AN ARCTIC PHENOMENON

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4230, 15 October 1935, Page 7

AN ARCTIC PHENOMENON

SHIPS TURNED FROM COURSE An Associated Press message from Moscow to the ‘ New York Times ’ last month stated that news of what was declared to be the first exploration of a mysterious region near the top of the world where some unknown force is said to turn vessels off their courses had been received in radio messages from the Russian exploration ship Sadko. It is in the zone that the legendary Gillis, or Gilles Land is said to exist, and the messages asserted the Sadko expedition had sighted on the horizon what was thought might be this land The region of unknown forces lies north of the 81st parallel, north-east of Northeastland, second largest island of the Spitsbergen group. Soviet scientists have reported that all vessels that previously tried to penetrate the region were turned mysteriously from their courses before they could enter it. Sir Hubert Wilkins’s submarine Nautilus swerved unaccountably westward as she approached the zone in 1931, and, although she had been steering north-east, she returned to Spitsbergen from the west. The Soviet icebreaker, Krassm, which reached a point near 81deg 30mm north latitude, likewise experienced an unaccountable change in direction, _ being turned to the southward. _ Soviet records show the steamer Kipovitch reported a similar experience. George Ushakoff, head of the Sadko expedition, said in a radio message:— “We crossed the southern border of the blank spot and approached the edge of the ice. We were surrounded by a heavy mist, and the visibility was so poor that we could not send outour planes for observation. “ However, for a few minutes the mist lifted, and we saw on the horizon what looked Like land. Wt are remain ing here in an effort to ascertain whether land really exists.”