (or Eazor-back), whose value is greater than the two others', has a medium-sized dorsal fin and spouts with a double jet, which looks like a single one of moderate height ending in a plume. In the evening, when all our work is done, we indulge in ski-ing. At midnight the bell goes full peal, and we keep Christmas Eve. There is a gay Christmas tree covered with knick-knacks and little candles, a present from Mme. Gourdon to the men, who are delighted with it. We for our part have supper and distribute the presents which many of our rela- tives, with a kindly forethought that arouses in me an emo- tion I find it hard to hide, intended for us on this chief of all family festivals. December 25, Christmas Day. — The work on shore is finished off and all things put straight on board, while I sort the im- portant mail of the Pourguoi-Pas ? which the whalers are going 4 49 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' to take to Punta Arenas on their return in March. Our news will, therefore, reach France in April. Many things will have happened between now and then, and our letters will only have been written very few days after those we sent from America ; but still they will contain news which may perhaps make our absence seem shorter, and will at all events announce not only the happy termination of the first stage of our journey, but also the favourable conditions under which we are setting out. About 3 o'clock some whaling captains of the Norwegian companies pay a visit to the Pourquoi-Pas f Christmas is the only day of the whole season on which they rest. I show them all over the ship, and must confess that I am not a little proud of the flattering appreciation which these experts give to the lines and construction of this vessel, which is in a way my child, and which was so often criticized by those who could speak with no authority. They all tell me that the ice- floes are far fewer this year than previous years ; and when I compare this statement with the fact that the ocean-going ships (as we were told in our voyage across, and as is proved too by the broken stem of a German sailer at Eio Janeiro) came across an abundance of floes this winter at considerably more northern latitudes than usual, we may hope that there has been a mild winter, which allowed an almost constant break-up of the ice, or at least a prevalence of favourable winds which drove the iloes toward the open sea, and I am prepared to believe this a good augury for our expedition. Half an hour later M. Andresen arrives with his devoted and amiable wife, now happily recovered from her indisposi- tion. She gives us the best reports on the patient of yester- day. We exchange Christmas greetings, and I am able to present all the Norwegians with picture postcards which my friend Crichton-Somcrville sent me from Norway in large quantities, with ' A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ' on each of them. 50 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 M. Andresen, inexhaustible in kindness and care, tells me that he will do his best to come to Port Lockroy this year and that we may therefore leave a mail there. He assures me, moreover, that in January, 1910, he will certainly come to Port Lockroy and, if the ice permits, as far as Wandel to look for tidings of us. Need I insist on the importance of this generous proposal ? In case of an accident it is to Wandel and Port Lockroy that we shall seek to get. I was keenly reproached over the last expedition for not having made sure of a shelter in emergency. This time the same shall not be said of me. M. Andresen adds that we may be sure also of finding coal at Deception on our return. We take a glass of champagne and shake hands with genuine emotion, our guests re-embark in their little boat, and we exchange salutes and blasts of the whistle. At 4.45 ■we weigh anchor. There is a brisk wind from the north-east, but the barometer is rising and the horizon is clear. Before entering the pass we lessen speed opposite the "whaling-station, the Chilian and Norwegian flags dip, the whistles rend the air, and we return the salute of these fine and hospitable people. At 8 o'clock, with a good north-east breeze, we make for the northern entrance of De Gerlache Strait. The weather is so clear that we can see at the same time Deception, Low Island, and Hoseason, and make out in the south and south- west the high snow-covered lands. About us an innumerable quantity of balaenopteras are plunging. Our immediate object is to reach Port Lockroy by way of the usually calm and comparatively free waters of the strait so justly named after De Gerlache. De Gerlache in 1898, expecting to enter what the charts hitherto marked as a bay under the name of Hughes Bay, to his great astonishment found himself in this strait and made a stay there, surveying and making numerous landings. Finally he passed through it and thus reached the Pacific, 5i THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' when he was caught in the ice-pack and stayed until March, 1899, having the honour and glory of being the first man to winter in the Antarctic and bringing back a price- less quantity of notes and observations in the cause of science. It is beyond discussion that the discovery of this strait belongs to De Gerlache, but it is also incontestable that the numerous American and English sealers, who regularly fre- quented these regions in the first half of the nineteenth century, knew much more than they told, both of these latitudes and of those visited by the Francais. They kept silence, either intentionally to choke off competition or through indifference to geographical discoveries, which they were for the most part of the time incapable of appreciating or registering with any semblance of accuracy. It is, further, very probable that Captain W. H. Smiley in 1842 alludes to De Gerlache Strait in his letter to the explorer Wilkes, when he says : ' Many suppose that Palmer Land is a continent and consider that it is the continuation of the land marked out by Wilkes. But this is not the case, for I have sailed round Palmer Land.' In any case, in 1874 the German captain Dallmann, of Ham- burg, the first to visit this region in a steamship, discovered the south-west entrance of this strait, to which he gave the name of Bismarck Strait. The Greenland, a composite ship, belonged to the German Polar Navigation Company, and was equipped for seal hunting. After touching at Trinity Land, Dallmann made his way along the north-west coast of Palmer Archipelago, and particularly that part of the west coast which is now called Antwerp Island. On January 8 he passed between rocks and reefs at a point which he called Hamburg Haven, and his description of this place agrees remarkably with that given by the Francais Expedition. He next went south and discovered, in the midst of ' a shoal of rocks which lay in surprising numbers close to the coast,' low islands and rockfl level with the water, a vast estuary 52 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 which he insisted must be a strait and to which he gave the name of Bismarck Strait. The Greenland was then, in ' about ' 64° 55' South latitude. He discovered the archipelago of the Kaiser Wilhclm Islands, of which the principal were Booth, Krogmann, and Petcrmann Islands, rechristened by the Belgica Wandel, Hovgard, and Lund (where we wintered). He indicates plainly the entrance of Roosen Channel — De Ger- lache'a Neumayer Channel — and the south-west cape of what afterwards was named Wiencke Island. Next, going first north, then north-east, after passing the Paid I reefs, he doubled Cape Greenland and penetrated into a bay which ought rightly to bear his name. But the ice prevented him from ' penetrating far enough to know whether the bay ended in a strait.' As a matter of fact, there was a channel, which the Belgica saw from De Gerlache Strait and named Scholaert Channel. The Francois used it twice, and surveyed it, re- discovering the two little fjords pointed out by Captain Dall- mann. Dallmann, who, it must be remembered, was but a mere scaling captain and, as he confesses himself, had defective chronometers, could scarcely fail to make incorrect observa- tions of longitude. His discoveries were utilized for the first t ime in A. Petermann's South Polar Chart in 1875 (Stieler's Atlas No. 7, 1894), and then in a chart laid down by L. Fre- deriehsen in 1895 after the German captain's original sketch map. In his over-anxiety to be complete, the last-named geographical expert made the mistake of joining, on the Strength of a mere^supposition, the entrance of the strait marked by Dallmann with that of an inlet seen by Larsen in 1893-4 on the east coast of Graham Land ; and this is the sole reason for the doubts born later concerning the identifica- tion of Bismarck Strait with the Pacific entrance of the strait marked by the Belgica. The Fran^ais Expedition of 1903-5 settled the question. After touching Smith Island, we surveyed the north-west coast of Palmer Archipelago, so important to navigators in 53 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' these regions. Then entering the strait from the south- west we sailed down Roosen Channel, discovering Port Lock- roy, Peltier Channel, and Doumer Island. After a detour to the south the Frangais came back -to winter at Booth (Wandel) Island, where she stayed nine months. But excursions during this period allowed us not only to complete and extend the survey of this region, but also to prove the non- existence of another supposed strait a little further to the south. During the next summer campaign the Frangais surveyed Scholaert Channel, which joins Dallmann Bay and runs south. A serious grounding of the ship forced her to return in February, all but foundering at Port Lockray. Here the crew had a rest. ISText she sailed up De Gerlache Strait again, noting some details for alteration, concerning firstly the channel separating Liege and Brabant Islands, and secondly Hoseason Island, where we were unable to dis- cover the cairn left by Foster, although we landed at the same point as he. In the map drawn by Lieutenant Matka, second in command, we did not trouble ourselves about our own small loss of reputation and the lessening of the area of our discoveries, but were particular to restore all the names given by Dallmann and to render full justice to this modest Hamburg sealing captain. The Germans had done equal justice to the French explorer Bouvet, when in 1899 the Valdivia rediscovered the island which bears his name and whose existence had been so long disputed after the voyages of Cook and Ross. In 1903 the Nordcnskjold Expedition sailed along the northern side of De Gerlache Strait before visiting the coast of Graham Laud, and the Uruguay when looking for the Fran- gais in January, 1905, went as far as the cape at the southern end of Wiencke Island without being able to round the island. Finally, we must note that the celebrated English sealer Biscoe was the first to discover and name in 1832 Mount William, situated on Antwerp Island at the entrance of tho 54 THE SUMMEE OF 1908-1909 strait, and that he landed at a point on the island where we landed in February, 1905. December 26. — Passing Hoseason Island yesterday Eouch took a sounding. The lead went down to a depth of 1,400 metres without touching the bottom. The temperature at this depth was — 0°5. In the morning we are abreast of Two Hummocks Island, south-west of which in February, 1905, the Francais found fair shelter from a north-east gale. The weather, like yester- day's, is remarkably fine and clear, and we are sailing over an absolutely smooth sea. We are closer to the coast of Palmer Archipelago, but we can see the opposite shore very distinctly. From time to time we have to avoid a few ice- bergs and ice-blocks, but they are so scattered that they do not trouble us. There is evidently much less ice than when we were here in 1904 and 1905, and even less, it seems, than when the Belgica was here. We came across no marine ice r and no coastal ice-belt or debris of the latter. Another sounding is taken at the entrance of Scholaert Channel, but an accident to the lead prevents strict accuracy. Apparently the bottom is at about 300 metres. We enter by the northern end of Eoosen Channel, where we have to pass some remains of icebergs piled up very loosely, and soon the superb Mount Francais shows up in all its splendid grandeur. Next the approach to Port Lockroy, whose con- tours are so familiar to us, appears in its turn, and we come abreast of Casabianca Islet, where stands out boldly the long spar with a signal on the top which we set up in 1904, when we left there tidings of ourselves. I go with Gourdon in the dinghy as far as our letter-box, and meanwhile on board they take a sounding of 126 metres and use for the first time the big steam windlass for the dredging-net. It works very well, and the fruitful haul will keep the naturalists busy. We find our cairn intact and solid, only one of the steel- wire shrouds having broken. The mast is very dry and is 55 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' covered with a fine white coating, which I mistake at first for a mould similar to what I found on the wooden buildings left by the Pola in Jan Mayen Land. A farther examination shows me that it is really down from birds, evidently coming from the numerous neighbouring rookeries. The bottle attached to the mast, containing another phial inside, is unbroken, and we find again the message which we placed in it in February, 1905, as plain and clear as if it had been put there yesterday. It is easy to understand our emotion as we look at it. We substitute for it a temporary note, indi- cating merely that we are going to spend a day or two at Port Lockroy. This letter-box is cleared very irregularly, and so far we have been the only postmen ! We go on board again and return without difficulty to Port Lockroy, where we let down our anchor close to the spot where the Fran^ais used to anchor. Nothing seems changed, the rookeries are still inhabited by the penguins, and the gulls are on their solitary little island, where stands an old wine-pump acting as a cairn and indicating the presence of a message like that on Casabianca Islet. The ice-cliff which forms the end wall of the bay has the same appearance as of old, and those of us who took part in the earlier expedition might well think ourselves four years younger ! The new- comers land at once and explore the penguins' rookery, which they find just as amusing and interesting as we used to. In the evening, with snow-shoes on our feet on account of the heavy deposit of snow, Godfroy, Senouque, Jabet and myself ascend to the plateau which runs across the island at the foot of the magnificent peak of Louis-de-Savoie, still wearing its curious ducal crown of ice, to the summit of which Dayn6 the guide and quartermaster Jabet made their bold climb in 1905. It appears thai the snow has increased, altering the formerly level plateau into a huge dome. We Bee Cape Benard and Wandel Island very distinctly, but fail in our real object, for we wanted chiefly to ascertain whether 56 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 the passage Erom here to Wandel Island was free of ice, which was Qot the case in February, 1904, at the end of December, or in February, 1905. But Doumer Island shuts out the view of the sea. December 27. — The weather is line, though a little threaten- ing in the west. Our colleagues are busy with their observa- tions ashore. 1 have the picket -boat got ready to go to Wandel Island. Obviously the trip is a little risky, for there are 20 miles to cover, 15 in the open sea ; but we ought to be able to see not only whether the way is clear as far as Wandel anil whether Port Charcot is blocked as it was in December, 1905, but also the state of the ice to the south and around the island. By using 20 litres of petroleum, of which we have a big supply, we shall save one day's coal and perhaps even more. At 2 o'clock Godfroy, Gourdon, Besnard, Frachat and myself set off, with our bed-sacks, a tent, and four days' provisions. We take Peltier Channel, which the Francais discovered, and at the entrance we stop a few minutes to take soundings at the foot of an ice-cliff, which does not rest like- its neighbours upon a stratum of rock, but is worn by the swell of the sea as the icebergs are. Close up to the per- pendicular face of the cliff we let fall the lead to the depth of 50 metres without touching bottom. Our glaciologist, Gour- don, is going to study this matter with care, for perhaps we have here an ice-barrier in miniature. All goes well. Even outside the shelter of the channel the picket-boat makes her five knots. The wind blows freshly from the south-west, that is to say a little ahead ; but in hug- ging the icebergs and islands to escape the wind we are bothered by the chop, which becomes rather pronounced. The floes are few, certainly much fewer than at any time during our last expedition. The wind freshens as we push on, the chop becomes very rough, and we are drenched. Wandel is only two miles away now, and we are already in sight of our big 57 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' cairn, when our badly protected magneto is flooded and the motor stops. Finally we run up the mast, hoist sail, and try to tack ; but the sea is too heavy, the current is against us, and the ice-blocks compel us to give way, so that we lose the small amount of progress we have made. We drift toward Cape Eenard, whose imposing mass towers over us. Should the wind drop, increase, or change, we should find ourselves in a bad plight. To our great regret, when we are so near our goal, we are forced to put about, and now with a quarter- wind we head for Wiencke Island. We fall foul of some floes which bar our way, but we manage to clear them, and after some hours enter Peltier Channel, where we are becalmed. We are resigning ourselves to five miles of sculling in this heavy boat, when our motor, perhaps aware of our curses or with its magneto dry again since we put about, consents to restart work and at 11 p.m. we reach Port Lockroy, frozen to the marrow. We have but partly attained the object of our trip, but if we have secured no information as to the state of the ice south of Wandel, at least we are certain of being able to reach that island without difficulty. December 28. — The weather is moist and grey, and the low clouds are scarcely higher than the top of the ice cliff. The crew load the large canoe with ice from the bergs to till up the boiler by means of the specially designed pipe, and all works quickly and well. Bongrain continues his pendulum observations on Goudicr Islet. Roueh and Gourdon go out to dredge and take sound- ings under the ice cliff where we began last night, and find bottom at 150 metres. Then they look for rock specimens on Casabianca Islet, and hunt the beach for fossils, unfortunately in vain. Gain and Liouville arrange and classify the numer- ous specimens already gathered. Godfroy examines the atmosphere. I busy myself with various details on board, and get ready the messages and the mail which we are to leave in the cairn for the whalers. If they come this year, there 58 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 will be some news to go to France. I write what is probably the last letter for a very long time to my dear wife. Thus far this possibility of writing to her, so to speak, daily has given me the illusion of being not so far away from her, but now the separation will seem very real to me. Still I do not yet feel completely cut off from the civilized world in spite of thr vast isolation, probably because I am still in regions familiar to me, and perhaps also because of the rapidity and ease with which we have come from Punta Arenas to here. In 1905 during our stay we captured daily on the line 30 to 50 fish ; to-day we have only got two, though they are of a very good size. December 29. — Since morning the weather has been clear and calm, with a fine hot sun. While Bongrain was finishing his observations, Gourdon and Senouque measuring the depth of the hollows in the cliff at the foot of which we sounded, and finding it to be 35 metres, and the crew putting all in order for our departure, I went in the picket-boat with Godfroy to change the messages in the two cairns. A number of small floes encumber the entrance to the harbour, but the picket- boat slips through them well until on our return we ground for a long while on the spur of a small ice-block. At 1.30 we weigh anchor and pass through Peltier Channel without much difficulty, in spite of the numerous floes of fair size which have entered it. Our ship pushes them aside or breaks them with ease, but every time that the shock is a little rough our red paint comes off on the ice, which therefore looks as if it were bleeding beneath our blows. Abreast of Goetschy Islet, Gourdon gets into a Norwegian boat to look for geological specimens, and Rouch takes a sounding of 90 metres, with a temperature of 0° 1 ; he also uses the drag-net, with some difficulty owing to the narrow space and the presence of ice, but still with very satisfactory results. We pass Doumer Island outside the Channel, the 59 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' estuary is free, and in this clear weather our chart is sufficient to guide us unhesitatingly to Port Charcot. Unhappily, at the very moment when we reach the en- trance, the famous north-easter, which is so dangerous here, begins to blow. Nevertheless we must make a stay here in order to leave a stock of food. The Frangais was able to spend nine months here — at great risk, it is true, but without serious damage in the end. The Pourquoi-Pas f has 10 more metres in length, and her greater draught of water will not allow her to thrust herself so far into the cove and thus protect herself so well. But to return to Port Lockroy or to keep up si cam