Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1909-03-26
SOUTH POLE
IS DISCOVERED
LONDON HEARS THAT ERNEST H.
SHACKLETON HAS REACHED
COVETED SPOT.
HIS GREAT PREDECESSORS.
Cook, Ross and Bellinghausen Also Made
Valuable. Explorations in Desc
late Region.
HOW EXPEDITION WAS FITTED OUT

LONDON, March 23.-Information has
reached London, according to the Pail
Mall Gazette, that the Antarctic expedi-
ton under Lieut.. Ernest H. Shackleton
If the British army, which left England
n July, 1907, reached the south pole.
SHACKLETON IS SILENT.
The secretary of the Royal Geographi-
cal society said today that he had no in
formation as to Lieut.. Shackleton's sue
cess, but this does not disprove the
statement as it is known that Lieut.
Shackleton contracted to furnish the
first news regarding his explorations to
London newspapers.
1t is considered significant here that
Lieut.. Shackleton when he came ashore
at Invercargill New Zealand, refused all
information regarding the details of his
exploration. He at once went to the
cable office and dispatched a message.
He looked the picture of health and in
timated that all his comrades were well.
MAY HAVE FAILED.
A cablegram was received this after
loon, direct from Lieut.. Shackelton, who
earlier in the day was reported as having
reached the south pole. The contents
IT this message have not yet been given
put, but it has been decided by a high
authority that the explorer failed of sue
cess. The expedition was obliged to re-
TURN when within about 100 miles of the
pole, SO 1t is said.
Lieut.. Shackleton left Cowes, England,
on the whaler Nimrod on August 3, 1907
pound for the south pole. On the eve of
the departure King Edward and Queen
Alexandra visited Lieut.. Shackleton and
the King presented him with the Vic
torian order. The King also gave the
naval officer the union jack expressing
the hope that he would plant it at the
pole.
On January 1, 1908 the Nimrod sailed
New Zealand. This was the last heard
IF Lieut.. Shackleton's expedition until
the following March 6, when the MIN.
rod returned to Dunedin, New Zealand,
with several of her crew sick. The MINI
rod reported that it had left Lieut..
Shackleton camped near the foot Of
Mount Erebus with stores and equip
ment enough to last three years. The
captain of the whaler had made arrange
ments with Lieut.. Shackleton to return
IN January, 1910, and pick up the eXpe-
litiOn, during which time Lieut. Shackle-
ION expressed the firm belief that he
would be able to locate the much sought
for pole.
The London dispatch indicates that
he succeeded far beyond his expectations
having reached his destination and re-
turned to his base of supplies almost ten
months before he had expected to.
III TTcED AJTTNMnpII FS
The details of Lieut.. Shackleton's
world-beating trip of discovery are I'M
known, but the great preparations that
were made by him previous to his de
parture augured we'll for the success OF
the trip. Previous expeditions into the
Antartic regions had determined that
the ice in the neighbOrhOod of the pole
was a solid mass and was stable enough
for the use of automobiles. Several spe-
cially constructed cars were carried by
the Shackleton expedition in addition to
the dogs and ponies used on previous
trips. Shackleton's was the first eXpedl-
ten to make use of the automobile and
TO this modern vehicle no doubt belongs
a big share of the credit for reaching the
long sought for goal.
The search for the south pole has been
spasmodic with long intervals of inatten-
ton. The name highest in the annals OF
James Cook who on January II, 1918,
was the first to cross the Antartlc circle.
On January 80 of the same year Cooks
shin was blocked in the ice at II degrees
10 minutes south. the highest latitude
reached in the Eighteenth century.
Almost fifty years elapsed before Cook
was followed by Bellinghausen. There
were twenty years between the work OF
Bellinghausen and that of D'Urvllle,
Wilkes and Ross, and ffty-four years
before these were followed by the Bel
gian expedition.
reached latitude of Is degrees min
utes and discovered an island that was
named for Sir John Franklin. Ross re-
seasons in the south and it was not I'M
til 1S43 that he returned to civilization.
SCOTS GREAT TRIP.
The next great attempt to penetrate
the Antarctic regions was made In l9Ol
and 1902 when no less than four Euro
pean expeditions were fitted UP to. look
for the south pole. Of these four expedi-
lions that of Capt. Scott in the British
shin Discovery achieved the most bril-
liant results Capt. Scott observed land
eastward of Ross sea and named it after
King Edward. His ship went into WIN
ter quarters near the volcanoes Erebus
and Terror Wnlcn ccoII uioSoNCtCu ~ ~
on an island. With dogs and siedges ne
beat Ross 'farthest south" record by
about go geographical miles and turned
northward from a point in latitude OF
S2:17. Scott made his famous sledge
Journey over low ice. cliff which
runs east and west in latitude IS. lie
found that this frozen mass did not rep
resent land, but stationary mass re-
sembIing a glacier. 1t was through his
exploration that the possibilities of the
use of the automobile in the southern
regions was suggested.
Lieut. Shackleton approached the Ross
500 bv way of the Indian ocean
and it is presumed that he followed the
coast of Victoria land pretty closely aft
err he temporarily abandonded his ships
and resorted to other means of transpor-
tatinn in his dash for the pole.
To Double Track Siberian Road