MYSTE RIOUS LANDS OF THE ANTARCTIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12070, 13 September 1902, Page 2 (Supplement)

MYSTE RIOUS LANDS OF THE ANTARCTIC.

WONDERS OF THE SOUTHERN SEAS.

AN UNKNOWN TERRITORY.

Frank Wjxbert Stokes, an artist, who accompanied the Swedish Antarctic expedition which left England in October, 1901, has returned to New York by the way of Europe and has some interesting stories and more interesting pictures of the great unknown frigid realm below the equator. In the early '90's Mr. Stokes accompanied Peary on two Arctic expeditions, and his Work gave to him, both in America and Europe, the title of " discoverer of Arctic painting." For a number of years after his trips with Peary he painted and lectured in Paris and London, where his work attracted considerable attention. When the Swedish expedition to the South Pole was organised, in 1901, Dr. Otto Nordenskjold, in command of the expedition, extended to Mr. Stokes an invitation to become one of the party, and the invitation was accepted.

The expedition with the ship Antarctic, left. Gothenberg, Sweden, October 16. 1901. They touched "at Cape Verde Islands and then crossed the equator to Buenos Ayres, where Mr. Stokes joined them, December 16. From Buenos Ayres they made directly for the South Pole. The first stop was at the Falkland Islands, where they put in to get a supply of collie dogs. ESQUIMAU DOGS PERISH. When they left Sweden they had twentyfive Esquimau dogs., but twenty-one of them died in crossing the equator. They left the Falkland Islands January 1, 1902, and made directly for the Staten Islands, near Southern Patagonia, putting in there for the purpose of adjusting their magnstical instruments. Although January is midsummer in the regions south of the equator they began now to see the first signs of the perpetual Antarctic winter. "As we approached the islands,'' said Mr. Stokes, "a most desolate picture rose out of the sea before us. Great cold looking fog banks lifted themselves from the sea and roiled away over the bleak mountains. All along the rocky shore we saw hundreds of thousands of monster sea lious wallowing about and making a most hideous noise. On January 11 we sighted the first ice off South Shetland Islands, and saw that they were covered with snow. " Shortly after this we entered Bransfield Strait, which is nothing more than a great inland sea, and were then in the wonderful, mysterious region of the unknown southern realm. And it is truly wonderful. The scenery is absolutely beyond description* Nothing in the northern .Arctic regions can be compared to it— vast, so mysterious, so inexpressibly desolate. Bransrreld Strait is ■ always storm tossed, and occasionally we were" in sight of great mountains, snow capped and towering eight thousand feet into the angry clouds. FEW CHARTS Alt:-: ALT, WRONG. "We sailed south, never knowing where we were, because very little is known of that region, and the few charts we had were all wrong. We were now in perpetual night. After a, time we got into Belgica Strait, but, greatly to our disappointment, found ourselves on the east side of Graham Land. We had intended making the western side of Graham Land, where we intended to plant a winter station. "Finally we got into the rebus aud Terror Gulf, named after the vesesls of Sir James Clark Ross, and later lost,by Franklin in the 40's. From here we made for Seymour Island, where we planted a cache, and then set sail for the Antarctic Circle. Ice stopped us for more than a mouth. " When we were at last able to move out wo made again for Graham Land, but were unable to land. Graham Land is in reality a great archipelago, which has been seen on four different sides by as many explorers, and each has given it a different name. " On January 25 we started back from the Antarctic Circle and sailed north and east into Weddell Sea. Time and again we were caught in the ice and always seemed prevented from penetrating into the great unknown expanse that stretched away beyond us. In many places the horizon would be literally lined with monster blue whales, some of them ninety feet in length, and so large that we did not dare attack them with the harpoons wo had. Sometimes they would come within six fathoms of our ship and blow. Ours was the first ship they had ever seen. NARROW ESCAPE FROM ICE. " When we reached the forty-sixth degree of east longitude we made back for Seymour Island and found Admiralty Inlet, February 12. There we landed a- party and stores. As we were putting the stores ashore the captain discovered great fields of ice closing in upon us ami the partings with our friends were cut very short-. We hastened aboard the ship, barely escaped being wedged into mountains of ice, and pioceeded south for the purpose of planting more caches to be used by the land party in the spring. But we were unable to land, and were forced back to the spot where we had left our friends, reaching there February 21. " Sailing north again we encountered terrible hurricanes in the region of the South Shetland Islands, and many times thought Ave were doomed. At last we got into the open Atlantic, and made for Beagle Channel to get into Ushula, a small settlement in Terra del Fuego, for co.il. We remained here for three weeks and then sailed east back to the Falkland Islands, putting in at Fort Stanley. Hero I left the expedition, going to South America and across to Europe.

"It is the plan of the expedition to pass the winter (our summer) at the Orkney Islands and in the spring go south again to Admiralty Inlet, pick up the party left there and push on again into the great unknown and desolate region. From Buenos Ayren I sailed north on the Norwegian steamer Belliua to Antwerp. "It'was during the early part of May, end all the way up through the Atlantic we encountered the most remarkable head sea I had ever known. The captain, who had sailed the same route for sixteen years, said he had never seen anything to compare with it. When we reached port and heard of the volcanic eruptions, on Martinique we were satisfied that this had been the cause of the terrific sea we had found on the South Atlantic."

Mr. Stokes will spend the next six months in New York, completing somo of his sketches taken in the Antarctic regions, and will then go to London and Paris, where he will lecture before the National Geographical Societies of England and France.