while sheltering under the island would mean loss of time and waste of coal ; for I know no other place in the neighbourhood where we could moor or anchor and put out the fires. Therefore I do not hesitate to enter, and in order to stop our way before the force of the wind we cannon gently off the round stones of Sogen Island and just beach our bows. We run out three ice-anchors to starboard astern, three to port astern, and six from the bows. Finally we stretch across the cove as a bar against the floes some double lengths of steel cable belonging to the drag-nets. As all our moorings are new, I hope that they will hold. So here I am again at Wandel Island, where for nine months we lived, worked, hoped, sometimes almost despaired and often sorrowed. I am back again under much better conditions, with a ship, equipment, and means which are out of all comparison with those of the former expedition. In addition I have Hie experience and, what is not so good, four years on to my age. By me 1 have again Gourdon and eight men from the old crew. Our sympathetic memories go back to our stout little Frangais, whose defective and insufficient engine broughl on us so much trouble, and to our beloved comrades, Mat ha and I'leneau, who would he with me once more, had not inexorable duly kept them away. Nothing has altered in appearance, and I could believe 60 ■ '■: , { ■ i ■ • I ' ■ "ML THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 that I never loft the spot. My eyes are struck by the same familiar objects and the same buildings, my ears catch the same sounds from the rookeries of penguins and cormorants, which give forth the same powerful odour. On the rock where the Francois's gangway landed is a heap of old, empty and rusty preserved food tins, a pile of stacked bottles, and the head of a seal. ' Victor Hugo Avenue,' of course, is obliterated under a mass of snow, but it would be easy to retrace it. There is no time, however, for reminiscences, and I climb at once with Gourdon up the height we called Jeanne to sur- vey the neighbourhood and the offing. Our hydrographic signal is still on its cairn, and under a stone I find the little rum bottle in which Dayne" enclosed a message on December 25, 1904, when we climbed up together to say good-bye, or rather au revoir, to Wandel. The estuary is free of ice save for a few blocks and bergs, but in the offing the floes, if in a loose condition, seem to reach as far as the horizon. On the south side the water is free as far as the Jallour Islets. I am very anxious to try to follow the coast and make my way between it and the Biscoe Islands. Numerous reefs, many hidden under ice, and icebergs beyond number make the journey dangerous ; but it would be of the highest interest. So I make up my mind in any case to push a reconnaissance along this coast. But for the moment there is nothing to do except wait for the end of the north-east gale, and we come down again to visit the familiar spots. The picket-boat abandoned here in 1904 is in good con- dition, but is filled with solid ice. Her awning, oars, and planking, from which the paint has come off, are all as white as if they had been frequently and energetically holystoned. The wooden magnetic hut, in which Rey used to work, is absolutely as untouched as if it had just been left, and its stoutness does the greatest honour to its builder, our carpenter Libois. We find in the hut a few objects which were left 6i THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' behind or forgotten, notably a matehbox-stand and on its glazed earthenware base the glass jar containing the report of the Expedition, which I had placed there a few minutes before we left. The stone-built magnetic hut and its observa- tion-stand are also in the same state as when we left, and I find there a few pages of a notebook. As for the portable house, it is almost entirely crushed in under the snow, with all that it contains. It has a strong inclination toward the north, having probably slipped along the ice down the gentle slope in this direction. Its corrugated iron roof has been carried away by the wind, and is now Heaven knows where. Otherwise all that one can see appears to be in a good state. But it would be too long and difficult a job to dig it out entirely. The big cairn on the 60-metre hill which overhangs our cove has suffered no damage. This imposing monument dominates our old station ; the message-box and the leaden plate on which are engraved all the names of the members of the Francais Expedition are still attached to it. Happily the north-easter is only blowing now with moder- ate force. The swell is not very strong, and our ice-anchors and cables alike hold good. December 30. — A fairly large ice-floe is kept off by the steel- wire hawser. But unfortunately — and this shows that man is never content — I find that for the moment, apart from the blocks and bergs, there is not enough floating ice to protect us, as the Francais was protected by the blockage of the cove, not only from the swell, but also from dangerous neighbours. We have no time to give up to the heavy labour spent in 1004, when we stretched an anchor-chain across, and I am afraid that in the end the ice-floes will account for our feeble steel- wire hawser. We scatter over the island, some for exercise, others for work. I go with a few men armed with spades and picks to try to dig out the interior of the portable house. The Christ- mas tree which we left there the day of our departure comes 62 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 out in pieces, but we find intact various objects, such as a bread-basket, tins of preserves, desiccated milk, etc. Some poor penguins had to be killed this evening for the kitchen. Why is man bound to do evil as soon as he visits any place ? Up to now the north-easter has been blowing with clear weather, but now it is overcast and heavy. The big icefloe which has been toppling over against the hawser passes under it and makes for Our ship. We turn it aside and send it along toward the end of the cove. December 31. — Still the north-easter, accompanied in the morning by a small fine rain. But in the afternoon the sky clears, and the sun comes out. The temperature, which since our arrival in the Antarctic has been about 1 or 2 degrees below zero, is now 2° above. We open our store-rooms to establish on Wandel Island a depdt containing tins of biscuits, petroleum, a Primus lamp, some tools, and matches. With these and seals, penguins, and cormorants, which never leave the island even in the winter, there will be no danger of immediate death from hunger. While we are finishing breakfast, the swell increases, and suddenly the helm above our heads begins to move. A great ice-block has broken through the hawser and struck the rudder. Happily there is no damage done, but it is with difficulty that we drive off the aggressor with poles. We are now sur- rounded by large blocks, which strike against the ship vio- lently and have to be constantly pushed aside. The hawser is stretched across again, but I confess that I have little con- fidence in its efficacy. I am more anxious than I wish to appear, for injuries to our screw or our rudder, the only ones that I fear, would make us prisoners here, and that would be stupid. This campaign, on which I build such hopes, would then finish before it had well begun. But bttle by little the sky clears in the direction of Wiencke Island, a favourable sign, as I know well ; and sure enough, toward 8 o'clock in 63 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' the evening, there is a dead calm. It was high time, for an ice-block all bristling with sharp edges was bearing down on us, and I do not know how we should have been able to defend ourselves against it. Some of my colleagues are losing nerve, give vent to pessimistic opinions as to the stoutness of the vessel, and insist that we are going to be shut in by the ice-blocks which now choke the cove and would keep us from leaving if we wanted to. It is in vain that I assure them that as soon as it is calm the regular northerly current will quickly clear away all these. Probably their anxiety to see the Expedition on the move makes it difficidt for them to bow before a nine months' experience acquired in this locality. To make the time pass, every one goes ashore to practise ski-ing, and I am left on board alone to sort out the little parcels intended for us by our families on the first day of the year. Guegen, following our old custom, has dug a hole in the snow-hill alongside us, so as to take advantage of the thaw. From this the water flows in abundance, and with a hose stretched along a hawser we are able without fatigue to fill the boiler and the water-casks. Some of the men take off their skis and search in vain in the snow of Sogen Islet, named after our good dog which died here of old age, to see if they can find his body and that of our pig Toby, who lived eleven months with us and was the delight of all the crew. Kiki and Polaire, two pet dogs presented to us at Buenos Aires, play about over their graves without the slightest respect for their predecessors' memories. January 1, 1909. — As midnighl struck, every bell on boned, the foghorns and the phonographs gave forth their sounds in si deafening discord to welcome the New Year. We eat, in accordance with the custom which makes this bring good luck, some fresh grapes which were presented to us for the occasion by M. Blanchard at Punta Arenas. Packed in sawdust, they bad already made the journey from Malaga, so that they are 64 c o THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 of a certain age ; and yet they taste as if they had just been picked. Chollet, the old companion of all my travels, comes first, as at Port Lockroy in 1905, to shake my hand. Then Libois, the oldest on board, who has also served me long, brings me a very nice letter signed by all the crew. On their part the staff came forward to shako the hands of our brave and devoted helpers. Then, both fore and aft, we wash down with the generous wines of France an abundant supper. My first thought of the year has been of my own, of my brave and devoted wife, who not merely allowed me to do my duty, but further encouraged and helped me to do it. I told her once to soothe her, on an occasion when she was speaking sadly of anniversaries which we should spend apart, that all days are alike. It is not true, and I did not think so myself. Too many memories of family gatherings, some joyful, others saddened by the vanishing of a loved one, are stirred up by these dates for them to be otherwise than like steps on life's great stair, whereon the mind halts to look back on the way already come, fearing, with the dread of the unknown, to take the next step. The north-easter has begun to blow afresh, some huge ice- floes come in again, and my night finishes up with the man on the watch, pushing them off and protecting the vessel with fenders. Amid the great solitude, full of the howling of the wind and the sound of the crashing floes, I pray to God on this morning of the first day of the year to give me strength and ability to rise to the height of the task which I have under- taken, of my own free will, with the sole object of being of some use to my country. About midday the wind dropped. We got the picket-boat quickly into the water, and at 3 o'clock Gourdon, Godfroy, Liouville and myself, slipping through the floes, which have separated a little, make a reconnaisance to the south. Going by way of Salpetriere Bay, among numerous icebergs, we soon 5 65 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' reach Hovgard. Here still stands the hydrographic signal which we set up in 1904, at a little distance from the cleft between two rocks which served as our home for several weeks. We search in vain round this island, which we had only seen before surrounded by an ice-belt, for a shelter for our ship ; and we push on to Lund (Petermann) Island. We approach the place where, after months of fruitless effort, we finally arrived on skis during our previous winter. I climb with Gourdon to the summit, from which there is a fine and exten- sive view, while Liouville collects the mosses and lichens which abound here, defending himself in the meantime against the attacks of vast numbers of megalestrides, fine, strong chestnut- coloured birds, which thought that he had designs on their nests. Very often, almost every time we land, we have to put up with the attacks of the megalestris, and its sharp beak and strong flight justify fear. Still, I must say that never has any one of us, man or dog, been wounded by them, although some say that they have been struck on the head. As a rule every one detests them, but I confess that I have nothing but admiration for these courageous creatures. From the peak we see in the offing some floes, close at band but of no great extent. Along the coast the water is free as far as the Jallour Islets ; further on there is a flat ice-pack full of great clefts. From our observatory we see a fairly big cove on the east of the island, close to a headland where we camped twice in succession during our excursion in December, 1904. At that time we dragged our whale boat over the thick ice at this spot. Now the cove is quite free of ice, and if there are good enough camping-grounds it will provide our ship with an excellent shelter, which we must visit. We descend and get on board the picket-boat, on which during our absence Godfroy has very ingeniously rigged up a tent with a tar- paulin — no unnecessary precaution, for it is raining in torrents. There are some shallows at the entrance of the cove, be- 66 THE SUMMEE OF 1908-1909 tween which the ship will be able to pass; and they will, moreover, stop ice-blocks of deep draught from entering. Altogether this inlet makes an excellent harbour, where two vessels like ours could at need moor, very probably sheltered from all winds, and at any rate from those blowing from be- tween the east-north-east and the south-east, if not from the west. In memory of the date on which we discovered it we laughingly christen it Port Circumcision, its name in future. The great French navigator Bouvet gave the same name, for the same reason, to the remarkable island and cape which he discovered on this day. As soon as the weather is favourable we shall bring the Pourquoi-Pas f here, and shall find whether we can continue southward along the coast or must, on the other hand, make for the open. My choice would be to advance with successive halts, so as to insure a thorough study of this region. But will ice-floes and reefs permit this, and shall we always find sufficient shelter ? The future will decide. At 10 p.m. we return on board drenched, and eat with good appetite. At Wandel Island the ice-blocks are still in the same position, and the north-easterly wind is getting up again. January 2. — The ice anchor which held the hawser across the cove has given way, and already one of the ice-blocks has badly scratched our stern name-board. Certainly Port Char- cot is a dangerous place during north-easterly winds, especially for a boat the size of ours. The situation is serious, and it is necessary to come to a decision quickly. A huge ice-block is threatening our stern, which it would soon crush in, another to starboard is knocking against our side, and a third, still more vast, is bearing down on us to port. I have the two last-named firmly fastened to the shore, and, as the first is buttressed up by them, we shall be protected as long as the cables hold. It is warm and the sun is bright, but the north-easter is 67 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' still blowing strong. We shall not be able to get out until there has been a calm of some duration or the wind has changed. Nevertheless, I have all made ready for departure, and I write out the messages to leave in the cairns in French and in Eng- lish, a language known by all the Norwegians. In the after- noon we suffer the north-easter's worst onset, the weather being very heavy, with violent squalls and blinding snow alternating with sleet or fine rain. For the moment our ice- blocks keep quiet and even protect us against the swell and against other ice, but it is best not to think of what will happen if they recover their freedom of action. The man on the watch has instructions not to leave the stern, and to give warning of the slightest move. January 3. — At midnight the fall of the barometer ceases, and the wind gradually drops. It snows and rains fast. The ice-blocks astern fall apart slowly, inch by inch. The sus- pense is terribly unnerving. To set us free a south wind is required, but it continues to blow from the north-east, though weakly. I dare not release our prisoners for fear that the present calm may be deceptive. At night the snow ceases, but the weather still remains very overcast. I set at liberty the ice-block to port, which is tearing at its cables, and as at 11 o'clock there is a passage just sufficient for the ship I give orders for the fires to be lighted and all cables to be taken up that are not needed to prevent swinging, while I go off to deposit the messages in the cairns. At 1.30 we begin our move, and just succeed in slipping out, our cove being narrower than my own chart makes it to be. At last we get clear without mishap and make for Le- maire Channel, leaving Cape Renard and False Cape Renard to our left. We have to thread two close-packed belts of broken-up bergs, which give us some pretty hard knocks. The snow is falling in heavy Hakes, and abreast of Hovgard we are forced to stop, as we can only see a few metres ahead. 68 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 On the end of the deck the sensation of giddiness produced by the snow falling on the calm black water is very curious. We seem to be rising in a balloon, with the sea and the icebergs plunging rapidly into a bottomless gulf beneath us. Thanks to a break in the weather, we make Port Circum- cision easily and here we moor ourselves firmly with four anchors, almost as if we were alongside a wharf. I believe that there is no risk to our ship here. January 4. — It is fine and warm, and everybody scatters over the island for the usual researches and observations. We rediscover the locality of our old camps in 1904, and the corried beef tin with the pencil message in it. I launch the picket-boat and have Godfrey's awning rigged up more securely, for I want to start off this very day and reconnoitre in the neighbourhood of Cape Tuxen and the Berthelot Islands, which are free of ice and ought to give us a good view from their highest point. At 5 p.m., in beautiful weather, Gourdon, Godfroy and myself set out, and as we only expect to be absent a few hours we only take enough for one meal and the clothes we have on us. As far as Tuxen the sea is clear, and we sight in passing the cairns, erected in 1904. Beyond the cape there is a wide channel between the land and the ice-fields, which we take. Gourdon and I disembark at the foot of an ice-cliff rising on a base of fallen soil, dominated by the imposing perpendicular wall of green diorite which composes Cape Tuxen. Gourdon collects some zoological specimens, and we spend an hour upon the flat top of the cliff. The Berthelot Islands are surrounded by open water, and the channel appears to con- tinue towards Cape Trois-Perez. The extremely clear weather allows us to make out the wonderful high mountains to the west of this cape. On board once more, we endeavour to penetrate by the channel into the big bay which De Gerlache imagined might be a strait, though it is really the head of 69 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' an enormous glacier ; but we are in the midst of colossal piled-up icebergs and the pack-ice is becoming quite solid. It is, indeed, so thick that very probably it may go through several winters without breaking up. Twice we very narrowly escape considerable danger ; for, after we have slipped between an iceberg and the pack, the former bears down upon and all but crushes us. Once the picket-boat is actually wedged in, her ribs crack, and with great difficulty we get away in time, finding for our exit a narrow channel which we only get through by lightening the boat and jumping over the ice, which closes up again as soon as we are gone. It would be absurd to pursue this course, so we make straight for the Berthelot Islands, reaching them soon. Thus, in a few hours we have reached the spot in getting to which we spent six days in 1904 at the cost of great labour, five of us hauling over the ice a boat weighing 850 kilogrammes. Forthwith we make the long and rather toilsome ascent of the big island to have a look to southward. The whole coast-line is blocked. To take the boat anywhere here would be impossible ; but the offing, at a short distance, appears free, so the Pourquoi-Pas ? shall try her luck in that direction. It is 10 p.m. when we get into the picket-boat again, and, judging by the time we took to come, we count on being on board about 1 or 2 a.m. We have a meal of soup, pate"-de- foio-gras, chocolate, jam, and two of our five biscuits — a luxurious repast, which we are destined soon to regret. It is calm, but snow is beginning to fall. When we reach the edge of the land we seek in vain for an opening. Thick pack-ice is now pressing against the cliff, and in spite of all our efforts we can find no way through. I climb up on to a neighbouring islet to have a look at the ice from a point of vantage ; but it is not high enough, so we return to the Berthelot Islands. I climb to the summit of one of these and seem to see in the oiling a narrow-winding channel, running to an open space which ought to lead to 70 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 Tuxen and clear water. I make a note of the icebergs which choke the channel, and as we have no alternative we make our way into it. From this moment onward the snow falls constantly, varied