SHACKLETON EXPEDITION

Otago Witness, Issue 3525, 4 October 1921, Page 29

SHACKLETON EXPEDITION

EXPLORER RECEIVED BY THE KING AX D QUEEN. A MESSAGE TO NEW ZEALAND. PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, August 5. It will be some months before Sn Ernest Shaekleton and Ins party in the little Quest, arrive in New Zealand waters. Bj then the party will have sailed in unknown seas. In the meantime Sir Ernest sends this message to ihe dominion: “I am looking forward with the greatest pleasure and anti eipatron to meeting old friend 3 in New Zea Acixd- about the end ci next April.” Preparations on tlic Quest are nearly com plete, and the vessel will leave Sontliamptoi for London probably this week. She vvii remain near London Pridge for several day? receiving her final equipment- and stores, anc will then proceed to a French port in ordei to embark a quant Ay ol equipment whici the? Priiic-e of Monaco is lending to the expedition. The Dritish Admiralty., recognising the value oi ihe contemplated work, is lend ing an oceanographical equipment, and tiic Air Ministry, wliicli is also taking greai interest in the v- attire, is naming a*. Pul h an: two officers who are undergoing instructor in kite and bailor,n work. Some interesting work has just been con eluded in t lie Quest. Sounding platforms have wen built which will enable the scientific staff to -sound the ocean to a depth o. six miles—half a mile more than has eve 3 been done before. The laboratories liav-c now been completed, and special deck arrangements made for the housing of the sea plane. The masts oi tlie vessel have beer lengthened, and the- ship transformed iron: a schooner into a brigantine. Arrangements have been made so flint the vessel can steam for 10,000 miles without recording. The staff, originally fixed at 15 officers, has new been increased by four. Every officer on bear; will have . service in the first line. Ii the matter of aorophir.e work arrangement? hai e been com ted by \ h c h no fewer that four of the office;s of the expedition, in c;:s< of need, will be capable of directing the seaplane operations. Two kin cm a men in stoat of one will be among the stall. A NORM’EG IA N SEAL-HUNTER The Q uest, which is loss than 100 ton? register, was built in Norway in 1917 foj sealing in the Whi'e Sea, and is there i cy : . < specially constructed for w ithstaudiug ic-e pressure, the hull being oi timber and tin bows strengthened w.th steel. She was ori gina 1 iy nr. itv. (1 Fcca I, and was owned 1 _>\ Captain J n g-c lb riglitf-c-n. Her conmiaiKia then was Captain K. l-\ Erik sen, a very well known Norv, ee ian seal-hunter, and Sir Ernes Shackle ion has secured the services of till: gentleman as gu nuc c and chief hunter t*. the expedition. One feature oi exceptional interest is tin place on the port :.-i«•••*. r- ..<[*.• r the boat deck where the iuv. i«:ge of the baby Avro sea plain will be siung. The cugiue and wings will b< stored in the- ibrche.d. In the engine rooir there '. ill he filled a five-kilowatt dynamo and there will bo a 11. kilowatt wireless set which will ii":ve a radius of -i •) miles by cl it and 1090 miles by nigiit. There will be one lOin searchlight on i he brvige, and the In terior o.f the vessel *vii 1 be elec ; ically liglitec tli.iough.out by a La Hey lighting set. Tin forecastle lias been rearranged as a biologica laboratory and photographical dark room. UNION JACK LENT BY THE KING. Sir Ernest Shackle-ton was received a. fev da vs aeo at Buckingham Palace by the Kim. cud Queen. to whom he described his plan;for the coming expedition. Their Majesties who shewed great interest in the plans o the explorers, wished him God-speed, anc commanded him. to convey to all the officer: their best wishes for success. The King a Is: commended the generosity of Mr John Quillet Rowett, of Ely place. Frant, Sussex, whici has made the expedition possible. The Kim gave Sir Ernest a silken Union Jack t-o Ex carried by the expedition and afterwards re turned to him. His Majesty also ex pres sec a- wish to see tire second in command, Cap tain Frank Wild. MANY REQUESTS. Sir Ernest Ims received many letters froi: would-lie exploress anxious to join the cruis of the Quest. An ex-service man bases ; iequest to join the expedition as barber oi the fact that, on the North Russian Expedi lion, in which Sir Ernest served as -irecto of Naval Transport, he cut tin- explorer’s hai as he sat on a box in t lie snow. The Roth aniisted Institute of Agricultural Researci has asked the expcditiin in bring back b England samples of the earth of the diffirm remote islands visited. Several i e \vl: have lost ;•“! •'■ ves m Ik • Pacific haw- wriuc to ask Sir Ernest Shackk ton to look out fo rastav on 1 f .i - . s 1;! 4 j U - of th - Atlantic am | flic PacNc. Tin re ave tl ee mere applir:, Q: i e s f ! 1 1 | and piles of k'P■ j are h; ing recadvi l fror iJoy Scoutwith a view fo • f ! :t - the c-ue " ;■ *le nm ;n. d in II y St . u nt,l , 1 •• -. iiowov r, t cl nee of . cirPiin nrnc.- r, and S a Eim -t wdl E- j* i sponsible for the final . led b n. 1 D!? A. M. MACK Id N, Aili.E SKAMAh Dr A. M. Ma.ckliii, who " a - puv.-con on i h i Endurance in the buin-r Sin.cklefon Exped lion, and bad charge J the dogs, is on thi occasion n-. : ii-.a (k-pta’n Wild with th stores and equipment and is acting as a se< man. After returning |un the Antarcti

lie joined the R.A.Af.C. and spent 15 months with the Murman Coast Expedition, and he made extended reindeer sledge journeys into Lapland. Dr Macklin is now busy finding general equipment, including the smallest details of pots and pans. He informs me that procuring tlie food supplies and of equipment generally is a much more difficult matter than before the war. On this occasion, he rays, no dogs are to be taken, as there are to be no long journeys away .from the vessel. The work in tlie Antarctic will be mainly the mapping out of the coast lines, and for this and for exploring the contours of the unknown islands they ore depending very largely on the use of the seaplane. With the plane it will be possible to map cut the prominent features in a few hours where ii would take an exploration party several days. The seaplane, too, will bo very useful to act as a guide and to find out beforehand if there is sufficient open water for the ship to run into any channel. Lieutc-nan* J. R. Stenhouse has now definitely decided, for private reasons, not to take part in the expedition. DATE OF DEPARTURE. According to present plans, the party will finally leave London about August 28, and, a.fter clearing from France, will next be board of at Madeira, and subsequently at Capetown. From the beginning of December next for a period of four mouths nothing is likely to be heard of the- ship until she arrives in the latitude of South Georgia. The Quest will have on board" stores for two years. At the invitation of the Daily Mail 50 scouts are to visit the Quest in Loudon. To select the party, scouts of the e cun try were a.skccl to send in 250-word essays on ” Why I Should Like To Go With Slicckleton,” and four prizes of £5 each were offered in addition. Each member of the party will be Riven a return ticket from li:s Lome and .61 for pocket money. Scouts are encouraged to be self-reliant, and the authorities, of the movement wish tlie boys to make their journeys from home and back unaided. Each boy will be given instructions as to trains and where to make for in London, but beyond that they have to depend cm tho;r own resourcefulness. Last week tlie members of the staff of the expedition were entertained at. a garden party at Ely Place, the house of Mr J. Q. Rowett, who is bearing tlie financial burden of the expedition. A feature cf ihe afternoon was a cricket match between the Quest, the ebip of 11 io expedition, and the Rest, in which the explorers were beaten.