THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, JULY 5, 1909. SHACKLETON'S RIVAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9534, 5 July 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, JULY 5, 1909. SHACKLETON'S RIVAL.

Dr. William Bruce, of the Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory, is planning a new voyage to the Antarctic. He does not, like Lieutenant Shackleton, contemplate approaching the South Pole from its nearest open side—the Pacific—and then returning" to the base from which he started, but he plans to land on the Atlantic side and cross right over the Antarctic Continent, his vessel being ready to pick him up on the Pacific side if and when he arrives. As considerably less is known about this side of the Antarctic Continent and the land and ice journey is much longer, the task will, therefore, be very arduous. It is intended to have a vessel of 250 to 300 tons register, carrying about 36 men, including six scientists, and the cost will be £50,000. Writing of his scheme in the London "itandard," Dn Bruce says:— ; "Seeim; that Ross, Scott, and Shackleton have given us a very concrete idea of tint part of the Antarctic Continent facing New Zealand, and practically up to- the Pole itself, it seems appropriate that someone should attempt to penet r ate southward un the opposite, or Atlantic, side, and this is what I propose to atthempt hi my new Antarctic expedition. I fully realise the difficulties ahead, having thrae times sailed to the Weddell Sea, and having each time been more or less repulsed <?with heavy ice, like my predecessors, Bellinghausen, Biscoe, Keirip, Moore, and Ross; but the attempt must be made to reach the shores of the Antarctic Continent in these longitudes, and set up a station there. This done, I also recognise that my base is about 300 ' miles further from the Pole than Shackleton's, or Scott's base. But that matters nothing, for once we cross 74deg. S., every inch of ground we cover is new, absolutely untrodden by the foot M man. By Choosing this locality we step into the dark, into the mysterious unknown. We do not know what is before us. Xet we have idea*, and perhaps mine are as con-, crete as any, as I have never ceased to investigate any Antarctic discovery made since my first voyage to Wed* dsll Sea 17 years ago. My beliefs' are these:—First, that there ia an-

doubtedly an Antarctic Continent twice the area of Australia, scattered portions of the coast line of which we know, notably Edward, Victoria, Wilkes, Wilhelm, Enderby, Coats, and Graham Lands. Second, that the greatest mass of the Antarctic Continent lies on the Atlantic Ocean side. Third, that the backbone of Antarctic a runs from Victoria to Graham Land, with possibly a subsidiary range, the beginning of which is the Alexandra Range, discovered by Shackleton, and- the end of which ' terminates at Enderby Land or a litte east or west of it. Fourth that there are three great icefields one facing the Pacific Ocean, one facing the Indian Ocean and one facing the Atlantic Ocean. Fifth that the Pacific is the narrowest and steepest icefield.and that the Atlantic icefield is the broadest most gently sloping one. Sixth, that the South Pole is situated on the Atlantic icesheet on the Pacific side of which Shackleton travelled. From 'the above therefore," concludes Dr. Bruce, "it will be seen that although the distance from the An- ! tarctic coast-line to the Pole is greatest on the Atlantic side by--330 miles, yet the road will be less difficult, this route resembling one across the American Continent from east to west. Also that having reached the great mountain range, ascended on its steepest side by Shackleton, by a gentle slope it will be easier to descend that way to M'Murdo Bay, or more interestingly if it .can be arranged to Edward Land. This attempt to cross the Antarctic Continent, even if only partially successful, cannot fail to add more to our knowledge of Antarctica than any other route, for it will, with Shackleton's work, give the most complete sectional idea of Antarctica. My plan, therefore, is to land in the vicinity of Coat's Land, and to cross the Antarctic Continent from the Atlan 5 tic to the Pacific. We reverse previous Antarctic methods; we travel from the unknown to the known; and not from the known ,to the unknown."