A FRENCHMAN’S ENTHUSIASM.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 14348, 28 October 1910, Page 4

A FRENCHMAN’S ENTHUSIASM.

It was about 1840 when tho real race amongst the nations began, that year, and subsequent ones, saw two national expeditions, French and American, in tho Antarctic, and also some regrettable ill-feeling and bitterness between the commanders, both courageous and capable men. Dumont D’Urville, commander of the Irciich expedition, was actuated by the highest motives of patriotism. His journal is full of interesting references to his wish to do something for his beloved France. When ho discovered Adobe Land, for instance, which he named after his wife, he observed as much ceremony as if he had conquered one of the richest countries of Europe. T inimcdiatoly sent out men to unfurl tho tricolour flan on this land, which no human creature had cither seen _ or stopped upon before,” he says, ‘•following the ancient custom, faithfully kept up bv tho British, we took possession of it'in the name of Franco. Our enthusiasm and joy were such that it seemed to us that wc had just added a province to French territory, Ly this completely pacific conquest, »o dispossessed none, and our titles were incontestable, Wo regarded ourselves, therefore, at once as being on hrencli soil, and there is at least this advantage, that it will never raise up war against our country. To the glor.v of France, which concerned ns deeply just then, wo emptied a bottle of the most generous of her wines, which one of our v companions had had the presence of mind to bring with him. Never was Bordeaux wine called upon to play a more worthy Dart; never was bottle emptied more,fitly. , Surrounded on all sides by eternal ice and snow, the cold was extreme, and this generous liquor reacted with advantage against the rigours of tho temperature. The trench sailors showed that they could face hardships and dangers as well as drink wine. They passed Some terrible clays before they reached the placid waters in the roadstead at Hobart. It was while D’Urville’s vessel, the Astrolabe, was struggling through a storm that the regrettable incident occurred. In a lift in the fog the Astrolabe sighted a brig flying the American flnrr. It was one of an American squadron sent to the Antarctic in command of Lieutenant Charles AVilkos. It might be thought that in those desolate seas, where dangers abound, and where men seldom go, even the most unrelenting enemies would observe outward couitesies. These two vessels however, parted in the fog without the dip of a flag, and full of bitterness towards each other. It was afterwards explained that they misunderstood ooch other s nitontions. Each intended to salute, and each thought that tho other wished to avoid an interview. AA’dkes s squadron consisted of six ill-assorted vessels, manned hy half-hearted crews, but ho did sonic filio work. . ' , In 1840 Great Britain again entered the comnotition, sending out Sir James Ross with the Erebus and Terror. Ross went 235 miles further couth than AAcddell and reached within 710 miles of tho Pole. Other expeditions, conducted or inaugurated hy Englishmen, Norwegians, Scotsmen, and numbers of other nationalities followed. The Bel-, gica. which carried as surgeon Dr. r. A Cook, who recently claimed tho discovorv of tlie North Polo, was tho first vessel to experience the terrors of the Antarctic night, in 1898. She wont down on tho South American side of tho trlobo, and was followed by Dr. J. B Charcot, in the Francais,. who has made several successful and important expeditions to Alexander I. Land and Graham Land. Amongst other notable Antarctic explorers mav he mentioned Dr. AV. S. Bruce, an ‘indomitable Scotsman, and Air. C. E. Borchcrevink, who was in charge of Sir George Nownes’s Southern Cross expedition, it established a “Furthest ,South” record of 070 miles from tlie Pole, which remained unbroken until Captain Scott brought in the new era of Antarctic exploration in 1902, and went within 403 miles, a distance which, as stated before, Sir E. Shackleton reduced to 100 miles in 1908. Step by step, with courage and determination. since the day when Cook first crossed the Antarctic Circle, 137 years ago, men havo unshed on steadily to the Pole; and if‘the nast may ho regarded as an earnest of the future, the stop which will be taken in a few months should bring the South Pole, with its mysteries and its majesty, within the explored area of tho earth’s surface.