CAPTAIN SCOTT’S AMBITION

Evening Star, Issue 14225, 26 November 1909, Page 8

CAPTAIN SCOTT’S AMBITION

TO PLANT THE BRITISH FLAG AT THE SOUTH POLE. [From Our Special Correspondent.] LONDON, October 15. Captain Scott requires £40,000 to organise and "quip hi? new Antarctic expedition. and the Lord Mayor of London called a meeting at the Mansion House this week to assist the raising of the money. The feeling of the meeting was expressed 1 y Sir Conan Doyle when he said that, North Pole honors having gone elsewhere, “ there was one Polo left, and that should be curs.” And Captain Scott stated frankly that his main object, though rot the only one, was to plant the British Hag first at the South Polo. An interesting statement, as to his hopes and plans was made to the meeting by •'aptnin Scott—who, by the way. look* just as youthful and as “tit" as he did when in New Zealand with the Discovery. His whole heart is in this ambition to gain for England the honor of first reaching the South Polo. If ho wished a comfortable life, ho said, he could have it at the Admiralty, where he is now employed, but he believes in his polar mission, and ue wishes to sec the British Flag planted before a foreign rival gets to the Pole. WHAT’ IT WOULD COST. Captain Seoit laid before the meeting the plans and objects of the expedit'd!, tie said that the estimate of £40,000 was based on the cost of the Discovery expedition. That expedition, he stated, cost £92.000, but < ut of that sum £51.000 was spent on the building of the Discovery herself, and the remainder sufficed to provision the "xpedition and pay till expenses for three years and a-quaitcr. For the present enterprise the ship would cost £12,000, and they hoped that the balance of £28,000 would cover the same expenses us amounted in the case of the Discov-ny to £40.000. The main items of the. expenditure were wages, salaries, provisions, and ship expenses, the biggeet item being wages and salaries. They might easily equip the expedition to-morrow with gentlemen who were propiarcd to go witnout any salary at all, but in that ease they would have, a geologist who did not know any urology and a cook who could not cook, t he laborer was worthy of his hire, and the wages bill was therefore one which they could not largely reduce. HELP FROM OVERSEAS. As to provisions, they could profit , greatly by past experience, and the patriotic feeling of commercial firms and other considerations would enable them to run that part of the expedition more cheaply than had hitherto been done. Again, experience had shown that the balloon which they took with them at a cost of £1.500, to enable them to see over the ice wall, was unnecessary. Taking all things into account, he hoped that £40.000 would be enough to cover the expedition for one year of work. If that sum was contributed by this country, then he hoped that, with the co-operation of the Oversea Dominions, they might raise a sum sufficient to cany on the work until it was finished—that was to say. if necessary, for a second and possibly a third season, rfc would prefer a request for support to the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, because the scientific work of an expedition of that kind—its meteorological and- magnetic observations—was possibly of greater use to the countries which lay adjacent to the region of research than it was to the Homeland. TO REACH THE POLE. “And now,” continues Captain Scott. “ I will be asked, ‘ What is the object of the expedition?’ It is a difficult question to answer, bnt I think it can be reduced to a practical point. If we Look back at the exploration of the North, we find that in the middle of the 19th century this country had a pre-eminence which was so marked that anybody wishing to go to the Arctic worn! naturally consult with English explorers and make up his equipment on English models. That pre-eminence passed away, and with it has gone our leadership in the Arctic. Of course people will say ‘What matter?’ but I do not think that any Englishman is quite pleased to think that we are supposed to regard ns a compliment the placing of this nation as second in Arctic exploration. I feel quite certain that if we can look on that complacently, those men who went up to the North in 1850 and onwards could not do so. If that is the case in the North, we must turn our eyes to the South, and see if history is to repeat itself there. In the South now England has a pre-eminence. No other nation has done anything like the same amount of work as we have done there. The question to ho answered is : ‘ Is that pre-eminence to be lost or maintained?’ After a reference to the. work done by Admiral Sir Clements Markham in arousing interest in the National Antarctic Expedition of seven years ago, Captain Scott continued : “The practical point is : Do the English people want or do they not want an Plnglish subject to be the first to get to the South Polo? I do not want to exalt polar exploration as the aim of a great nation, but I do say that a. great nation must strive to excel in every form of enterprise. A few words regarding my position in the matter. I am a naval officer, and since the Discovery expedition I have commanded a first-class cruiser and three battleships. I am at the present time employed at the Admiralty. Therefore I take a very great interest in the naval service, and am absolutely satisfied with my position as a naval officer. I say this simply because I want to impress on you that 1 do believe in this cause. “If I wished for a quiet and comfortable life I should stay where I am. But I don't want this thing to fall through, and it requires the experience which at present only Mr Shackleton and I possess. Mr Shackleton is unfortunately unable to go again just now. I may add that- if some British subject had not come forward a few weeks back to carry out this work he would have lound himself a few weeks later in an awkward position of possible rivalry. “ One thing I wish to add. and it is this : I hold that the personality of the man who undertakes an expedition which in any sense is national should he sunk in favor of the work which is in hand. That has been my guiding principle and will be. What I wish to say arising from that is that my supporters need never fear that the dignity of the country will suffer by this expedition. We may fail, but they will have no cause for doubting the storv that we tell.”—(Cheers). “MAN IN THE STREET.” Sir A. Conan Doyle, speaking as the mouthpiece of the “man in the street," said he could say for that humble individual that he felt deeply about this matter. He felt that there'was one Pole left, and that should be onr Pole. If the South Pole could be reached, he believed Captain Scott was the man who could do it. He could not imagine that such an enterprise could fail for want of monev, and ho trusted that the City of London would be true to its traditions. Sir Edgar Speyer, in proposing a vote of thanks to the Lord Mayor, promised a contribution of £I,OOO towards the fund.