SOUTHWARD HO!

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20384, 12 October 1929, Page 1 (Supplement)

SOUTHWARD HO!

SIR DOUGLAS MAWSON'S PLAN

BY LrECr.-COMMANDER ItAWSON.

Tho good ship Discovery—and a very good ship sho is, too—is to sail from Capetown on her voyago to tho Antarctic, and soon Sir Douglas Mawson and his men will bo in tho great ice-fiolds which fringe the unknown. What is tho aim and object of this expedition and the area to be explored ? Sir Douglas Mawson, in tho first place, seeks to find and chart a great length of coastline stretching from linderby Land to tho eastward. This land has only been sighted once, and that almost exactly 100 years ago. A whaling captain, one John Biscoe, employed by tho Enderby Brothers, pushed his ship far south into tho ico, atirl saw ono morning a glimpse of a " high, mountainous land" stretching far to the south. Then tho fog and mist closed down, and from that day to this no human eye has ever seen this mysterious land again. This, then, is Mawson'b first goal. It may, of course, happen that tho Discovery is no more fortunate than Uiscoo's ship, which, aftet weeks of patient effort, failed to approach the land which was seen. It is true that the Discovery is engined, and may, therefore, bo able to push farther south than liiscoo. Furthermore, Mawson has a plane with which it is hoped to be able to make survey flights over the land, and thus clear up tho mys teiv which has puzzled geographers for a century.

But tho land seen by Biscoo is only a small portion of the great reach of coastline that is presumed to mark the fringes of (ho Antarctic continent in this sector, and it is proposed, once the Discovery is in the coastal fringe of ice, to push her along tho unknown coastline, charting and surveying it as she moves forward. A Blank on the Chart. At present this unknown coastline remains u blank on the chart. It is not even known if it exists; perhaps a great gulf or sea may bo found stretching far into the interior of tho continent, and Enderby Land may resolve itself into an island. To carry out this reconnaissance the Discovery has approximately fourteen weeks in which she may safely remain in tho ice—from about tho middle of November to the end of February. During these short summer weeks the :ce is thin and melting; open water extends for many miles, and the ship is able to force her way through. Hut onco February is past winter conies on apace, temperatures fall, tho ice begins to form, the fields become impassable, and if the ship is not pushed north into warmer waters sho runs tho risk of being trapped for a whole year. For this contingency the Mawson expedition is well prepared. It is not proposed, however, to remain down south after the summer, is over, but to tiring tlie ship back, pay off the crew, lav up the vessel, and prepare for a second cruise next summer.

Apart from occasional flights over the land in the aeroplane, it is not proposed to make any extended shore sledging journeys. Consequently, the expedition is really "an oceanographical cruise, designed to fiil in the blanks in the coastline, make a continuous line of soundings along the coast, and investigate the marine life, depths of the sea and the weather prevailing in this po'.tion of the Antarctic at that season of tho year. The expedition is therefore essentially a scientific venture, htid all the personnel, with tho exception of tho ship's crew, aro scientists.

A Distinguished Explorer. Tim exploits of the leader. Sir Douglas Mawson, are well known This remarkable man, who is at once a professor and a man of action, is probably the most distinguished explorer alive to-dav, with the exception of the veteran Nansen. Sir Douglas Mawson, in addition to his scientific attainments, which have brought him the signal honour of being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, is a great leader of men. He is credited with some of the most remarkable achievements and superhuman feats of endurance in the annals of the Antarctic. His amazing escape from death by starvation in Adelio Land, when bereft bv death of his two companions, is one of the notable epics of exploration. Tall, strong, fearless, with the physique of .1 giant and the heart of a lion, "this magnetic personality is indeed a leader of the first degree, and as chief of' the scientific staff he combines the academic qualifications of his learning with the energy and ability of the explorer. llis second in command and captain of the ship, Captain J. K. Davis, possesses in his own sphere the outstanding qualifications of the leader. Captain Davis is the doyen of Antarctic ico navigators; he has actually made five voyages down south, and in each caso was extraordinarily successful in ventures where the slightest mistake would have meant disaster to tho whole expedition. He is a master mariner, with the " extra" certificate—a rare distinction—and he lias beep honoured by the Royal Geographical Society, on whose walls his portrait hangs. This is not the first occasion on which these two men have been closely associated, as Davis commanded Mawson's ship on the previous " Aurora" expedition. They have been together in many a tight corner; they know each other well, as men tried in adversity do, and in tho Discovery the two will occupy adjoining cabins opening into each other, so that 0110 can picture them in long consultation together, when problems and difficulties "crop up, as they are bound to do on such a venture as this. Young and Keen Staff. The staff and crew arc all young men, and, with tho exception of tho marine surveyor, Captain H. M. Moves, of tho Royal Australian Navy, none of them has been south before. But they are young and keen, and, as tho Discovery steams slowly southward on her way to tho ice and to tho unknown, wo may bo sure that their young eyes will be strained to I lie far horizon, seeking that "very high land" which Captain John Biscoe saw for a brief glimpse a century ago. _ Tll order to avoid misconception it should bo made clear that this expedition has boon made possible only by the generosity of tho British Government, which has loaned the Discovery, frco of all charge, to tho Australian Government. As the ship is tho only one of her kind afloat to-day, and cost £BO,OOO to build, it will bo' seen that without her the expedition could not have been undertaken. As is well known, New Zealand has contributed £2OOO toward the cost of tho expedition, and thus, though it is nominally an Australian expedition, it is, in fact, and in name, a British-Australian-New Zealand expedition, of which the leader, Sir Douglas Mawson, is a Yorkshireman and Captain Davis an I ri d)man Tho combination of two Dominions with the Mother Country in such a venture is a happy idea, for, as tho Discovery steams south, one visualises tho youthful representatives of "the young Dominions peering ahead, seeking: Dawn lands for youth to reap. Dim lauda where empires aleept