Antarctic Exploration.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVLI, Issue 10, 6 September 1911, Page 8

Antarctic Exploration.

THE AURORA SAILS. LONDON, July 28. The Auouuidsian Antarctic ship Auiura, under command of Captain Davis. of Nimrud fame, left the West India docks lais \ve» k for SbeeriitsSj for Liuba rL. Only two members of the staff of the exp* iilion go out in the ship, viz., Lieut. Ninnis, assistant surveyor, and Dr. Alert/., zoologist. All told, the officers and < rew of the Aurora will number twenty live; they will throughout remain with the ship. The bulk of the stores for the expedition is going out by the Aurora, which will also take forty-eight dogs,. which have been secured in Greenland; thirty sledges, which have been built in Norway; and u very extensive oceanographical equipment, which has been lent to the expedition by tho Prince of Monaco. The monoplane, built for the expedition by Messrs. Vickers, is now being tried at Brooklands, and will be sent by mail steamer to Australia. After her compasses have been adjusted by the Admiralty at Sheerness, the Aurora will ship 550 tons of coal at Swansea or Cardiff. On August 1 the vessel will leave for Capetown, and after coaling, will proceed to Hobart, the main base of the expedition. Here the dogs will be landed, and Dr. Douglas Mawson, the leader, and the staff of the expedition, numbering in all twenty-seven scientists, will be embarked. After visiting Melbourne and .Sydney the Aurora will return to Hobart, whence she will finally leave for the Antarctic on December 1. I'ho vessel will then steam south on the 150th meridian to Victoria Land, and by the middle of December will land fifteen of the explorers who will establish a main base. The Aurora will next go west to Claire Land, where a second party of six men will be landed in January on the 130th meridian. Captain Davis will then take his ship west, and land a third party of six men towards the i nd of January in th.- vicinity of Knox Land. Having disembarked the land parties, the Aurora will endeavour to penetrate to the. South in th ’ latitude explored by the Challenger in 1874, where it is believed that open water extends for some distance souti.. When lack of < oal renders it necessary the vessel will st t her course for Kerguelen Island, and after obtaining ballast will proceed to Fremantle under canvas. In April the Aurora will again go, south with a number of \ustralian scientists in order to <arry out dredging and sounding in the seas between .Australia and tho Antarctic. In December of next year she will leave to pick up Dr. Mawson and his companions from the throe Antarctic ba-os. As it is hoped that the work of the expedition will extend over more than one season, tho Aurora will then retire, and leave again during the following season for the explorers. Tt is hoped that it will be possible to have the expedition completed in time to present its results to the British .Association win a it meets in Australia in 1914. <‘apt a i n Da vis ex presses the indebted • ncss of the expedition to Dr. Bruce, of th*' ottish Oceanographical Laboratory; Dr chareot, of tho French Antarctic Expedition; Mr. J. Buchanan, late of the Challenger; tho Carnegie Institute of Washington; and to Dr. Glazebrook, for the valuable assistance they have given in the wav o* equipment. It is interesting to note that Mr. Buchanan has presented to the Aurora a ease of madeira, which was originally sent out in the Challenger in 1874. and which is to be opened when Dr. Mawson’s expedition first sights new Antarctic land. Dors for Mawsons Expedition. Mr. T. W. Arthur, who was headI ••* per at the Wi llington (New Zealand) Zoo. is going out to Hobart in (barge of IS dogs for the use of the expedition. Mr. \rthnr has been spending a short )i<di lay in 1 ondon. after delivering a con- ► i l'iihiciil of animals for Dr. Hornaday in Nr a York. This trip to New Zealand u II make the 35Ci that Mr. Arthur has mob '•im p 1879. On Sunday, Mr. an I M- Arthur took 21 of the Maoris now nt th.' White City to “Jack's PiUce” ( ilroil. which was lately opened bv the King. The Rev. Mr. M.tUhew- of the British and Foreign F. Society, entertained the Maoris st t> ». and gave meh a souvenir to ♦. 1 ■ ’ • '• • v 7 • ’ ■ 1 th tl The Maoris Were greatly delighted with tht r visit and reception.