ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 292, 4 May 1911, Page 5

ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION

THE GERMAN EXPEDITION. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright Hamburg, May 2. Prince Henry of Prussia inspected the exploring tship Deutseliland. Supplies for the expedition will be sufficient for 3'/a years. The expedition sails from Buenos Ayrcs on May 7.

Says an Australian writer: The announcement that Dr. Douglas Mawson is bringing out a military type of twoseated Bleriot aeroplane as part of his equipment for the Australian Antarctic expedition is interesting and important, as this is absolutely the last word in scientific transport. We learn that the petrol capacity will enable a distance of 180 miles to be covered without replenishing the tank, so that when within 90 miles of the gaol the intrepid explorers will make their supreme effort under conditions absolutely without parallel. The vast fields of eternal snow; the appalling stillness and silence, broken only by the throb, throb of the motor, as the human bird wings its invasion into the Unknown; the gambling with death; the acute pressure of the rarefied atmosphere on the lungs; thw danger of the petrol freezing; without •taking into account the possibility of accident to the mechanism, where a bad fall would mean almost certain death, as the victim would be frozen ere succour came —these are some of the handicaps with which the pioneers in Polar flight will have to contend.

SHIRASE AND HIS PARTY. THE EXPEDITION'S PROGRAMME. ] The Japanese Antarctic expedition in the three-masted auxiliary schooner Kwai-nan-Maru ("boat to open the south") arrived in Wellington on February 8, and sailed on February 11 for Antarctica after taking in bunker coal and provisions. The expedition, which was under the command of Lieutenant V. Shirasc, of the Japanese Navy, consisted of 27 men all told. These included Mr. Taskeda Terutaro, formerly a teacher 'in the Fifth Higher School, who was to interest himself in a meteorological survey of the land traversed and its natural products, and Mr. Kurino Tclsuzo, an instructor in the commercial department of the Waseda University, who was to take photographic Tccords of astronomical phenomena in the lone white land. They were all said to be keen on the work in hand, and informed the Consul that they had the highest hopes of success in their undertaking. Though it was not a Government expedition, the State had given a substantial aid, and the voyagers had been accorded an enthusiastic farewell in Japan, when the hope was expressed that Shirasc and his men would succeed iu planting the Banner of the Flaming Sun on the southernmost point in the world. THE PARTY'S PLANS. Before leaving Japan Lieutenant Shirase made a statement in the course of which he said that the party would call in at Wellington for coal and supplies, and after covering the 2172 miles of Southern Ocean hoped to reach King Edward VII Land about the mdidle of February. After the shore party landed the vessel would return to Wellington, as it was considered too dangerous to permit of her wintering off the barreir. The members of the expedition, after making themselves as comfortable as circumstances would permit, would engage in exploration work (luring the ensuing seven months, and make their big effort to reach the Pole in the middle of September next over the intervening 1)00 miles. They estimated that this trip would take about 155 days. The Kwai-nan-Maru, it was originally planned, would leave Wellington again for the base late this year, and pick up the party in February, return to Wellington, and proceed to Japan, via Sydney. SEALSKINS OR SCIENCE?

In a recent article on the Polar expeditions, the Melbourne Argus said:— "There seems considerable doubt in regard to Shirase's purpose. His party kept quiet as to intentions—the Japanese mind is full of these ostentatious reticences, which may mean a great deal, and may mean nothing at all. But the reports from Sydney make mention of large tanks or vats in the hold. Dr. Mawson, before he left for England, spoke about these tanks. He was of opinion that the Japanese, whether they were out for the Pole or the sake of science or not, were certainly out for sealskins. The seals are there on the edges of Antarctica, and one species yields finer fur than even the Northern fur seal. Upon (hose islands stringing out towards the Horn from the end of Graham's Land they were killed in huge numbers, but, according to the way of the seal, they grew aware of the danger of these haunts, and one year when the sealers came the seals were gone. They are not extinct, but have found some new breeding ground somewhere along that 10,000 miles of rock and ice. Lieutenant Shirase's party may not be above adding money to glory. He has with him sledges and dogs, and that looks like Polar exploration."

A SUBLIME UNDERTAKING. Speaking at the. departure of the expedition from Japan, Count Okama, president of the society backing the undertaking, said that the heroic enterprise ol Lieutenant Shirase was a more sublime ami greater undertaking in the interests of science that the action of a brave man who stood up with a sword in his 'hand. Such a heroic enterprise was unprecedented in the annals of Japan, and it would infinitely elevate the spirit of the Japanese people and influence them in a favorable direction. Lieutenant Shirase's action was not an empty bombastic example of grandiloquence, but was the firing of the shell itself. This shot would awaken the indolent nation from its slumber, and inspire it with alertness and vigor. The profound faith of the lieutenant would not fail to crown him with success in the exploration. He (the speaker), in common with the people assembled, would bid goodbye to the heroic lieutenant and his party, and hoped to welcome the party at the head of Shinagawa Bay on their triumphant return. Lieutenant Shirase and Captain Nomura, master of the Kwai-nan-Maru, thanked the Japanese people for the support given them, and fissured those present that they would not fail to accomplish their object.