A POLAR EXPEDITION.

Greymouth Evening Star, 4 June 1909, Page 2

A POLAR EXPEDITION.

Tin' brilliant work done by Lieutenant Shackleton in the Antarctic regions Has spurred the detonuinaton of wellknown I’olar explorers. and already one or two of thorn are talking of making what they call “dashes” into the unknown ice regions. Captain Amundsen. who solved the problem of the North-West Passage, has laid before the ideographical Society of Christiania plans for a new Arctic expedition which will involve fisc years of travelling, while he will study tlie occangraphy of the Northern Polar Basin. The ship that he proposes to use is the renowned I‘l‘ani, in which Nansen undertook his great journey in 1895 1896. Krptippcd for seven years, ho proposes to sail from Christiania at the beginning of next year, setting a course for San Iram iseo via Cape Horn, he will sail straight on to Cape Barrow, (he most northern point, in America, and there he. will dismiss all but (> n of Ins cicw and sail on until (be ship is firmly gripped by the ice. Any hind that is discovered will bo explored and mapped, and if it seems well within the bounds of reasonableness, the captain will make a dash for the North Pole, pioceeding with a specially equipped sleighing expedition. It was suggested that ho should use tame Polar bears bn- hauling the sleighs. Several of these animals have for some time boon in training at Ilagenbeck’s great zoological garden in Hamburg .but it was found that the process was very slow .and Captain Amundson expressed himself as fearful that the bears would become acclimatised to wanner latitudes while in training and thus become unfit for his work . The main object of the expedition will he the exploration of the Polar Basin. The scientists will investigate also the phenomena of tidal water and the effect of wind on the currents of the sea, the amount of light at different depths under the ice and in open water, and its influence on animal and vegetable life. Meteorological aml magnetic observations will be made and the aurora borealis will be carefully studied. A great deal of new light will l»e thrown on (be depths of wiitcr and general characteristics of the Polar Basin by Nansen, and Amundsen expects to chock the d.ata collected, besides gaining fresh knowledge of the fascinating regions of the frozen north.