THE CRUISE OF THE QUEST.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 241, 25 September 1922, Page 4

THE CRUISE OF THE QUEST.

ADVENTURE IN SOUTH GEORGIA. (Received 25, 9.45 a.m.) • London, Sept. 23. Captain Wilkins, from the Quest, described how, when he and Captain Douglas were crossing South Georgia, they were precipitated down a glacier aide at such a speed that the momentum of the slide carried them across an appalling crevasse and plumped them safely • on the other side. Finally, when they Ireached the coast on the far side of the island it was found impossible to descend sheer cliffs 100 feet high. They either had to face the perils of the return journey or make a desperate •md thrilling slide over the snow, sloping sixty degrees and covering unknown chasms. They chose the latter. They had no sledges. Captain Wilkins said: ‘‘We just sat on our trousers, using our arms and legs as a brake on the pace in the soft snow’. We 'reached the bottom safely to the amazment and incredulity of the whalers, who regarded the feat of crossing the island as impossible. '' The New Zealander, Major Carr, intended to make an aeroplane trip to the Polar regions if the conditions were suitable. Unfortunately the Quest did not call at Capetown, where the machine should have been taken aboard. This., says Captain Wilkins, was the greatest disappointment of the trip next to the death of Sir Ernest Shackeltou. FUTURE EXPLORATIONS. Captain Wilkins added that they had completed plans for the development of Antarctic mctorology, which they w’erc submitting for the British society’s approval. The scheme involves the building of three ships operating from Melbourne, Capetown and Buenos Aires, and the establishment of several Antarctic and sub-Antarctic stations to be maintained over a period of a decade with wireless communication between each other and main bases daily. After a few years’ observations Captain Wilkins is confident that they will be able to gain knowledge, through the system of Antarctic weather conditions and influences of ice distribution, enabling a definite prediction of seasonal conditions in the greater part of the Southern Hemisphere, and even in a part of the northern. The vessels would make winter trips for hydrographical, marine and biological investigations, visiting the stations of Cape Adair, Gansberg, Enderby Land, Edward the Seventh Land, Charcotland, Bouvet, Kergbuelen and Laurie, where the Argentine has a station, and Macquarie, where Australia has a station. —(United Service.)