witli an icy rain. There is no night, and the sun remains hidden in the clouds. These facts, combined with our incessant hard work and the absence of such breaks as a meal, prevent us from knowing, when we chance to look at our watches whether it is night or daytime. All goes well at the start of the new route, the picket- boat making her way well through the small floes, even climbing over them at times and breaking them up. Godfroy looks after the motor ; I am at the helm, shouting to him in turn, ' Stop,' ' Right ahead,' ' Back her,' or ' Slow ; ' and Gourdon, armed with a boat-hook, pushes off the floes now ahead and now astern. But soon our misery commences. The channel which I noted is closed, while others have opened, ending in lakes from which there is no exit. A biting little west wind alters the position of the ice every minute. We see a channel forming, but to get there we have to cross a large expanse of ice. When this is not too thick the picket-boat, by going alternately full speed ahead and then astern, very slowly cuts a way for herself. But soon this becomes impossible. Then we climb on to the fragUe ice and with spade and boat- hooks try to cut a channel. It is a slow and exhausting job. The spade is our best tool, but unhappily it sUps from God- froy's benumbed hands and sinks ! We laugh at the mishap and at the woebegone face of our good friend ; but our already feeble efforts now become almost useless. The ice, moreover, gets so thick that even with the spade we should have been able to do nothing. A large stretch of free water lies ahead of us, but we are completely blocked in. We stop a few minutes to take a rest, when a penguin coming up through a hole, rises right at our side. We hesitate a moment whether to kill it for food, but none of us are mur- 7i THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' derously inclined, and we decide to spare it. Like a good fairy anxious to reward us, it turns to the ice, flaps its wings, and suddenly the surface opens, making a wide channel in which the picket-boat floats. We speed along it. But, alas ! our joy is of short duration, for though this channel is open the others which we wished to reach close up at the moment when we are about to enter them and regain our freedom ! I have no idea how long our struggle lasts, but I notice that Gourdon whenever he sits down falls asleep, so we moor our boat for a while to the ice, to try to get a little rest. We are beginning to attempt to fix ourselves up, when another channel opens. We push ahead ; but it is another fraud, and at last with great difficulty we get to a high reef, where we moor as best we can. I climb to the top of this black and gloomy reef, the home of a couple of megalestrides, which in spite of my protestations that we will do them no harm as long as we are not literally dying of hunger, persist in attack- ing me. I discover, with aching heart, that the whole con- formation of the pack-ice has altered and that we are blocked in fine and snug. There is nothing to do but to wait. One of the planks of the boat is stove in, others are so smashed and damaged by the ice that only a fraction of an inch keeps the water out. It will not bear thinking about. We want to stretch ourselves out to sleep, but we have scarcely room, and without coverings or change of clothes, wet to our vests, and our socks soaking, we are pierced with cold. We have one tin of beef, and Gourdon finds a few sticks of chocolate, which with two biscuits and a flask of rum constitute all our provisions. With one accord we decide not to touch them for the present. We settle down as best we can — and best is very bad in the restricted space under the tent, which has holes in several places — and try to sleep ; but the frightful coldness of our feet wakes us every minute, and my anxiety to extricate our- selves from this situation makes me rise a dozen times to 72 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 run to the summit of the reef. After three hours of this game I notice a channel starting from some thin ice, once over which we shall be able to get back to the Berthelot Islands, where there was a cormorant-rookery in 1904. We may even find again the practicable channel along the coast. But before reaching this thin ice there is a stretch covered by a pile of icebergs and I cannot see what is in store for us there. So much the worse ; but we cannot stay here, exposed as we are to the .slightest shock of the ice. We must act. I awaken my comrades, and once more we are off ! After many hard- ships, detours and shocks, we cross the iceberg-zone and the thin ice. There is some open water, to which we have been long strangers, and we reach the Berthelots. The cormorants are still beside an old cairn of ours. At the last extremity we could eat these raw, or singed by the aid of our spirit ; for we have not seen a single seal to provide us with its fat for fuel, and thus allow us to dry ourselves a little. To-day we shall content ourselves with a cake of chocolate and a bis- cuit divided among the three. We assert, moreover, that we are not very hungry — perhaps to make ourselves believe it. I climb to the summit of this thickly moss-clad island, and we decide to go and look again for our old channel along the coast. It is still hermetically sealed, and our efforts are in vain. We therefore attempt to get back to the Berthelot Islands to seek for a corner where the picket-boat will be sheltered, and we can wait ; but in trying to avoid an ice-block we ground on a rock. The sea is falling and the boat is already in a dangerous position. Our situation is critical ; for the drop of the tide is about 2 metres, and we are far from land and our cormorant-isle. We shore up the boat with the oars firmly fastened to the mast laid across and resting on the ice- floe — which fortunately is also aground. Then, there being but one tide a day we wait many long hours like this. My companions get some snatches of sleep, but I cannot do the 73 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' same, my responsibility weighing on me too much. I reproach myself with having dragged them into this adventure without taking more food and clothing, when I am usually so careful- I am anxious not only for them but also for the Pourquoi- Pas f It must be nearly three days since we left, and our comrades on board must be very worried. They will certainly try to succour us, either in boats or in the ship itself ; and what risks will they not run, especially in this heavy weather, not to mention the waste of coal ! At last we get afloat and return to our cormorant-rookery, where we decide to wait for a break in the weather or a change of wind. During the hours we spent there I do not know how often I climbed the summit. It is probable that if I added up the climbs made on this wretched trip I should find I have covered more than several thousand metres. I seem to espy a loosening of the ice along the coast. At any rate the distance to go before reaching open water beyond Cape Tuxen is shortened, so we set out full of hope. We struggle once more with the ice, making for one rift after another. We seem on the point of gaining ground, when suddenly the motor stops and, in spite of all efforts, amiable encouragements, and harsh words, it is impossible to start it again. While Gotlfroy takes it to pieces, I use the paddle and with great difficulty we reach the rocky point projecting from the ice-cliff on the coast. Had we not got there we should infallibly have been swept to the end of the bay full of clashing icebergs — and what would have become of our frail boat in that titanic chaos ? Even here huge floes pass to and fro according to the movements of the tide, but a lucky eddy seems to protect us. While the indefatigable Godfroy tries to find a cure for the engine willi l lie help of Gourdon, I make an examination of the rock. I find a few rather rare barnacles and on the summit a solitary megalestris. On my return I hear the 74 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 comfort ins; sound of tho motor which has been so good as to restart work. We take a short rest while waiting for a fresh opportunity to tempt fortune again. I begin my climbs once more, and about 3 a.m. the ice- floes break away quite sharply from the coast. In a few minutes we are at the foot of the cliff, threading our way as best we can, risking every instant the fall of debris upon our heads, and frequently grounding. Then the motor stops again, and this time there is nothing to be done, the differential is worn out. We have not even the consolation of cursing the poor motor, for it has toiled irreproachably, and the wonder ifi that it has been able to resist so long the strain to which we have put it. We try to get along with the paddle, oars, and boat-hook, but it is useless, especially as the floes are closing in on us ; and all we can do is to return to our rocky point. It is impossible for us to go back to the Berthelot Islands, and, besides, our comrades would have no chance of finding us there if we could. But, as we cannot stay to perish of hunger and cold and also cannot force others to search for us in the midst of reefs and ice-floes, we decide to abandon the picket-boat and try to reach Cape Tuxen by way of the summit of the ice-cliff. We cannot be sure that this is possible ; but there is nothing else to do, and once we are at the cape, a break in the weather will perhaps make our signals visible from Port Circumcision. Gourdon offers to go alone to Cape Tuxen, but of course I refuse. We reckon that it will take us 8 or 10 horns' tramp in the snow, and we appoint 10 p.m. as our time for setting off. I am chagrined at being obliged to abandon the picket- boat, which I tested with my wife at Bougival, which M. Doumer christened Monica, thus making my infant his god- daughter, and which has served us bravely and faithfully. Although the others do not connect it with such memories as I do, they are also sad over the desertion, and we seek in vain to console ourselves by reckoning up the advantages we 75 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' shall gain by its absence, the greater room on deck, the decrease in top- weight, etc., etc. We make up our very light bundles and then, to put strength into ourselves, we open our tin of preserve and eat a little chocolate. I pencil an account of our adven- tures to leave in the boat, and we wait for the appointed hour, while the snow continues to fall in big, thick flakes. Under the tent on board we look like smugglers preparing to carry out a raid. We joke away, as we have done from the start, but our faces are worn and look serious whenever conversation drops. We are unwilling to confess that we are hungry, and we are even astonished at having been able to do with so little without suffering, but my clothes have become so loose that I tighten my belt in vain ; and my two comrades have since admitted that they were in the same plight. Ten minutes to 10 ! In a few minutes, we have decided, despite the bad weather, despite the snow falling more heavily than ever, we shall be off, to try our last chance. We have a last look at what we are taking away and another sad glance at what we are leaving. We have our bundles in our hands when suddenly from the direction of Cape Tuxen there comes to us, distinctly and beyond all possibility of doubt, the prolonged whistle of our ship's familiar siren. In an in- stant we climb the rock and all three of us together shout out with all our might ; and then, conscious that I have a strong voice, I yell thrice in succession loud enough to burst my lungs. They have heard us on board, for the siren answers us with three blasts at intervals, and finally a great joyful-sounding shout from all the crew together reaches our cars. But our distress begins over again and communicates itself to the Pourquoi-Pas ?. The fog is dense, the snow is still falling, and how can the ship get here amid the ice-floes and roofs ? Fortune comes our way, the snow ceases, and through a break in the weather appears a big cloud of black smoke. Soon after \\<- make out hull and masts. How lino she looks, 7 6 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 our Pourquoi-Pas f, through the snow and fog, pitching in her struggle with the ice, which she breaks slowly but surely. We admire her with beating hearts. We wave our flag on the end of a boat-hook, and the grand old national ensign rises majestically at the mast-head. The snow hides all up again and then the ship reappears closer at hand, still struggling. Never shall I forget this moving spectacle in so grim a setting. There is but a little more ice to get through, so wo return to the picket-boat, which seems like a long-lost friend, and greedily devour the provisions we have left. With our mouths full we christen our rock Deliverance Point. The ship is now quite close and we can make out the men preparing to launch a boat. But we want to rejoin the ship in proper fashion, by our own efforts. While I hoist the flag astern God- frey succeeds with a desperate effort in restarting the motor, and we move along rapidly, soon to stop again. So I finish the remaining yards with the paddle, putting all my energy into the work to show them on board that we are not at the end of our strength. Staff and crew await us at the entry-port in their dripping oilskins. In their faces we can read sincere emotion and joy at their success. I embrace our comrades and shake hands vigorously with all. At this moment my thoughts are not of myself nor of the load off my heart, but of them. What a reception we get ! A good fire, dry clothes and especially dry socks spread out on our bunks, a good supper in readiness for us, and (what pleases us best of all) smiling, happy faces around us. As I feared, the anxiety on board has been great. At the end of 24 hours, knowing how little we had in the way of provisions, they began to be worried. They hardly knew in what direction we had gone. Eouch set off in a whale-boat with Besnard, Dufreche, Boland and nerve", taking bed- sacks and food. They landed first on the Jallour Islands, where they left a cairn and provisions ; then at Cape Tuxen, 77 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' where they spent the night. They next tried, but in vain, to carry the whale boat over the ice. On their return, Liou- ville, Gain and Senouque proposed to set out in their turn in the Norwegian boat ; but Bongrain decided very wisely to weigh anchor after leaving at Port Circumcision a tent, a dory, some bed-sacks and clothes, provisions in abundance, a stove and a ton of coal. As they left the cove, a cable fouled the screw, and then the ship grounded rather violently astern ; but in spite of the heavy weather and the snow they reached Cape Tuxen, passing through the midst of the reefs without seeing them. Finally they found us. The success of this bold venture does the greatest honour to Bongrain. He was admirably seconded by Bouch, and helped also by all. We change our clothes and then sit down to table, while I leave to Bongrain, who brought the ship out so well, the task of taking her back. We were gaily describing our ad- ventures, when there came a great shock, the glasses over- turned, and the doors of the ward-room banged violently. We have grounded horribly. Probably deceived as to dis- tances by the snow, we have run extremely close to land, and under Cape Tuxen' s high black cliff we have stranded ourselves on a rock that is just a-wash. In spite of the engine going immediately astern, the ship will not move. The tide is at its height, and we have already over three inches below our water-line exposed at the bows. All our gaiety vanishes and gloomily we await low tide. Perhaps the ship may then slide off the rock, which stands isolated in the midst of fairly great depths. This hope is shattered, at low tide her bows are exposed 6 feet 9 inches below the water-line, and the rock is just a-wash. The iron stem is bent and broken, the false keel must be ripped for a long way, since large pieces are floating loose on the surface of the water, and there are even fragments of the keel to be seen. Our aft deck is under water. 78 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 In fact, we have met with the same accident at the Fran- ca is ; but, if the latter's injury was bad enough to drive us to the pumps night and day, she floated off at once. Now we cannot find out whether we are making water, and in any «ase we shall be hard put to it to get ourselves off. All day long we work to lighten the forepart and shift the weight to the stern. Our anchors and chains are secured to the rock, our water-casks emptied, our boats launched and filled with all the heavy weights taken from the forepart which we cannot shift aft. We try in vain to throw out an anchor, but the bottom is rocky and affords no hold whatever. Need I say what terrible, almost despairing horns I go through ? For the moment there is no danger to the crew, the sea is fortunately calm, and it happens that there are no icebergs near us. Land is quite close at hand, and with what we could save from the ship we could winter there under good conditions while waiting to be rescued. Some of us could even try to take a boat to Deception and seek aid from the whalers. But the Expedition would be at an end when barely commenced. All my efforts in organizing it, fitting it out, and bringing it here would be fruitless, and the page which I dreamt of adding to the history of French ex- plorations would never see the light. I am unwilling to believe that we cannot succeed in getting off, if necessary we can empty the ship completely ; but in what state will she be ? I am already contemplating the possibility — for one must provide for the worst — of returning lamely to Punta Arenas to get our repairs done at any cost, if it swallows up the remains of my private fortune, and making a fresh start. It is not only my honour which is at stake, it is my country's. At midnight we put the engine full speed astern. The unhappy vessel vibrates as though she wished to shatter herself ; but nothing happens. At last, going ahead, we swing a little to starboard, then after waiting a few minutes we go astern with all our might. Violent shocks and alarming 79 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' sounds of cracking follow. We begin over again, and suddenly with a long grinding noise the ship is off. We are afloat t What a sigh of relief from every breast, what a shout from every one of us ! We have literally torn the Pourquoi-Pas ? from off her fatal rock. In spite of the terrible weariness for all of these last six days, days without sleep for some, we set to work again pack- ing things back in their places. Anchors and chains are- brought smartly on board again, and at 3 a.m. we are ready to start off once more. For the moment the ship is taking in no water (though she will a little later) ; but from now, if I personally cannot afford to forget that we are damaged forward — and badly, to judge by the amount of wood torn off by the- shocks and jars given to the ship — and if others probably think about it in silence, we shall all act as if we knew nothing. To return to Port Circumcision we have to cross some thick drift-ice, made up principally of the debris of icebergs,, that is to say, of very compact and hard ice. Once the ship gives a succession of strong rolls. We shall never know whether we touched a shallow, a spur of ice, or perhaps even an unwary whale. 1 The weather has turned fine again and we have been favoured with a superb sun-rise. For six days we might have forgotten that such a thing existed. Two rather big icebergs block our harbour, which we move out of the way. Then, when the ship is moored, I hoist the colours, con- gratulate the crew on their courage and spirit, and thank our comrades who came to our aid. Fore and aft we have a lively supper and we go to bed, not to get up again until 1 p.m. I take back from Petermann Island all that was deposited there for us. Nothing had been forgotten, from medicines to tobacco. 1 Whon on hor return the ship wont into dry dock at Monto Vidoo wo found ft deep scratch, 13 motroa long, on tho port-aido, which nifty havo boon done thia day. If so, wo evidently passed over a point of rock. 80 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 The next two days are grey and heavy, with some fulls of snow. We spend them in putting straight the ship, which needs it badly, and tilling the water-casks. Twin cairns are built, in which we leave documents telling what we have done so far and our plans for the future. I make several ascents to the summit of the island, by a steep snowy slope, and find that we have few ice-floes to en- counter in reaching the open sea, but that our route is strewn with reefs and big icebergs. On the 12th I climb for the last time to my observatory with Bongrain. The weather is calm and clear. We make a careful note of our direction, and, to save time, from where T am I shout orders for the fires to be got up. Ninety poor penguins and a seal have to be killed to pro- vide us with a stock of fresh meat. Gain has fastened rings of variously coloured celluloid, such as are used for fowls, round the legs of numerous penguins, both young and old, and of some cormorants. Thus it will perhaps be possible one day to get some certain information about the movements of these birds. Some writers claim, though I do not know upon what observations they found their statements, that the parents do not return to the old rookery a second year, and that it is only inhabited by the young who were hatched there. 