FOR ANTARCTICA.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 884, 2 August 1910, Page 6

FOR ANTARCTICA.

LAST OF THE WHALERS. PITTING UP THE TERRA NOVA. Some interesting details- of the Scott Antarctic expedition were given ti> the -Sydney "Daily Telegraph" by' Mr. T. G. Taylor, the member of Captain Scott's etalF, who has been appointed Physiographer to the Commonwealth Meteorological Dopartmcnt. Mr. Taylor has not yel. received his official appointment as representative of the Commonwealth on thn Scott expedition, but expects it pretty soon. "Tlie Terra Nova," said Mr. Taylor,"fa the biggest vrhaki ever uuilt,' and probably omv.'of thi> Inst (bat will ever bh built. That's what they say. Becans3 there are not. many more whales loft to hunt. She is three times tho siza of .(he Nimrod.- She's a modern beat, specially strengthened, built at Dundee, and practically new. Her engines are in good order—not. like tho Nimro'l's were. There's an icehouse on her to keep the food fresh on the trip across the Equator. The biologists have n nice .little laboratory along one side; mid so. have tho physicists. This is for work done at sea. We are going in for work on the vessel herself more than any other expedition has done, except perhaps the Challenger. While we are in Antarctica, the Terra Nova will cruiseabout. "Mr._ D. G. Lillio, the biologist, or Cambridge, is going to do the sea, while we do the land. He is to investigate the .narme lmirmmils. tin will bo trawling and catching whales and seals and so on. He has iiatl plenty of experience on Atlantic whalers. I telieve the southern eeas.haro never been investigated in this way before. • The Nimrod and previous expeditions simply got down, and cams back as soon as ppssiblc. The point is, there are regions that link up Antarctica with. Australia. "tiacinnrdo Sound is the base of all tho expeditions." The main expedition, under Captain Scofct, will travel about. 400 miles south of that, over the barrier of ice. They will leave it depot at the sound, and perhaps another in the middle of the 400-mile stretch. Then they will turn somewhat to the west, up the huge glaciers, nnd so on to the high plateau that Shackleton was the first 1o climb. And then, on for the-Pole. Supporting parties will probably bo left beiiind at Ihe foot of the glaciers. They will stay there and'investigate; I will probably be one of them. "When the Terra Nova leaves the main party at Macinurdo Sound she goes off to laud Mr. Campbell, an expert Alpine worker on Edward VII Land. There they will explore the eastern coast of the Great Barrier Gulf. No one knows anything about what lies behind it. No one has ever gone within landing there. It has'only been seen from a distance. It is important to find whether it is really the eastern boundary of a gulf, or whether it is an. aichipelago. This party has been, equipped and proviiled for quite independently of the rest. . . ' ' "Another party will go north, on Professor David's route, to the magnetic pole. They will .probably investigate the geological features along the coast. "Who will be the men-in the dash for the Pole? Ah, I don't know that. Besides Captaiu Scott, probably Dr. Wilson (head of tho scientific staff). ' That's all 1 can say, . "On the return, say in abont March, 1912, the expedition will probably try to map ; oat the north coast of Antarctica nearest Australia. But this will depend so much on weather and , circumstances that it can't bo stated definitely. "Captain Scott is making a gj-e.it point of mechanical aids to exploration—much more than other expeditions have done. Three motor sledges are being made for us in Birmingham. This kind of sledge has been very successful in Norway, and Mv. Day (the chief mechanician) says he thinks, it will work well. Each sledge lias long outriggers at both ends, so'that it can be lengthened out to 20ft. long, lo bridge crevasses. . They weigh a good deal, and they' are hot gnidable. You have to wrench them' round; But we're going over a tennis-court sort of a country for tlio most part. And the way will be. chosen for.the sledges' along way ahead., They go about four miles an hour. , ■..'■■■■,- . , . "The meteorologist, Dr. Simpson, is one of the most well known in the world. He has been preparing for this work, for years.. He spent a year .in the' Arctic circle on moteoiological work. His headquarters are at Derby. There he is getting rigged up the-hut in .which 'the magnetic .experiments are to be conductod. Of course, it has to bo specially built—no iron in it. It will be set up about a quarter of a mile away from the rest. A great deal of the money for meteorological experiments is being subscribed by Dr. Simpson's local town. But Captain Scott still wants Mr. C. S. Wright, another of the expedition's staff, is one of the few men who have worked out the electrical properties of air over big sheets of water. . "i'or a leader,", says Mr. Taylor, "you could not get' a better. man ;than Captain Scott."