VOYAGE OF THE QUEST.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 October 1921, Page 12

VOYAGE OF THE QUEST.

LAST MINUTE RECRUITS.

AIMS OF EXPEDITION. London, Sept. 25. Sir Ernest Shackleton, in a special message to The Times before leaving Gravesend in the Quest, said: “The lines are now cast off. Over the horizon lies the goal of our endeavour. * As our bows point south we send a farewell to our island home, secure in the belief that we will be followed with true interest, and conscious that the responsibility of making good rests with us, under the guidance of Providence..”

“I desire to place on record,” said Sir Ernest Shackleton when interviewed, “that the expedition is equipped as -far as is humanly possible with the view of ensuring the absolute safety of the ship and crew in carrying out one of the most varied programmes of any scientific undertaking.” “No money has been spared to make certain that the ship will withstand any weather, and much money has been spent on general and scientific equipment. The Admiralty and Air Ministry have lent a large quantity of special instruments. Apart from Mr. Frederick Becker’s contribution of £'sooo and gifts of stores from British firms, the cost of the expedition has been defrayed solely by Mr. J. Q. Hewett, who was the first to recognise the national character of the undertaking and its potential contribution to human knowledge.”

There were two eleventh-hour surprises. Lieutenant McLeod, who was a member of the last Shackleton expedition to the Antarctic, visited the Quest on Saturday morning and talked to his comrades about old times. The reunion finally so stirred his blood that McLeod declared that he could not leave the ship, and eventually Sir Ernest Shackleton signed him on.

Mr. Gerald Lysaght, the well-known yachtsman, will go part of the way, acting as helmsman as far as Capetown.

Commander Frank Wild was the life and soul of the Mayor of Gravesend's dinner. He sang innumerable sea chanties, to Captain Hussey’s banjo accompaniment. The two men are likely to provide the explorers with welcome duets.

The two “boy sprouts,” as the boy scouts are affectionately known aboard, have begun to learn fresh phases of seamanship, with a turn at stoking. Captain Gordon Campbell, who became famous with a “mystery ship” during the war and won the Victoria Cross, persuaded Sir Ernest Shackleton to address the boys of the training ship Impregnable, of which he is commander. The explorer fired the boys’ imaginations with tales of his earlier expeditions. Captain Campbell said that it was the finest talk to boys that he had ever heard.

In an article in The Times Sir Ernest Shackleton explains the economic importance of the expedition to the Dominions of the Southern Hemisphere.

There are two broad lines of research to which the expedition will devote its energies, namely, magnetism and meteorology. The correction of errors of the magnetic compass and of charts based upon it is highly important in these days of fast steamers, thousands of which voyage yearly to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The total saving of time and money through navigation by more accurate charts will be enormous. If “Columbus had had an accurate magnetic chart he would have sailed due west instead ofturning far to the south. The accurate meteorology of the Southern Hemisphere depends upon knowledge of Antarctic weather, storms, and winds. These furnish the rainfall required for stock-raising and farming in the Dominions of South Africa, New' Zealand, and Australia. The fresh knowledge thus acquired, .with the assistance of wireless, will enable farmers and breeders to know the weather

changes some time aho;v'l. These will ’be the main lines of the Quest’s work, but the expedition will also assist navigation by ascertaining the existence or otherwise of disputed islands and shoals. It is also hoped to lay the lines of development of air services.