"GO I MUST!"

Clutha Leader, Volume XL, Issue 71, 13 March 1914, Page 2

"GO I MUST!"

CALL OF THE ANTARCTIC. m ]

By Sir Ernest Shackleton. in 'The Diik Mail.' '"»

Yonder the long horizon hos i And there, by night and day, The old ships draw to port 'again "■ And tho young ships sail away;' • And come 1 may. but go 1 must' And if men ask me why, You can lay tho blame on the Minna stars, And the white road and the I have often been asked, what cJ one see in the cold, inhospitable i (^i0 » of the Antarctic? And, coiili<>nt w | W a bald question such as that, it is U to give an answer. . Tho mere fact that one cannot (]j swer in a terse sentence, ami that out feels what Iveati calls "The dearthjf human words, the roughne-.s ot niotftj! speech," show that there muht be u intangible something that draws o» back to the wild wastes of the Anton, tic, '

And it is there, it those or »■, tjj know it could onlj set it down m J many words. E\oi since we woieluj there we have thought and dieannj of the wide stretcher* oi snow and the silence of thoM> places whuemaj never trod before, the wonder of tgj unknown as it 1 oiled into 0111 k«. Those are the memories that lvmaia j and not the hitter <old, the haul iiotV the rough and scanty lood, and fa constant effort to do just a httlo nun than one should expect. 1 The fascination of oxploiatum froi* the moment that one hist staits organ., ising, and the little details have J charm all of thoii own. Hut iveromi longs for the moment to (oine when (hi last outpost of cnihsation his b«) left behind and all the land in hoti lies new.

A DASH ACROSS A CO.NTLSEM The expedition of which 1 hjti dreamed ever si me 1 u tumid liumtii Antarctic has now taken dehnm shape, and next August should mo ik on tat way across the \ast South I'oJ.u tw tinent. Months ot ptepaiation uill b» required to try out the aciaplut sledges, to select the hist dug-, audit train the teams togethei .so that HhJ may know their masteis Months abi will be required hn the m'h Hon and preparation of food, that most vital question of all. E\eiy little detail—tin shape of the sledge-tent*, tin patkuigtf supplies, even the const iui turn of our clothes, though we do not aim at Iteißf fashionable—has its fascination, for m, and there are happj, bu-n month ahead before we sail tiom tm so fchom, Rut perhaps these details aie not of interest to the geneial public It is the main idea of the expedition, the dash across the Antautu Mint* ont from the Weddell Sea to the Rm Sea, that will from all I have heard chiefly catch the public imagination, and it is that feature that makes (k greatest appeal to us. I know that the journey will be arduous and long, and therein lies a gieat pa it of ill charm. To be one ot the few marching day after day in a daw gieyfog, to see suddenly levialed toi the fiifl time to the eye ot nioital man, tit, snowy summits ol unknown inountaa 1 ranges whoso stein peaks daie tknh,: to feel as each <\,i\ goes past that OM is making the joutmv across a j*cat unexplored i ontint nt that is» reward we hope to win and uijo\ lonj before we come home again.

THE WORLD I.< XARUOWIXG DOWN. The world is narrowing down, awl there are few places loft where tit fioneer may trace out now paths, ope* up new skies, write fresh chaptered* the records of science, and widen ti» bounds of human knowledge. Thoup we explorers inav not claim to be sciatists m the strict sense of the to* we may gain experiences of vataa tt scientists in the laboratory and m quiet room of research, Hut all this work cannot be «» I uniesa we have the sinews of war. 11l fortunate that already for this etW tion I have sufficient money to entw me to make u start. And to complete the full progrUW I have laid down, to add to the stil of scientific men and sledge travelled and bring tho equipment up to a st»W ard that will make the best return * results will require more mink ~ 1 feel that this expedition, Imperil in tho most far-reaching souse, *» have support from tlio.se men who <jj afford it, from official .sources in " self-governing dominions jiiid from w dependencies, so that the firM. tfo*" l * of the Antarctic continent will beoo* a matter of vital interest not only* those in our island home, but to a'' *" live uniler the Union .Jack, THE GREATEST DAY OF A MAN'S LIFE. In return for that sympathy ««# port 1 think I may promise that» expedition will be worthy of the)*] pire, so far as equipment, cxperie«| and personnel are concerned, and] write this because I am thinki"** the many good companions of joys and hardships who will he W" me again. J There is your answer if yon as* *£ thor the icy wastes of the Antaw" have any fascination, tor already »■ besieged' with offers of service from*' Mho know how little ol a pleasure W the journey will be. It is too ea«J give namoN vet —though I am g«<L. say that. Frank Wild and ' ; ston, those btaunch and capable *! chums, will be with me again. , y And for those who will form tie > to eea" party—already they «J| 1 dreaming of it and begging to beori little band—ifc is enough to aaj «F it will be the greatest day of f lives when, like the Greeks of W * in* ojos&ed the continent, tw * "tte, ml Xfci ml 1 ' -"i