The Home of the Blizzard: Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914Mawson, Douglas, Sir
History
The Home of the Blizzard: Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914
Mawson, Douglas, Sir
Antarctica -- Discovery and exploration; Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911-1914)
Of course we soon learned never to go about without crampons on the
feet. Many experiments in the manufacture of crampons were tried
with the limited materials at our disposal. Those designed for normal
Antarctic conditions had been found unserviceable. A few detachable
pairs made of wrought iron with spikes about one and a half inches in
length, purchased in Switzerland, gave a secure foothold. Some of the
men covered the soles of their boots with long, bristling spikes and
these served their purpose well. Ice-nails, screwed into the soles
without being riveted on plates, were liable to tear out when put to
a severe test, besides being too short. Spikes of less than an inch in
length were inadequate in hurricanes. Nothing devised by us gave the
grip of the Swiss crampons, but, to affix them, one had to wear leather
boots, which, though padded to increase their warmth, had to be tightly
bound by lashings compressing the feet and increasing the liability to
frost-bite.
Shod with good spikes, in a steady wind, one had only to push hard to
keep a sure footing. It would not be true to say "to keep erect," for
equilibrium was maintained by leaning against the wind. In course
of time, those whose duties habitually took them out of doors became
thorough masters of the art of walking in hurricanes--an accomplishment
comparable to skating or skiing. Ensconced in the lee of a substantial
break-wind, one could leisurely observe the unnatural appearance of
others walking about, apparently in imminent peril of falling on their
faces.
Experiments were tried in the steady winds; firmly planting the feet
on the ground, keeping the body rigid and leaning over on the invisible
support. This "lying on the wind," at equilibrium, was a unique
experience. As a rule the velocity remained uniform; when it fluctuated
in a series of gusts, all our experience was likely to fail, for no
sooner had the correct angle for the maximum velocity been assumed than
a lull intervened--with the obvious result.
[TEXT ILLUSTRATION]
A copy of the wind-velocity (anenometer) and the wind direction
(anemograph) for a period of twenty-four hours, Adelie Land
This particular record illustrates a day of constant high velocity wind.
In the case of the upper chart each rise of the pen from the bottom to
the top of the paper indicates that another 100 miles of wind has passed
the instrument. The regularity of these curves shows the steadiness of
the wind. It will be observed that the average velocity for twenty-four
hours was 90.1 miles, and the maximum of the average hourly velocities
throughout that period was ninety-seven miles. The lower chart, the
record of the direction from which the wind blew, is marked only by a
single broad bar in the position of South-by-East, the wind not having
veered in the slightest degree.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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