TO THE POLE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6315, 16 September 1907, Page 11

TO THE POLE

DEPAimniß OF THE NIMEOD. A FOTXE MONTHS' VOYAGE TO NEW ZEALAND. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, Aut-ust 3. “The smallest craft that” —U> cjuoto Ldouteniuit E. H. ttliacklctou ■ has over triad to reach the South Toie since VveddoU made his attempt in iod3,” sot sail Last Tuesday on her long voyage to Isow Zealand and tho frozen Ooulfi. The little Nimrod looked very trim and taut in h.er new coat of paint and tier barquoxitdne rig. bho is not, after all, to Bail txa the Endurance, bat retain*, the name under winch, for forty years, she has Railed the Northern waters as a Newfoundland sealer. Thor© were busy on board before she finally pulled out from the Eust India flocks and dropped down stream. Many friends of the officers and crew assembled on board to say good-bye, and some hundreds of spectators lined tho quay, where u boys' brass band played “Auid Lang Syne.” An Irish terrier belonging to Lieutenant England and four tiny kittens in tho foVsio figured prominently in the farewell picture. Finally, rapes were cast off, and at a quarter to four tho Nimrod slipped gently ]from her berth, and, with, tho blue ensign waving in the breeze, swung out into the river. She picked 'her way among the vessels crowning tho vicinity of the docks, and toon was making her way gaily down the Thames. She will stop at Cowes to bo inspected by tho King, and finally: set sail from Torquay. Tho ex-Newfoundland scaler has an excellent record of work behind her, and is expected to suit admirably the purposes of the Antarctic expedition. Though only 227 tons net register, efio is very strongly built, and can withstand great ice pressure. Since her arrival in the East India Company s docks at Blacfcwall in the middle of June she has been completely overhauled and put In a state of thorough repair. New quarters have been put in, not only for the officers and scientific staff, but for the crew, and tho accommodation forward is now exceptionally good for a vessel of her class. Two new masts have been inserted, and having entered tho Thames as a schooner she will eay© as a barquentino yacht. With auxiliary engines of about 60 h.p. she can develop, under favourable conditions, a speed of seven knots. She has started almost on tho 'anniversary of tho Discovery’s departure. The Discovery, it may bo remembered, left London Docks on July 51st. 1901. The voyage from London to New Zealand is expected to occupy four months, the intention being to carry out magnetic surveys 'along the great trade routes over which tho Nimrod will pass. Charts and instruments to the value of eoveral hundreds of pounds have been loaned to tho expedition by the Admiralty. Lord Kelvin has presented to the expedition a standard compass and Bounding instruments of the latest design. The Admiralty is lending a compass, chronometers, charts, and sounding apparatus, as well as various other instruments, including three Lloyd, Creak Dip instruments for the landing party. Watches are being supplied by the Royal Geographical Society, and, in addition, tho vessel will b© equipped with a special liquid steering compass ft-nd a special pole compass. It is intended to ''swing” the vessel every 500 miles for variation, and the records of the expedition in this connection should furnish results of considerable practical value to navigators. 'l'lTtt PERSONNEL.

Lieutenant Shackleton is the commander of the expedition. He will leave the Nimrod at Torquay and rejoin her in New Zealand four months hence, going out by mail-steamer. Lieutenant Rupert England, R.N.8., who was second in command of the Horning on both her voyages to Antarctic seas in relief of the Discovery expedition, is in charge of the vessel, and chief officer is Mr John K. Davis, late of the trainingbarque Port Jackson, which visited Australia and New Zealand recently. The second officer is Mr Mackintosh, late of the P. and O. Company. Others who will be on board during the outward voyage of the Nimrod are Air James Hurray, the biologist of the expedition, who has had five years' experience as assistant to Sir John Murray; Mr W. A, Michell, the ship's surgeon and zoologist; and Mr A. F. Mackay, the junior surgeon of the landing party. who will also engage in zoological work. On her arrival in New Zealand the vessel will be joined by the remaining members of the expedition. These include, besides Mr Shackleton, Mr Eric Marshall, the senior surgeon of the shore party and the cartographer of the expedition; Lieutenant Adams, R.N.K., who will be in charge of the meteorological Work; Sir Philip Brocklehuret, who has also had experience of survey work and field geology; and Ernest Joyce, lately first-class petty officer in the Navy, who did excellent work on the Discovery expedition, and who will be in charge of the dogs and sledges. Dr David, Professor o! Geology in Sydney University, has arranged to accompany the expedition south to King Edward VII. Land; and, adl told, the officers and staff and crew of the Nimrod on the last stage of her long voyage will number about thirty-four persons. As for the "hands forward," like their captain, they are almost entirely R.N.R. men from the nbrth side of the Humber; men of experience and initiative.'hardened in small sailing-craft on the NorthEast Coast, where the beet of our seamen are made. As in the Discovery, every man has been picked for his fitness. The bo'stm and "Chips" were both out with Captain England in the Morning. The seven A,B/e. who form the forward "crowd" and "sails," are Humber men of hard training. Of the two doctors, one is a Canadian, and a New Zealander will be put aboard at Lyttelton, whence hail the, steward and his mate. A magnetxcian and an artist will also join the vessel there. For the auxiliary part of the craft there are three engineers and three stokers. THE WORK AHEAD. In April lest I sent you a detailed account of the expedition's plans, as given to me by Lieut. Shackleton him•elf. and there is little to add to the partdcuJars there given. Lieut. Shackleton does not conceal the fact that the main object he has in view is to reach the South Pole. "We are going to reach it this time," he save. "Certainly we •re going to make a big effort to do so." From Lyttelton the Nimrod will proceed southward to King Edward VII. Land. There winter quarters will be established for a party of twelve with provisions for a couple of years, and the Nimrod will them return to New Zealand, engaging, if there is time to do so before wintear sets _ in, in a preliminary voyage of exploration eastwards in the direction of Alexander L Land. Except to the westwards, from which direction King Edward Vn. Lend was approached first by Bir James Boas and sixty years later by the Discovery expedition, ’ the region around that patch of coast is absolutely Unknown, and the landing party will have before them an excellent field for exploring work. , In addition ' to two dozen dogs, the equipment of the landing party will include twelve Siberian ponies and one, if not two motor-cars. Away from the land Hie surface of Roes's great ice harder —at the eastern end of which King Edward Vn. Land is situated—was found jy iho Discovery expedition to be a perlevel plain, and a motorcar, prepentwl fa the expedition bj- the New Arrol-Johnston Company, of Paisley, has been specially constructed to rm at very low temperatures, and will be provided with sets of runners for surfaces of yarymp softness; so that there is at least‘a reasonable hope that the car will prove A useful and not merely a fanciful adjunct to the expedition. The ponies also, although their employment will he quite an experiment, will', it is hoped, he forma to possess several advantages over dogs for transport purposes, requir-

