AN ALNTARCTIC EXPEDITION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2302, 14 April 1898, Page 13

AN ALNTARCTIC EXPEDITION.

WJREOKED OFF (JAPE HOB.N. : Lonjdpn, April 5. The steamer Belgaca, which" left Antwerp in August last od ajpeientific expedition to the Antarctic regions under the leadership ' p£ M. D2-Gradacb,-has been-wrecked off Gape j Horn. M. -De Crarlach and his oorap.'*moaa were sawed. < ' • The expedition was the result of a national subscription in Belgium, which was subsidised iby the Govercment. The Belgica was an i auxiliary pfcei m yacbfc under the command of ; Captain De (Jerlach, a B^Jgian n»val officer. She left Antwerp in August last with five eciertistfl and a navigating crew of 18. After touching afc various South American ports (cays the Melbourne Argus) and wintering a 6 the Falkland Islands, a course was shaped for Graham Land, which lies due south of Cape Horn, in latitude 65<5eg. south, and thence . tho intention of M. De, Gerlach was to ccasfc ! along the t,reat ice.- barrier which bare the j approach to the South Pole until he readied the longitude of Australia, when he would j haul up northerly for Melbourne. The I leader's idea is to equip his vessel and reprovision her in this port, tLen speed a few months ia scientific work in the Pacific, and next Sppfctmber, when the nouthera icefields i begfa to break up, the BelgicA will be headed 1 for "Victoria Land, which i>es due couth of : Tasmania, and ia Lo all intents* and purpose' j virgin soil to tbe explorer. Since the Erebtf • and Terror, under Ross, were in southet j latitudes in 18*2, practically nothing has beC j done, and the point then reached has nets, j been parsed.