The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is in corporated the West Coast Times THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1st, 1925. AN ARCTIC DRIFT.

Hokitika Guardian, 1 September 1925, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is in corporated the West Coast Times THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER Ist, 1925. AN ARCTIC DRIFT.

AIT Kit more than three years ot drifting in the North Polar ice-pack. tlio Norwegian schooner .Maud has reached Alaska. The sangfroid of Captain Wisting’s description of her seizure there, for a fuel-oil debt, as “the greatest- thrill of the trip,” will not deceive anyone able to read between the lines of the short story now made public. It lias been a highly hazardous adventure and has tested the courage and endurance of the seven explorers very .seatellingly. The hodv of one killed by the hardships of the drift, lies below the ice. An Eskimo deserter, after being nearly frozen in his attempt to make the land, four hundred miles away, needed no threat It, prevent Ills making a second attempt ; nothing hut certain death lay that way. The ship, but for its sturdy build, would have lieon crushed to matchwood. As it was. it was so in-eicilossly belaboured as to he regarded iu> longer as a safe shelter, and preparations were made for a. desperate trek over the moving and breaking iie. The explorer’s aeroplane was wlocked, the imposibility of getting a take-off from the rugged ice being disastrously proved. These details are sufHeiout to indicate that the drift was no passive or pleasant experience. Their very helplessness, once committed to the moving ice. added to the strain upon the explorers’ physique and morale; and when they found that cross-currents were playing havoc will; their calculations, the hazards Were immeasurably increased. That some of them survived was known to the outer world by very occasional wireless communication; hut .succour cannot he sent by wireless. Amundsen’s thought of flying to them after his air-journey to the Pole could not he put into action, so compelled was he by unexpected disaster to his own expedition thither, to come directly hack to safety. Early reports from tin Maud revealed the noii-suecess of hunting, for the seals that were shot were generally lost through their sinking There were evidences, too, that weather conditions severely hampered scientific observations. The brief narrative given is but a chapter in a long story of exacting adventure. There are some gains besides the chequered triumph over perils that add further lustre to descendants of those old Norsemen who first ventured into the Aictie. Sea. The plotting of the Maud s drift will reveal tidal currents and at least indicate hind shores with probable accuracy. From these and other data further expeditions, incited by the age-long fascination of the North Polar region, may plan a pathway to greater .success.