Admiralty charts of the Antarctic may soon bear a new name. It will be "Sinister Bluff," the name given to a tide-swept rocky inlet by six men who lived there {of five days under an overturned dinghy with temperature far below freezing point.
These six men were among the 50 scientists and explorers who arrived at Plymouth in the Royal research vessel Discovery IL, after 18 months' exploration and research work in South Polar regions. The story of iheir escape was told for the ürst time when they landed.
Early this year they were sent from Discovery IL to take observations on Xing George Island, When the ship returned to take them off eight days later they had disappeared, their base camp had been destroyed and such records as could be found indicated that they had set off in a motor boat intending to return after a few hours, H.M.S. Ajax, the 6,840-ton cruiser from the America and West Indies Station, and other vessels were sum-
All of the party had lost so much weight through a starvation diet that they had been reduced almost to skeletons.
The tale of their privations began when the engine of their motor boat broke down, For five days they drifled among great icebergs which threatened io smash their frail craft to matchwood.
Once they were swept by a gale to within a few yards of the uncharted, rugged coast. Then suddenly their engine restarted and they were able to move off the shore, but by that time food and water had been "exhausted, their boat. was leaking and they had to take to their 14ft dinghy and land on a tide-swept shore, For five days they lived under their dinghy. It was so cold that they huddled together in one sleeping bag for warmth. For food they relied on seals and penguins, which they had to kill with pocket-knives, since they had no firearms. For cooking and heating they had a fire of blubber.
Once the marooned men saw the Discovery a few miles off the shore; but their distress signals were blown down by a blizzard. They erected a huge bonfire, but this was extinguished by snow.
On board the Discovery are millions of specimens of sea life, many of which have never been seen before, Kiangse and Ezra Roads
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