THE WILKINS EXPEDITION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21362, 16 June 1931, Page 6

THE WILKINS EXPEDITION.

The fact that the submarine Nautilus has been so unfortunate as to encounter difficulties before the voyage to North Polar regions was well commenced, emphasises the difference there must always be between exploits in fiction, exemplified as to submarine adventure in those of Captain Nemo, and those in a world in which the fortune of explorers is governed by practical concerns that trouble the novelist only so far as he chooses to allow them. The serious engine trouble which the Nautilus has experienced may be repaired, no doubt, but the fact that it has occurred serves to recall the apprehensions expressed by certain eminent scientists and explorers as to the suitability of the craft for the undertaking. Of the capacity of Sir Hubert Wilkins as a leader of the expedition, and of the practicability of his project, few, if any, doubts have been expressed. Neither has it been suggested that the expedition is in any way more reckless than many polar ventures of the past which proved successful. The Nautilus is equipped with apparatus that can crown the journey with success as to its scientific side, and it is fitted with every ingenious contrivance that man could devise to ensure that the practical problems which may be expected to confront the voyager under the ice cap can be met. Provided that the conjecture of the scientists who have interested themselves in the expedition is reliable, and that the equipment proves equal to the demands made upon it, it would seem that there is no danger of the crew of the Nautilus being starved or suffocated, or imprisoned under the ice. But with preparations so, thorough as to be almost fool-proof, save, of course, for the contingencies of such an undertaking that cannot be foreseen but may nevertheless arise, there remains one point in doubt, and that a question which the disablement of

the Nautilus in the Atlantic emphasises. It is, briefly, whether the submarine is itself of sufficient reliability for an adventure that must depend for its accomplishment upon the performance of the craft more than on all other factors. The Nautilus, which has been lent to Sir Hubert Wilkins by the United States, is obsolete to the extent that she is destined shortly to be scrapped. As she was constructed some thirteen years ago, it is possible that she is also obsolete in her actual mechanical and structural parts. This, at least, has been suggested by experienced men who wish the expedition well and have every confidence in Sir Hubert Wilkins. It is scarcely necessary to remark that, since the war, construction of all types of sea craft has greatly advanced, and the Nautilus is no longer an up-to-date vessel. No demands have ever been made of her comparable with those she is being asked to meet on the polar expedition, and it is possible that she is not capable of meeting them. The trouble which has left the Nautilus with all engines disabled in mid-Atlantic at least suggests that, when such a misadventure occurs upon the first and easiest stage of her voyage, there is a considerable danger of worse befalling her when the polar project is well under way and relief cannot be obtained.