Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1913-04-30
AMUNDSEN TO DRIFT
THROUGH ICE FLOES
South Polar DiscOverer Plans Expedi-
ton To Pierce Northern Wastes.
NORWEGIAN EXPLORER
WILL VISIT DEBORAH SOON.
One Year After Coming Here Will
Expedition to Arctic Regions.

In June 1914, just one year after
his visit to his countrymen in the city
of Decorah, Captain Roald Amund-
sen, discoverer of the south pole, will
leave San Francisco in his good ship
Fran on one of the most daring ex-
peditions man has ever tempted the
fates by taking. In an effort to
pierce the thousands of miles of fro
pole from American to European wa
ters, Amundsen will deliberately let
his vessel be frozen in the foes in
the northern Bering straits, to drift
across the north pole into the Euro,
pean Arctic regions, and then south
ward until he reaches a climate that
will melt him loose from his icy pris-
on.
For four years-until 191S-the
the far south and north expects to be
ice bound, isolated from the rest of
the world by the impossible foes that
} have their birth in the land of per-
petual cold. And all that will con-
meet him with the civilized world that
he will have left behind him, the
world that has showered him with
great honors for the daring things
he has done, will be a wireless out
ioh hn nf hn q
that day after day will send out its
brief log of progress. Whalers, PROV
ling through the ice jetted waters,
tramps daring a swift venture into
the north, may pick up the message
from the air. On this slim chance
does Amundsen hope to keep his
whereabouts before the world.
The exact route of the ice foes
which sweep across the Arctic is be-
lieved to be along the coasts of Can
ada and Alaska to the Asiatic coast.
There the great "ice continents" dis
integrate to sweep southwark car
rying their heritage of winter as ice
bergs.
That this plan of daring to cross the
Arctic sea is a possibility has been
proved by the wrecking of the ill
fated Jeanette. This vessel sailed
from San Francisco in 1879. 1t was
rushed and sunk in the midst of the
Arctic ice in 1881, some of the
wreckage being frozen near the sur
face. Portions of the ship were
carried by the Polar drift past or
across the north pole, through the
Greenland sea and the Denmark
strait and on down the east coast Of
Greenland. Another test of polar
currents was made about ten years
ago by the late Admiral Melville and
Henry G. Bryant, of Philadelphia,
who constructed about fifty very
strong casks which were designated
to withstand the terrific pressure OF
the ice. These casks were number
ed and dropped overheard at various
points in the Arctic ocean north of the
Bering sea. Two of them have since
been recovered on European shores,
one having been picked up on the
coast of Iceland and the other on the
northern coast of Norway.
No vessel in the world is better
constructed or better equipped for
such work than the Fran. She was
built to withstand great ice pressure
and proved herself a magnificent ice
boat with Nansen in the Arctic as
long ago as 1898 and as recently as
1913 with Amundsen in the Antarc-
tic. During the course of the expedi-
tion Captain Amundsen will have
practically the same equipment and
personnel that he had with him on
his voyage to the south pole, includ-
ing the redoubtable Lindstrom-the
cook of the south polar party-who
is the only man who has sailed COM
pletely around the American conti-
nents.
The expedition, If successful, will
be Of immense value from scientific
standpoint for there are more than
"a million square miles of the Arctic
as yet unexploed and it is quite cer-
tain that the vexed question of the
polar continent" will be finally set
tied by 1t.
With the exception of that veteran
of the north-Admiral Robert e..
Perry-there is no one living better
equipped for work of this character
than Captain Amundsen. From 1897
mate of the "Belgica," the ship Of the
de Gerlache expedition which brought