ANTARCTICA SECRETS.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20284, 28 August 1937, Page 24 (Supplement)

ANTARCTICA SECRETS.

REVEALED TO BRITONS. THREE YEARS IN POLAR REGION. IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES. (Times Air Mail Service.) LONDON, JULY 22. The most closely guarded exploration secret of our time was revealed to me last night by a man who, for more than three years, has been cut off from civilisation, says a special correspondent of Reynold’s Journal. He was one of nine weary explorers to reach England after an Antarctic survey which, In effect, means the addition of thousands of square miles of territory to the British Empire. Probing the Mysteries. While all the world has been hearing of the Soviet successes at the North Pole, these nine men have, almost in -complete secrecy, been probing the mysteries of the other end of the earth. Chief of their discoveries was a huge mountain range, over 8000 feet high in an aro*i which was formerly *hought to consist solely of open sea. Another Important discovery was that of a new strait. The expedition was sponsored by tfie Royal Geographical Society. During the three years In which the nine men were completely cut off from the rest of the world, they havo surveyed from the air nearly 1000 miles of unchartered Antarctic coastline, of which hitherto there had been only the vaguest knowledge. The explorers sailed to Graham Land on.their ship Penola, and established their base at Marguerite Bay, on the western side of Graham Land, 1000 miles south of 'Cape Horn, a mountainous, perpetually Ice-bound tract discovered by a British mariner 105 years ago. Day aftfer day they flew southwards from their base In an electrically heated aeroplane, an-d, as they flew, a special camera In the body of the plane photographed every Inch of the territory beneath. Wonder Camera. Electrically heated and operated, It automatically makes exposures at predetermined Intervals, ranging from three seconds to one minute. In addition to the land below, it photographs an altimeter, showing the height of the aeroplane at the moment of exposure, a chronometer to show the time of the exposure, and data tablets on which any additional facts can be written by the airmen. The photographs will be fitted to-gether to form the basis of an accurate map, the first to be made of this South Polar region. The expedition was led by Mr J. R. Rymlll, who took part with “ Glno” Watkins in the adventurous exploration of -Greenland by the British Arctlo Ail* Route Expedition from 1930 to 1931, and who took command after Watkins’ mysterious death. Four other members of the party, Mr W. E. Hampton, Mr A. Stephenson, Mr 0. Riley, and Sergeon-Lieu-tenant-Commander E. W. Bingham were also members of the Greenland expedition. They lived entirely on tinned food and the animals they shot, chiefly seals. Only radio kept them In touch with civilisation. Their nearest neighbours were more than 1000 miles away. '* The country Is absolute desolate,” Mr Hampfon told me. “Most of its coastline for months on end, cannot be reached from the sea. and it was only by aerial photography that we could carry out a survey at all.” Sledging With Dogs. The expedition he said had been too busy to worry much about its isolation from humanity. “ Surveying work kept us busy for most, of the time.” he added, “and Jn addition lo aerial photographic work It entailed a great deal of sledging with dogs in order to fix a ground control. “ There was also a goood deal to do !n connection with our researches in geology, biology, also meteorology, and when conditions became 100 bad for anything else we Just stayed in our hut and read books.”