A SUBMARINE TRIP

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 1 April 1929, Page 5

A SUBMARINE TRIP

TO STUDY DEPTHS AND CURRENTS WILKINS MAKING ENQUIRIES (Utiitad Preoe Association—By Btootrta Tclacr aph—Ooayricfe t) (Australian Press Association) NEW YORK, 29th March. Sir G. 11. Wilkins informed the "New York Times" to-night that he is conducting active enquiries into the possibility of making a submarine trip across the Arctic Sea, hut that he has no definite plans yet for doing so this year. Admitting that he would like to Lore his way through the waters beneath the polar ice to study ocean depths and currents, Wilkins said: "We have had this trip in mind for fifteen years. I believe that the journey could be made in a mouth, and July would be the most favourable. It would be possible to do it this summer and be back in time to resume my Antarctic work in October next." Wilkins was non-committal when asked whether he planned an expedition for the coming summer, but admitted that it would require the aid of some Government, and he had been making enquiries. He. said that Stefansson had suggested the idea in 1913. Wilkins announced that he is consulting the Lake Torpedo Company for a submarine. He estimated the distance in the Arctic to be traversed by a vessel one type of which is already available would be approximately 2000 miles. The cost of the expedition would be 150,000 dollars. Stefansson, commenting on the ven ture, said: "Of course it pleases me very much Wilkins adopting my plan, hut I am also worried because it is a very dangerous enterprise. Ten or twenty years from now a submarine voyage of this nature will be a commonplace thing, without danger, but at present it is a mighty dangerous thing." AN AERIAL EXPEDITION WASHINGTON, 30th March. Dr. Fridtjof Nansen will arrive at Washington shortly to consult the Government. He plans a north polar voyage in the dirigible Graf Zeppelin in 1930. It will have its base at Alaska, with a mooring mast. The area to he explored will be the Arctic ocean north of the American continent between Alaska and Greenland.