IN THE FROZEN NORTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19676, 30 June 1927, Page 13

IN THE FROZEN NORTH.

! EDGE OF MIDNIGHT SUN. ! GREAT EXPLORA' lON SCHEME. THE VAST HUDSON STRAIT. [from Ot!R OWN r:ORRESPONDENT.] TORONTO. May 7. Fifty Canadian aviators and geographers will sail from Halifax early n> July on a spectacular Arctic, or sub-Arctic, piece of exploration, which may easily surpass in dramatic interest and in scientific discoveries of benefit to mankind any Polar flight or expedition. Their destination is Hudson Strait, that great ocean channel 500 miles long by 75 miles wide which connects Hudson Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. On its inhospitable shores pist on the edge of | the land of Ihe Midnight Sun they will ha isolated for fifteen months all through ! one long Arctic winter and two brief ! summers. The ob|ect of the expedition is to collect ! data on the navigation problems of HudI son Strait which, of course, will be the ocean outlet of the Hudson Bay Railway now under construction from Northern Manitoba to Port Nelson on the west coast of Hudson Bay. Though Hudson Strait has been navigated off and on for three hundred years, very little is known about its potentialities as a regular i .... i traihe route. Ihe impression has prevailed that it is safe for traffic during only two oi two and a half months each [season. During the rest of the year navigators have found i! choked with ice. Possibilities of Navigation. While the Hudson Bay Railway is being built on the assumption that this new traffic route will have only a brief season, there are enthusiasts who maintain its possibilities are immensely greater. They confidently expect a six-months' season, and some go so far as to say that the strait, with modern aids to navigation, can be kept open all the year round. They say it is urneasoriable to suppose that a deep salt water expanse with heavy currents 75 miles wide at its narrowest point remains choked with ice during the periods described, and argue that there is probably a natural open channel through the ice all through the year This year's aerial expedition will discover the truth about Hudson Strait. When an appropration of £175,000 was asked f or the purpose in Parliament a. week or two ago one critic objected that the only way to test the navigability of Hudson Strait was I«y actually navigating it with ships But the Minister <le dared that the aeroplanes would get more useful information in one season than would a fleet of ships in ten years. Moreover, wireless stations and camps that will be established by the expedition will probably serve as permanent equipment for the successful navigation of the. strait. Kecord in Flying Annals. The assignment which has been turned over to the Royal Canadian Air Force is without parallel m the annals of Hying. Map students may think of Hudson Bay as lying within the limits of civilisation or at least on its edge. It is nothing of the sort The eastern end of it is a thousand miles north-west of St. John's, Newfoundland, and the mam base of the

expedition, lying due north of Ottawa, is as far from civilisation as Duluth is from j New Orleans The intention is to establish three f bases. One of these will bo at Port Burwell on the northern tip of Labrador at the entrance to the strait; the second and mam base, general headquarters, will be on the north shore at Lake Harbor on Baffin Land, and the third will be at the entrance to Hudson Bay at Nottingham Island, 500 miles from tlio first base. Those who are not fliers at each station will include one doctor, one " Mounted " police and men from the Department of Marine and Fisheries radio branch and from the Royal Canadian Corps of Signallers. At each depot, wireless stations will be established so that inter-communi-cation between tliem will be maintained at all times. The station at Lake Harbor will be capable of short wave communication with Ottawa, so that the capital will be able to keep in touch with the work and lives of the expedition In addition, each aeroplane will be equipped with wireless for communication, both voice and key, with the stations Six Fokker Machines. Six Fokker planes have been purchased, two for each base The oilier day the first was flown from New York to Camp Borden and the others are almost ready for delivery. In addition to the Fokkers the expedition will carry a small De Haviland " Moth," a " flivver " of the air, which will be carried north fully rigged and be used for local rcconnoitermg Fresh water harbourages for the bases will, it is hoped, be discovered. The Fokkers will be used to patrol the 500 mile stretch of Hudson Strait every day that weather conditions will permit. Meteorological observations will be taken daily and transmitted by wireless to headquarters in Toronto, so that weather bureaus will henceforth have records from an important new area Mr N B McLean, of the Department of Marine and Fisheries, will be in general charge of the expedition. The officer in charge of flying will bo Lieutenant T. A. Lawrence. The supply ships will not re- j main in Hudson Strait all winter but will return at the end of the season of 1928 fo bring the expedition home.