ing much less food in proportion to their weight and pulling power. Every care has been taken to provide suitable food for both pomee and dogs. for the former there are being taken out 20 tons of maize and for tho latter LOOOIb of specially-prepared pemmican. fcood ©upuliea for tho human members of the party os well a» the arrangements for the living hut have also been the subject of the most careful attention, and in this respect the expedition will be one of the beet equipped which has ever left these southward in the , direction of the Pole, but eastward into the interior of the continental-area whu* ie supposed to lie at the beck of King Jvivvard VII. Land, and cast-north-east along the coast which is supposed to stretch around to Alexander I. Land, and Graham Land, exploring parties will be sent out with the return of spring in the latter half of next year. All parties, however, arc to bo sent back to the winter quarters at the end of January, 1909, when the Nimrod should return to take tho explorers on board again. During tho vear which will have elapsed since tho Nimrod's visit to Edward VII. Land, Captain England has instructions to carry a magnetic survey along the n-reat trad© rout© across the Indian Ocean from Australia to the Mozambique” Channel and up to Aden. After tho landing party has been taken on board, magnetic work will be continued on the homeward voyage, which will he across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans; but previously it is hoped, before the Antarctic winter of 1909 sets in, to conduct soundings along the edge of the continent shelf which ie conjectured to exist off the patches of coast to the south of the Indian Ocean collectively described on the maps os Wilkes Land. In this way it will probably be upwards of two years before the Nimrod reached England again. FRENCH AND BELGIAN ENTERPRISE. The British Antarctic expedition is only on© of several which are about to renew the siege of the South Pole. Of on© expedition, which Dr 3T, A. Cook is said to bo organising in the United States, "very little has been heard in this country. Specially-constructed automobiles figure in his equipment, as in tho equipment of ail new Antarctic expeditions, and he is reported to have fixed on the region of the Discovery s winter quarters as his base of operations. Much more detailed information is available about the plans of two other expeditions which are being organised, one in France and one in Belgium- M. Arctowski, who has had experience of exploring work among the Antarctic lands and seas to the south of Cape Horn, is tho leading spirit of the -Belgian enterprise. After the Mons Longross a couple of years ago he- started in Belgium on active propaganda in favour of Polar, and more particularly South Polar, exploration, and fresh impetus was given to the movement by tho International Polar Congress that assembled in Brussels last September. Subscriptions are being sought through district committees from all sections of the population with the object of giving to the expedition a thoroughly national character; but as M. Arctowski is ous to have a ship specially built for tho occasion, and contemplates an absence of nearly three years, the amount re* quired is very considerable—according to one estimate nearly .£50,000. Originally M. ArctowskPs plans were based on the idea of a general circumpolar voyage, but it now appears that he is desirious of devoting special attention to the region that stretches from Graham Land, south of Cape Horn, .westwards in the direction of King Edward VII. Land. Not only will he seek to trace the continental coast which is surmised to connect those two lands,. but efforts will be made to penetrate into the interior in the direction of the South Pole. . . Just as M. Arctowski proposes in this, way to supplement the explorations of the former Belgian Antarctic expedition in the region south and west of Cape Horn, so Dr Jean Charcot hopes to extend in the same region the researches which he began on the voyage of the Francois in 1903-5. There is every prospect that he will receive from the French Parliament a giant of <£24,000 in two instalments, and in that case the sum to be raised by private enterprise will be comparatively small. Although like M. Arctowski he intends to build a new ship, efforts will be mad© to keep the total cost of the expedition within £30,000. One of the most interesting speculations in the statement of his plans which he has drawn up consists in the anticipation that there exists somewhere between Graham Land and King Edward VTT. Land a great ice field similar to Boss's famous discovery. On the level surface of such a field Dr Charcot is of opinion that motor-cars might usefully be employed for trans--1 port purposes. Only on© winter is to .be *rpent in the Antarctic regions, so that the expedition from start to finish should be accomplished in less than two years.