Evening Star Newspaper, July 31, 1927, Page 79

" Byrd ; dce BY THOMAS R. HENRY. HEN Comdr. Richard E Byrd takes to the air across the Antarctic continent this Winter in an effort to fly over the South Pole he avill be following the path of illustui- ©us predecessors who have sought 4o ry of the most detio. late corner of creation, compa which Greenland and the Desort are mild and hospit. The exploration of Antarctica ap- peals to the imagination in somewhat the same fashion as would exploration of another plnet. The world's sev enth continent, buried under eter: al jee, remains almost as mysterious as side of the moon, despite the rdy vovagers for two the secrets of its black, frozen mountain pa Four or five{ yarties hwve wintered on its shores. Three expeditions have penetrated to the half-way point, or nearly so. Thejl South Pele has twice been located. But the creat, fundamental problems| of the South Polar regions await the coming of Byrd and his followers fo! their solution. 3 It is partieularly fitting that thi: expedition should be led by an Amer can aviator. The United States has a sort of herpditary interest in the Fa South her sailors first sighted the moun anded on the Gesglate islands under the Ant- arctie ice barrier. Her flag, it is likely, will float soon beside those of | Groat ‘Britain ‘and Norway in the cen- teryof the great interior plateau where | is Alocated the southernmost: point on eth One barrier e flving retic ice | o | < the great Anta nd the aviator might as well hove the moon, so far as ny probability of human help in case of misfortune is concerned. He will be cut off almost completely from the | world af human beings—in the home of terrible blizzards and eve ss of Antarctic is </n» of Continental Eufpe ,500,000 square Ailes. of " desolatior, and gged circle Around the South Pole, can be divided,foughly into three zones. First, nnz explorer must _er the ice, bangfr which stretches southward ' for ‘about 300 miles. This is a level but/rough plain of ice, broken up by bottgfless chasms and swept by terrible blizzards. The floor of this ice barrier in some places | is 1,000 feet above gea level. It op-| Poses to the stormy Antarctic Ocean ‘an almost unbrokgn <circle of high, black cliff, lashed, by angry water. Beyond the coastal plain rise the mountains. Tey’peaks which probably never will be scaled man _push their heads into clouds at altitudes of 15,000 to 20,000 Teet. Between the peaks there are dangerous passes crossing the range at 10,000 feet. | Over the moupfains comes the high plateau, 9.500 feet above sca level—a | fairly smooth, plain, in the center of which is thefSouth Pole. The * % % % JDEATH Is king of Antarctica. ice-jeweled mountains are his | palaces and the ice plains his fertile fields. A1l living things are left be- ‘“hind a few miles from the coast. The single exceptions are occaslonal The land n parable to t —approximately This vast ea death, forming a ! patches of moss and lichen and one or , two degenerate types of insects. + man-like birds, the penguins. { i the nearby Antarctic waters. { ! The shores abound with those queer, hu- ‘Whales and one variety of seal are abundant But the domain of life ends with the ice barrier. The lost explorer can hold no Thope of living off the country. In this respect the Antarctic is strik- ingly different from the Arctic. Dur- ing its brief Summer at least the Far North is prolific of life. Gulls, polar Tnears and walrus, it is likely, pene- trate as far as the North Pole itself. Great herds of musk oxen graze on lush grass oyer the Arctic islands. With the return of the sun after the long Winter night, the valleys are ! covered with a magic carpet of blue and scarlet blossoms. Insects are so abundant that they are almost unen- durable. There are rare days when the Arctic is uncomfortably warm, and the explorer would welcome the refreshment of electric fans. Under ‘these conditions human beings have endured for generations on the inhos- pitable northwest Greenland coast. But there are no fields of grass in Antarctica. No flowers cover the mountain passes in mid-January. Even the hardiest Eskimo could live on the continent only so long as his store of food and fuel lasted. There would be no hope of replenishing it. The reason for this unchallenged sway of death in the Far South is that the temperature seldom remains for long above the freezing point of water. There is no time for seeds to germinate on the occasional patches of bare ground. The South is not as cold as the JNorth in Winter. Mid-January tem- ¥ peratures at the North Pole may fall to 70 or 80 below zero. Antarctica seldom sees days of more than 50 below, and the usual mid-July tem- perature is much higher. During