SOUTH POLAR EXPEDITION

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 9, 9 January 1913, Page 6

SOUTH POLAR EXPEDITION

CAPTAIN AMUNDSEN IN LONDON. Captain Roald Amundsen, the discoverer of the South Pole, gave his first lecture in England last month in the Queen’s Hall, under the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society, np-j on the Norwegian South Polar Expedition. Lord Curzon, who presided, after paying an eloquent tribute to the work ni Captain Amundsen, said:—ln the field of exploration wo know no jealousy, and even while we are honouring Captain Amundsen this evening I am convinced that his thoughts, no less than ours, are .turned to our own brave countryman, Captain Scott, still shrouded in the glimmering half-light of the Antarctic, whoso footsteps reached the same gaol doubtless only a few weeks later than Amundsen, and who, with unostentatious persistence and in the true spirit of scientific devotion, is garnering in during an absence of three years a harvest of scientific spoil which, w hen he returns, will 1)0 found to render his expedition the most notable of modern times. The names of those two men will be perpetually linked along with that of a third, Sir Ernest Shackleton, in the history of Antarctic exploration.

Captain. Amundsen began by referring to earlier expeditions, which had worked in the region where lie looked for Ins starting point, the great Antarctic ice wad known as the Ross barrier between South Victoria and King Eclward VII. Land. The imposing bay formation seen by Ross in 1841, and named by Shackleton the Bay of Whales, was selected as the basis of the Norwegian expedition, and here the Fram, which left Norway 1 on August 9, 1910, arrived on January 14, 1911. In a little valley two nautical miles from the spot where the ship was made fast the expedition selected its winter quarters. They were divided into two parties, the ship and the shore party, and on January 23, fourteen days after arrival, their home, Framheim, was ready and the provisions ashore. The lecturer described a series of preliminary trips which led to the establishment cf provision depots in SOdeg. S., Bldcg. S., and 82deg. S., and then the preparations fo) 1 passing the winter and for the final journey in the spring. On October 20, the weather had settled so much that they were able to start. Journey to “Shark Seton’s Furthest South.” They had arrived at the decision that three men should go east to King Edward VII. Land, while the other five, with 52 dogs and four sledges, should carry out the main plan—the dash for tfio Pole. Including the depot stores they had provisions enough for 120 days. On November 5 the} reached the depot in 82deg. S. They agreed in laying down a depot at each whole degree of latitude, undeniably at some risk, as there was no time for putting down cross marks; but they pinned their faith to snow mounds, wflTcii'tlfey C bejfafi to* built! in 80deg., and on the other hand, their sledges became so much lighter that they were never too heavy for their dogs. In 83deg. S. they sighted land in a southwesterly direction. It could, be nothing else but South Victoria Land, arm probably a continuation of the mountain range as drawn by Shackleton in his chart. From day to day the land became more distinct, with peaks from 10,000 ft. to 15,000 ft. in height. He had never seen a landscape more beautiful, more wild, more imposing. Here a weathered summit dark and cold- - there snow and ice glaciers pell-mcli in terrible chaos. Op November 11 they sighted land due south, and pretty soon ascertained that South Victoria Land in about SOdeg. S. and 163 deg. W. was met by a range trending east and north-east. This mountain range was considerably lower than South Victoria Land's mighty mountains. On the 17th they arrived at the spot where the ice barrier and the land joined. The junction was not followed by any great disturbances—a few large undulations broken off at intervals by crevasses, but nothing to impede progress. Their plan was to go duo south from Framheim''to the Polo, and the nearest ascent due south was between the mighty peaks of South Victoria Land. Leaving provisions behind for thirty days, up they went for the plateau, carrying provisions for sixty days.

