BY AIR TO THE POLE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LI, Issue 16674, 2 March 1925, Page 10

BY AIR TO THE POLE.

YOUNG EXPLORER’S EXPEDITION. LONDON, Jan. IC.—The young British Columbian-born explorer, Grcttir Algarcson, is making headway with his plans for an attempt to reach the North Pole by aeroplane during the coming summer. He intends to sail for the Mersey in May. Commander F. A. Worslcy, D. 5.0., who commanded Sir Ernest Shacklcton’s ships, the Endurance and Quest, will command tho ship, and act as second in command of the expedition. The plans, as outlined at present, arc to proceed by way of the. Reykjavik, to Spitzbergen, and to skirt the West Coast as far as the ice permits, which, if tho summer is a good one, should be somewhere in the neighborhood of Sldeg. North. A base will then be formed, the plane assembled, and the last stage, by flight, undertaken. Shore parties from the base will take observations, and make natural history and geological collections. A machine is being specially designed, and will embody developments arising out of the recent light plane tests at. Lympno. It will be fitted with skii for ice landings, and will be provided with floats. Reception wireless will be carried. It is estimated that tho flight from the ship will not be more than 600 miles. It is intended to land at Ihc Pole for the* purpose of taking observations. It is proposed to make tests with petrol tractors in the ice area. The expedition is to return by the oast coast of Greenland to Now York. ( Several other expeditions 1o the Pole are expected to be made during the present year. Amundsen has announced his intention of leaving Spitzbergen in May on an expedition planned along similar lines, and tliero is a projected Japanese expedition under Hammer, who has been Annind-. sen's lieutenant on previous Polar journeys. There are also rumors of American and French expeditions.