the Summer, however, the mercury hovers close to the freezing point instead of going to 40 or 50 above, as frequently happens in the Far North. Lifeless and uninhabitable, the only possible economic value of this land mass would lie 7in its mineral re- sources. The extent of these may never be discovered. Even if they were made known, it probably would be impossible ever to exploit them because of the insuperable difficulty of arranging transportation. It long has been a favorite dream of romance writers to imagine great gold deposits and areas of radium-hearing rock Jocked up in the Antarctic continent. The profound interest of science in Antarctica does not lie in any possi- Ble future utility, but in the secret of jts past. This land mass about the South Pole was not always an area of ice and rnow. At a comparatively recent period in geologic time—some believe very recent—it was covered with semi-tropical forests and abound- ed with life. There are coal deposits, which prove that a semi-tropical vege- tation of tree ferns existed during the carboniferous age. But there also is A PART OF THE } [} sting bt ss evidence to indicate tha the land was habitable at the begin- ning of the of mammals and formed_a land bridge hetween Au tralia, New Zealand, South Africa and South America. There is sibility that the antipodes, Ant . south ern Africa and southern South Amer- jca as far north as Brazil formed one uthern continent, over which and bird species freely. Same connection is indic by the similar forms. The marsuplals, or pouched animals, for instance, are presented only in Australia and America_by the kangaroos and opo: sums. The ostrich family is repre sented in South America, South Africa d Australia, as are also certain fam- ilies of parrots. Botanists have found some closely rglated plant forms in all three continexnts. Hence it is/to the fossils which may be recovered in Antarctica that the est irtercst attaches. If these I myrsupial and cstrich types which pegiched in the days of exce: sive vegegation on the polar land the coyfention that Antarctica was onee a fbridge around the world prac- callyy will be proven, and it will be possifle to reconstruct a picture of the globg as it existed quite recently from flw; wpoint of the paleontologist. WA a mamn: Ak T changed a tropical forest into mass of rock and ice? This is a question which remains obscure to scientists. The same phenomenon has occurred in the Far North, chang- ing Greenland from a forest to an icecap. In the case of the North at least this progress has gone on during recorded history, for the early Norse settlers on the southern coast of Greenland apparently found condi- tions suitable for farming and stock raising. Their coffins, in land which now is known never to thaw more than a few inches below the surface, have been found 6 or 7 feet deep en- twined with tree roots. These changes in climate occur, it is likely, with the gradually shifting positions of the poles and the drifting of continents. Some day, likely enough after the human race has di appeared from the face of the earth, Antarctica again will be a land of flowering trees and singing birds, un- less Judgement day comes in the meantime. Peninsulas of Antarctica places north of the Antarctic Ci but the nearest inhabited land is the island of South Georgia, a British sheep-ranching colony, east of the southernmost tip of South America. The continental mass is hidden from the world behind a curtain of dense fog and a protecting circle of icebergs. This, again, is in sharp contrast to the north polar regions, where inhabited land extends to within a few hundred miles of the Pole itself and the north- ernmost outpost of European civiliza- tion is hardly 800 miles away. Yet the conquest of the South Tole was earlier in actual fact than that of the North Pole. The second serious attempt to reach it succeeded, whereas generations of explorers perished in the heroic following of the northern star. The great difficulty in south polar exploration comes at the start of the journey. Once on the elevated plateau, and the rest is comparatively easy if provisions have held out. With modern equipment, it is not difficult to get within jumping distance of the North Pole. The great hardships are met with in the final 200 miles. The story of the discovery of the South Pole in 1910 has become a part of the heroic legendry of the white race. During the Summer of that year a Norwegian expedition was be- ing outfitted for a dash to the North Pole, when word came suddenly of Peary’s discovery. The Fram was under the command of Raoul Amund- sen, who already had spent one Win- ter in the Antarctic as a member of the Belgian expedition of 1898. With no