SIR E. SHACKELTON'S PLANS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1986, 17 February 1914, Page 5

SIR E. SHACKELTON'S PLANS.

■ ■■■.■■■ . j TRANS-POLAR DASH. "DOWN. WITH THE CLOCK AND THE CALENDAR." HOW TO LIVE SIX MONTHS IN FIVE. When the last mail left London only a If , d , a - vs :}lad passed since Sir Ernest Shackletmi had announced his intention of eading an expedition across the South Polar continent, but those days were busy ones for the great explorer. "Of course," Sir Ernest said in an interview, "tho plana for the journey have been carefully thought out for ■some time; and the idea has been in my mmd since I.returned from mv la-sfo expedition. Nevertheless, the past fewdays have brought many suggestions, some of which must be considered. The most interesting comes from Dr. Marshall, who was with mo on my last expedition, and if we can adopt it w'e shall save, thirty-five hours a. week. Briefly, as Dr. Marshall puts it, it is this: "All the time we are in the Antarctic tho sun will be above the horizon. Day and night wilt be merely artificial distinctions, and Dr. Marshall has suggested that We should ignore the clock and 1 adopt a 19 hours' day. Thus we should, perhaps, rise'at 7, begin marching at 8, cease marcTiing at 12, resume at 1, and stap at 5. We should sup from 5 till 6, and then, sleep for eight liouts till 2 in the morning. The new day would bogin at 2 a.m; and we. should-set out on the march at 3 o'clock. This would mean s. saving of 35 hours a week/of nearly a month' in the 'five months of the. expedition.-. We-should live six months in ,five. '\ ■ "Hitherto we have slavishly taken our European customs to the Polar regions and spent te.dipus hours in tho sleeping bags—hours which'-we did not spend in sleep'. We lay and yawned.', and waited for the day. Now wo have realised that the day was already there, all the-while, if we, had only known how to use it. This time we shall abolish the clock and tho calenda.r-*cverytkiug-except the sun.

Plunge (ntq tho Unknown, : "I have- bad letters from people who tell me that task I propose is impossible. I admit it- is an essay into the unknown.—but that, is where the attraction Jits. We do not know what We may come across. The. distance we expect to cover is about- that from John o'Groat's to Constantinople*—but ea-tt get. a dinr idea of tho' undertaking if yon can,imagine a. man'setting out to push a- wheelbarrow across Europe— not Europe as-we krtoW it, but an uninhabited continent of which he had no maps. Imagine that, raap suddenly and tmcxDectedly confronted by the Alps! That's the sort of thing that might happen to us. "The- vitalpart of these expedtiions is the Commissariat. A Polar expedition, like, an army, marches upon,; its stomach.. Of course, we are making our own calculations) hut tyo are much interested jn . the .'well-stocked depot' . which. Alimndset) has left in 80de/!. south latitude. This depot will be, a boon to us if we reach it, for depot, is an elastic term —iii some cases merely a courtesy title. On ptir last' expedition one depot contained a tin of jam, a tin of sardines, a few biscuits, and' a large' stock of. how.

"I have had many inquiries about onr 'aeronla.no sledges, and some people frankly declare that we shall not he able to make.use of them. All t care to say.is that the sledges we tsroposo-,to. use, .which will h* fitted with 'an aeroplane en-nine and pvonellet-,' are being ,usfsl : in the snows of Russia.

f .."Since the. expeditionwas announced I have received hundreds of letters and other, communications. Here is part of a typical post—cue volunteer to jam the expedition (a F.renehman), a donation of two guineas towards the cost of the expedition, a request for my autograph, and an offer to sell me' snnra old books, on the -Arctic regions, But here is-a telegram that I value: 'My warmest wishes for four .magnificent undertaking.—Amundsen.'" •