Southward Ho!

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 836, 3 December 1929, Page 8

Southward Ho!

CHALLENGE OF ANTARCTICA

COMMANDER BYRD’S dasli by airplane to the South Pole, besides marking the third visit to the Polar plateau itself. signifies the 30th expedition to Antarctica. Before the discoveries of this party may be final 1> claimed for America, however, a singularly delicate int: - national argument as to the ownership ol tie . Continent must be settled.

The inspiration of the first South Polar flight comes not so much from its immediate results as from the possibilities it has revealed. Discounting as trivial the rivalry of pioneer aviators in the frozen South, it has been impressively demonstrated that future explorations in this region will be made from the air. Sir Hubert Wilkins showed that in the Antarctic last year. Byrd himself proved it in the Arctic three years ago. Yet the triumphant explorers of today would be the last to deny acknowledgment of the useful contribution which the discoverers of the long ago made toward the success of this mission. The conquest of the Polar South in fact covers 156 years of history. Captain James Cook was the first to cross the Antarctic Circle in 1773. He was the pioneer of 30 expeditions to date. The apparent determination of both Britain and America to pursue their claims to ownership of the Antarctic contains the elements of a first-class international tangle. It seems evident, too, that before finality is reached the extravagant claim made in this morning’s cables from Washington that an American was the first to sight land in the Antarctic must bo carefully, checked. ALL NATIONS TAKE PART Records of Polar penetration, as a matter of fact, furnish proof that in the century and a-half that has followed Cook’s cruise, most nations of the earth have contributed to the struggle for greater knowledge of the Antarctic belt. Nearly 50 years after Cook, William Smith, an English merchant ship skipper, discovered South Shetlhnd Islands almost by accident. Two years later, 1821, a Russian called Bellingshausen, marked Peter I. Island and Alexander I. Land. Then in 1923 came a Scotsman, James Weddell, whose excursion is perpetuated in the bay bearing his name. Two Englishmen, Biscoe and Balleny, went in 1831 and 1839 respectively and found Adelaide Island, Biscoe Islands, Graham Land and Balleny Islands, and a few years later, in 1840, a Frenchman, Captain Dumont d’Urville, narrowly anticipated Lieutenant Wilkes, of the United States Navy, in the discovery of Adelie Land,

j which undoubtedly forms part of the Antarctic Continent. Thirty years separated the James Clark Ross expedition of IS4O and the Challenger party of 1872, and 20 years later Norway sent the Larsen excursion forward, this being followed closely by the Belgian, Adrien de Gerlache, and the Southern Cross trek under Borchgrevink. All this time the various explorers were enriching the world of science in the knowledge of the Polar lands of Antarctica, and fresh discoveries and corrections were made upon each trip —discoveries which unquestionably bear directly upon today’s triumph of man over Nature. Scott’s Discovery expedition wintered at Ross Island in 1902. Meanwhile Germany had entered the field of exploration, and the Drvgalski party happened upon Kaiser Wilhelm 11. Land. Simultaneously W. S. Bruce journeyed from Scotland, and a year later Charcot, a Frenchman, played his part in marking out the South. TRAGEDY FOLLOWS TRIUMPH But the historic expeditions of the present century are perhaps the most inspiring to this generation, for they mark the age of greater courage and fortitude among Polar explorers. They bring to mind the Shackleton party of 1908 and its unsuccessful attempt to reach the Pole; they refresh the mind with the tragic circumstances of the race for the Pole between Amundsen, the Norwegian, and Scott in 1912. Amundsen triumped then by 32 days, and only a few months ago gave his life in the search for his Italian colleagues. Scott perished with his confreres in the biting blizzard as he returned in his own tracks after reaching the Pole. Further expeditions were made by Shackleton in 1914, and by Douglas Mawson, who is now on his way to Antarctica again, in 1911. Several others revisited the Antarctic with expeditions. The accomplishment of the Byrd party suggests that the siege of the South Pole has been broken. Soon there will be three expeditions in the same area-—Byrd, Wilkins and Mawson. What science w'ill gain from their discoveries can be measured only ill guesswork. Their usefulness in world progress, posterity alone mayjudge. L.J.C.