The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-25
SEEKING THE SOUTH POLE
BELGIAN EXPEDITION TO START
SOUTHWARK THIS WEEK.
Magnetic Pole TO BE Studiec-EarIier
Voyages, Their objects and Re-
suIts--DesoIate Frigid Zone.



nent of Science some time ago appointed
a committee. among its members being Sir
Leopold McCIntock and Sir George Mares,
for the purpose Of drawing attention to the
desirablIity of an expedition to the Ant
arctic the region regarded as 'the land of
mystery and wonder" a region covering
an area Of eight million square miles, and
altogether a terra incognita. Not as the
outcome of any report from this British
committee but a result of interest
stirred up among the Belgians. who believe
that the Antarctic continent is Of sufficient
Importance to pay for the trouble, expense
and danger involved, a fund of 100000 francs
$50 000) has been raised, and on July % the
Belgica, a steam whaling vessel especially
built for navigation among ice packs, ice
foes and icebergs, will sail from Antwerp
with the expedition. The commander of
the exploring party is Capt. Adrten de Ger
lache and the other members will COM
prise two lieutenants Zone of them NJ. Le-
cointe who served in the French navy,
two engineers, a sailing master, carpenter,
two harpooners, twelve sailors, two stokers,
cook and g steward.
The exploring party expects to reach Ora
ham Land about the middle of October, the
beginning of the fine austral season. Gra-
degrees south latitude, and longitude 81 de-
grees to 6S degrees west, and was discoV-
cred by Briscoe in 1882. He is credited with
being the first explorer to set foot on the
Antarctic continent. The party will call
at the Canary islands and Rio Janeiro, Bra
zii and will also stop at the Falkland ISL
ands opposite the eastern end of the Ma
gellan straits to replenish the stores.
Thence the expedition will sail for the Ant
arctic ocean, pushing far as possible
toward the south. When the hard weather
begins to set in, as 1t usually does IN
March, the vessel will return to Melnourhe,
fill up with the necessary stores, and in due
time start south again toward Victoria
Land in latitude 70 degrees to ~ degrees
south and longitude 1853 degrees east ThiS
is the land discovered by the Sir James
Ross expedition on which are the two tow
ering volcanoes Mount Erebus and Mount
Terror. From this point the expedition Will
begin observations for the austral mag
netic pole Those who have given AhtaIc-
tic explorations much Sclenunc STUDY nave
declared that a single vessel cannot safely
venture upon explorations in the Antarctlc
circle for if a serious accident should oc-
chr there would be very little chance that
a soul would escape. lce-lmprlSoneu Oh
shipwrecked explorers there could nave
little hope of retreatng safely to inhabited
lands, as Arctic travellers nave done LOT
the nearest places where human beings can
be found are at Terra del Fuego ana rat
asronfa on the Magellan straits shores. NO
man ever wintered on the Antarctlc cohu-
uent and no uuadruped like the bear and
the wolf and the musk OK OF the Arctlc,
live in this frigid zone
MYSTERIOUS SOUTHERN POLE.
Almost everybody has heard something
concerning the north pole, however vague
may be the impression produced by the
term. No one has ever seen the north pole,
and the latest data from there are by Nam
sen, who maintains that the pole is stu
ated in region of perpetual ice. But how
many know even as much as this concern
ing the south pole? No one will dispute
that there is a south pole, the extreme end
of the axis of the earth a point having the
maximum of south latitude. the very OPP
posite of the north pole, but having the
same existing conditions except that those
which would be observed in December at
the north pole would be observed in June
at the south pole. The midnight sun OF
July at the north would take place in the
Antarctic in January. The old geographerS
had a notion that in order to balance the
continents of the northern ATTITUDES there
should likewise be continents in the Ant
arctic; hence, occasional voyages have been
made in the hope of discovering stretches
of land, and voyages have also been made
for observation other than determining the
terrestrial poIe-i e., to study the mag
netic pole, where it is, when 1t changes,
why it changes and the variation OF
1t was about three hundred years ago
that Juan Fernandez discovered what is
claimed to be New zealand, DuL lndl
is fully three thousand miles from the pole.
Other expeditions of corresponding charac-
ter followed at intervals, but the first to
penetrate within or southwark of the Ant
arctic circle with an avowed purpose of
fathoming it's mysteries was the renowned
Captain Cook Then followed Weddell Bris-
coe and others, the former reaching the
latitude "a degrees, which was further
south than any of his predecessors and less
than thousand miles from the south pole ,e,
the command of Lieut.. Charles Wilkes, Of
the navy, in 1887. The ships Vincennes and
Peacock were placed at his dlSposal, with
instructions to push far south as pos
sible and look out for new lands" The
Porpoise, Sea Gull and the Flying Fish
later Joined in the expedition, and during
four years much ocean was explored for
the first time, but there We're very few val
liable results. The Sea Gull met with dis
aster somewhere and was never more heard
Of Lieutenant Wilkes claimed TO have dis
covered an Antarctic continent but it
proved to be Adele Land, which had been
discovered and plotted a little while be-
fore by DUrville's expedition. This latter
expedition was organized about the same
time as that of Wilkes, Louis Philippe, in
1897 dispatching Admiral Dumont D urville
with the corvettes Astrolabe and Zelce
During a series of three years of voyaging
many islands were discovered, including
Louis Philippe's Land and Adele Land
(named after D'Urville's wife)
EXPEDITION OF SIR JOHN ROSS.
Next came the memorable expedition of
Sir John Ross, an expedition not so much
TO discover new lanQS as 10 OBTAIN luIOr-
nation concerning the south magnetic pole
a matter which the British Association for
the Advancement of Science considered
more important than continental discov-
cry The appeal made to the British
government in 1888, but it was not until the
following year that the Erebus and Terror
under command of Sir John Ross, with
Lieutenant Crozier second in command
sailed from England equipped and provi-
stoned for a four years cruise in region
of the world knowledge of which was, as
it Is to-day, in large part limited almost
wholly to the imagination.
The Ross party first sighted large, COM
pact fcebergs in latitude 69 degrees south
and 4 degrees, or 240 miles, south of that
II found itself on the edge of the pack a
vast field of hummock ice extending over
an unknown number of miles. This was in
the midsummer of the southern hemisphere
and yet the members of the expedition We're
supplied with extra heavy clothing 20 keep
their bodies warm. Preparations were
made for dashing through the foe ice and
hummocks at points where the more solid
pack could be avoided, and the following
is an extract from the log made by Ross
himself of his observations at that time:
"In the evening a remarkable appearance
OF land was reported During several hours
a number of pointed hills, apparently COW
cred with snow were seen assuming an
-