THE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 284, 9 December 1907, Page 7

THE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION.

Press Association—Copyright. Sydney, December 7. Commander Shackleton lectured to a crowded audience in the Town Hall on the objects of the Antarctic expedition. He appealed for funds and stated that previous to his coming to Australia he saw some 50 millionaires and impressed on them not only the value of the expedition but the need to maintain the national prestige and they turned a deaf ear. Professor Anderson Stuart announced that the real reason for the appeal for funds was the recent panic in Wall street, which cost the expedition £4000 or £5000. At the conclusion of the lecture a committee was formed, with Sir Frederick Darley as chairman, to raise the £5000 needed by Commander Shackleton to complete the magnetic survey of the Southern seas. COMMANDER SHACKLETON'S SHIP. The Ohristchurch correspondent of the Dominion writes:—"The Antarctic expedition ship Nimrod is now in dock at Lyttelton undergoing a process of scraping and cleaning, of which she was much in need. She is one of the smallest vessels that have been docked at Lyttelton for some time, and does not occupy much more than a third of the length of the dock. Mr Miller, shipwright, of Lyttelton, who has charge of the docking, says that her hull is in a remarkable condition, considering the great age of the ship. She was constructed of the very best timber by a firm of great experience in the building of whalers and sealers, and she is practically as good to-day as ever she was. The heavy sheathing of ironbark and greenheart on the hull bears marked signs of strenuous experiences. The timbers are scratched, and scarred in numerous places, and some are grooved and worn by the pressure of the ice. The stem of the vessel has a heavy iron plate right down to the keel, and the bows are sheathed with stout iron plates for several feet above and below the water line. The hull is a splendid model. Her bow is very similar to that of the Discovery, but otherwise she resembles the Terra Nova, althongh her lines are far better. The Nimrod's hull is very fine aft, much more so than pne would expect in a vessel of her class.