further object to be served by a journey North, Amundsen on August 9 set sail for the South. He was aware at the same time that an Eng- lish expedition was being outfitted for exploration of the Antarctic under the command of Robert Falcon Scott, who also had spent one Winter in the Far South. Amundsen knew that Scott would establish his base near the foot of the volcano, Mount Erebus, on McMurdo Sound. He decided to establish his own base 400 miles eastward, on the Pgss Sea. The Fram reached the ice barrier January 14, and sailed away to Buenos Aires after a portable house had been set up on shore. Amundsen and his companions spent the first Winter establishing provision depots across the ice barrier on a direct route sough, which it was proposed to follow to’the pole. Eskimo dogs were used for transport. On April 21 the sun disappeared, and the Norwegian party settled down in their comfort- able quargers for the long Antarctic Winter. There were no deaths, de- spite the fact that at times the ther- mometer went down to —30 centi- grade and there was no physician with the expedition. * ok ok % O\' August 24 the san reappeared abowe the horizon, and a month later the seals began crawling up on the ice—a sure sign of the Southern Spring. On October 20, after the ther- mometer for several days had re- corded a steady témperature of one degree above freezing, Amundsen set out with 5 men and 52 dogs for the long dash to the pole. By November 17 he had crossed the ice barrier with- out accident and began the long, hard ascent into the Antarctic mountains. Once on the plateau, named for King jut SREAT ICE BARRIER WHERE CA LIVES {WHEN OVERTAKEN BY: ONE OF o BEE GTNDSS 0M0, WARE) Will Find Land of Mystiery When Antarctic Region Differs From That About North PolexBe Navigators Have Met Great Difficulties in Endeavoring tc*\ usual Opportunities for New Discoveries. GREAT FLOCKS OF THES NGTO cac 7 { D. €, JULY 31, 5 PENGUINS 4.RE SEEN ON THE THEY ACT AND LOOK ASTONISHINGLY IfIKE HUMANKS. 1l27 PART .Eé - : = IHe Flies to d;\use offlts Basren Condi/:ion/ an& Absence of Sustaining Life. h Goal by Way of Sea/ and Land—Use ‘BARREN BEACHES. AT TIMES to the pole became little more than a pedition was well supplied. It had left at convenient points along the way plenty of provisions for use on the way back. The party made about 17 miles a day across the pla- teau, and on December 14 observa- tions of the sun showed them they were at the pole. They had arrived at the same conclusion by dead reck- oning. 1t was mild and pleasant. The ex- pedition stayed at the southernmost point of the earth for two days, estab lishing a 10-mile circle of cairns sur mounted by black fiags around the Norwegian flag, which they had placed at the pole itself. The return to the Winter quarters on Ross Sea, 863 miles, was without incident. They made about 22 miles a day. Most of the time the temperature was above freezing. In 99 days after the start they were back at Framheim. Meantime, Scétt and his men had met a far different fate. The British expedition also had established Winter quarters on the ice barrier and set out for the pole in a much more preten- tious manner than Amundsen with the return of the equable weather of late Spring. They used as transport ice motors, Manchurian ponies and Es- kimo dogs, placing little reliance in the latter because of the commander’s unfortunate experience with them in his previous Antarctic expedition. The motors broke down almost at the start. The ponies, as had been planned, were killed along the route and their meat stored to furnish pro- visions for the return journey. Iach time a pony was killed and a cache established some of the men turned back. Scott was following out the same program used by Peary in his conquest of the North Pole. The last of the four ponies, however, fell through an ice chasm and was lost on the day before it had been planned to kill it. The little accident probably cost the lives of the five men who continued on to the pole. When they were 150 miles from thelr objecti the last supporting party, with the dogs, turned back and the others went on, dragging a hand sledge. They reached the pole on January 17, and the first sight that greeted them was one of Amundsen’s black flags, telling them that all their labors had been in vain. The Norwegians had found a com- paratively easy route over the moun- tains, and probably were in better physical condition on the return jour- ney than when they started. But the Englishmen had encountered rough going from the first. They were tired, and the bitter disappointment which they met depressed their spirits. Everything went well, however, until they were across the mountains. They had no difficulty in