1 At 5 p.m. we begin to weigh anchor, but the ice-blocks force us to manoeuvre with care, and it is two hours later before we set out. The ice that we had to get through was thicker than we supposed. Fragments of the pack, resting against huge bergs, made a barrier which had to be broken by sheer force, and the reefs whose black crests rise up from the white expanse, left us no freedom for manoeuvring. Now it is between the perpendicular walls of the icebergs that we are steaming dead slow, but the sea is clear and it is happily fine and calm ; 1 M. Gain's observations proved, later, that exactly the contrary is the case. 6 8i THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' for otherwise we should not have been able to extricate our- selves from our dangerous position. Godfroy is watching from the crow's-nest the shallows which, owing to the even surface and transparency of the water, can be very distinctly made out from that height. The scenery is superb. The wild and lofty coast, with its rocks standing out black against the white of the snow and the blue of the glaciers, is magnificently lighted up, and we see outlined against the sky the two rounded domes of Le Matin Mountain — a name which I gave out of gratitude to the news- paper whose generosity made possible my first expedition and which has never since grudged us its assistance — and a succession of other summits beyond. At 10 o'clock the sun sets and the land takes on a delicate rose tint. About us a number of megapteras are gambolling among the icebergs. Two of them for over ten minutes have been beating the sea violently with their tails, which they let fall quite flat, with a deafening noise. Perhaps it is an amatory demonstration, for in these movements there is nothing of the agitation or violence which would be the result, for instance, of an attack by thrashers, the dreaded enemies of the whales. At 11 we are able to set off in an open sea. The offing is completely clear, even of icebergs and, in appearance at least, of rocks. We steer to set Victor Hugo Island and round it on the north, for to the south there is reason to dread the Betbeder Islands and some reefs on which from the Fran$ais we saw the sea breaking with violence. January 13. — When I go on watch at midnight it is cold, although the thermometer is only some tenths of a degree below zero, the blast being penetrating. The swell runs fairly strong from the south-west. Soon snow falls very thick, com- pletely shutting out the view. But at 3 a.m. the wind blows strongly from the south-south-west, dispersing the clouds, and I see Victor Hugo Island very clear to port, as well as 82 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 four icebergs and an ioeblook. This isolated island, the most northerly of the string known as the Biscoe Islands, is a typical cap-island of medium size, being a segment of a sphere in ice covered with snow. A few reefs, the only black spots in the whole formation, prolong it east and west, as well as another little island of much less dimensions, which apparently is linked to the large one by a line of reefs. It is fairly evident that when Evensen says that he sailed between the land and the most northerly group of the Biscoe Islands it is these of which he is speaking ; for we never saw the sea clear between the others and the land — apart from the question as to whether the reefs allow a passage. There is a big difference between the present state of the ice and that which we found in 1904 and 1905. In February, 1904, it took us fifteen hours to reach Victor Hugo Island, struggling with all our might in the pack-ice, which already reached as far as the island and which in December, 1905, surrounded it entirely. We pass the island on the north-west and then steer for Loubet Land. The breeze is fairly strong from the south-west, and the sea choppy and disagreeable. The weather is over- cast, but soon we see very distinctly, lighted up by the ice- blink, the rest of the string of cap-islands, and beyond or be- tween them black masses which look as if they belong to the mainland. The icebergs around us are extremely numerous. At 1 p.m. we make a big sweep round a mass of table- shaped icebergs, amongst which show up four or five rocky peaks. This neighbourhood is dangerous, for in the very fre- quent fogs and snowstorms one is constantly running the risk, if one escapes the icebergs, of f ouling a reef, whose presence is not always betrayed by breakers. Anyhow, whenever ice- bergs are seen concentrated round a point, it is wise to keep away from them, for I have noticed that almost invariably they mark out a shoal or a line of reefs. It is a gross error on the part of certain explorers when they say that one can always . 83 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' without fear pass close to icebergs, owing to the enormous base which they have under water ; for a reef often has walls so perpendicular that icebergs rest close up against it. It was through such erroneous reasoning, not based upon experience, that we all but wrecked the Franqais on a reef in Fournier Bay and again in Biscoe Bay and that finally she stranded so seri- ously on the coast of Adelaide Island. We have had many opportunities of discovering the truth in our navigation of the region in which we now are. I do not mean to say that every group of icebergs necessarily indicates the presence of a reef or a shallow, but unless one is quite in the open sea there is always reason for fear, and it is better to observe caution iu their neighbourhood. The wind is dropping, but the sea remains very rough and we are tossing from side to side. About 4 p.m. a fairly wide opening appears between two of the large cap-shaped islands which, since we left Victor Hugo Island, have followed, one on another, in unbroken succession, even overlapping at times. These two islands are probably those which we marked down on the chart of the Frangais under the names of Babot and Nansen Islands. The sea appears clear between them, but to reach the strait running between it is necessary to pass between two rows of enormous icebergs of curious shape. One looks like a giant's arm-chair with a back about 40 metres high. The weather clears and we see the mainland in the shape of a very large bay bounded by high mountains, which we recog- nize as being Cape Waldcck-Rousseau and Capo Marie. A little floating ice lies across our path, and beyond it is the pack-ice, made up of large and very thick floes. At 6 o'clock we are in the pack and we could push fairly far into the bay, with careful navigation ; but it is for the south that we want to make, and I am conscious that by pushing on we should lose the benefit of the fine weather, of which we must take the best advantage now, and that we should burn a lot of coal to no particular purpose. We stop, therefore, in the 84 TIIE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 midst of the floes to make a survey of the coast and take a sounding, which gives 400 metres without touching bottom. The weather is splendid, with strong sunshine, but the swell is still very heavy and around us huge fragments of ice collide with a crash, while the sea swirls and eddies between them. A Weddell's Seal lies on a floe sleeping peacefully, with an occa- sional voluptuous stretch, paying no heed to the rolling and pitching of its couch. The great iidet at whose entrance we are is situated in 66° 15' South latitude. Although it does not appear on the Eng- lish Admiralty charts, it seems to me very probable that it was ficcn and perhaps even visited by the sealing captain B. Pendle- ton, of whom we have already spoken in connexion with Decep- tion Island and who commanded the flotilla on which was N. Palmer. J. N. Reynolds indeed says : * 'In the northern part of Palmer Land, in latitude 66° 5' and about 63° west longitude, Captain Pendleton has discovered a bay free from ice, which he entered a long way but without ascertaining its extent southward. In these seas the predominant winds are between west-north-west and west-south-west, and all gales are from the north-east. A gale seldom lasts more than six hours. The fine weather comes from the south-south-west and eouth-south-east, which does not happen many days in a month.' These last statements prove that Pendleton at least sailed in these regions, although our experience is that even in the good season the north-easterly gales often last more than six hours. It seems to me only just to give this bay, w r hose entrance we have definitely marked on the map, the name of Pendleton, which will at all events recall a brave American captain who visited these regions and deserves to have his name commem- orated here. 1 Executives Documents Twenty-third Congress, Second Session : Doc. No- 105, January 27, 1835. ' A Report of J. N. Reynolds in relation to Islands, Reefs, and Shoals in the Pacific Ocean, etc' New York, September 24, 1828 (quoted by Edwin Swift Balch, Antarctica, Philadelphia, 1902). 85 THE VOYAGE OP THE 'WHY NOT' In manoeuvring to get free of the pack, our rudder fouled a big floe badly and one of the strands of the tiller-rope parted. An emergency cable was immediately made, and with the help of poles we got away from the thick floes. During our short stay, however, a quantity of drift-ice, coming from I don't know where, has gathered ahead, and it is not until 10 p.m. that we are clear. We stop for two hours to repair the tiller-rope and take advantage of this forced delay to make a sounding. On January 14, very early in the morning, we are level with the northernmost point of what in 1905 we named Loubet Land. The weather, which was foggy, has cleared up remark- ably, the view is magnificent, and in front of us opens a wide channel leading into a vast bay. To the north the entrance of the strait is bounded by one of the big cap-shaped islands and to the south by the northern extremity of the supposed Loubet Land. I say ' supposed, ' since with the help of the clear weather that we are enjoying it seems to me that this Loubet Land is what Biscoe discovered and called Adelaide Island. It was the fog, bad weather, and our accident which prevented us from recognizing it formerly on the Fran^ais. President Loubet, the sympathetic friend of our earlier expedi- tion, will lose nothing, for his name shall be transferred to land a good deal more important lying to the east of the island. We were, nevertheless, acting in absolutely good faith when persisting in our error, even after the Expedil ion's ret urn, with the documentary evidence before our eyes ; and for this reason I went to the London Royal Geographical Society, whore with my friend Matha I consulted, to make assurance doubly sure, Biscoe's original journal and the various Eng- lish charts whereon Adelaide Island is marked according to that navigator's statements. We found on Admiralty chart, 1238, published in 1905 and combining all the previous ones, that Adelaide Island is 7 miles from north to south and 8 miles from east to west. It is placed in 67° 15' South latitude and 68° 21' longitude west of Greenwich. 1 do not know why the Admir- 86 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 alty did not accept Biscoo's longitude, which is, as we have said, 69° 26' west of Greenwich. Probably they followed (ho Bdgicd's erroneous information on the point. Now our plan of the coast of Loubet Land runs between latitudes 6G° 41' and 67° 5' passing through longitude 68° west of Greenwich, which thus leaves Biscoe with full credit for the discovery of the land, whose exact latitude he stated, and assigns to the coast which we sailed along in 1905 an extent of 35 miles, that is to say, at least 27 miles more than was allowed by the earlier navigator. Biscoe, as we shall show more clearly later on, certainly viewed this neighbourhood from a much greater distance than he imagined, which necessarily threw him out in his measurements. He would probably have been very astonished to learn the unexpected details which we are able to give about his discovery, while adding to it considerably. His description of what he could see is quite remarkable in ita correctness and must be quoted here in full. John Biscoe, English sealing captain, whose name deserves to be placed with those of the most famous Antarctic explorers, and who received the gold medal of the Paris Geographical Society, sailed on behalf of the enterprising firm of Enderby Brothers on board the brig Tula, accompanied by the cutter Lively. In 1831 he discovered Enderby Land. He returned to the Antarctic the following year, starting out from New Zea- land. On February 14, 1832, when in 66° 30' S. and 78° 4' W. he came across close groups of icebergs and a quantity of floes. He counted ' not less than four to five hundred icebergs around him.' On February 15, he wrote in his journal : ' On the 15th, strong gales from the southward. Water smooth. Latitude at noon, 67° 01' S., longitude, 71° 48'W. At 5 p.m. saw land bearing east-south-east, which appeared at a great distance — run for it all night with a light breeze from the south-west. At noon our latitude was 67° 15', longitude 69° 29' W. Tempera- ture, air 33° [Fahrenheit], water 33£°, at a depth of 250, no bottom. Barometer 2930°. This island being the farthest 87 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' known land to the southward, I have honoured it with the name of H.G.M. Queen Adelaide. It has a most imposing and beautiful appearance, having one very high peak running up into the clouds, and occasionally appears both above and below them ; about one-third of the mountains, which are about 4 miles in extent from north to south, have only a thin scattering of snow over their summits. Toward the base the other two- thirds are buried in a field of snow and ice of the most dazzling brightness. This bed of snow and ice is about 4 miles in extent, sloping gradually down to its termination ; a cliff, 10 or 12 feet high, which is split in every direction for at least 200 or 300 yards from its edge inwards, and which appears to form icebergs, only waiting for some severe gales or other cause to break them adrift and put them in motion. From the great depth of water, I consider this island to have been originally a cluster of perpendicular rocks, and I am thoroughly of opinion that the land I before saw last year, could I have got to it, would have proved to be in the same state as this, and likewise all land found in high southern latitudes.' 1 This passage in Biscoe's journal proves that he saw very clearly and distinctly the island, or rather the mainland, which we traced and whose surveying we were able to do ; but he was, I repeat, much farther distant than he imagined, probably at least 23 miles off instead of 3. The subsequent narrative of our exploration will prove that otherwise he could not have stated that he had an island in front of him or have assigned to it such modest dimensions as 8 miles, whereas in reality it is 70 miles long ! His distance away is also shown by the height which he gives to the ice-cliffs. I can, indeed, affirm that the average height of these cliffs, which we skirted twice in 1909, and under which at less than a mile's distance we stranded with the Fran^ais in 1905, is at least 30 metres. They towered above our masts then. Lastly, the soundings which we took at 1 The Antarctic Manual (L^ntUm : Royal Geographical Society, 1901). 'The Journal of John Hiscoe,' p. 331. 88 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 over 6 miles from the shore, when compared with Biscoe's sounding, tend equally to prove the case. It is very probable also that Biseoe did not see the highest peaks of Adelaide Island (as happened to us in 1905), and that he saw, ' occasionally, appearing both above and below ' the clouds, the compara- tively lower peaks, or that he mistook for the summits the rocky beds beneath them ; for, although the thaw had been considerable during our summer campaign of 1909 the two extraordinary and very lofty peaks which dominate Adelaide Island were covered with a vast mantle of permanent snow, while the spurs, on the other hand, were free of snow, and it is correct to say of them, as seen from the sea, that ' the two-thirds are buried in a field of snow and ice of the most dazzling bright- ness.' Now I wish no one to misunderstand the arguments which I think it right to put forward concerning Biscoe's visit or to suppose that I want to criticize him. On the contrary, I have quoted him, before continuing my narrative, because I con- sider his as the proper basis of my own descriptions, and I profess the sincerest admiration for Biseoe, as for all those who by their energy and doggedness accomplished great things with simple means. It must be remembered, on the one hand, that the methods of observation, as far as the determination of longitude is concerned, were nothing like as exact in 1832 as nowadays and that the value of chronometers then was not to be compared with ours, especially after the long and toilsome voyage which they had to undergo with Biseoe on a vessel of small tonnage, probably unequipped with any one else to look after them except Biseoe himself. And, on the other hand, nothing is so productive of error as the eyesight in polar regions. The least change in the weather alters one's estimates in truly fantastic manner, and all distinction between different levels vanishes. No Polar explorer, I feel sure, will contradict me when I Btate that it is impossible without a guiding-mark to judge a distance in the Antarctic by the naked eye with any 89 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' pretence of exactness. I confess that I feel infinitely more pleasure in verifying the correctness of one of my predecessors, whose faith is so good as Biscoe's, than in detecting his errors or proving the incorrectness of his assertions. From the same point of view, though it is obviously very gratifying to be the first to name a geographical point and to see on the maps designations which recall to one one's own country, I have considered it a point of honour, on this Expedition as on the last, to keep and even restore in the right places the names which my predecessors have given to their discoveries. The various names adopted have always been and will always be 1 he cause of numerous squabbles — and often of violent polemics, for national pride in its narrowest sense here comes on the scene. Nevertheless, as discoveries gradiially multiply, the question seems to me more and more easy of solution. At any rate it presents no difficulty in the region where we are, where it is most simple to render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's. Still, I cannot pass over in silence, after having read Biscoe's own Journal and carefully gone over his ground, the following sentence in H. B. Mill's very interesting book, The Siege of the South Pole, p. 162 : ' Graham Land might well be restricted to the southern part south of Adelaide Island.' Now Biscoe says, precisely, ' this island (Adelaide Island) being the furthest known land to the southward,' and I am not aware that any one ever even claimed, before the Pourquoi-Pas" 1 f voyage, to have seen land south of Adelaide Island except Alexander I Land. Further, the land sighted by Biscoe, to which the name of Graham Land has been given, is, as he himself says, behind the Biscoe Islands, and seems to me to have the sole right to (lie name. In this matter the Americans for their part might object and say that Pendleton saw the land before Biscoe, which is probable ; but that captain made the mistake of not describing it and not suggesting any name. In any case, Pendleton Bay is a memorial of his visit to this region. It serins to me that the name of Palmer Archipelago was 3 o THE SUMMER OP 1908-1909 appropriately given by the Belgica to the groups of islands situated to the north of De Gerlache Strait and might be extended to Two Hummocks, Christiania, and even Trinity Islands. Then, as indeed the English Admiralty chart calls it, Danco Land will serve as the name of the coast south of De Gerlache Strait, Graham Land extending from 65° to 67° S. latitude. It falls to us now to name the lands discovered by the Pourquoi-Pax f south and east of Adelaide Island. Before the Francais and the Pourquoi-Pas f no one had sighted Adelaide Island since Biscoe except Evensen and De Gerlache. Evensen, who has given no written description of it, merely told me that on November 10, 1893, he sighted what he took to be Adelaide Island and met the first ice-floes, which forced him to divert his course westward. As for De Gerlache, he only writes that on February 16, 1898, after having left the strait on the 13th, and passed on without seeing the Biscoe Islands on account of fog, ' we see land about south-west, doubtless the Adelaide Island, of which Biscoe caught a glimpse.' 1 Lecointe, the Expedition's hydrographer, says in his account 2 that between February 13 and 16, ' we perceived occasionally in the dim distance a land from which we were cut off by ice,' and in the hydrographical section of the scientific report he only devotes the following lines to the place : ' During the night of February 15-16, we sight land to port which seems to bo an island, whose location corresponds with that given by Biscoe to Adelaide Island. The higher part of this land is perhaps hidden by the fog. The island presents to us a ridge running from north-east to south-west, the distance separating us from it and the heaviness of the atmosphere preventing us from dis- t inguishing its details.' s Moreover, the course, judged entirely by the reckoning on the chart, is probably a little incorrect, since it is impossible that the Belgica can have passed within 1 A do Gerlache, Quinze mois dans V Antarctique, p. 161. * G. Lecointe, Au pays dea Manchots, p. 189. 3 Rapports eeientifiquet de la ' Belgica.' Travaux hydrogr*phique* et Instruc- tive* nautiqrie*, by G. Lecointe, p. 96. 