THE GREY RIVER ARGUS SATURDAY, JUNE 20th, 1925. BACK FROM THE POLAR BASIN.

Grey River Argus, 20 June 1925, Page 4

THE GREY RIVER ARGUS SATURDAY, JUNE 20th, 1925. BACK FROM THE POLAR BASIN.

ALTHOUGH FALLING SHORT of their objective by a comparatively small margin—about two and a-half degrees of latitude—the expedition of Captain Roald Amundsen and his five companions (Dieprichson, Ellsworth, Peuelit, Omdal, and Riiserlarsen) de serves to be classed, if not an epochal. .H least as an epical exploit. To a greater degree than the world at large had begun to hope, it has been a conquest of nature by man. Without guidance other than a compass, flying above a. fog, in a diverting wind the I wo intrepid planes travelled 625 miles in eight hours, and, but for the wind, which look them ten degrees westward, would in all probability have Handed’ at the Pole. Descend they did, despite th e absence of any suitable spot, for the knowledge that it was into water they wen* coming down did not deter them; and, in view of all the circumstances especially the probability that between their starting point and : thi‘ Pole, there ’was no land at all, i their safe return is a. remargablc and 1 most meritorious achievement. Amundsen, fourteen years ago, trekked to the ■ South Pole, and had the satisfaction of racing Scott to that coveted point, f and he will not feel, therefore, any i great disappointment now upon fail--1 ing himself to equal the feat of the 1 American Commander Peary, in reaching the North Pole, knowing as he docs how largely the element of chance ! must enter into such an endeavour, the I more particularly when it is made in an aeroplane. It can be said that Amundsen as good as got there and , back, because had his landing been more geographically accurate, he would ■ doubtless, hav e had no more difficult i conditions to encounter, and scarcely any worse of a journey to cover in the | trip back. It had, indeed, been conI jcctured the party "would never be able to re-start either plane, but the journey back turns out to have been partly ’ done in one of the machines which the 'explorers extricated and re-started on , Monday last, from a spot which they i specially prepared for the purpose. 1 After eight and a-half hours they 1 reached North east Land about 7 p.m., the same day a great achievement indeed. Thus the expedition spent over three weeks in close proximity to the North Pole, whilst from the time the expedition left Spitzj bergen on May 21, until their return, . a period of exactly four weeks elapsed, I and the cables can be believed when ! they tell that the party returned in a weary and exhausted state. How 1 many men could attempt such a journey, with any hope of success? As an explorer, the reputation of Amundsen stands now greater than ever. It is noteworthy that his report as to very deep water —sounded, in his case in a long lane in the ice— confirms the soundings made by Peary, nearer the /Pole. The presence of the lanes in the ic e would accord with the absence j of land, and one lesson learned is that I aeroplanes arc of very qcustionable adaptability in such a region. At any ! rate, there is now in the lonely Polar 1 basin a specimen of man’s modern handiwork, which, though destined, : doubtless to remain, may in centuries to conic be re-discovered by generations to whom the - explorers who flew it thither will be no more than honoured names. This expedition, however, prompts the expectation that others |

now contemplated will succeed in reaching the geographical point corresponding to the Pole. The whole world will be elated at the return of Amundsen and bis men wlio have, doubtless, a laic of rare, interest io relate when they collate and record all their observations and experiences. A cablegram from Rome stales that the betrothal of the Princess Mafalda (daughter of the-King of Italy) to Prince Philip of Hesse, is announced.