locating the food depots. Apparently, there was little doubt in the minds of Scott and his men that they would get back safely. But when they struck the ice barrier again luck turned against them. Some of the depots had not been filled with] the requisite 10-day supply. They struck rough ice, over which they could make painful progress of only a few miles a day. One of the party, Evans, collapsed and died on the ice, causing a day’s delay. Cold and wet still further depressed the spirits of} the others. Among them was a cav. alry lieutenant, Titus Oates, who ha come with the expedition in charge of the Manchurian ponies. His feet wer frozen and he was unable to keep u with Scott and Wilson. Sometime: they pulled him on the sled. Oates, realizing that he had no chance, begged his companions to put him in his sleeping bag and leave him to die., This they refused to do. 3 Then Scott began to realize that his little party had no hope of Tlanken VII of Norway, and the trip TERRIBLE getting back alive. He was the com- mander of the party, and ordered Wilson, the ph an, to distribute the opium and morphine in his medi- cine case. There was enough left to kill themselves if worse came to worst, But they did not use the dru On Monday, March 16, they found a short supply of fuel oil in one of thelar fortunately,\nq ther of them wi to land on i\sg hores. ‘The mount of Antarcticagh robably were seen for the first tin athanial ¥ 1 the distance by Capt. ’almer, a_whaler from Stonington, ¢ nn., in 1920, question, he (first landed Without upon the hipelago ji st off the continental equipped ships, primarily for a voyage of discovery in the South Pacific, but also with orders to reach the most coutherly point which had been at- tained by Cook more than a half cen- tury before. Few ecxpeditions have met with worse treatment at the hands of for- 4 Sandwich=-7, LES / STQTUTF. %l o 500 1000 L ‘COPYRIGHT : NATIONAL GEOGRA'PHIC SOCIETY THE PLAN OF COMDR. BYRD'S DASH TO THE SOUTH POLE. o = ellington, A depots. They started out bravely fpr the next stopping point, but whjkn they were 11 miles away they wgre caught in a blizzard in which they could make no progress. They Dit fhed their tent for the last time and “f;md for death. The first night of the blizzard /Oates suddenly rose from hi. | “I'm going outside, | may be gone for some tim; | Scott and Wilson bowed thfir heads and said nothing. They l/new that Oates did not intend to com back and that he had decided to stronger men whateve! mained with the scarfy food. / On Thursday, March in his diary: “Since the 21st we have had a con- tinual gale from the southwest. We had fire to make two cups of tea apiece and hare food for two days on the 20th. Ivery day we have been ready to start for our depot, barely 11 miles away, but outside the door of the tent it remains a whirling drift. I do not think we can hope for any better things now. We shall stick it out to the end, but we are_ getting weaker and it cannot be far. It seems a pity, but T do not think I can write more. ROBERT SCOTT. “For God's sake, look out for our people. More than a year later the frozen hodies of Scott and Wilson were found by a searching party, together with Scott wrote SCOTT AND HIS COMPANIONS LOST THEIR ANTARCTIC BLIZZARDS. S e <. . their diaries and last letters home. Yoth these expeditions reached the pole. One other man, Sir Ernest Shackleton, nearly succeeded in 1902, when he came within 97 miles of his objective. He was obliged to turn back because of diminished supplies. After the discovery of the pole, Shack- leton formed the project of crossing the Antarctic continent from east to west. He died in south Georgia in 1920 while preparing for this attempt. EE N ‘WO Americans share, rather than dispute, the honor of having dis- covered the Antarctic continent. Ua- mass which now bears the name of Palmer Land, and his reports of mountain peaks in the distance to the south indicate that he actually looked upon west Antarctic. Palmer was more than a whaler—he was a con- scientious explorer, and continually went out of his way to add geographi- cal knowledge. His fame, however, only recently has been revived. After his discovery of Palmer Land, the explorer ran his ship into a shel- tered bay in the South Shetlands. There he was met by Capt. Fabian Gottlieb von Bellinghausen of the Rus- sian navy, leader of an organized ex- ploring expedition into the Southern seas, who had crossed the Antarctic Circle six times and_discovered two islands, Peter the First Land and Alexander Land. Palmer told the Rus- sian of his discoveries, and the latter gave generous credit to the American whaler in his reports to the Russian government. Palmer’s standing as an_explorer and