ARCTIC EXPLORATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22212, 15 March 1934, Page 9

ARCTIC EXPLORATION

VOYAGE IN SUBMARINE SIR HUBERT WILKINS'S PLANS. (Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, March 14. Details of the new submarine that he intends building shortly for his next Arctic trip were revealed by Sir'Hubert Wilkins, who arrived in Wellington from the South Island this morning.

The plans had been prepared, he said, and he hoped that the construction would be begun at the end of this.year or the beginning of next. The submarine Nautilus II would have a surface displacement of 850 tons with a surface speed of 14 knots, and would be driven at the rate of three knots an hour when under the ice. It would be propelled by four 10 horse-power Diesel engines. It would probably have a crew of seven and would carry three scientists. Mr Lincoln Ellsworth, who had been associated with him on the previous trip and from whom he had received much help, would not be with him on the next expedition. The scientists would be engaged in taking deep-sea soundings and forming a biological collection. Sir Hubert stated that the North Pole was not his goal. The main point at which the expedition was aiming was 400 miles away in the direction of Northern Siberia, the " inaccessible Pole," so called because it was the farthest known point from any land. " I am personally con t'inccd of the feasibility of using a submarine in the polar regions, but perhaps the Royal Meteorological Society has yet to be convinced," he remarked. "We will convince them, I am sure. The value of polar exploration to meteorology needs no stressing. 'ln conjunction with continuous meteorological observations in other parts of the world it will give us fuller knowledge as to the causes of weather changes."