LONG VOYAGE TO ANTARCTIC.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 8 December 1925, Page 5

LONG VOYAGE TO ANTARCTIC.

RESEARCH SHIP “DISCOVERY.”

MAY BE THREE YEARS AMID ICE FLOES.

The Royal research ship Discovery is being refitted and overhauled at Dartmouth from stem to stern before embarking on a new expedition to tlie Al This ship bad five predecessors all bearino- the same name, and each has contributed largely to the ot navigation and exploration. the first Discovery made no fewer than six voyages between the year 1602 and 1616 to the regions of Hudson’s Bay and Baffin Bay. The second ship of the name went to Hudson Bay in 1* 19Discovery No. 3 was the one which took part in Capt. Cook’s third voyage in 1776, and No. 4 was Vancouver’s ship on the celebrated expedition in which he discovered the insularity of the land which is now named after him. The fifth Discovery took part in the 1875 expedition to the Arctic*, and the sixth is the ga'lant little ship which is about to weigh anchor to begin a voyage of scientific research in the Antarctic. . •

The present voyage of the Discovery is being undertalsen for purely scientific research work. The ship is commanded bv Capt. J. R. Stenhouse, R.N.R. The crew numbers thirty-nine hands. One of the principal aims of the expedition is to study the habits, migratory passages, and feeding- grounds of whales, from which great beneefit is expected for the whaling industry. The Antarctic Seas and the South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans will be subjected to continual soundings and other observations, and a considerable part of the ship’s work will be that of surveying the far southern regions. The Discovery will cal' at the Canary Islands to coal, sailing from there to the Cane of Good Hop e and then tc South Georgia. Th e exepdition, which has been largely financed by the Government of the Falkland Islands, but lias receiveed other pecuniary aid as well, is likely to extend over a period of two and a half years.