9i THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' three miles of this coast without running aground and with- out the staff noticing that they were following a line of cliffs over 30 metres in height. In any event they were very lucky, for on their course they record, at the same spot where we ran across them and in almost as great numbers, a collection of 85 icebergs. These icebergs, as we were able to assure ourselves, marked a line of most dangerous reefs. To sum up, since Biscoe's time there has been no definite information. The bay in front of us is fringed on all sides by high moun- tains, whose summits are of various shapes. Their bases ter- minate, as is the case with all others we have seen on Danco and Graham Lands, in ice-cliffs, here and there intersected by steep, rocky outcrops, often forming headlands. Between these headlands huge crevassed glaciers abound, sending down numberless iceblocks. Toward the south in particular, the ice-cliff forms the end of a vast snow-covered terrace coming from the mountains in a gentle undulating slope, out of which rise weird and majestic granite cones, the nunotdks 1 of Green- land, looking like monolithic nails or teeth of colossal monsters. Northward a wide channel, though at the present moment choked with floes and icebergs, separates the mainland from the Riscoe Islands, which from this aspect present the same cap-like appearance as when seen from the open sea, their cliffs perhaps higher and more perpendicular and over- lapping one another. To the south Adelaide Island, ending in a little cap-shaped island, looks the same, but is vaster and loftier. Near its extremity rises an isolated triangular sum- mit, W-Iain Peak, which is to be seen far off at sea, with its three-sided black mass standing out on a white ground. The great cap mounts slowly and gradually toward the south, as far as the imposing mountainous masses which dominate the island and, as we shall see later, form its southern end. Ade- 1 Inouliir hills or mountains surrounded by an ice-sheet (Webstar). — Tram, 92 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1900 Udde Island is an enormous skull-cap island, the last of the numerous chain of the Biscoes. But, as the English explorer remarks, it is the only one with mountains on it ; and we may add that its dimensions are such that morphologically it is scarcely one of the group. So too with its coast, as we see distinctly now that our vessel has penetrated some miles into the bay ; there are some very lofty ice-cliffs, like cleavages in the cap, which destroy its regular appearance. It has not, either, the shape of a segment of a circle, a hollow space being cut out of its side. A fjord, roughly comma-shaped, separates it from the land. This being completely blocked with ice, it is impossible to navigate it now ; so also it is equally impossi- ble to say, as the mountains overlap one another, whether at the end of the fjord Adelaide Land joins the mainland and is therefore a peninsula, or whether it is separated from it by a channel, which cannot but be narrow. 1 Some of the heights which fringe the edge and bottom of the bay seem to be islands. In all eases they are cut off by deep inlets. At the very end rises a rocky mass, whose outline stands out against the sky like that of a crouching lion. It blocks the view on this side and prevents us from discovering whether we are not in the entrance of a strait. However, as we go on a little, from the elevation of the crow's-nest I see a big glacier behind the Lion, looking very much as if it linked up the lateral ridges, and so I feel practically certain that our bay comes to an end there. In order to proceed farther we have to push aside or avoid some big floes and steam between some very tall icebergs, which literally choke up the bay and its ramifications. Ice- bergs and iceblocks are decidedly the curse of the region which we have chosen for our expedition. Great or small, they con- stitute a perpetual danger for the ship, which is never safe from them, whether she be under steam, at rest, or moored 1 This question was settled later by an excursion made during our stay in Marguerite Bay. 93 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' alongside a floe or in a cove. Almost always on the move, changing their course with surprising rapidity according to the wind and currents, at times heading opposite ways, they give no opportunity for repose, even in the calmest of weather, and it needs the gift of philosophy and the indifference ac- quired by habit to have the courage to anchor anywhere. Without risk of exaggeration, I may say that if we had been able to count those which we saw, even during the summer campaign, the figure would easily have mounted to over 10,000. Apart from the danger arising from their bulk, occasionally they break up, setting up great swelling waves which may bring danger too, and scattering over the ice-pack their frag- ments of blue ice as hard as rocks, against which the ship runs the risk of serious injury, especially when she is steaming in apparent safety amid the much softer floating ice which conceals the dreaded foe. A short distance off, behind the big floes, we see the coastal pack-ice from which they have broken away. To loiter in this bay would be an unpardonable mistake in this superb weather, by which we have the chance of profiting. Five clear days are so rare in the Antarctic that one must know how to take advantage of them ; for in a few hours one may accomplish a task absolutely impossible in weather that is merely overcast, and the success of an expedition depends principally on the rapidity with which one can grasp favourable chances. It was for this reason that I insisted on having a comparatively fast ship, and I have had no cause to repent it. We stay to survey and take a sounding, and then set off again for the open sea and the south of Adelaide Land. But we make a detour to see whether the latter is really an island. We pass alongside a magnificent table iceberg. In the crow's- nest I am just on a level wit h it s top plateau, which a beautiful snowy petrel is skimming in its elegant flight. From my observatory it seemed as if the Adelaide mountain range united with that of the mainland by a neck of snow, and 94 THE SUMMEE OF 1908-1900 as if a nunatalc looking like a Swiss chalet stood in the middle. Later I was bound to recognize that I had been deceived by appearances, as so often happens. I christen the great bay we have left Matha Bay, in memory of the distinguished Lieutenant Matha, the clever and sym- pathetic second-in-command of the Fran$ais Expedition. Though in charge of the hydrographical department, such was his extreme modesty that he never allowed me to give his name to any of our discoveries on that Expedition. It is 10.30 a.m. when we pass again between the double row of icebergs. We follow the coast-line of Adelaide Land, from which we keep about four or five miles distant. The sea is clear, without trace either of drift ice or floes, but it is crowded with enormous icebergs in the offing, while the coast is bristling with a kind of rampart of ice-blocks, which look very much as if they came from the cliff. Biscoe certainly did not exaggerate when he estimated the icebergs in sight at 500, and there has been no change since his time. So likewise as he remarked, animal life is very scarce. This is a forbidding country, and only at rare intervals does a whale break the silence with its heavy blowing as it appears on the surface for a few moments. We pass once more, to seaward, the reef where on January 15, 1905 — exactly five years and a day ago — we of the Frangais were so justifiably overcome with anxiety and despair at not being able to continue our researches. At that time, to reach where we now are, we should have had to cross by sheer force a thick ice-pack, which only allowed us between it and the coast a channel barely a mile and a half wide. It encouraged in us, nevertheless, the hope of pushing on ; and it would assuredly have led us on to the discovery of Matha Bay, but that, in passing between two huge icebergs, whose draught of water persuaded us, in our ignorance, that we were running no risks, we grounded so violently and so seriously damaged our bows that for three months we had to pump 23 hours out 95 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' of the 24 to keep the ship afloat. What tribulations ensued, caused by an engine with difficulty making 5 knots in dead calm and by constant injuries, while under sail the ship would scarcely steer ! And all the time gale of wind followed upon gale, varied by violent snowstorms and dense fogs ! And now what a difference ! We have a strong and trust- worthy engine, easily making its 8 knots ; and even the watches are comfortable, thanks to the wheel-house on the poop and the hitherto prevalent long spells of fine weather. Nevertheless, it is with emotion that we talk to the old crew about our brave little ship on which, with no thought but for the end in view, we struggled so hard and were brought back at last, exhausted, but safe and sound. How sadly we saluted her wreck when we passed it in the Eiver Plate ! * It is calm, with a long swell from the west. The peaks above the terrace of ice are swathed in clouds, but the sky shows big blue patches between the north-east and the south, while in the west it is very heavy and violet-black in colour. In honour of our crossing of the Antarctic Circle, the colours are hoisted and double rations served out to the crew. We pass close to a superb table iceberg of classical regu- larity of form, measuring 40 metres in height and 2 miles in length. It was here that the Hertha, Belgica, and Franca is nut, the pack-ice, and, driven back by it, had to turn away from land. We are the first to penetrate into this region. The Unknown, the Unforeseen are in front of us. How far can we advance ? Biscoe's 8 miles are passed, and yet the coast, with its long and unvarying convexity, continues to make us expect to reach and double a cape, which ever recedes. Our general direction is south-west, till at 8.30 p.m. wo are heading S. 1 On the Expedition's return the Argentino Republic asked to buy the Fran- fain and renamed her the Austral. With her rigging altered and her boilers and engino changod she made a voyage to the South Orkneys. Starting out again in the spring of 1!)07, sho was wrockod on the Banco Chioo in the Uiver Plate and lost, while hor crow woro fortunately savod by the French stoamor Magellan. 9 6 THE SUMMER OP 1908-1909 30° W. without there being any change in the general aspect of things, in spite of our 7 knots kept up since 10 o'clock » The two ends of the great white spherical cap look always the same distance in front of us and behind, as though the Pour- quoi-Pas f were motionless. Such fantastic navigation would have been worthy of record in Edgar Allan Poe's Arthur Gordon P>/>n. We are making our way, however, for iceberg succeeds on iceberg. In the offing, to the west, one of them which is rather isolated looks to us like a ship seen three-quarter front, with a smoke-stack and a foremast. So complete is the illusion that the crew assert that it is a wreck, and I have to- convince them of their mistake by means of the telescope. South-west, on the edge of the horizon, and rising toward the west, there now appears a bright light, which is probably ice-blink. In that case we would be navigating between the mainland and the pack-ice. In the south and south-east, on the other hand, the sky has become very gloomy. The wind is beginning to blow rather strongly from the south-south- west, but without raising much of a sea, which confirms my impression that the pack-ice is not far away on this side. The barometer has been dropping constantly since this morn- ing. A mass of big icebergs blocks our way. We thread them, keeping a careful look-out for rocks. One of them is sculp- tured in arches and grottoes, while an admirably carved head stands out from a submarine promontory. We journey on thus all night, anxiously awaiting the ter- mination of the island- cap. At length the monotony is tem- porarily broken by a huge rock, which rises out of the cliff and stands out very black against the white surface. There must be a shallow in the direction of the open sea, for a line of icebergs stretches out pretty far in continuation of the rock. Cautiously we make a wide sweep, and we congratulate our- selves on this, for later we found the same icebergs and among 7 97 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' them the tops of rocks just a-wash. Then the cap resume its former appearance. Towards 11 o'clock there are some magical light effects. The land abeam is sparkling white, while the everfleeing southern point is a metallic green difficult to describe. The southern horizon is golden, sharply outlined against a back- ground of black sky, while the west is purple-red. A few icebergs stand out in deep blue, while others are dyed a bril- liant red, as though lighted up by fires inside. We are heading S. 10° W. At last, toward midnight, a long rocky point runs out of the ice-cliff, and some isolated reefs also appear, in the midst of innumerable icebergs. Our course curves in to S. 40° E., and an enormous black cliff reveals itself, whose summit is plunged in fog. It is almost with a sigh of relief that the officer of the watch and I greet the end of this interminable cap of ice. 1 January 15. — The termination of the cap is abrupt, with no gradual modification of the slope. A quite small circular cove is hollowed out of the ice-cliff, at the foot of a rocky wall, the perpendicular counterfort of two magnificent peaks, which we are soon to see break through the fog and which are them- selves the crown of the mountain range we caught sight of yesterday. This counterfort forms a noble, lofty cape, beyond which there opens a sort of bay or rather gulf, whose end we can scarcely conjecture and whose entrance from where we are seems to have a black-hued island in its centre, rising up quite straight to a height of about 600 metres, with a saw- toothed summit. Another distant cape, certainly a high one, bounds the gulf to the cast. Quite a long coast-line follows after this, slightly fog-wrapt, but showing seine glacier peaks 1 We give this capethonamo of II. M. Queen Alexandra. II yeomod tous that this homago was due to the royal spouso of Edward VII, who has taken BO much interest in Antarctic expeditions. This cape, situated at the end of Queen Adelaide's Island, marks tho oxtremity of a land discovered by an English sailor and for some years t)u> most southorly land known. 9 8 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 and other rocky headlands. It stretches out of sight south- ward. I confess to feeling genuine emotion over these lands, on which we are the first to set eyes after the long struggle it has taken me for years to attain my end. We steer for the entrance of the gulf and our average line is N. 60° E., but we are obliged to turn aside perpetually, for t he reefs rise menacingly on all sides. The icebergs are numer- ous, and big loose ice-floes, evidently recently detached, bar our way. Since 2 o'clock it has been blowing fairly fresh from the north-west, the sky has had an ugly appearance, and the barometer has been falling in a manner that made me fear a gale, when, almost all of a sudden, the wind falls, the sky becomes remarkably clear and bright over all land within sight, and the sun shines out. Only in the south-west and west do the heavens remain very overcast. Thanks to this unhoped for weather, we shall be able to do in a few hours a considerable amount of surveying. We know already by a mere glance of the eye that land continues beyond the latitude assigned by Biscoe to Adelaide Island, as there was reason to suppose, though we had not the slightest proof of it until to-day. We see also that it does not take, as was generally indicated (I do not know why), a south-westerly direction ; but, on the contrary, curves inwards, after the great mass of Adelaide Land, first to the south-east and then to S. 20° E. approximately. We must be about a dozen miles from the coast, and as we gradually approach the floes become more numerous, some rocky points appear, and we advance full slow, keeping a sharp look-out. The island for which we are making is not in the centre of the bay, as we supposed at first, but is much nearer the western cape, from which it is only divided by a channel 4 miles wide. After undergoing a few rather hard knocks against the stub- 99 V THE VOYACxE OF THE 'WHY NOT' born ice, we pass this channel without mishap, and what we took for a bay of moderate extent reveals itself as an enormous inlet, meriting rather the name of a gulf. It is at the present moment choked with thick, flat, coastal pack-ice, touching the northern shore of the island and presenting, from the side on which we are, a front running with a slight concavity to the north, where it joins Adelaide Land about 6 miles away, thus forming a little bay, where it seems to me we ought to be safe. Unfortunately, quite close to the island there are rocks level with the water, and as soon as one goes further away the soundings at once give 80, 100, 250 metres, with a rock bottom. It is therefore impossible to anchor and we have to be content with mooring ourselves to the pack-ice, as near as possible to the island. Great fragments come away from the pack, so that our ice-anchors have to be carried as far as our cables permit, that is to say, about 150 metres ; for otherwise we should risk floating away, and whenever the breaking off of the ice was encouraged by the strain on it, we should be obliged to shift our anchors and carry them further forward. Sledges now replace boats, and on them we transport hawsers and ice-anchors with pickaxes and shovels, to enable the men, once at the desired distance, to bury the anchors and fix them in firmly. At 5 a.m. we are moored, and almost every one is at work immediately ; for I have decided to take full advantage of the fine weather and leave again to-day, as soon as I have examined the offing from tho summit of the island and made a note of the land and ice in sight. I call the gulf Marguerite, after my wife, and tho island, Jenny, after Mme. Bongrain. Jenny Island's southern face has cliffs of great abruptness and perpendicularity, even in their upper two-thirds, which are consequently completely free of snow, which only appears at the base. The crest of tho island is extremely jagged crowned with three sharp rocky peaks, which make it look ioo THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 from the sea like a seal's tooth. The northern face, on the other hand, is a fairly even slope, rising right up to the summit, formed of rocks much surbedded by frost. Being exposed to the sun, (he greater part of it is stripped of snow, which only shows itself in great patches, from which veritable little tor- rents Bpring fin lh. This face generally is slightly concave and in colour is black or reddish. Its juncture with the per- pendicular walls of the other sides gives at first sight the im- pression of a very much damaged crater ; but even a super- ficial examination soon disposes of all ideas about a volcano. The island is formed entirely of eruptive granitic rocks, eeamed with numerous veins. One of its most remarkable peculiarities is found on the west side, in the shape of a great bank of stone rising from the sea to a height of 10 metres, making a vast and perfectly horizontal platform which looks as though it had been patiently and skilfully constructed by navvies. This formation is clearly the remains of an ancient strand. On the east side are found great heaps of shingle, forming here and there beaches cut up by debris coming down from the mountain, which is perpetually crumbling away, and whose walls rise up, enormous, jagged, ruinous, and tottering. Opposite the west coast of Jenny Island is the mountainous mass, the kernel, so to speak, of Adelaide Land, from which rise like a superb Alpine scene two peaks, whose elevation is to seem still greater to us when we see it later from the south. They are over 2,000 metres high. Noble glaciers discharge themselves into the sea, and the whole coast, except the pro- montory itself, is fringed by the usual forbidding ice-cliff of these regions. Further than the eye can see, in an apparently contracting fjord which separates Adelaide Land from the mainland, the pack-ice extends to the north-east, joining on to the pack along the coast running south-east. In Mar- guerite Bay one can see to the north-east an island surrounded by the ice, resembling Jenny Island, and quite close to Ade- ioi THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' laide Land, almost on its edge, an islet formed of a little black cone. In the background are some black patches which are also islands, reefs, or dependencies of the land. At 9 a.m. I set out with Godfroy and Gourdon for the crest of the island, whither Gain and Senouque have preceded us. We have to go quite two kilometres before reaching the shore foot and if last night when the thermometer was 2° below zero the wind was cold and penetrating, now with a brilliant sun in an almost cloudless heaven the heat is really very great. The ascent, which is all over debris of sharp- angled stones, broken from time to time by patches of snow or ice, is irksome and ruinous to one's boots. Gulls and megalestrides, in great numbers, swarm around us in defence of their nests. A glacier clinging to the mountain side forms a little lake, from which gushes a sweetly murmuring torrent, with a cascade elegantly decorated with stalactites glittering in the sun. We mount, between two of the peaks, to a crest of about 450 metres high, which abruptly makes an acute angle with the perpendicular north wall of the island and the slope which we have just climbed. The view is mag- nificent, and allows us to see in detail these lands virgin as yet from all human gaze. But it is the open sea which especially interests me for the moment. The ice in the sea, blocks and floes, is fairly abundant but possible to get through. The reefs are very numerous, forming an oblique line which stretches very far