Captain Amundsen gave a vivid account of this part of the enterprise, canned out for days amid storms'and snowdrifts which blotted out the surroundings. On December 6 he reached the greatest height, 10,750 ft. above sea. level. From here the main inland plateau did not rise any more, but ran into an absolutely flat plain, hi 88deg. 23min, they had reached Shackloton’s furthest south and camped in 88deg. 25rnin., Avbore they established their last depot, Depot No. 10, and deposited, 2001 b. of provisions. Then they began to go very slowly dinni bill. The state of the ground Avas ex'eellm t. The* sledging Avas ideal and the Aveatlicr beautiful. They covered daily 15 nautical miles, and Avithout adventures of any kind made hit. 89dc-g. on December 11. It then seemed as if they had arrived at a region Avitli perpetually fine weather. The most obvious sign of constant, cairn Aveather Avas the absolutely plain surface. “The Coal Reached.” On December 13th the latitude gave 80dog. 37rnin., arid they made out that they, would reach their goal the next day. “Tiro 14th arrived.” continued Captain Amundsen; ‘‘l have a feeling that Ave slept less, breakfasted at a greater Sliced, and started earlier this morning than the previous days. The day Avas as fine as usual. Brilliant sunshine Avith a very gentle breeze. We made good headAvay. We didn’t talk much. Everybody was occupied Avith his own thoughts, ! think. Or had probably all of usthe same thought?—Avhich brought all of us to look and stare towards the south over the endless plateau. Were AA-e the first or—Halt! ft sounded like a sound of exultation. The distance

' was covered . The goal reached. I Calm, so calm stretched cue mighty: | plateau before ns, unseen and untruth l oy the foot of man. No sign or j mark in any direction. it was un- ! deniable a moment of solemnity when | all of us with our hand on the flagI stair planted the colours of our country on Lite geographical South Pole, on King Haakon \ 11. Plateau. “During the night—according to our time —three men encircled, our camp, the length of the semi-diameter being ten nautical miles, putting' down marks, while the two others re-’ mained at the tent taking hourly ob-j serrations of the sun. J hese gave 89 | dog. oomin. We might very well' have been satisfied with the result,, but no had plenty of time and the! weather was tine, so why not try to observe the very Pole itself? On the; IGtli therefore we moved our tent the| remaining live nautical miles furthori south and camped there. We made! everything as comfortable and snug as possible, in order to take a series of observations throughout the 24] hours of the day. The altitudes were! observed every hour by four men wit 111 sextant and artificial horizon. The, observations will be worked out at the Norwegian 1 uivarsity. W ith this, camp as a centre we drew a circle with a radius of 4) nautical miles, and marks were put down, prom this, ramp we went out for four miles inj different directions. A little tent wo bad carried with ue in order to mark the spot was pitched here and the Norwegian flag witfi the h rain pendant hoisted on the top of the tent. This Norwegian home got the .name ‘Polheim.’ Judging iroin the weather conditions, this tent may’i stay here mimy years to come. In the tent we left a letter addressed to H.M. King Haakon VIL, with __ in- 1 formation of what we had done. The! next man will bring it home. Besides we loft some clothing, a sextant, aiij artificial horizon, and a hypsometer. Tbs Return. On December 17th they left King Haakon’s Plateau as they had found; it, bathed in sunlight. The meanl temperature during their stay there] was 13cleg. Fahr. it felt much milder.; The outward journey, according toi distance metres, was 750 nautical miles, and the daily average speed 13. The distance back was covered in 39 days, without a single day of rest, at a daily average speed of 19.2 nautical miles. They left the Pole with two sledges and 17 dogs, and op arrival at their winter quarters 11 of the dogs were safe and sound. Their provisions consisted of pemnn-j can, biscuits, milk in powder, and chocolate, and they always felt well. The party which proceeded to King Edward’s Land confirmed what Scott had seen, and their exploration of the surroundings .of Framheim was of great interest.' At the same time as the work -inshore was going on, Captain Nikon with his companions on the Fram succeeded in doing work which, from a scientific point of view, would probably turn out to be the most valuable of the expedition. Gn a cruise of 8000 nautical miles from Buenos Aires to Africa and back he took a series of oceai%graphic stations, 60 in all. Twice they circumnavigated thd world, voyages full or j dangers and toil. The voyage out of the ice in the autumn of 1911 was of a very serious character. They were ten men all told. Through darkness and fog, cyclones and hurricanes, pack-ice and icebergs, it became their lot to beat their way out. same ten men, on February 15th, 1011, hoisted the Norwegian flag further south than a ship had ever floated before. A fine record in the century ol records. —Furthest north, fuithcst south.