ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 25, 12 January 1911, Page 9

ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION.

FOOLHARDY JAPS. A cablegram from Yokohama, published by the " New York Herald" fEnroptan <<i it i<iji). announces the departure of Lieut. Sliirase's expedition to the Antarctic. on board the schooner Kainan Marti. It is added that, “in the opinion of foreign experts, the preparations were wholly inadequate. and the preparation is foredoomed to failure, possibly disaster.”

Lieutenant Shirase, who belongs to the Army Reserve, is forty-six years of age. He intends to make his foolhardy attempt in a small srhooner of only 15i» tons, which he purchased cheaply at Hakodate. The vessel is fitted with auxiliary steam power. The crew will number fifteen.

The lieutenant’s plan is to sail first to Australia, and thence to King Edward Vll.’s Bay. Here he will leave the schooner on the ice, and with five men and sledges will make a dash for the Pole. Lieutenant Shirase has had considerable experience in the Antarctic. He was the sole survivor of Lieutenant Gunti’s expedition to the Kurile Islands in 1893. He passed two terrible years on the island of Sheneshu. and all his companions died of cold and starvation. Eventually he was rescued by a Japanese warship.