THE POLAR SIEGE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 69, 16 March 1912, Page 6

THE POLAR SIEGE.

From Captain Cook’s Tims. 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:— Miles from Bate. Explorer. Pole. 1774 ... Cook 1200 1823 ... Weddell ' ... 1050 1811 ... Ross 850 1900 ... Borchgrevink ... SCO 1902 ... Scott .!. ... 450 1909 ... Shacideton ... 11l In the year 1840 Wilkes, an American naval officer, made some observations I to the south-west of Australia, east; of Wilkes’ Land, and nearly south of New Zealand. Sir James Ross discovered in the same year Victoria Land, and early in the same year he pushed on to Ross Sea and down to latitude 78. In 1904 Borchgrevink, a Norwegian whaling captain, attempted to land in Victoria Land, but faded, owing to his ship proving too small. Four years later ho repeated the attempt, and' landed at the entrance to Ross Sea. There he stayed several mouths, confining his explorations, however, to the immediate vicinity of his landing place. This achievement of Borchgrevink spurred on other explorers, and in 1901 and 1902 four European expeditions sailed for the Southern Hemisphere, choosing different- fields of action. Those expeditions wore in charge of Otto Nordenskjold, who supplemented the work done at Graham Land (almost opposite Cape Horn) four or five years by the Belgian, De Gorlaclio; Bruce went to the Weddell Sea, south-east of South (America; Drygalski lod a German party ; and Captain Scott embarked on the voyage of the discovery. Later, Dr. Charcot attacked Antarctica on the Weddell Sea side.

When Scott returned after having got within 450 miles of the Pole, Shack!eton went down and planted Queen Alexandra’s flag 11 miles from the goal. The year 1911, as wo know, saw vScott and Amundsen racing for the prize, with Lieutenant Eilchner’s Gormans and Lieutenant Shirase’s Japanese also in the field. Steering By The Stars. An interesting description is. given by Amundsen in his “North-West Passage,” of his sensations in discovering that Franklin Strait, in which his little ship, the Gjoa, was sailing, was in reality a connection with a virgin open sea. “By nine o’clock at night wc were off Presscott Island in the strait. This island became a landmark on our voyage. The. needle of the compass, which had been gradually losing its capacity for self-adjustment, now absolutely declined to act. We were thus reduced to steering by the stars, like our forefathers, the Vikings. This mode of navigation is of doubtful security, even in ordinary waters, hut it is worse hero, where the sky for two-thirds of the time is veiled in impenetrable fog. However, we wore lucky enough to start in clear weather. Outside the 'promontories some pieces of ice had accumulated, otherwise the sea was free from ice. Next day we had a good lesson in our new code of navigation, as clear weather alternated with fog all day long. . . For the sake of my comrades, I maintained a calm demeanour as usual, hut inwardly I was much agitated. Wc were now fast approaching the Do la Roqnettc Islands; they wore already in sight. This was the point that Sir Allen Young reached with the Pandora in 1875, hut here he encountered an invincible barrier of ice. Were wc and the Gjoa to meet the same fate? “Then, as I walked, 1 felt something like an irregular lurching motion, and I stopped in surprise. . . I would not have sold this slight motion for any amount of money. It was a swell un-

dor the boat, a swell—a message from the open sea. The water to the south was open—the impenetrable wall of ice was not there.”