into the offing, and vary in dimensions from rocky points to islets. About 45 miles to the south-east I seem to sec the pack-ice running to join the coastal ice. Not a trace of Alexander I Land ; and yet later we are to see it very plainly even from the foot of the island, in apparently much less clear weather. It was, therefore, hidden to-day in an evidently local fog, melting into the dark sky of the west and south-east. This proves, once more, how all statements in the Antarctic are subject to error. In this beautifid woather, which allowed us to see other lands at a considerable distance, 102 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 Alexander Land, though large and but a few miles off, was invisible, without anything to make us suspect the limitation of our view. We might, therefore, with the best faith in the world, have squarely asserted, on our return, that to the south- west there was no land within the limit of sight from an elevation of 450 metres. The heat has merely increased during our ascent, and, after toiling through the now soft, thick snow of the pack-ice, we return on board all of a perspiration. It is 1° below zero in the shade, but it is so fine in the sun that after a tub of cold water on the bridge two of us stop a good half hour completely undressed, drying ourselves in the kindly rays. At 2.30 we get under way, and use the drag-net for 250 metres. During this time Gourdon goes off in the dinghy to build a cairn upon the strange platform on the west shore. We pick him up as we steam out, and make for the south- west, passing alongside two small rocky isles separated from Jenny Island by a channel 3 miles wide. It is still very fine and clear. We have not yet had the slightest gbmpse of Alexander I Land, but the continuation of Loubet Land, to which we give the name of the President of to-day, M. Fai- lures, is magnificently lit up. This land seems chiefly com- posed of conical rocky masses, standing out in great black triangles against the glaciers which they separate. It seems also cut up by deep bays, while there are islets running out into the sea, many of them curiously shaped. After a series- of triangular peaks comes a remarkable cape, very red in colour and looking like a great broken-down and toppling tower. The ice about us, floes, blocks, and debris of blocks, is fairly abundant, and the rocks and islets being numerous we have to proceed slowly and with great precautions. Snow is beginning to fall thickly, and by shutting out the view complicates matters. It is curious to notice that during the short cessations of the snowfall the wind comes in small 103 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' gusts from the south-east, while the snowflakes come from the north-west, that is to say, against the wind. At midnight the ship is covered with snow, and the sky is very overcast, except to the south, where during a rift we distinctly see high land, which cannot be other than Alexander I Land. We have just passed a long line of reefs, and we are on the edge of the belt formed of very dense pack-ice, with numerous bergs scattered over it. From the masthead I make out a vast channel, which, at a distance of some miles from us, runs into the open sea to the east and appears to penetrate obliquely a fair distance into the ice. We reach this channel, and make use of it. A pretty fresh breeze rises from the south-east, soon bringing along with it very clear weather. We must take advantage of this unhoped-for luck in these regions, and we go ahead as rapidly as we are allowed by an ice-pack getting thicker and thicker. Alexander I Land, seen by us at a distance and from a direction never before known, stands out very distinctly, lit up and gilded by the sun's rays. All the southern coast of Fallieres Land also shows up, outlined against a blue sky which could scarcely hide anything from us. Between it and Alexander I Land are two comparatively small islands with rounded summits. Then, quite close to Alexander I Land, is what I first take for a big mountainous island, but what we are later to discover to be a rart of Alexander I Land itself. This land has the same characteristics as Graham Land. The aspect of its mountains is identical with that of Adelaide Land's, and here again, on the side at which we are looking, the base is formed by an enormous terrace of rounded snow, the ice-cliffs being already visible from the crow's-nest. The summits are lofty, and form a jagged crest. The two extrem- ities east and west end in rocky promontories, which look, from where we are, as if they plunged straight into the sea. Between Alexander I Land and the islands to the east of it the pack-ice stretches to the limit of vision, as also between 104 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 the islands and the most southerly point of Falliercs Land. The same is the case in the west, where the ice bounds the horizon, its monotony only broken by numerous great icebergs. The pack before us is becoming more and more dense and sobd. We still keep on, but with difficulty. The floes are enormous in extent and height, some being more than 2 metres above the level of the sea. We have to push or drag off the big ones, break up the little ones, and manoeuvre every minute. There is not a moment's rest for the helmsman or the engineers. The jars are sometimes alarming, but we proceed along metre by metre. Numerous soundings are taken, giving a rocky bottom and depths varying very abruptly between 108 and 477 metres. At 11 o'clock we are about 15 miles from the cliff, when the pack-ice becomes quite solid, made up of big, closely crowded floes resting on their sides and apparently forced up into hummocks. From the height of the crow's-nest I can see no channel, no break in the continuity allowing us to hope for further advance. We must needs stop, therefore. Taking advantage of a small space of open water, we dredge over 144 metres. Numerous surveys are made, based on observations under the best conditions. To the photographs taken by all our cameras I cannot resist my desire to add one of the ship herself, so I go off in a canoe to take her from a neighbouring floe. Animal life is scanty ; two or three seals, a few penguins, and that is all. We stay here part of the day, but without being able to get any nearer. By an exceptional chance we have been able to penetrate into this vast hollow, hitherto closed against all-comers by impenetrable ice. To avoid turning back, I thought for a moment of stopping where we are and awaiting events ; but a little reflection made me abandon this idea. We have, from the point reached in this beautiful unhoped- for weather, noted down everything possible. The state of the ice hardly permits us to reckon now on advancing much 105 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' farther in a direction that will allow us to record important new details, and a landing on the ice-terrace could only be effected with the greatest difficulty. Moreover, its explora- tion would only be interesting with several weeks before us — which would be impossible with the ship afloat and the chances so many of our not being able to return on board by a fixed date or even near it. Further, there is the risk of being carried away by the drift ice far from a region so in- teresting to study as this, and of being blocked in and com- pelled to winter to no purpose on a moving icefield ; or again, since the coast is close at hand, of being crushed by the pressure which, to judge from the condition of the ice, must be tre- mendous if bad weather sets in. I consider it preferable, therefore, from all points of view, to try to push toward the east, where beyond the pack-ice we have come through there is to be seen some open water ; and, if we can find no way out on that side, to return to Marguerite Bay, where Jenny Island makes a magnificent observatory from which to watch for a favourable opportunity of proceeding in one direction or another. Thus, too, we shall best save coal, our sinews of war. But to roach the open water is no light task. The ice has closed against us and a long, painful and irksome job is before us. At the mast-head, from which I am looking for the most navigable channels, I am shaken by the vibrations from the bumps we get, in spite of all precautions, and I cannot help reflecting that we are navigating thus with our bows perhaps seriously injured. Still all seems to hold good, the engine does its duty, and only three pump-valves are broken. In the evening the ice becomes so solid and close-packed that we cannot move. At the end of some hours there is a relaxation and we start off again, pushing the ice slowly before us. So we get to the edge of the pack, pass through some drift-ice, and at last are in free water. We try to make eastward and aim for Fallieres Land, but 106 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 soon our path is blocked by ice still more solid than that in front of Alexander I Land, and we only get back to Marguerite Bay after having to go through another long struggle with the ice, which had blocked the entry to our cove since we left it. It is 6 a.m., and the appearance of the heavens is now threatening. But during the whole of this excursion we have enjoyed the best weather imaginable, and never for an instant havo we ceased to see at once with great clearness Alexander I Land, the whole of the coast with the cape which we look on as the southern extremity of Fallieres Land, and Adelaide Land, whose two magnificent peaks rise up in the air in pointed spires on the top of domes of Byzantine style. Such weather is almost indispensable for the navigation of this reef- and iceberg-infested region, and I confess that I do not very well see how one would survive a gale and thick weather. We are now already in a position to take back precise information concerning the lands south of Adelaide Island, where the present maps are blank, and concerning Alexander I Land, which up to now has only been seen at very great distances and always from the same side and has seemed rather like a land of legend. Bellingshausen, coming from the east on January 21, 1821, discovered Peter I Island and coasting along the pack- ice saw at a distance of about 40 miles, surrounded by ' impas- sable ' ice, a great land stretching far toward the south-west, to which he gave the name of Alexander I and of which he published an excellent coast- view. He was then obliged by the ice to turn north-west. When later, thanks to Biscoe, Graham Land could be vaguely outlined as far as Adelaide Island, the geographers considered it one of the important Antarctic problems to ascertain whether the land discovered by Bellingshausen was or was not a prolongation of this Graham Land. The three glimpses of Alexander I Land from Bellingshausen's time 107 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' to that of the Pourquoi-Pas ? Expedition added no information to supplement the Russian navigator's description, which still remained much the most complete. The Norwegian sealing captain Evensen, on November 20, 1893, reached latitude 69° 10' S. by longitude 76° 12' west of Greenwich. The following days, especially November 22, as he sailed north, he sighted Alexander I Land surrounded by impassable ice. Unfortunately, though the estimable and kindly Evensen is a daring and skilful captain, geo- graphical questions seem to interest him very little, for he gave no details of his voyage, and when I went to see him at Sandefjord all that I could get out of him about Alexander I Land was : ' Very high and fine mountains, plenty of ice- bergs ! ' On February 16, 1898, the Belgica Expedition (apparently unaware of Evensen's voyage) saw Alexander I Land for a few hours, but the various members are not agreed in their accounts. De Gerlache contents himself with writing that on February 16 at 4 o'clock this land ' looked superb with its mighty glaciers scarcely divided from one another by a few darker peaks, standing out yellowish-white against the deep blue of the sky.' x Lecointe says : ' We only sight Alexander I Land at a great distance, without being able to form even an approximate idea of what the distance is ' 2 — which does not prevent him, however, from publishing a view of the coast of this land and a map, in which are clearly traced the contours of the coasts, mountains, and valleys. I must hasten to add that view and map alike agree as little with the descriptions of Arc- 1 Do Gorlueho, Quinze Mois dans V Antarctique, p. 162. 1 Lccointo, Rapport scicntifiquc de la ' Belgica.' Travaux hydrographiquet, p. 98. In his narrative, Au pays des Manchots, p. 1SH, t lie sumo author says : 'On February l(i, we sighted Alexander Land, discovered in 1821 by Bellings- hausen. We are no far away that we cannot even judgo the distance. 1 A viow of the cos i and a map are reproduced in the two works quoted and also among Urn map "f the llrlijica Expedition. 108 TIIE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 towski, a member of the Expedition, and of Bellingshausen as with that which we are in a position to write. The Bclgicd's doctor, F. A. Cook, for his part, docs not hesitate to give, with a lavish display of figures and measure- ments, a detailed description (totally different from Lecointe's) of what he called the ' Alexander Islands.' But herein he is tripped up by his comrade Arctowski, who gives a fourth varying description while confessing that ' we took no measure- ment and have little to add to Bellingshausen's description.' • What Arctowski says on the subject, moreover, (I will quote it later) is so correct as to accord ill with the pubbshed statements of his two colleagues. Congratulations are due to this savant for having been the only one to give information of any value, refusing to stray outside the bounds of honest observation. On board the Frangais on January 11 and 13, 1905, we ourselves sighted Alexander I Land at a distance of over 60 miles. Solid pack-ice made our efforts to approach it unavail- ing. We promised ourselves we would not rest there, and we have kept our word ; for three years later we have reached a point which no one succeeded in attaining before, after crossing ice always described by the same epithet ' impassable.' Until the arrival of the Pourquoi-Pas ? in 1909, therefore, there had been no advance made since 1821, and as we have got to so favourable a spot we must do our best to profit by it. Accordingly I should like to find a place where the ship will be in comparative safety, and where we may perhaps winter, or at least stay a while, without burning coal as we are doing now. So much am I exercised over this question that scarcely are we moored alongside the ice when — though it is 48 hours since I last slept — I take my skis and, leaving every one on board slumbering except the man on watch, 1 Henryk Arctowski, Antarctic Manual, 1901. ' Exploration of Antarctic Lands,' pp. 495-6. IOC) THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' cross the strip of pack-ice which rests on the island and divides the gulf in two. Arriving on the other side, I put off my skis and take a long walk round the island, now over a beach with pebbly slopes, now amid debris of fantastic shape, now over snow-banks. Unfortunately my observations are not of a reassuring character. On this side also the ice presents a big concavity, which is much less sheltered and stretches wider than the cove in which lies the Pourquoi-Pas ? The bottom is rocky and dangerous along the island ; and finally the bay is full of icebergs. The island itself provides no cove in which to shelter from icebergs, nor any reefs to which to moor. This discovery worries me much, but I do not wish to abandon hope before searching and sounding afresh all round the ship. There are plenty of seals on the ice, both Crabbing and Weddell's. A few megalestrides make for me shrieking, as if I were planning to injure their nestlings ; and, lastly, four or five Adelie Penguins, destitute of all fear, come up to me and chatter away. I ask the penguins where their rookery is, but the rascals pretend not to understand, and it is no use my hunting for it, I cannot discover it. But we part none the less good friends. In the afternoon every one is busy with his own work. The men go to collect ice from the bergs, which we convert into water for the boiler. Gourdon, Senouque and Gain proceed over the ice to explore the black cone to the north- east of our cove. Deceived as to the distance (as constantly happens here), they do not return until late in the evening. The north-west wind has sprung up strong. Most for- tunately we are no longer in the pack-ice about Alexander I Land nor among the reel's. We are, or at least I imagine so, in comparative safety and are binning the minimum amount of coal necessary to keep up steam Eor half an hour, whether Eor working the ropes by winch or for starling the engine in ease we should go adrift or an iceberg should HO THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 bear down on us — winch is scarcely to be feared with the wind now blowing. Next day the north-westerly to northerly wind is still strong, but the ice seems to hold good, and we have four hawsers out, three in front, with the anchor of one of them 100 metres away, and the fourth astern. We fit up one of our motor-sledges, and in the evening we are able to try it. The motor at first gives us some diffi- culty, then it starts away and succeeds in carrying its five passengers gaily enough ; but it must undergo some modifica- tion of detail before anything serious can be attempted with it. I realize that the whole will not be in working order until after numerous trials and changes, which will be made during our winter season. Besides, I look on these automobile sledges in the light of a first experiment for future expeditions, and I only really depend on the hand-sledges. January 19. — The wind has been very strong all night and has increased still more this morning. The pack around us is breaking away in great slabs. An ice-anchor is carried still further than the others ; but the rifts multiply. I give orders to put back on board all our material that is lying about, to dismantle the motor sledge, and to make up the fires. With the wind from the northern quarter we have evidently nothing to fear from the sea, but without the engine being under steam, if our ice-anchors should fail or, worse still, if a huge fragment of the pack should break away, carrying us with it, we should be ashore in a few minutes. About 11 o'clock the motor sledge was in danger, a big rift having opened close by it ; but happily it was not completely dismantled and the motor was persuaded to start off at once, so it made good its own escape, coming back gaily with its chauffeur. With the help of the windlass and some ice- anchors we were able to bring together two sections of the pack over which it passed and to hoist it on board again without mishap. in THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' At 2 o'clock we must needs set off to look for a better shelter and some firmer ice at the end of the north-westerly cove. A cable's length from an ice-cliff and quite close to a superb glacier, with a frontage all chaotic and slashed with crevasses, we are somewhat sheltered from the wind and do not feel any chop. One or 2 miles from us rises the half- rocky, half-snowy cone, goal of one of yesterday's excursions, surrounded by the pack-ice, which joins on to the glacier and whose bounds are marked by a line of hummocks and crevasses. Two soundings, taken not far apart, give 66 and 97 metres, with a bottom of liquid green mud. So there is no anchorage, and we must keep our fires alight and content ourselves with ice-anchors. The clear weather allows us to see distinctly Alexander I Land and the end-region of Fallieres Land. The wind is strong, but it is curious to notice that we have not yet experienced one of those great north-easterly gales which made our two summer campaigns of 1904 and 1905 so unpleasant and difficult, not to say dangerous. Except at Wandel, where the wind, however, blew with comparatively little force and where for one day there was a drizzle of snow, the winds of this region have not been really violent and have been accompanied always by clear weather. Either we are enjoying an exceptional summer or previously we experienced two very bad ones. The sunset this evening has been very fine, touching up with a fairy pink the crenellated tops of our glacier. Quite close to us an iceberg of tabular shape is stranded, barely detached from the cliff. The place can be seen which it occu- pied evidently but a short while ago. It is interesting for glaciological examination, and Gourdon begins at once to measure it and lake soundings at its foot. If it were to go adrift we should see for the first time a table-berg as com- paratively small as this coming from an ice-cliff. Up to now, indeed, all the many cliffs near which wo have stayed have in THE SUMMER OF 1908-19 09 been cleft, thus launching on the sea large quantities of frag- ments of small dimensions or giving birth to ice-blocks danger- ous to the ship but tiny compared with the icebergs to be met in such numbers, which must come from formations after the style of the great Ross Barrier. January 20. — The wind having grown much milder, the barometer showing a tendency to rise, and the weather being char, we set off with the intention of following the coast and in the vague hope of finding winter quarters. We get away from the pack-ice without difficulty, for a southerly current prevails which seems permanent. We stop abreast of Jenny Tsland, where Senouque goes to fetch the stand of his theo- dolite, which he left behind. Meanwhile, we make a long • hedge, which promises work for Liouville and Gain. But the snow begins to fall heavily and the wind strengthens again. As we have no reason for hazarding ourselves in the midst of rocks in this weather, we return to our mooring- place and eat, to console ourselves, an excellent dinner con- sisting of soup made from Brussel sprouts, of seal a la Saint- Hubert, and of pur^e of peas. This menu was much appre- ciated. On the other hand, six Antarctic prawns, which the zoologists had handed over to the cook, were not at all a success. At 10 p.m. it is still snowing, and the entrance of the bay, the neighbouring peaks, and Jenny Island are completely blotted out, while, curiously enough, through the falling snow can be seen the much more distant Fallieres Land lighted up very clearly. I have a fit of the blues, not so much on account of the delay caused to our plans by the bad weather as because of my anxiety concerning winter quarters, which I should so much have liked to find here ; and also because of the report presented to me on the coal supply. Evidently our daily consumption, when we are moored, is small, but when day is added to day, in the end the total is considerable. 