UNDER THE ICE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22618, 5 January 1937, Page 9

UNDER THE ICE

ARCTIC VENTURE SIR H. WILKINS' PLANS VOYAGE IN SUBMARINE PROBLEM OF FINANCE By Telegraph— Press Association —Copyright (Received January 1. fi.ls p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 3 "I will put inv last penny into a second Arctic expedition, which will cost about £35,000. I have £25,000 and I hope to raise the remainder in England," said Sir Hubert Wilkins on his arrival from the United States. ' The expedition will start in July, 1937, or in July, 1938. 1 propose to cross from Spitsbergen (Svalbard) in a submarine under the North Pole to the Bering Sea, a distance of 2200 miles. "1 expect the expedition to last about two ami n-half months. Although the submarine will be constructed to remain under the iee for five days at a time i shall make short dashes of about 12 hours, each covering 50 miles. "My aim is to determine whether <i submarine can be used as a permanent base for Arctic observations, also whether Crocker Island, believed to lie to the north-west of Ellesmere Land, really exists. 1 shall have a crew of six Norwegians and Englishmen. My wife wants to go with me." One of the world's most inveterate wanderers, Sir Hubert "\\ ilkins, in November, 1931, met with defeat in an unprecedented attempt to dive under the North Pole in an out-of-date submarine. This craft, the Nautilus, the logical successor of Jules Verne's

immortal creation, was sunk off the Norwegian coast with the full permission of the United States Government, which considered the vessel unfit to make a second crossing of the Atlantic. The intrepid explorer had travelled to a point within 390 miles of the North Pole, when difficulties with his storage batteries fcrced him to return to Bergen. Sir Hubert, who was born at Mount Bryan East, South Australia, on October 31, 1888, was photographic correspondent with the Turkish troops in the Balkan War of 1912-13; second in command of Stefanson's Arctic expedition, 1913-17; was granted a commission in the Australian Flying Corps, May, 1917, and was attached to the military history department as official photographer until the end of the Great War. In 1919 he was navigator on the Blackburn-Kangaroo aeroplane flight from England to Australia. In 1920-21 he was second in command of the British Imperial Antarctic Expedition, and was naturalist with the Shackleton-R owett Quest Expedition, 1921-22. In April, 1928, Sir Hubert flew from Point Barrow, Alaska, to Spitsbergen (Svalbard) in 21 flying hours. His pilot was Lieutenant Eielson. Ho was knighted in September of that year.