the justice of his claim to the discovery of the world's seventh con- tinent has been disputed and defended. On some maps his name is attached to a long strip of the continental coast and to an archipelago just off the coast. Other maps leave his name off the mainland altogether. The chief claim of the Yankee whaler is found in the journals of Bellinghausen, who displayed a generosity rare among explorers. { The most generally recognized claim to the discovery of the Antarctic con- tinent, or at least of east Antarctica, is that of Charles Wilkes, commander of the United States exploring ex- pedition which sailed from Newport News in the Autumn of 1838. This expedition was the first ambitlous ef- fort of the young Republic to win a place for the Stars and Stripes in the annals of exploration, somewhat com- parable to that achieved by Great of the cele- ‘The expe- tune. The results still are in dis pute. Wilkes, then a naval lieutenanf , a: parently was a man of little tacd = He continually was quarreling wig . the sclentific personnel. A stern dj scip narian, he lacked the sympathy - «nd breadth of vision essential to the com- mander who must lead men for§ indefi- nite periods in untracked wilds. { More- over, his ships were ill equippy d for contact with an ice pack. The ¢ <pedi- tion resulited in the discovery offa new continent and a court-martialof the commander. Wilkes first sailed South frqm the ettled village of Sidn:y in with two ships; The Antarctic Winter was fast apgroach- ing. The commander himself,y in the sloop Vincennes, failed to get; across the Antarctic Circle. He tried] to fol- low the route taken in 1823 {by the British navigator James W 2ll, but covered only about two-thirds{ of the route when he ran against jthe ice pack and was obliged to turn back. The sloop Flying Fish, undei Lieut. Walker, went farther and turngd back after reaching 70 degrees South. The expedition again went South from Sidney on December 26, 1839, in the midst of the Antarctic mmer., This time there were four ships—th Vincennes, commanded by Wilkes; the Peacock, under Lieut. Willlam L. Hudson; the Porpoise, under Lieut. Cadwalader Ringgold, and the Flyin Fish, under Lieut, W. L. Pinkney. The squadron sailed west and south of the Balleny Islands, which they did not see, and then cruised westward along the ice pack. On January 19 Lieut. Hudson reported land seen from the masthead. During the next few days all four ships reported seeing moun- tain ‘Wilkes sailed for nearly 1,000 miles along the ice barrier, seek: ing in vain for,a place to land. There was no break in the black cliff. The squadron wu\burhd in a dense fog mpeats. ‘The sailors, in clothes in- ‘waters, suffered were frequentt rum- bellion below deck:. Finally, 14, Wilkes. went. ‘| apologi zed to Britain, and the com- and the ships were tossed about by1 l AT CAPE ADA% ANTARCTIC e e of Airships Offizrs Un- { on a small island eig)it miles from the coast und set up the A'merican flag. The sailors gatheredl rocks and hand » fuls zravel for souverirs. Some ¢ th probably still are in Washin g- ton, but, like most of fhe Wilkes cl. lection. they have bren lost sight of. After the landing thegiquadron saifed North. Rl i QIMULTANEOUSLY f French expe- dition, under Capty Dumont/d'Ur- ville, was in .Antarc v‘] waters. D! ville sighted land twa| or three days \fter the Americang. Both com- | manders chatted the {coast line, and| the Frenchmiin gave Firench names t large segments. For {the rest of his |life he consistently ¢denied Wilkes | claims, and donsidered §himselt the d | coverer of ¢he Antanctic continent | His maps weye more alcurate and he | possessed a firr more pleasing person ality than his American rival. Unfortunatgly for ‘Wilkes, the next Antaretic expedition, saifled t one or two places camplete'ly across the landl he had indidited om his map. Th expedition cansisted jof two ships fly- ing the flag\af Great)Britain and com manded by yme ofi the most distin- guished expld:ers of the last centu 3 South Pole sister/t belief among geographers that Antayctica was a vast continent which exfte/sded northward into the tropics. Thirs legend was one of the hardest to k'Y which explorers ever have encoun- tgred. Even Wilkes, with the records ¢f Cook before him, thought that he 'pight discover for the United States he great, mysterious Terra Nova ustralis butting far north into the Pacific. Second, was the search for 'wholes and s Third, was the search for the South Pole. The first voyage into the Far South was that of Amerigo Vespuccl, for whom the American continents are named. His journal records that in April, 1502, while crossing the South Atlantic, he was blown far out of his course until he sighted a new and