THE POLAR EXPEDITIONS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20181, 25 June 1928, Page 6

THE POLAR EXPEDITIONS

SATISFACTION at the temporary relief of General Nobile will be tempered with anxiety for the fate of Captain Amundsen, whose aerial dash in search of the castaways threatens to provide a new problem for the heroic band of men‘who have been hurrying to the Spitsbergen region. Captain Amundsen must figure in history as the greatest Polar explorer of all time. His conquest of the South Pole, followed by his successful crossing of the North Pole by air, have outdistanced all rivals, although the story of Scott’s last journey remains as the greatest Polar epic in history. Amundsen has done his work thoroughly but unostentatiously. Finding it impossible to land at the North Pole by aeroplane he flew over it by airship, from one side of the world to the other, leaving no room for doubt as to the nature of his accomplishment. Amundsen is past his prime (he will be 56 next month), but his name is still one 1o conjure with, and it is a tribute to his reputation that early reports of the relief of the Italia’s castaways were based merely on his failure to return. Even now, it is not too much to suppose that he may have taken a wide cast in the hope of discovering and carrying relief to the widely separated members of the Italia’s crew. The only pity is that he and his pilot, Major Guilbaud, are without wireless, to which General Nobile owes his safety to-day.