The Fascination of the Pole.

Hastings Standard, Issue 461, 27 October 1897, Page 4

The Fascination of the Pole.

Humanity seems just at present to bo r-'.iixVring from a severe attack c-i PoUu- luuuia. No less th:vn four expeditions in quest of the North Pole are on toe tapis at this moment-, but o;;ly one is likely to come to anything namely, the project brought forward by Mr Walter Wellman, an American journalist who made some sort of a name for himself as the leader of the Yankee expedition in the Polar ice to the north of Spitzbergen some three years ago. Undismayed by Nansen's failure, which, however, was a grand commercial success for the doctor, and the comparative failure of the magnificently equipped Jackson-Harmsworth expedition, Mr Wellman is arranging the details of a further attempt to reach the topmost spot of our little sphere. His plan is to sail from Bergan, Norway, in June next, in a steamer constructed on the lines of the Fram, with nine other venturesome souls American and Norwegian. At Cape Flora, in lat. 80deg, where Mr Jackson made *his headquarters, Mr Wellman intends to establish a supply station. This will be left in charge of a couple of men and the remainder of the party will push on with sledges, dogs and small boats as far north as possible before the winter sets in. The head of the expedition hopes to be able to winter in the neighborhood of Cape Fligely, the furthest point touched by Payer 25 years ago. Early in '9O, spring being the best time for travel in the Arctic regions, five or six of tbem will continue the journey northward, accompanied by 60 dogs, and provisioned for over 100 days. From Cape Fligely to the Pole is a distance of about 550 miles, and as Mr Wellman anticipates being able to accomplish ten miles a day, he is hopeful of reaching the Pole and making the return to Cape Fligely before the summer sunshine causes the ice to break up and renders travelling both extremely perilous and slow. Wellman, it seems, has the advantage of having consulted with Nansen, and the latter apparently thinks the American's chances of reaching the goal of Arctic exploration are fairly rosy. Mr Wellman's expedition will certainly be much better equipped than was Nansen's, and his party will have fixed stations to fall back on, which the Norwegian had not.