MARINE EXPLORATION.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 942, 12 May 1868, Page 3

MARINE EXPLORATION.

(From the ' Argus,' April 3.)

A HTSPOHT has been submitted by Captain Sherard Osborn to the English people, but primarily, avo presume, to the Lords of tho Admiralty, for the despatch of another expedition to tho Arctic seas. The immediate occasion of the proposal is the report from Mr. Glenfell, of New York, that the Nile, Avhaler, during the last fishing season in Behring's straits, found the -weather so favourable, and the sea so froo from ico, that she Avas able to penetrate unusually far northwards, and to A r erify a discovery of land only once before scon, and Avhich her master described as of considerable extent. His observations also led him to favour the old idea that a comparatiA-ely open sea existed in a very high latitude — an opinion strengthened by the observations of Capt. Penny, who, in one of tho searching expeditions after Franklin, made his way by the Baffin's Bay route into comparatively open Avator, beyond the furthest north-westerly point previously reached — a sea, however, which he AA r as unable to search, for want of a proper boat and stores, and OAving to the necessities of the humane service in which he was then engaged.

There can be no doubt that the new expedition suggested by Captain Osborn could have no other object in view than a purely scientific one. The geographer may see with regret a spot on tho northern surface of the earth which he is still unable to describe as land or water ; and the exploration of these regions might' assist the meteorological observer to determine certain facts which would materially assist science in arriving at correct conclusions on some uncertain points ; but beyond that no good could be accomplished. The " north-west passage" has been found, after centuries of perilous and deadly adventure by land and sea. What M'Clure and Pym achieA T ed when they met each other to the northward of Baring Island — the one having come from England by the east and the other by the west route — may again be done in any favourable summer, and especially with the help of steam. But tho dream of a practicable route by the north-west to China and India has long ago been abandoned ; and as there is no hope that the land lately seen for tho second time, or the milder ocean supposed to surround the pole, would contribute anything for the benefit of commerce or the advantage of the people, either by adding to their comfort or their wealth, there is little real good to be accomplished by any further exploration in tho ocean and about the islands where so many bold navigators have found a grave. It is not strange, perhaps, that so much less interest has been shown as to the secrets of tho antarctic circle, although tho purely scientific reasons for research there cannot bo less important. Tho great distance of the Antarctic sea from England, as compared with the Arctic Ocean, may have been one reason ; and wo know that the explorers were hard at work about Spitzbergen and Greenland before Capo Horn Avas doubled, while a few of the earlier adventurers in southern waters endeavoured to force their way in the cold and through the icy seas which they met in a latitude comparatively low. The last of those expeditions of which tho charts shew any trace was that of Sir James Eoss, in 18-11. For twenty-seven years therefore, England has done nothing to explore the Southern Ocean, much as lias boon done in Africa and in the north of America in that time to inform the geographers as to tho precise character of tho previously unknown regions there. What has been done in tho South leads to the supposition that a vast continent exists there, and though the coast lino has been partially examined between 172 deg. E. and the longitude of Cape Horn, an unexaniined space exists equal to twice the dimensions of all Europe. Sir James Ross saw and named an active volcano 12,400 foot in height. The sketches given of the appearance of the land by the officers of tho American exploring ships Vineennes and Porpoise shew it to be high, but undulating with great valleys, which in a more favourable climate would have been tho channels of great rivers. Tho whole coast was studded with islands of more or loss magnitude, the sea abounded with whales and birds, and tho comparative shallowness of the sea — not more than from 200 to 400 fathoms at a great distance from the land — gave promise of excellent fishing-ground. But the precise extent of this great continent is still undetermined. Traced from about 90 dog. to 172 deg. east, and marked all along as "high land/ a great blank exists between 00 (leg. and about 53 cleg., where Enderby's Land begins. Westward from Enderby's Land iip what is either a great bight, or a sea separating a continent from a group of islands, Captain Weddcll sailed in 1823 to a high latitude, and was then stopped by ice. Still further to the west and south are the South Shetlands ; and Graham's land, further to the west and south, forms a considerable island or group of islands, described as high mountain land covered with snow. But even about this land we know little or nothing. All that has boon done, indeed, from tho days of Cook downwards, by all tho exploring expeditions sent into the South Seas, has been to prove that tho Antartic Sea washes a- vast polar continent ; but we know nothing whatever of that laud. As to whether it is a mineral country, capable of being worked by a hardy race of minors ; or intractably covered with ice ; or a country inhabited by a people akin to the Esquimaux, or altogether without population ; and whether its islands and shores would be serviceable to the whaler and fisher, or are inhospitable and utterly, barren, we have no information. The growth of the Australian colonies, and the spread of settlement in New Zealand, since tho date of Sir James [Ross's voyage, should of themselves bo sufficient reasons why, if another exploring expedition is to bo fitted out in England, its destination should bo the Southern Ocean, and not the <• North- western passage," or the sea northwards from Bebring's Straits. Science has its own reasons why exploration should be prosecuted further south, and with the better means which steam affords. We too, have some cause for desiring- to know more than wo do now of this noAv continent. The colonies, unfortunately, liaA'e no spare means at present to giA r e for the organization of such an expedition locally. Their roA'enues may be said to be mortgaged to tho last penny for roads and bridges, railways, and other public works and services. Any local expedition Avhich might be fitted out could do no more than make a hasty run south and back again, as did a party of explorers whoAvont out from tho Cape of Good Hope, in search, on the south continent, of means of extending the trade of tho 'Capo. 'Wo have the samo desire to find fisheries or minerals, or other sources of wealth in those high southern latitudes; and this purpose an imperial exploring expedition might, bo made to serve, Avhilo in other respects it satisfied the curiosity and served tho purposes of tho geographers and other men of science.