EXCURSIONS TO ANTARCTICA.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12500, 29 March 1909, Page 3

EXCURSIONS TO ANTARCTICA.

\ v A SUGGESTION. :. : .•■'..■ (Special to "The Colonist.") Christcburch, March. 28^ Many a time the half or wholly joki ing remark has been made that in time . a series of popular excursions may be run to"' the Antarctic regions, co that the people who wis,h to try its charms adventures for themselves, and ■ there are niany of them, may do so. . ilfost people^ are content to treat the , .matter as a joke, but now the question [ f whether it may not be otherwise is legitimate. In the history of Antarctic ,- -eyploration,_ which has be'eirmade very rapidly during the past few years, it is no short step to look back to even so recent a date as 1893.' Li that year the ship Antarctic' was equipped largely through the beneficence of Commander Svend Foyn for a southern journey. Curiously enough at the time when the Nimrod haß just returned from the most successful Antarctic voyage ever made, there is in Lyttelton the man to whose energy "the promotion of the 1893 expedition . was; due (says the "Lyttelton Times" ) . ■] This is Mr H. J. Bull, of Christiania, ■ ; arid hp has ventured to put into the ■ shape: of a serious proposition- what • others have flippantly turned oif in : I joke. There, is nothing,. Mr Bull say 3, ! in the way of natural difficulty to pre- •" vent the institution of annual, excur- ■ sions, open to the public, to the' Ant! arctic regions, and there can belittle '■' doubt that they would pay handsome- '■• ,ly Since. Spitzbergen has been made ■ the terminus of .summer tours, it has » been a very frequent goal of toririßts. '_■ With the taste which grows ever more: insatiable for the unusual, and the r extension of the idea admits other ad- ?: vantages. The suggestion in outline " ■» that a suitable vessel of. the same 1 type as the Discovery- should bo-pur-chased. Ordinary ' iron steaniers are s all but of the question, and suitable / wooden vessels are rare. The Discbvsry has ben sold-for use since her. Antarctic adventures, and the Gauss, a German prototype,. has also passed into other work. Besides these vessels,"which Mr Bull 'considers represent what js. needed, therev are a-couple of, new vessels quite suitable for the purpose, and probably "available. ' An -:x- --. penditure of some £20,000 would, he . thinks, cover the cost of purchasing t and :• fitting out the ship. The, jour-, .-• i-eys, Mr Bull suggests, shoui.l com-: 1, mence from a New Zealand port about y ■ the ; middle of January, the.whols" t voyage should occupy about four . v,teks At that time the risks would j : bo at a minimum, and the whole voy- . agr .should be over in about four .... weeks. The short time consumed ism j. favour of the scheme .- As.to the pros- ■. pect-s from a passenger carrying point 3. which would be one of the strong points in view, there is much to be .said. The man in the street avers stoutly: that ho would not dreanvof going to' Antarctica but the tourist community is a strange part of the race, and what might look a stiff faro, on paper ,v:say } £100 or £150, would not be much to 1 charge for such a journey,- and in Mr j s Bull's opinion would certainly, not de--1 ter a large number of passengers from . travelling.- Neither would the risks c of the voyage.. That, however, y is not : _ "the L most -important point about the 3 scheme^ ' Exploration work, and even '"• 'thu most limited recording of obsero vations, have to await ( the few oppor-. c ' tunities', that occur under the system r ;of financing special expedtipns, con- : sequeritly very few men can -exeijf themselves in extending knowledge of i. the regions to the- south; -and there t are hundreds . of ambitious • scientists | who might do much, but never have ) the opportunity. The establishmerit of "a. commercial vessel would allow observation arid exploration work to go j on far Tnore freely, arid an enormous proportion ~of the expense which has tV be undertaken in csending out a batch of workers would be defrayed ■by the "drones' " provision. '