rough coasa along which he sailed for 20 leagues. This has been identified by geographers as the Island of South Georgia. The next expedition of record is that of the Dutch whaler, Dirk Gerritsz, y the original of the “Ancient iner,” who long was reported to ave been carried south of Cape Horn in his <hip, De Blijde Beetschap, to 64 degrees south, where he sighted & rough coast which reminded him of the coast of Norway. Gerritsz afters ward w d by the Spaniards. Geographe: believed that he had discovered West Antarctica in the Summer of 1598, but it now is con- ceded that the claim rested only on & clerical error in preparing his log for publication. Antarctica ws wait for 200 years before the appearance of the first scientific exp France took the lead. In the Winter of 1738 a well equipped _expedition under M. Des Sir James Clirk Ploss. Ross’ vessels, the Erebus and Terror, had been) especially eqnippegl for Antarctic ex: ploration. K e sailed through the jce pack and in> the, Ross Sea, the start ing point f,r most succeeding Ant arctic expeditions. To the ¢1d of his life Rass ques. tioned the j existence of an An i continent.§ He believed that were only§zroups of isla the South| Pole probabl located in the ojief sea. He named the coun: try at thigj head of the great bay Ve, toria Lamd, after the Queen, and’ A still reta [ns that nomenclature. } The thkstimony of Ross was ox- tremely damaging to the claims jof Wilkes. ' For more than half a den. tury his name was omitted from rpost charts ol the great Southland. he America: wcommander’s reputatio's was sustainec§ however, by the explora- tions of [Sir Ernest Shackleton, who found th )t his n for the mo st part were accprate. Mistakes wercy inevi- table in he charting of a coAst line from a_ship 10 or 15 miles fiiszant. with all | nafural objects blvirred by heavy fc . On his freturn to Washington, Wilkes was tried by court-martial rr‘41 his con- duct of . the: expedition. ‘ruelty to sailors \as| charged, as well as gross exaggeration in claims to, discovery. The cornmiinder was cleafed of the charges, bjit a cloud hasy hung ever since over [his name. ’rhaifuu reports of the expd lition never weke published. A few plan t specimens cpllectel in the South seas , or their deskendants, still are growir g in the Botanic Garden, Wilkes jonce more czme into public notice dw ‘ing the Civil War, when he stopped g British mail steamer and took oft§ two Confedefrate commission- ers to, Great Brizin—Mason and Slidell. | This undiplomatic action al- most sed ‘ved as the /spark necessary to bring al jout war between Britain and the Unj ted States. Congress congrat- ulated ; Wilkes, but President Lincoln mgindefs once again, found himself on trial "nefnre a cqurt-martial board. O nce {more he was, vindicated, but re- mained a rather embittered man to the eitd of his days. He retired from the Navy in 1873, a pdfdied in Washington in 1878. He ir ried at Arlington, where several ¥ fars ago a monument was unveiled t p [him under the auspices of the Na- ';:)nal Geographic Society. With his tiaims vindicated by Shackleton, Wilkes certainly is deserving of credit s ope of the greatest of all American :xplorers, * kX % LL fortune seems to pursue those who cross the cle. Like the Ancient Mariner, also an Antaretic voyager, they have plenty of trouble in store for them after the escape from the mists and the ice pack. There still is a cloud on the claims of | both Palmer and Wilkes, and the only { other American whose name is asso- || ciated with the South Polar regions i/ now is in a Federal penitentiary. || Friends of Dr. Frederick A. Cook v that if he had retived after his participation in the Belgian Antarctic expedition of 1898 he would be entitled to rank among the most illustrious of all American explorers. This expedi- i tion, under command of Lieut. Adrien | de Gerlache, spent one Winter in the Antarctic ice. It was one of the worst Winters ever recorded in the South. {| For 70 days they were in darkness. Ceok was surgeon of the expedition, and among the officers was Amund- sen. Ever since that day the Norwegian has remained one of Dr. Cook's stanchest friends. On his last visit to the United States, after the success- ful voyage of the Norge across the North Pole, he visited the imprisoned man at Leavenworth and renewed a bitter controversy when he asserted that his claim to discovery of the North Pole was as good as that of Peary. Amundsen in his enthusiasm doubtless said more than he meant, but he may be excused when one con- siders the testimony of other members of the expedition that they owed their lives to Cook’s courage, resourceful- ness, ingenuity, medical skill and per- sistent cheerfulness in the face of continual