OCEAN EXPLORATION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18174, 21 August 1922, Page 9

OCEAN EXPLORATION

PRINCE OF MONACO'S ZEAL.

GREAT SCIENTIFIC WOKK.

UNIQUE ENDOWMENTS.

Ruler of tho smallest sovereign State, the Prince of Monaco, Albert Honore Charles 1., whose death occurred in Paris on jJune 26, had not only earned a place in the foremost ranks of men of science, but was one of the founders of oceanography and the most generous patron that science has ever had. Born in 1848, he Avas occupicd in bis early manhood, with the duties pertaining to his princely position, and it was not until the eighties of last century that he seriously turned his attention to tho science of the sea, which absorbed most of tho time he could spare from duties of State since his accession to the sovereignty of the principality of Monaco in 1889 and for some years previously.

From 1885 to 1888 ho made an annual cruise in his schooner yacht Hirondelle in tho North Atlantic, and pursued his researches along the shores of Europe, around the Azores, and as far as Newfoundland. In 1891 the Hirondelle was replaced by a larger and more powerful vessel, the Princess Alice 1., a threemasted schooner, with auxiliaiy steam, of 560 tons. With this vessel the Prince continued his researches in the North Atlantic and tho Mediterranean until 1898, when she in turn proved too small for his ambitious programme. Messrs. Laird, of Birkenhead, were commissioned to build him a full-powered steamship of 1400 tons, which he named again the Princess Alice. With the Princess Alice 11. the area and scope of tho researches were both widened. Meteorological Research. Besides continuing his investigations year bv year in the North Atlantic, and especially around the Azores and in the Mediterranean, the Prince now began to turn his attention to Polar regions. And not content solely with his oceanographical work he began researches in meteorology, especially with regard to the high atmosphere, which he investigated by means of kites and ballons. In both 1898 and 1899 the Prince took the Princess Alioe to Spitzbergen waters. On the latter occasion the Princess Alice ran on to a rock in Red Bay and was badly holed. The remarkable nature of this accident, can be realised when it is remembered that 2400 soundings had been taken in this bay and not a single rock discovered. For some days it seemed that the ship might have to be abandoned, but at length after great efforts she was got off, and after an adventurous voyage, for so badly damaged a vessel, reached Havre in safety. In 1906 and 1907 the Prince of Monaco again paid visits to Spitzbergen, largely for meteorological work in the high atmosphere. On both these occasions he trtok Scottish and Norwegian landing parties with him, the Scottish party being under the leadership of Dr. W. S. Bruce, the well-known Polar explorer, who had also accompanied tho Prince of Monaco on his two previous visits to Spitzbergen. In fact, on all his voyages the Prinoq invited several wedl-known scientists to accompany him for the purposes of research. The Princess Alice 11. was a palatially equipped research ship, in which all the demands of oceanographical investigation were provided for, both physical and biological. Apparatus for every possible want was carried, including the best gear for catching whales, as well as nets for the most minute organisms. Yet in 1911 the Prince of Monaco determined to replace this vessel with a larger and better equipped Princess Alice 111. This was also built at Birkenhead. Oceanographical Museum. These researches -were,, however, only one side of the Prince's activity. In 1898 he began the building of a great museum at Monaco, the foundation stone of which was laid under the patronage of the German Emperor in 1899. It was originally intended to house the rich collections of the Princc's many voyages, but the idea widened as the building grew, and when it was opened in 1910 the Oceanographical Museum of Monaco comprehended all branches of oceanography in all the seas of the world. But in order that his efforts should be of the greatest service to science, the Prince of Monaco decided to found an Oceanographical Institute in Paris for the teaching of the subject. This building, amply equipped, tho Prince built at his expense and gave to the University of Paris as a gift to the French nation, and endowed it with £160,000. The scientific direction is in charge of an international committee of leading oceanographers. In other ways, too, the_ Prince of Monaco has done signal service to oceanography. He undertook to publish, at his own expense, the great bathymetrical chart of tho world, which was the outcome of the deliberations of an international committee, appointed by tho Geographical Congress at Berlin in 1899, under his presidency. Tho atlas is on a scale of 1:1,000,000, and is' in 24 sheets. Many improved oceanographical instruments were due to the Prince, and by his enterprise they were made and sold at reasonable prices. The Prince aided more than one expedition with the gift of valuable instruments, and largely financed the Scottish Arctic Expedition of 1909 to Spitzbergen. Through his influence other monarchs became interested in oceapography, notably the exKaiser and King Carlos oF Portugal.