ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2606, 14 September 1909, Page 5

ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION.

AMERICA AFTER THE SOUTH POLE ALSO.

Unitkd Pukrh Association—Coptuimiit

NEW YORK, Sept. 12. Commander Peary’s exploit has giver. a great impetus, to the American idea of flying the Star s and Stripes on both Poles. There is renewed talk of equipping an Antarctic expedition. PREPARATIONS FOR CAPTAIN SCOTT’S EXPEDITION. (Received September 13, 11.15 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 13. Lieutenant Shackleton will give the benefit of his recent' experience to the preparations for Captain Scott’s expedition. The cost is estimated at £40,000. Captain Scott hopes to start in August, 1910. He intends, with the view of investigating virgin areas, to establish in King Edward VII. Land a second base 400- miles to the eastward of McMurdo Sound. He will take Manchurian ponies to carry food to the foot of the glaciers. Their place will then be taken by Eskimo dogs. He will utilise improved motor sledges, satisfactorily tested in Norway.

The following are the dates of importance in the siege of the Southern Pole, showing the distance from the South Pole reached by explorers during the past two centuries:

lieutenant Shackleton has thus made an immense advance on the previous record The following information respecting probable further exploration of the Antarctic is of interest at the present juncture: The Weddell Sea lies south of the Atlantic, and is best reached from South America; while McMurdo Bay lies under the shadow of Mount Erebus—that is, within the sphere of Shackleton’s recent operations—and is, therefore, south of New Zealand and the Pacific, and practically on the opposite sid|c* of the Pole from the Weddell Sea. If, therefore, Lieutenant Shac'klJ-ton purposes operating froto the Weddell Sea, and also establishing a base for a supporting party at McMurdo Bay, the Weddell expedition will have to cross the great Antarctic Continent, including the Pole, to meet the McMurdo Bay party. This means that Shackleton will make his main effort from the South Atlantic, and endeavor to come out on this side, thus reversing Iris previous process. All this reads very like the recent proposal of Dr. Bruce, the Scottish oceanographer and explorer of the Weddell Sea, who has elaborated a plan of attack from the Atlantic side. Bruce estimates that the base he would set up at Coats Land would be 300 mdes further from the Pole than the recent base of Shackleton or that of Scott. But, even though the distance from the Antarctic coastline to the Pole is greater by 300 miles on the Atlantic side than on the Pacific 6ide, he is not deterred by that, because he considers that the road will be easier, and, moreover, “every inch we cover will be new, absolutely untrodden by the foot of man.” Bruce thinks that the South Pole is situated, not on the narrow and steep Pacific ice-sheet that Shackleton travelled to within 97 miles of his object, but on the broad gently sloping Atlantic ice-sheet. Hence the contemplated ascent from the Atlantic and descent to the Pacific. To use Dr. Bruce’s own words: “This attempt to cross the Antarctic Continent, even if only partially successful, cannot fail to add more to our knowledge of Antarctica than any other route, for it will, with Shackleton’s work, give the most complete sectional idea of Antarctica. My plan, therefore, is to land in the vicinty of Coats Land and to cross the Antarctic Continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. We reverse previous Antarctic methods; we travel from the unknown to the known, and not from the known to the unknown. “The first port of call in the south will be Buenos Ayres. From Buenos Ayres a zig-zag course will be made to Capetown between 40deg S. and 60deg. S.; from Capetown the shit) will proceed to. Coats Land, where the wintering station will he set np; the ship wiTl then retreat to Melbourne, sounding, etc., en Touts. Th© land party will divide into two or, if possible, three parties, one for work to the east, one for work to the west, and a third under my leadership southward across the Antarctic Continent.

“From Melbourne the ship, in the second season, will push southward to McMurdo Bay, to meet my transcontinental party, setting up caches of provisions as far to the south as possible, and leaving stores at McMurdo Bay. The ship will then return to New Zealand, with my party. Thence she will sail to Coats Land during the third season to pick up the rest of the land party, and proceed home.”

Date. Explorer. Miles from Pole 1774 Cook 1200 1823 Weddell 1050 1841 Ross 850 1900 Borcligrevink 800 1902 Scott. ' 450 1909 Shackleton 97