GOING SOUTH

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 241, 12 May 1933, Page 8

GOING SOUTH

Two Expeditions FLIGHT ACROSS CONTINENT Cruise in Small Trawler This year two expeditions arc to set out for the Antarctic. One will attempt to make the first flight across the frozen continent and back, nonstop return, and the other to circumnavigate the continent. The aerial expedition will be undertaken by the American explorer, Mr. Lincoln Ellsworth, accompanied by ivit. i.!( rut Balchen and Sir Hubert. Wilkii.s. The voyage round the continent is to he undertake by Mr. Francis Tease, a young Irishman of 27, who has already made several voyages in the small scientific, research ship William Scoresby. No such flight as that contemplated lias ever been attempted before (says an Australian correspondent). The airmen propose to land their plane at the Ray of Whales, at the head of the Ross Sea, and to make, a non-stop flight inland, right across the Pole to the other side of the continent to the Weddell Sea. Failing any suitable landing place, they will turn round and fly back to the Ray of Whales; a distance of 3200 miles'. The greater part of this flight will he over land on which no human eye has ever rested; in the course of the journey the airmen will have to pass over an elevated plateau, the highest in the world, rising to 11,000 ft, and, should they meet, with a forced landing or an accident, they can expect no help from civilisation. Admiral Byrd has flown lo the Pole and hack to the Ray of Whales, but Lincoln Ellsworth and his companions propose to fly on past the Pole to the other side of the continent, and thence back again, just double the distance covered by Byrd. No "Benefits" Many people have asked what benefits to mankind are to be gained by such a flight. The flights over Mount Everest and the attempt now proceeding to reach the peak on foot have elicited similar Questionings. The answer is that very little is to be gained by such exploits, which have frankly no scientific value whatever. Rut. nobody had hitherto scaled the highest mountain in the world; nobody has yet flown across the Antarctic continent, and it. was only, last year that Arabia was crossed for the first time by white men. The explorers of a. past generation scooped the pool. They sailed wherever ship could sail, and left no rich legacies for the youth of today, who finds that the routes to the deserts, the jungles and the poles have become "Great "White Ways," while, the very word "explorer" means little by comparison. There is, in short, little left to explore. So we have the spectacle of a young Irishman, with his nine companions, pooling their resources to purchase the only craft available within their means, and to sail right round the Antarctic continent. It is an 80-ton trawler, a small enough craft in which to push' into those dark and dangerous waters. Nor can these adventurers claim to be the pioneers of the route, since the Discovery 11., which was in Melbourne last year, has circumnavigated the continent, as also the Norwegian ship Norwegia. Adventures A-plenty

Both these vessels wore* engaged in scientific discovery of the highest order, while the cruise of the trawler can only he regarded as an outlet for the ardent spirits of young adventurers who find life and civilisation dull, and who seek a maximum of thrills and adventures. No doubt they will, find them a-plenty. For these Antarctic waters are the most forbidding on the face of the globe, exceeding in their severity and rigors the worst winters in the North Atlantic and North Sea. Previous expeditions which have gone south have done so in well -equipped ships, specially prepared for the purpose, and commanded by veterans who were familiar with the difficulties and dangers of these ice-strewn waters. Fearful of being caught and crushed in the ice pack, 'they have always made a point of escaping before winter sets in, with its long hours of darkness, terrific gales, mountainous seas and terrifying icebergs. _ But the Gallant Ten, in (heir 80ton trawler, are undettered by such dangers and, according to the cables, propose to venture where no previous expedition has ventured.