THE ANTARCTIC.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 December 1916, Page 6

THE ANTARCTIC.

SHACK LETON'S RELIEF ES. ! PEDITION. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Nov. :SO. The arrival of Sir Ernest Shackleton, who is due in Wellington on Saturday, is being awaited with a great deal of interest by people who have watched developments in connection with the proposed relief expedition to the Antarctic. Sir Ernest, on the face of it, has been treated cavalierly, and he is not at all the man to suffer an injustice quietly. In fact, his friends know him as an aggressive fighter with a vast capacity for getting his own way. In order to understand the position one must glance hack over the history of the present expedition. Sir Ernest Shackleton planned to march right across the Antarctic Continent, visiting the Pole en route. He was to start from the Weddell Sea coast, traverse some 800 miles of unknown territory to the Pole and then complete the journey along the route that he pioneered in 1008-0!), finishing at the Ross Sea coast. He had two ships, the Endeavor and the Aurora. The Endeavor was to land him on the Wcddell Sea coast, which nobody has ever visited, and the Aurora was to meet him at the Ross Sea, if he succeeded in traversing the intervening ICOO or 1700 miles.

His plans miscarried. The Endeavor, seeking a passage through the Wcddell Sea to the unknown coast, was caught in the ice and lost. Sir Ernest Shackleton and bis men had to make their way with sledge and boat to Elephant Island, below South America. Then Sir Ernest himself made a wonderful voyage in a small open boat, over the stormiest of oceans, to the Falkland Islands. He had several companions with him and left the rest of his men on Elephant Island. These men, with the polar night descending upon them, and with slender supplies, were in a parlous plight, and the Admiralty authorities in London be gan to prepare a ship for a rescue expedition. But Sir Ernest borrowed a small vessel from the Chilian Government and at the third attempt rescued the Elephant Island party without assistance from London. In the meantime the Aurora had got into trouble in the Ross Sea, and she came back to New Zealand, under tli3 command of Lieutenant Stenliouse, to report that Captain Macintosh and other members of the party had been left at Ross Island when the ship herself was carried out to sea i:i a cale. The Aurora had drifted about the Ross Sea in ' the iee for many months and reached New Zealand in a damaged condition. It was obvious that afescue expedition would he necessary. Sir Ernest Shackle ton's fate was unknown at this stag!'. ' and after soni" consultation the British, Australian and New Zealand Governments arranged for the repair of the ship in readiness for another voyage south. The work was nearly completed when Sir Ernest ShackMon's arrival at the Falkland Islands was announced. But for some reason that still lacks official explanation the Government did not wait for the leader of the expedition—and the Empire's foremost polar cxploror —to state his intentions. They appointed Captain J. K. Davis to command the Aurora, deposing Lieutenant Stenliouse, and announced bluntly that Sir Ernest had nothing to do with the relief expedition. That is the position at the present time. Captain "Davis, next to Sir Ernest Shackleton. is the best possible man for the work that has to be done. He commanded Shackletoivs ship, the Nimrod, in ]9OO, and he was the navigator of the Mawson Expedition. He is a fin-: seaman, with many friends in New Zealand and Australia. But why did the Governments disregard the paramount claims of Sir Ernest Shackleton himself'! The expenditure of public money may have given them a certain claim on the ship, but it surely does not excuse the apparent affront to the leader of the expedition. Anyway Sir Ernest himself has not accepted the official assun.net' that his services are not required. He has came post haste across America and the Pacific to attend to the matter oi, the spot.