ARCTIC EXPLORATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 133, 8 June 1925, Page 5

ARCTIC EXPLORATION.

AMBITIOUS PROJECT.

MACMILLAN EXPEDITION

\n ambitious project to explore the i\rctic region between Alaska and the North Pole will be launched this month by the departure of two ships and two nnvv aeroplanes from Boston. Ihe expedition, which will be under the command of Air. Donald Baxter MacMillan, is is being financed by the National Geographic Society xvith tlie co-operation of the Government. Mr. MacMillan, who is in his olst vcar, had his first experience in the Arctic witli the Peary expedition of I'IOS-9 He was engaged in ethnological work among tbe Eskimos in Labrador durino- the following three years, and commanded the. Crocker Land expedition (11)13-17), and the MacMillan "aflin land expedition (1020-22). His two ships, the Bowdoin—a veteran of his two previous expeditions— and either the Neptune or ibetus, will leave Boston on June 20. The party will proceed northward from Labrador and Greenland to Etnli (TSdeg 20min N.. in North-west Greenland), where a base will be established. An advance base of supplies Will be established at (ape Thomas Hubbard (Axel llelbeig Island), about 2.-i0 miles north-west of Etah. and from this advanced base the aeroplane will fly 4T50 miles north-west into the rrroat unknown territory. On returning to Etah, tbe aeroplanes will proceed to the interior of Ballin Land, a stretch (100 miles long and 200 miles wide, into which no white mnn lias ever penetrated. The expedition will also explore Labrador, where Norse ruins are supposed to exist.

The aircraft to be used are. of recent design, and are known as Loening Amphibians. They will be equipped with Liberty motors, and have recently demonstrated a speed of 122 miles an hour. They are so constructed that they can easily be hoisted aboard ship and launched in the water. They weigh :I.loolb unloaded and carry a weight of 2,10011). The expedition will be well equipped with wireless, and progress reports will lie transmitted. These, it is hoped, will be picked up by ships of the United States fleet when in Australian waters. Mr. MacMillan expects to return by September 20. believing that the party will accomplish as much in three months with 'planes as it would in years with dog teams.