HARDSHIPS OF POLAR WORK

Sir Ernest Shackleton, the English Antarctic explorer, spoke before an enthusiastic audience in the Living Room of the Union yesterday afternoon and described one of the arduous experiences of his expedition. He said that on the party's return north, their provisions became exhausted and for two months they were compelled to subsist on a diet of dead pony. On the march they suffered terribly from dysentery and each man lost in weight an average of from 30 to 40 pounds.

On February 26 they found themselves 67 miles from the coast, and as the "Nimrod" was to sail north on March 1, it was necessary for them to make long forced marches. The next day they made 24 miles, but in the evening Marshall, one of the party, became so exhausted that they left him behind with a companion, while Shackleton and another man pushed on alone. They marched almost all night and early the next afternoon felt the ice heaving under their feet. A little while later they reached open water, but as it was foggy they could not discover the ship. So they cached most of their goods and proceeded along the edge of the ice to their hut, where they found a note, saying where the "Nimrod" would shelter, and that it would leave on February 26. That night they spent in torment. There was very little food, and no oil to burn; they had left their blankets on the ice and it was too cold to sleep; and they believed that the ship had moved her position or possibly had gone north and left them. But the next morning they sighted her, and by 11 o'clock were on board.

That same afternoon Shackleton accompanied by three men from the "Nimrod" set out to return for Marshall, and the night passed on the journey was the first in which he had slept since he had begun the forced march. Early the next morning they set out again and on the following night were back at the coast with Marshall and his companion. During the last afternoon a blizzard had been raging and the "Nimrod" had moved to shelter when they arrived. However, they managed by means of calcium torches to attract her attention and at 10 o'clock in the evening were all safely on board.

In these three days Shackleton had marched 123 miles and had had only eight hours sleep.