New-York tribune., 1912-03-08

Australian. with a flying machine as a part
of his equipment. was making ready to set
forth at the end of the year.
There had been a prospect Of an Ameri
can entry Fired by Pearys achievement
in the north. two years before, American
enthusiasts were planning to back Captain
Bartlett, companion of the Arctic hero, in
dash to place the stars and Stripes over
the South Pole. This expedition proposed
10 take the route adopted by the Germans.
The movement however, failed to take
definite form.
Four of the expeditions the Norwegian,
the English. the Australian and the jar
anese-attacked the pole over the same
general route. that is. from the Australian
side. forcing their way into Ross Sea,
thence through McMurdo Sound and along
the edge of Victoria Land in a direction
, almost due south
The German plan, however, was to send
a vessel with provisions toward the oppo-
site side of the pole over the route fol
lowed by Lieutenant Shackleton and form
depot al the halfway point to Shackle-
toms winter quarters. The regular expedi-
tion was to start later from Weddell Land,
on the opposite side Of the pole. and make
dash across in an endeavor to reach the
| depot.
Anundsen's Life of Adventure.
Roald Amundsen is nov thirty nine wears
old. a graduate Of the University Of Chris
tiana and a student of medicine. He Is
tall spare man, with rusty red beard,
aauiline features and keen. kindly blue
eyes-a typical Scandinavian sailor. He
had studied medicine only two years when
ancestral inclination toward the sea proved
too strong and he abandoned his original
profession for a life Of adventure. Three
years. from 1903 IN 1905 he spent in little
sloop the Gjoa. with four men, hghting
his Wey through the Northwest Passage.
He was the first TO succeed in this at
tempt. which had cost scores of ships and
hundreds of men since the days OF the
Cabots He lost only one man.
This last venture, originally intended 10
be confined to the Arctic. was likely 10
OCCUPY about six years After his change
Of plans he headed for the Bay Of Whales
in the Antarctic, where SCOTS men found
him.
In the dash for the South Pole Amundsen
Scott Just when Captain Amundsen began
his race for the pole is not known. He had
with him eight men, 11s dogs and com
plete equipment According to mail advices
from, Amundsen, he hoped TO reach the pole
by way Of Beardmore Glacier. Captain
Amundsen was TO have been picked up by
his ship some time in February of his year
on his return from the Journey across the
ice.
Much interest had been aroused as 10
Who would first be able to communicate TO
the world the first news as to the results
of his Antarctic expedition-Amundsen or
CAPTAIN Scott. The former man had
longer return journey than Scott but the
latter explorer was compelled to make
stop TO pick up a party.
CaptaIn Amundsen had with him the
Fran. the most remarkable polar ship ever
constructed She Is the vessel which Or;
Fridtjoi Nansen used IN ms WOnuearHai S,ena
miles in the Arctic Ocean, from 1898 10
1886 when the vessel itself. after being
frozen solidy into the ice, drifted approx
mately three thousand miles with the Ice
piIing against her all the while. She came
out unscathed. and two years later was
taken by Captain Otto Sverdrup on four
years, cruise in chaIune 'ne d pItraEene nnTt
of Eliesmere Land and King Oscar Land,
in the Arctic.
The Fran has hull from. 90 to 70 inches
thick and is as stout as block OF wood.
She is only l25 feet long and II feet from
deck To keel and her heavy beams criss-
cross until the inside OF her hull looks Ike
forest She is so sound that she ran
be driven into an ice foe with such force
that the impact will send her rebounding
ore hundred feet and not 40 much as make
her groan She can Withstand pressure as
can no other polar vessel