8 113 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' At 11 p.m. I am distracted from my sombre reflections "by an occurrence which convinces me of the danger of our present situation. We were, as before, 300 or 400 metres from the iceberg detached from the cliff, which Gourdon had been examining at intervals. I was writing in my cabin when a noise like a big explosion of fireworks, accompanied and followed by a loud rumbling, brought me in a few strides on deck just in time to see the magnificent spectacle of the iceberg splitting open and capsizing. Enormous spurs of glaucous hue jump out of the water, and even rocks are uplifted as if by a submarine mine ; the sea boils fiercely and in a few seconds its surface far and wide is covered by ddbris of all sizes. The iceberg has lost a good third of its bulk. The sea was at its height at the time of the occurrence, and it is probable that the mass of ice, being almost afloat, first rolled, then slipped on the ledge where it was resting, and finally lost its balance. This seems to prove once mote that table-bergs are very rarely, if ever, formed from these high, narrow cliffs, whose base is bathed by comparatively shallow waters. We thought the spectacle at an end, when the same pheno- menon was repeated a second and a third time. But we see the largest fragment left, about 15 metres above the water, come rolling straight toward us — fortunately driving quantities of debris before it. By good luck the engine is ready and we go astern at the first word, while we pay out I lie hawsers to their fullest extent. The mass of debris, striking our stern first, makes it swing, so that the iceberg, continuing on its terrible way, finds the ship already on the move and, instead of striking her full amidships or in the stern, touches her comparatively lightly on the port side. Our poor dinghy, which was on the port side, is crushed between the Pourquoi- Pas ? and the berg and hurled on to the ice, as flat as a pancake. Wo may think ourselves lucky to have escaped the same fate. Gently we move away, without touching the remains of 114 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 the iceberg, for fear of upsetting its very doubtful stability, which would be disastrous this time, and proceed to moor ourselves further off. A huge block of ice from the berg remains wedged between the bobstay and the stem, where it will long be ; but wo have suffered no injury and have escaped with the dinghy smashed and one hawser cut by the only man who lost his head, using his knife instead of merely paying out as I ordered. Thanks to the ingenuity and skill of Libois, aided by Chollet, by the end of a week the fragments of the dinghy were built into a boat perhaps a little stronger than before the accident. January 21. — Although the wind is still blowing a little from the north-east, I decide to go out, after taking a series of soundings, and begin the search for an anchorage. Unfor- innately we find nowhere good, and in spots close to Jenny Island, which are sheltered a little from the winds of the open, we get a depth of 97 metres, with a rocky bottom. At 1 o'clock we pass to the south of the island between it and the t wo large rocky islets, looking in vain for a little cove. Soon we are on the other side of the island, and although we have behind us still the gusts of the north-easter, with nothing to protect us from it, we cross a zone of complete calm. We make for the opposite coast, and the breeze springs up again freshly, but this time from the east-south-east, bringing with it very clear weather and a blue sky. So we steam southward along this magnificent coastline of high mountains, some black, some red, with weird outlines, inter- sected by glaciers and high peaks. Big fjords ran into it, islands project from it. There would certainly be good winter anchorages there, but unhappily an ice-belt a dozen miles broad separates us from it and fills up all the inlets. As I expected, with the prevailing wind some fairly big slabs break away and drift seaward, leaving a channel through which we can go full steam ahead. We skirt the edge of the "5 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' ice at a distance of a few metres, so that in spite of the growing wind we have no sea. We stop frequently to survey, for the weather is remarkably clear and we see not only Alexander I Land but the whole coast as far as the terminal cape, which seems to be on a big island. We are able to correct certain errors made by ourselves on the previous days, and in this way we recognize that what we took for a big island to the east is part of the land itself, while, on the other hand, some more small islands appear very far to the south. At each stoppage for surveying Eouch takes a sounding. About 7 p.m. the ice-pack curves to the west away from the coast, and brings us upon a collection of icebegs. To go farther becomes absolutely impossible. We moor our- selves to the pack, which I have been examining from the crow's-nest, and on which I am going to take a turn with Gourdon. This pack is at least 5 or 6 metres thick, the lower section being very hard, while the upper layer of snow is melting and one sinks to the knees in the pickle. It is very flat and has comparatively few icebergs toward the open sea. Close to the land, on the other hand, it contains some table-bergs of so vast a size that we mistook them at first for an ice-terrace. These table-bergs, like some quite close to us, have their walls hollowed out into cells separated by kinds of pillars, which give them a curious aspect. Will the pack-ice break entirely loose 1 his winter? At the moment the pieces coming away are insignificant in size, and not a crack nor a stretch of water betrays that disintegra- tion is in progress. Only a few big blue patches show that the heat of the sun is melting the upper layer of snow. Moreover, the considerable quantity of ice driven by the prevailing wind down the little channel in which we are will come back at the fust change of the wind and prevent a strong swell, the chief agent in a breakup, from having its effect. These reflect ions wnii v me, for I am thinking of nothing but our winter quarters. Before starting off again we dredge for about 200 metres. n6 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 Unfortunately the windlass gets damaged, whieh makes it a long task bringing back the net. This injury is tiresome, for until it is completely repaired the windlass will be no use for our cables, and little even for our hawsers. During the night, after making all possible observations and assuring ourselves that we could not get any farther, we go back the same way we came, so as not to get blocked in our channel. Arriving next morning south of Jenny Island we rind the wind blowing again very strongly from the north- east, but as the weather is clear I decide to return to Alexander I Land and to go close up to it if, as I hope, yesterday's wind has scattered the ice a little ; if not, to examine it from the south-west side. We go ahead full steam, with the wind behind, heading due south-west. The ice does not trouble us ; but at the end of 2 hours we are in the midst of a jumble of rocks, through which we pass untouched, I don't know how. Only 4 hours later do we meet the dense pack-ice, into which we plunge straightway, beginning afresh the old struggle to make a few miles to the south ; but Alexander I Land is before us, in all its mass, and the toil which we are inflicting on oiu'selves is worth while. Slowly and with difficulty we approach, the big icebergs taking their part in the affair to bar our way and force us to make many detours. We push aside the floes, one by one, winning our way hardly ; but we do advance, and from the crow's-nest it looks as if a fairly big stretch of open water bathed the foot of the ice-cliff. At last we get there and cross this kind of big lake, sounding frequently and finding bottom varying considerably between 66 and 180 metres. Less than 2 miles from the cliff we are stopped by some enormous coastal ice-floes standing 1 metre 60 above the water, separated from one another by large crevasses, but so closely packed that the ship cannot get through them. The floes are too big for us to push aside, and join on to a coastal "7 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' ice-belt which stops at the cliff-foot. Dragging a Norwegian boat along with us and jumping or crossing from floe to floe, we could certainly get there, but the risks to be run and the time which would be taken, with the ship meanwhile in a position which might at any moment become dangerous, would not be compensated for by the interest of the trip. We can see very distinctly the configuration of this ice-cliff ; once we got there we should require a regular expedition, and perhaps even then might not end by surmounting the perpendicular wall, full of crevasses and 30 metres high. Should we succeed in this climb, we should still have to cross an enormous ice-cap of 15 or 16 miles, covered by thick glacier snow, to reach the perpendicular mountain-walls rising above it, whose details we can see admirably from here. There would be no use in all this unless we could leave the ship for several days, or rather several weeks. At the foot of the cliff we cannot see even a rock ; only, just in front of us, two little islands stand out, scarcely higher than the cliff, and like it covered by a thick and even layer of ice. So I shall not run after the vain glory of actually touching the cliff of a land which we have had the fortune of being the first to reach, when we should learn nothing more by doing so. By taking advantage of the fine weather which we continue to enjoy we shall be able to accomplish some much more useful work. The north-east wind has given place, as it did yesterday, to a nice south-east breeze, bringing an absolutely clear sky, which allows us to get all our guiding-points from the extremity of the continental land to the peaks of Adelaide Land, whoso snows arc magnificently tinted by the sun a dull old gold. All the cameras on board are at work incessantly, while Bon- grain gets through a long and thorough piece of surveying work. When this is finished it is time for us to be off, for the big lines have treacherously surrounded us, and it is with difficulty that we get clear enough to make a dredge of 180 metres. Apart from zoological specimens, we secure thus a n8 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 bucketful of small and medium-sized stones, some of which are generously given by our geologist to the crew, anxious to have souvenirs of this land of which they have been talking so long. From hero we see Alexander I Land almost from the same quarter as before ; but, being so near, we easily supplement our previous information and can confirm what we noted previously. To the north this island is composed of an enor- mous ice-cap, like that on Adelaide Land, but much bigger and more irregular in contour. Some high scarped and clear- cut mountains, with jagged summits, make a range running east and west, with the same general characteristics as the Adelaide Land mountains. The aspect of the country must be most repulsive and inhospitable. As usual, there is very little animal life. A very few seals are asleep on the floes, and there are two snowy petrels, two megalestrides, and five or six Adelie Penguins. As for whales it is long since we have seen any. After making the circuit of our little lake (which is narrow- ing every minute), and vainly seeking a ready way out, we plunge boldly into the pack, steering at first north-west to take advantage of the south-east breeze, which helps us along well. At 9.30 p.m. we are clear and are skirting the drift on the edge of the pack-ice, trying to approach Alexander I Land from the west. The drift compels us to steer roughly west- ward at first, and then south-west. We keep our eyes on the land, and still see the mountains rising out of the ice-cap, which looks like a segment of a circle. Soon we espy a new range, this time running north and south, but rising, like the other, out of the cap. Apparently only the western end of the range descends straight into the sea, or at least stands upon a very thin portion of the cap. We soon recognize what Bellingshausen drew with such care ; but he must still have been further away than he imagined. Of Lecointe's plan, although he drew it so boldly, we can recognize nothing, in 119 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' spite of the best of wills. But Arctowski's description atones for this. 1 At 10.30 p.m. the ice permits us to steer S. 20° W., true, which takes us into a great indentation in the pack, of which we cannot yet see the end. There is a good deal of drift-ice and some ice-blocks ; but this does not prevent us from going full steam ahead. The portion of the pack we are leaving to port, whose direction is west-north-west, is marked out by ten big table- bergs, very close together and almost identical in shape and dimensions, looking like a string of gigantic railway carriages painted with Bipolin. Through a mist one might easily take this line of icebergs for an ice-wall. Numerous very big table- bergs are to be seen everywhere, evenly scattered ; and, although I have no right to affirm this, I feel convinced that there must be an ice- wall, perhaps south of Alexander I Land. The solid eastern part of the pack, after some 20 miles, runs into the coastal ice starting from the foot of the cliffs of Alexan- der I Land. The scene is magnificently lighted up by the sun, which all but touches the horizon. The night — if one may use this term at the present season — is lovely and calm. We now see the east coast, and it is possible to plot out the whole island as follows, it seems to me. Upon a great segment of a sphere in snow there rests a letter T formed by two mountain ranges, the shorter running east and west, the larger practically north and south. The former is the higher, with a very steep northern face. The latter, whose face nearest to us is quite mild, after its junction 1 It seems interesting to quote the procisor pussages of Arctowski's descrip- tion (Rapports scientifiquca de la ' Bclgica.' (Ivoloyie, p. 4'2) : ' Alexandor Land, which lies to the smith lias somo very liigh peaks rising majestically abovou moun- tainous mass Stretching in the direction north to south and fading away dimly on the horizon. In front of ua is a cape, the extremity of a rango running from east to west, making the northern coast "f this land. . . . Further tot lie south the mountains appear to docreaso in importance, and their outline is gentle. . . . It is to ho noted that here, too, thoro is vory plainly marked an ice-plain sloping very gently toward (he Bea, and in this plain the numerous glaciers coming down from the mountains lose themselves.' 120 THE SUMMEE OF 1908-1909 ■with the short range decreases in height gradually toward the south. Several little spurs run out from this range, and almost at its southern extremity (which looks to us like a cone) appear two little mounds rising up from a black-hued plateau. A sounding gives a depth of 326 metres. Half an hour later, at a distance of only 12 miles from the shore, we get 674 metres, with a bottom of mud and small stones ; so that here as everywhere else in this region the depths are very varying. At midnight, when we have reached the most southerly angle of the big indentation in the pack, we are stopped by the ice. From the crow's-nest I perceive with regret that this pack, which is made up of thick floes all but soldered on to one another, is practically impassable, and that we should consume all the rest of our coal in struggling on a few miles, without learning much more ; for in this clear weather (which cannot last for ever) we can see to a very considerable distance. After what we must look upon as the terminal cape there is no more land to be seen ; everywhere the pack-ice stretches to the horizon under a very clear sky. Alas ! why cannot we push further south ? And yet, have we the right to com- plain when we have attained a point not attained before, and seen what no one has seen previously ? While we are surveying the north-western arm of the pack closes slowly up toward us. We must make haste to be off, or we are in danger of being caught in the same fix as the Belgica or of being crushed against the coastal belt by the first westerly gale. So we set off again ; but we have been on our way an hour when a mirage deceives me into thinking that a channel has just opened to the south. We put about immediately and return on our tracks to discover my error, after almost running into an iceberg and meeting with some hard knocks against the floes, which awaken my companions, to whom I had promised a quiet passage. It w T as time to 121 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' leave our bay, for the ice was drifting rapidly from the west, and the row of ten table-bergs approaching the eastern pack- ice left us but a narrow channel, which must have closed up soon after we got away. The pack extends out of sight north-west and west. If we tried to turn that way we should certainly risk being obliged to go far northward and, even if we could make south again within sight of Alexander I Land, we might see it at such a distance that we could add nothing to Bellingshausen's description. I therefore prefer to return to Marguerite Bay to find out what is happening there, and to decide whether it is possible to winter there or whether we may hope, after the break-up of the pack, to seek favourable quarters elsewhere. The weather continues very clear, and enables us to see all our country distinctly ; but the wind has risen very fresh and strong in the south-east. We take surveys and soundings and, after nearly grazing a rock flush with the water, of which the only warning is a lucky eddy seen a few moments before we are on it, we take our usual channel. At 10 o'clock we are moored to the pack-ice under Jenny Island. The weather is truly unparalleled in its clearness and purity of atmosphere, and the sky is without a cloud. The wind has fallen, and tin* sun's heat is considerable. One is reminded of a very fine winter's day at Nice. It is settled that Bongrain, Gain and Boland shall start to-morrow night on a two days' trip in the north-east fjord, to try to discover whether Adelaide Land is an island or joins on to the mainland. January 24. — Although to-day is Sunday, as the wind coming from the south and south-west is not likely to bother us, I dismount the windlass for repairs without loss of time. It is a difficult job, but is carried through successfully, and in two days' time the windlass will again be fit for work. At 8.30 p.m., in calm and delightful weather, Bongrain, • lain and Boland set off. I have advised them to travel for 122 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 choice at night, to avoid snow-blindness and also to benefit by the freezing of the snow ; for by noon the sun causes one to sink in up to the knees. They take with them five days' food. The wheel of an old bicycle, which I forgot to put ashore when we started, fitted to the back of the sledge is converted into an excellent cyclometer. January 25. — It is calm and a little foggy, and a small fine rain — a very rare thing in these latitudes — is falling un- iv.isingly. We are all working on board with the utmost zeal. The windlass is almost in its place again, the picket boat is repaired and the dinghy in the process of repair. The excellent fresh water procurable in abundance on shore is collected in all our boats and thus we fill up our boiler and water-casks without any expenditure of fuel. Great slabs of our ice-pack, which were broken off by the swell from the recent gale, are drifting away on the southerly current, and thus the strip dividing us from the eastern side of the bay, full of icebergs, is growing rapidly thinner — which is rather alarming. At last we have seen two more whales, one in the west, the other in the east of the bay. Moreover, Herv6 found yesterday in the north of the island, among some debris 8 metres above water-level, a huge fragment of whale-bone. We have found no more, but this practically suffices to prove a comparatively recent upheaval of the ground. Gourdon has come across an Antarctic Penguin. We have seen none since Wandel Island, and I think they must be rare so far south. Lastly, 18 fine fish have been caught in the trammel-net. January 26. — I awake to find the ship dressed, the crew having wished to celebrate the anniversary of my wedding. They have made a mistake of two days, but I do not unde- ceive the good fellows, for I am touched by this spontaneous attention on their part. Starting out early on skis, I was anxious to assure myself 123 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' as to the condition of the pack. The narrow strip which separates us from the eastern part of the