disaster. Cook doubtless did not discover the North Pole. Whether or not he was sincere in thinking that he did is another matter. But there is little question that his researches with the Belgian Antarctic expedition placed all future polar explorers in permanent debt to him. For the past three centuries there have been three impelling motives in Loziers Eouvet of the French navy sailed south from the Cape of Good Hope. Bouvet sighted the _rocky island known ever since as Bouvet Larfl, but he was unable to effect a landing. In 1771 another French na- val, expedition under Capt. Yves J. da’Kerguelen, with two ships, sailed into the Antarctic and made a landing #n the Kerguelen Islands. Both thess Mesolate lands still are under the rench flag. Kerguelen suffered the customary fate of Antarctic explorers. His claims were disputed for nearly & century after his death. * ok ok ok 'HEN came the celebrated voyages of Capt. James Cook, partly financed by the British Royal Society, from 1773 to 6. With the singl exception of Columbus, no other ex- plorer has added so much to geograph- ical knowledge. His most notable feat was the circumnavigation of Australia and the claim which he established to that continent for the British Empire. He crossed the Antarctic Circle in 1773 and reached 68 degrees South. Then he circumnavigated the South Polar regions, rediscovered South Georgia, and ended the legend of a great southern continent extending into the tropics. Following Cook come the American whalers, including Palmer. Besides, there was the Nantucket whaler, Capt. Swaln, who discovered the present Dougherty Island, and Capt. Janies P. Sheffield of Stonington, who landed on the South Shetlands. The log of Capt. Benjamin Morrell of Stonington re- cords the sighting of a land mass, which he named New South Green- land, in 1822. This may have been West Antarctica, but geographers now are inclined to question it. The next Antarctic_expedition was that of Capt. James Weddell, master in the Royal Navy. in 1820-23, fol- lowed closely by Wilkes and d'Urville. Both these men undoubtedly saw the mountains of Antarctica, but neither effected a landing. Like Wilked. d'Ur- ville contented himself with landing on a small island off the coast, raising the French flag and “drawing a bottle of old Bordeaux wine.” For the next half century interest in Antarctic exploration was cofifined largely to a firm of London shippers, Enderby Bros., whose captains, Wil llam H. Smiley in 1842, John Palleny in 1839, and John Biscoe, all sighted the continental land mass and gave names to vast stretches of the coast. In 1898 a British scientific expedi- tion under Capt C. E. Borchgrevink sailed South on the steamer Southern Cross and landed on the coast of Vic- toria Land at 73 degrees south, the nearest the Pole which had been reached up to that time. They were the first persons to set foot on the Antarctic continent. They established Winter quarters and the Southern Cross sailed North. The ship returned and picked up Borchgrevink and his men the next year. In 1900 a Swedish expedition, under Dr. Otto Nordenskjold, brother of the celebrated Greenland explorer, win- tered on the coast of West Antarctica. Their ship was lost in the ice pack and they were rescued the following Summer by a relief expedition sent out by the government of the Argentine Repul 3 There were two expeditions in 1901, that of the German ship Gauss, under Dr. Erich von Drygalskl, and that of a Scotch par commanded by Dr. W. S. Bruce. That same year Scott and Shackleton were in the Antarctic with the English ship Discovery. The next expeditions are those of Scott and Amundsen. Now the Antarctic has been de- serted for nearly 20 years, and the silence of the great waste probably will next be broken by the whirr of Byrd's airplane. The mountains of Antarctica are almost as little known as the mountains of the moon, and they constitute the great challenge for explorers of the future. Even the nomenclature of Antare- tica is confused. Every explorer has made his own maps. The generally recognized division, however, is into four quadrants whose apexes meet at the Pole—the Weddell quadrant, south of Cape Horn; the Enderby quadrant, south of Cape Good Hope; the Victo- ria quadrant, south of Australia, and the Ross quadrant, between ths Vic- toria and Weddell divisions. Only one of these quadrants, the Vietoria, has in any sense been ex- plored. There the Ross Sea runs far into the land. so that it is only about 800 miles from the coast to the South Pole. It was over Victoria Land that Antarctic exploration. First, until the voyages of Cook there was a per- | Shackleton, Scott and Amundsen pushed their dogs and ponies. A, WHERE THE ITION w