BACK FROM THE ARCTIC CIRCLE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2854, 19 August 1916, Page 10

BACK FROM THE ARCTIC CIRCLE

STEFANSSON EXPEDITION A NEW ZEALANDER'S GOOD ' ■■ J WORK •1 "iu!traliin:jre\V: Zealand Cable Aaaociatlon, 5.,',: York, August 17. - from Nome, Aiasisa, state that part of the Stefansson Expedition has returned, including Dr. D. jenuefis, the New Zealander. T The schooner Alaska left Bernard harbour on July 13 aiid reached Herschel Island on July 26. During I'Jio a detailed survey.; pi' the coast line was completed, tho river explored for 7 a . ,miies, ana a. geological examination and surveys made east trom Cape iiarrow, arouncj More Bay to the Arctic Sound, by launch aud canoo, the party returning by sledge. As a result, the Bat'liurst Island charts have been rectified, and over 15U islands charted, 'iiie geological results are encouraging. A groat copperriekl was mapped. Dr. Jenness spent from April to November in IUI6 sledging and packing with primitive Eskimos in the interior ;of Victoria Island. He made an extensive ethnological and archaeological collection, and obtained phonograph records of folk•lore. There is no special news of ths Northern section of the expedition, but ■Mr. Wilkins reported that one schooner was beached at Caps Kellett, and another schooner was unable to proceed further north than'the unnamed island westi of Banks Island. The ship Polar Bear, under Stefansson, unsuccessfully attempted a voyage west of Banks Island in 1915, but was forced to re- . turn, and wintered between Banks , Island and Victoria Island. Plans were made to spend 1916 in obtaining more information about the land discovered by Stefansson in 1915. Stefansson and his party started tho exploration in May, and intend to remain as long as possible, and to spend the summer in the Northern • Islands, rejoining' the Polar Bear at Melville Island in the autumnJ It is expected that the Polar.. Bear' will spend the ' winter of 1916-1917 at Melville Island. The' northern party intended to return in 1916, but it is hardly anticipated that this will be. possible, owing to the scattering of the parties. The explorers are well supplied for ■ twp years. .:.■ The scientists of the southern party brought many tons of specimens. : The remapping of the Bathurst Island region corrects errors in Sir John Franklin's survey. Dr. Anderson reports that Stefansson may not return until 1918. After remaining with the Stefansson party,' Wilkins made a trip over the ice and joined the southern party. Stefansson told him that the new land discovered might be described as another Greenland. VALUABLE COLLECTIONS. Australian-New Zealand' Cable Association. . ' (Rec, August 18, 6.10 p.m.) London, August 17. Doctor Anderson, leader of the nqrfhorn section of Stefannspn's expedition,/ has returned home from Alaska. He/ states that over 150 islands were charted in the region heretofore mapped as Chapman, Lewis, and Maie'et Islands. In the Bathurst Inlet a great field was investigated, where they found native copper widely' distributed in extensive quantities. Valuable ethnological and archaeological collections were made, and over a thousand specimens of birds and mammats secured. Vilhjalniur Stefansson organised the expedition in 1913, and it comprised a Scientific staff of 15 and a, crew of 13. The expedition 1 was divided into two parties. The northern party, which sailed in the Karluk, consisted of Stefansson, tho leader, and Captain Robert Bavtlett (of the Peary expedition), James' Murray, oceanographer aaid biologist of Shackleton's expedition, W. T. M'Kinlay, raagneticia'n, : and George Malleoli, geologist. In the southern party, which was to explore tho Arctic islands, having as its base Simpson Bay on Victoria Island, were: Dr. 11. M. Anderson, zoologist; Fritz Johansen, a Norwegian. biologist; J. J. O'Neil, a mining geologist; Kenneth, Chapman and J. R. Cox, topographers; Henri Beuchat, a, French anthropologist; Dr. D. Jenness, ethnologist; and Dr. A. Forbes Mackay) who was tho surgeon of Shackleton's"Antarctic expedition. The main object of the expedition, which left Esquimault, British Columbia, in June, 1913, was the collection of scientific, data about the unexplored regions, within tho Arctic Circle. The return to the United States' would not be made before the autumn of 1916 at the earliest.' Meteorological data were also to be furnished by wireless messages to the stations at Iceland and on the Aleutioh Islands. Stefansson's Ln- . tention was to find the great hypothetic continent which tho tides and currents of the Arctic Ocean had driven explorers to believo must lie somewhere to the.north of North America. '••'■•■'. The expedition met with misfortune almost from the start. The Karluk was early caught in. tho ice. Three months ;■'; later it was reported that the explorer ■ had reached his winter quarters' on . Hei-schell Island, after a trying experi- ■'. ence with the ice qff Northern' Alaska. ■ 'A few days afterwards it was reported ; ; 'that the expedition was fearedto have '-':>'encountered disaster. Then came a rumour that the supply ship, > Belve- . dere, had been lost, aud that the Mary Sachs, another supply ship, had been . caught in the ice. The Karluk drifted to tho north-west of. Behririg Strait, was crushed in the ice, and sank in .January, 1911. The whole party got ::;off 6afel,y, and set off in three divisions :; for Wrahgel .Island, 33 miles distant. .. After the failure of one relief expedi:;:';tion under .Captain Bartlctt, a second ;■ 'succeeded in rescuing three survivors ■ ' from the island. It was feared at tho time that Stefansson and other members of the party had perished, but • this proved io bo incorrect. Another ■ journey was undertaken in 1915, and again it was reported that disaster had befallen the intrepid explorer. He returned safely, however, in September, and reported the discovery of an extensive mountainous land to the north of Prince Patrick's Island. This journey was one of great adventure and much peril. In August, 1915, Stefansson went north again on a journey of exploration to the north and northwest. DR. DIAMOND JENNESS. , Mr. G: ,L. Jenness, of Lower Hutt, has received a cable message stating that his son, Dr. Diamond Jenness' was safe. Dr. Jenness,'who is a'comparatively young man, has already managed to crowd much adventure.into his life. Ho is a New Zealander. and was born in his father's residence, which stood on the site now occupied by Cooper's Buildings, Willis Street. :■ He was educated at the Hutt School, at Wellington College, and at Victoria College, where he graduated with honours in classics and gained numerous scholarships. In 1908 ho went to Oxford, onteriug at Balliol College and taking up the study of Litcrao Humaniores and Anthropology. In the latter he obtained his diploma in 1910, and his work attracted such notice that in 1911 he was selected by the Oxford ~ JJniversit.Y-Committee .qf Anthropology, yjto lead an'Unchrdpologi'dal':W.\-pu'(Htif)'ii'Ui p-jNew Guinea. The .adventures.of this Ipexpedition amongst' ' the ' primitive of Papua and the valuable 'I work done is yet fresh in the memory of scientists.