The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1910-06-14
Leaves England on Wednes-
day for a Second Ant
arctic Expedition.
ROUTE THIS TIME
WELL MAPPED OUT
Improved Form of Motor Sledge
Tried In the Alps, to BE An
Important Factor.

LONDON, June A.-Tomorrow the |
good ship Terra Nova Of Captain Robert /
Falcon scott. r. N, c. V. o.. will leave
England for his second adventurous /
quest Of the South Pole. Captain Scott /
was the commander Of the Discovery !
expedition of 1901 and 1905. when he
reached a point situated in latitude 50
degrees, 16 minutes 80 second south; /
longitude CabouO 1873 degrees east. This
point was attained on December so, 1902. |
when the failure of the dog team" COM
PEELED the captain and his brave COM /
rades 20 retrace their steps TO head |
quarters.
When Captain Scott returned TO Eng |
land ne was promoted to the rank OF
captain in the Royal Navy, and the |
Royal Geographical Society presented |
him with its gold medal, attesting IN |
their report that "for his sledge journey |
alone, when he succeeded in getting |
nearly 800 miles further south than his |
predecessors, he deserves the honor.
As all the world knows. this brilliant
record was beaten on January 1909 at
8 a. m. when Lieutenant NOV SiTD Ernest
Shackleton, c. V. o., DR.. Marshall, Mr..
Adams and Mr.. Wild hOisted the Union
Jack in latitude IS degrees % minutes
south; longitude 162 degrees east or
about 400 miles still further south, and
within about 10 miles Of the South Pole
Ships Best Possible.
II is 10 get over that last stage Of 10
miles or so that Captain Scott and his
gallant crew will start. Their stout ship,
the Terra Nova, is now coaling at Car
diff Captain Scott describes her as
about as good a ship as they had-per-
haps the best for his purpose" She is
wooden vessel-a barQue-rigged whaling
boat, Of 7l9 tons burden-strongly built
to encounter Polar ice foes, and cost
originally $4,000, to which sum a con-
siderablee amount has been added, for
the building Of scientific laboratories.
The men of science who will accom-
pany the expedition are experts in BIZ
ology, physics, geology, and meteorolgy-
That last stage is a terrible thing TO
look forward TO. Just before Shackle-
ton reached his ''Farthest South, when
in latitude So degrees 81 minutes South
on December 81, 1908, he wrote:
I'VE have not vet reached the Level
plateau for slopes still lay ahead. and
our altitude was about 10000 feet we
had three weeks food on reduced ra-
ton. and were 1S6 miles from the Pole
The land had been left behind. and we
were travelling over a white expanse Of
snow, still with rising slopes ahead We
were weakening from the combined ef-
fects of short food. high altitude, and
heavy work
What Scott Said in 1909.
How like this is to what Captain Scott
wrote in December 30. 1892:
This camp. we have decided. must be
our last. for we have less than fort
nights provision to take us back to
Depot B. and. with the dogs in their
present state. II would be impossible TO
make forced marches; we have. there
fore. reached our sOutheTly limit OBJ
servations give 1t as between s. degrees
Is minutes and 50 degrees II minutes 5.
If this compares poorly with our hopes
and expectations on leaving the ship. IL
is a more favorable result than we an
ticipated when those hopes were first
blishted by the failure Of the dog team"
Every item In these memoranda IS
significant Those who have had any
experience in mountaineering know how
much more effort IL takes TO work Al a
great elevation, and they will realize
what an enormous exertion II means
TO make way over 100 miles OF ice and
snow, over rugged hills and gaping
crevasses, conveying food and neces-
Baries for men, ponies, and dogs anu
doing this in the face Of Polar billiards.,
in temperature from thirty or forty TO
possibly sixty degrees below zero.
Sir Ernest ShackletOn's party was
driven back mainly by insuffciency Of
food supplies. The problem Of reaching
the Pole is. in brief, the problem OF
food and transport Men ought 10 be
very generously feo who are TO work
at an elevation OF two miles above
aea-level in the coolest region on earth.
But the voyagers in the discovery with
Lieutenant Shacheton suffered, while
making their greatest efforts, from
actual privation- Captain Scott hopes
in the present expedition to provide
against this most trying ordeal
The Novel Motor Sledge
Transport Is a matter Of extreme ur-
genoy. Experience has shown that the
explorers must rely 10 a large extent
on ponies and dogs, and these must
be animals acclimatized TO extreme cold.
A member of the expedition, Mr.. Cecil
Meares, has beeen out in Eastern 81
knria, buying Mongol ponies and dogs
ire best he could obtain for the pur-
pose The ponies, it is said, are &C.
custOmed to the rankest grass, ana
stand the coolest temperature
novel and notwithstanding feature
an this expedition IS the employment OF
ar improved form Of motor-sledge. Sn
e ShackletOn tried the motors, but
while his experiences showed that the
machines could work at the lowest tenn
peratures, the wheels would not sup
port the sledges on the SOFT SHOWS ina
are met with over large part Of the
Captain Scott has, therefore. designed
special form of tractor, with very
broad wheels and other improvements
instead of the ordtaary car wheels
there are Rtted two chain wheels or
the power-driven rear axle. and these
drive an endless chain, which carry
pattens and studs that grip the snow
or ice. and by the motion Of the chair
rrge the tractor forward
This tractor will partly take the place
Of the dogs end ponies in hauling thu
loads.
Captain Scott has not been conten
merely to devise three tractors; he ha
had them tried experimentally- Twt
Years ago he made experiments Will
one In the Alps. and last year he pu
the invention to a severe test IN Nor
way. These trials have been highi!
satisfactory Petrol Will supply m
motor power, and each of the tire
siedges will have a capacity Of two ton
Lone ton for fuel and one FOR food
WOMAN'S CLUB CELEBRATES
The Nvomen's CLUB Of Kensington be
gins its twelfth wear TODAY The mem