bay and protects us against the icebergs collected there and those enclosed in the strip itself is in a parlous state. Undermined by the swell at- tacking it on both sides, it shows big rifts and big pools of water. Many seals are sleeping on the ice. I amuse myself by approach- ing them without disturbing them, and then striking my skis with my staff. In every case the sleeper opens one eye with a blink, then the other, and looks without the least astonish- ment on the strange apparition which I must present. If I do not move, it stretches itself out, seeks a comfortable position, and goes off to sleep again. At the side of a large mother seal, however, there is a young one asleep. I begin my game again, whereon the mother shows the utmost indifference ; but her little one, on the other hand, is terribly scared and tries to escape, showing its teeth and snorting. I noticed that this young seal had three great scars in the caudal region, one of them almost circular and like those found, one might almost say invariably, on adults. The cause is disputed, some attributing the wounds to the struggles among the seals at the courting season. In that case the young one now before me must be extremely precocious. It is very probable that there are various reasons for these wounds, some evidently being from the attacks of thrashers and even of sea-leopards. A tine rain never ceases falling, like what they call the crachin at Brest ; and this goes on until 3 in the afternoon. At this moment the sun comes out, but almost simultaneously a tempest of wind springs up from the north-west. I had hoped that , owing to the narrowness of the bay, wind coming from the western regions could not stir up a dangerous sea here. But I was strangely deceived, for in a very short time it is so high that the deck is covered with spray. Great pieces of the pack break off and dash violently against our stern and rudder, threatening us with most serious damage. Every one sets to work with polos and oars to push off the blocks of 124 THE SUMMEE OF 1908-1909 ice, and after 2 hours' struggle wo succeed in guiding past us the most dangerous pieces. The ship, however, continues to pound heavily against the pack until the debris of floes and bergs, accumulating little by Little around us, make a barrier of some 40 metres, which completely checks the swell. The ship only moves now under the influence of the heavy blasts. Our usual enemy, the ice, has once again become our protecting friend. It was high time, for our strength was beginning to fail. The sea breaks violently on the edge of this barrier, and the spectacle is magnificent. It must be fearful outside. The whole entrance of the bay is covered by a great black shroud, and the high mountains facing us are as though wrapped in a thick layer of grey wool. This shroud has formed very rapidly, for the sky was quite blue when the storm began. From time to time scraps of cloud break away from it and scud off with startling speed. At the end of the fjord, on the other hand, to the north-east the weather is admirably clear. A huge ice-block, some 10 metres high, has just broken through the ice athwart us ; but fortunately has been stopped about 15 metres off us by some big floes, which I trust it can- not shift. But the future is not at all promising. I really do not see how we can hope to wait here until the sea calms down around us. Not to speak of other possibilities, it is certain that if what has just happened had taken place at a season when there were some hours of night, however short, it would have been impossible for us to protect our ship and its stern would have been shattered. At 11 p.m. the wind's violence increases, the mist invades our bay, and behind the peaks of Jenny Island huge clouds roll, looking like great solid masses. The mountains to the north-east, east, and south-east can still be seen, but are as though enveloped in a weird and terrible steel-blue atmo- sphere. The whole sea is tinged with yellow from the di- 125 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' atoms which covered the rocks and ice, but have now been washed off and broken up by the storm. At last, toward midnight, the barometer, which had fallen considerably, goes up a little, while the wind only blows in great gusts interspersed with periods of complete calm. Then the gusts steadily decrease in intensity, and toward 2 o'clock the high wind gives place to a mild breeze. At 3 a.m. the man on watch announces to me that Bongrain, Gain and Boland are to be seen on the pack. I give orders for supper to be prepared for them, and go to meet them with Godfroy. They have got on very well, without any mishap, and are much astonished to hear that we have ex- perienced bad weather, having themselves had only fine and calm. This does not surprise me much. Indeed, it is very common in the fjord regions, and I have noticed it myself in Iceland and the Faroes. Helped by a good smooth ice surface for the sledge, especi- ally on the journey out, they travelled about 60 kilometres. Gain and Boland climbed to the summit of a little island in a narrow fjord full of icebergs, which they said seemed from their rounded shapes to have been there several years. They are certain that it was a strait in front of them, but they would have required several more days to settle the question outright. Still, thanks to the surveys, and sketches of the coast which they made, it was possible for us later to recognize from Matha Bay that their supposition was well based. Ade- laide Land is therefore an island still, but is very close to the mainland and is of a size of which there was no suspicion up to now. There being a complete calm to-day, the floating ice carried by the southerly current is going out of our bay. The weather is grey and soft, and almost all the mountains aro enveloped in low clouds, which hide them from our sight. Our situation here worries me extremely, and, although I have no exag- gerated fears for the safety of the ship as long as we have our 126 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 tires up and continual daylight, I think it necessary to take all precautions for a possible rapid abandonment of her. I make out accordingly lists of clothing to be put in every man's bag, while I map out for each one his special post and duty, so that in case of accident we may still have not only the prime necessities but also the means of carrying on some scientific work and of either trying to get back to Deception Island or waiting rescue in some place more easy of access than where we are to an expedition in search of us. But I do not want to make these desperate preparations so soon after our recent alarm, for fear they should have a demoralizing influence on the spirits of some of the crew, and I keep in reserve the task of breaking the news to them in fine weather and almost in a joking way. Bongrain came to me this evening to communicate to me his anxiety about the situation we were in, and to ask me if I did not think we ought to be off quickly. I answered him that, alas ! I only too fully shared his apprehensions, but that I wished to hold on here as long as possible, so that the ice might perhaps unblock for us a place on the coast where we could find shelter. Moreover, to go out in heavy and threatening weather, as now, would not be desirable. We could not risk leaving before ascertaining the route to be taken by climbing to the summit of the island in clear weather. I was still hoping against hope, I must confess, to see one of the coast fjords unlock so that we might winter in it. I should be content with very little, if it were only a deep cleft in the coastal pack-ice to shelter us from the icebergs and allow us to be frozen in. During the night the wind has begun to blow again from the same direction, not with great strength, but bringing along some huge ice-blocks, some of which by their size almost deserve the name of bergs. One of them which alarms me particularly gets stranded in a shallow close to the western point of the island. There is no lack of dangerous neighbours, 127 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' and their number cannot grow less, for just opposite to us is the factory for ice-blocks and at the foot of the glaciers a big reserve seems to be only waiting for a favourable opportunity to bear down upon us. I spend the greater part of the night upon deck, which enables me to espy a rat which, the reverse of timid, is calmly wandering astern, generally in the neighbourhood of the laboratory, where there are some birds waiting to be stuffed. The poor little beast is pretty, but still I must give orders for its destruction, for another of its kind has been seen, and as they may be of different sexes the ship might quickly be popu- lated and our provisions, nets, and furs damaged in the same way as happened on the Franqais. But if I must have rats exterminated, I set myself absolutely against the totally unnecessary destruction of the megalestrides, which come in great numbers to feed on the remains of the seals left on the ice. My defence of them brings down on me the wrath of the sportsmen, but I do not give way ; for, apart from all other considerations, in our present circumstances it is certain that if any accident forced us to abandon the ship we should be very glad to use as food these same birds, whose bodies at present are left to rot on the ice. We must kill what is neces- sary for our collections and our kitchen, but I will always oppose killing for the mere pleasure of destruction. There is a lot of ice around us, but a big floe, about a kilo- metre and a half in length, lies parallel with the ship, so that we are protected to seaward, and the fairly strong south-west, wind which is blowing does not alarm me. The weather is heavy and especially black to the south. It is snowing fast. All spend the day in work, the staff continuing their obser- vations. Advantage is taken of the lull to take the engine to pieces quickly, and the crew finish both the repair of tho dinghy and the putting together of a number of sledges, so as to be prepared for every emergency. While Bongrain was returning from Ins observations with 128 TIIE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 Boland, an Allelic Penguin jumped on the iee, holding in its beak a very big fish. Boland seized on it, and the fish, of a kind new to OS, is now in a bottle ; but the easily comprehen- sible anger of the poor penguin was comic. In a perfect fury it accompanied the robber right back to the ship, protesting energetically. I have examined afresh the strip of pack-ice to which we are moored. It is rapidly diminishing in extent, which does not tend to ease my fears. January '29. — At 3 a.m. the man on watch comes to tell me that an iceberg is bearing down on us. Happily he is exaggerating ; but nevertheless it is with great difficulty that the whole of the crew succeeds in sheering off and turning :>-tern a very big ice-block. Half an hour later the wind begins to blow very hard from the south-west, unfortunately driving toward the end of the bay all the small ice and the floes which served to protect us. At 1 p.m. a real iceberg this time, which I thought firmly stranded some distance away from us, begins to move. To >;dve my conscience, I have the fires made up ; but, with our bows wedged in an indentation in the pack, we could have made but a little way astern, even if the wind allowed us. We get ready with all the poles and thick planks on board, not so much to try to sheer off the enormous mass as to seek at least to break the shock. With majestic menace the berg bears down on us slowly, slanting across our stern, and thus blocking our one chance of manoeuvring. All the poles are waiting when, about 10 metres away from us, as if in pity it gently changes its course and contents itself with crashing into the ice a little astern of us. So we excavate in the pack a little basin, which we close with big floes moored by ice- anchors in order to protect our rudder and screw. While this work is in progress I search for a better place for the ship nearer to land. I come back with my mind made up, at the first lull, to draw closer to the island, and put the ship into 9 129 THE VOYAGE OP THE 'WHY NOT' an opening in the ice where it should be better sheltered. At 5 in the afternoon the wind drops almost of a sudden ; but an hour later, when we are about to start moving it begins to blow harder than ever, veering to the north-west, raising up immediately a stormy sea, which makes us bang violently against the thick pack-ice. The berg which frightened us so much this morning during the Little lull had gone seaward, but again it bears down on us, and with anxious hearts we get ready to receive it. The same providential intervention, however, causes it to make a manoeuvre identical with that of this morning, but in the contrary direction, and after coming still nearer to us it passes this time ahead of us and ranges up to the pack at the very place where I had decided to moor the Pourquoi-Pas ? The crew now ask me to moor the berg itself with ice-anchors to prevent it coming back, and although this device may be puerile with such a mass I let them adopt it, in order to encourage their inventive zeal. Shortly after the monster capsized and broke up, covering a vast area with ice- blocks in the course of a few moments. This was the end of its career, after warning us of the danger of our position. The whole day is spent in watching the ice-blocks and pushing off those that approach us. The blows we receive are formidable, and their frequency makes them dangerous even for so stout a vessel as ours. My cabin writing-desk, which is fixed to a beam, receives such jars that everything in it is upset and I can write no longer. Still, what I most fear is a collision. Except that the mountains of Adelaide Land are wrapped in a pall of heavy clouds, the weather is very clear, especially in the east and north-east. In the offing, that is to say, to the south, the sky is black, bordered on the horizon with a Luminous band of gold, probably due to ice-blink. January 30. — At midnight the wind suddenly dropped. The thermometer recorded 2° below zero and went down to 6° below, to rise again by noon to + 8°, thus giving us on the 130 THE SUMMER OF 1908-1909 same day the minimum and maximum readings of our present visit to the Antarctic. At 10 a.m. the weather was fine and clear, and I took advantage of it to climb with Gourdon to the summit of the island. What we saw was not cheerful. While the little strip separating our vessel from the bay full of icebergs is rapidly diminishing and is even on the point of vanishing, on the other hand the coastal pack does not seem to have changed since we first saw it, and still stretches some 8 or 10 miles. The situation therefore is most grave, and the moment is one of those when the responsibility of the head of an expedi- tion is truly agonizing. If our expedition were merely one of adventure, aiming simply at beating the record or accom- plishing a sporting feat, I would gladly take the risk (although the result would almost certainly, and very quickly, be a win- tering on land and a retreat full of incident, like that of the Tegethoff Expedition) and would stay here, burning the last ton of coal. But I must not forget the pecuniary sacrifices made by my country at the request of the Acad^mie des Sciences, and that what is expected of us above all is scientific discoveries. Our equipment of instruments is very fine, and to make use of it we require safe and serviceable winter quar- ters. Now here we have no anchorage and no chance of mooring ourselves to the shore, against which the first gale of wind would infallibly dash us. As the strip of pack-ice which protects us from bad weather from the eastern quarter and the numerous big icebergs is on the point of breaking up, even if we escape from the latter we shoidd be obliged to skirt the edge of the pack, thus going further and further away from the island on which alone we could establish observatories ; and I have every reason to believe that we could not long keep up the struggle necessary for the security of our vessel. The bad weather we have encountered is nothing in comparison with what we shall have to encounter in the coming months. Yet these few hours of continual toil and struggle have already 131 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'WHY NOT' wearied out a hardy and enthusiastic crew, and I know by experience that gales of from fifteen days to a month in dura- tion are not exceptional here. Lastly, it is still possible to struggle by daylight, but at night this becomes an absolute impossibility, and we have already seen our first two stars, which herald the coming of the night hours. On the other hand, our stock of coal is gradually being exhausted. Now we must reckon on two months at least, perhaps three, either before the coast unlocks to allow us to seek for possible shelter or before we can hope to be shut in by the ice. I believe that every serious explorer would decide with me that, under our present conditions, my duty is not to risk an adventure with the majority of chances in favour of the loss of the ship and, in any case, of our having to winter in such a situation that we should lose all the profit of our labours. It was a great, almost a desperate, blow to me to have to leave this region where, with more luck, we might have accom- plished such interesting work, and where I hoped to make important sledging excursions. It was with anguish of heart that I made up my mind ; but really I did not think I had the right to cause the Expedition to run such big risks any longer. I thought it best, however, to call together my companions on the staff, and, explaining the position to them, I asked their advice. They answered that we must start as soon as possi- ble to look for winter quarters in Matha Bay and, if we cannot find them there, return to Port Circumcision. I hesitated also about leaving a station on shore ; but, apart from the fact tlmt we had not the necessary installation, in view of the difficulty of landing to do so, I would not have ventured to undertake the responsibility without joining the party myself — and, on the other hand, I did not think I ought to quit the ship. I decided therefore to leave as soon as possible. From the lop of the island we had seen the oiling full of ice. At all costs it was necessary to escape being frozen up at sen, and 132 THE SUMMER OF 1908-19 9 risking a winter which would have to be spent like the Bel- gian's in an almost identical region. Our summer campaign had been more fruitful than we could have hoped, since we had surveyed a considerable extent of new coast south of Adelaide Land, reached Alexander I Land, corrected the charts, and discovered a big bay north of Adelaide Land while making during our voyage numerous soundings, drags, and observations of all kinds. It was absolutely necessary now, if we were to make sure of our winter's work, to run no danger, by attempting too much, of cutting off our retreat and com- promising the future of the Expedition, compelling ourselves to renounce all ideas of -winter quarters and return to Cape Horn — which would be disastrous. After wintering we could still hope, with the coal we should have left, to have a profitable campaign on the high sea, more adventurous in character and freer from anxiety about finding a favourable spot for winter quarters and the prosecution of the important work entrusted to us. We leave on the terrace of Jenny Island a cairn with a message in it, and at 10.30 p.m. we get under weigh. It is with a heavy heart that I depart ; and yet I ought to rejoice at the fine weather which allows the Expedition to escape from this dangerous spot. A very small breeze from the south-south-west is blowing, and a few big floes coming from the bay force us to make detours. At midnight we begin to round the cap of Adelaide Land, keeping a good distance away to escape the reefs at the southern end, which stretch out very far, marked at the present moment by numerous big icebergs. The weather is very clear, and all the lands are in sight, standing out against a magnificent orange sky. Only the high peaks of Adelaide Land are wrapped in light woolly clouds. Toward 1 a.m. we reach the edge of the pack-ice, which is very thick to the south, loose enough to the west, but thicker again along the land. There is just a channel for us, but we 133 THE VOYAGE OP THE 'WHY NOT' still have to pick our way to escape the thick and frequently big floes. With the ice in this condition we should have had the greatest difficulty in making Marguerite Bay when we first arrived, and I do not think we could have reached Alexan- der I Land. I continue to believe, therefore, that we had the benefit of a rather exceptional state of things. A little before 3 o'clock the sun rises, and the light effects become wonderful. Some of the icebergs are purple in hue, others violet, others look like masses of molten iron, while some are blue or a dazzling silvery white. The whole pack is tinted pink, and it is difficult to imagine anything at once more beautiful and more fantastic. We soon came upon a great collection of icebergs stretching out in a line as far as the big black rock we noticed when we came, which breaks the monotony of the cap. There are over 240 icy monsters, and in the middle of them, more than 15 miles in the offing, can be seen numerous reefs. The pack-ice forces us to steam between land and reefs, skirting the line of icebergs, but happily without any mishap to our keel. The wind, without altering in strength, veers from south- south-west to south-west, and then to west-south-west. The sea becomes clear and we pursue our journey to Matha Bay, taking soundings every four hours. At 6 p.m. we notice the double row of monstrous icebergs which seem always to mark out on either side the entrance to Matha Bay, one row resting