ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION LEAVES FOR ADELIE LAND

Grey River Argus, 19 February 1949, Page 3

ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION LEAVES FOR ADELIE LAND

SYDNEY, February 18. A French expedition recently sailed from Hobart for France’s Antarctic possession. Adelie Land. _ It is the first to visit this territory since France claimed it 109 years ago. The expedition ship, the Commondant Charcot —a wooden vessel of 1460 tons, formerly a United States Navy minesweeper,' has reported its arrival in the pack ice, about 50 miles from its destination with all well aboard. The ship was renamed after the French polar explorer, Dr. J. B Charcot, who was drowned when the Arctic vessel Pourquoi Pas sank in a storm off Iceland on September 16, 1936, with only o’ie survivor. The present expedition is commanded by Commander Max Douguet and manned by French naval volunteers. A nartv of 11 scientists and technicians is led by M. Andre Liotard.

It is not certain whether the expedition will be able to land on the territory, the only information about which comes from a map made by its discoverer, Dumont d’Urville, in 1840, a sketch made by Mawson in 1913, and aerial photos taken by Admiral Byrd’s party.