Semi-weekly herald., 1913-04-24
WILL DRIFT OVER NORTH
POLE WITH ICE FLOES
United Press

Shtcd icSS
WASHINGTON, April 23.-In June,
1914, Captain Ooald Amundsen, dis
coverer OF the south pole, will leave
San Francisco in his good ship Fran
on one of the most daring expedi-
tions man has ever tempted the fates
by taking. In an effort to piece the
thousands of miles of frozen wastes
that lie across the north pole from
American to European waters, he will
deliberately let his vessel be frozen
in the floes in the northern Bering
straits, to drift across the north pole
into the European arctic regions, and
then southwark until he reaches eli
mate that will melt him loose from
his icy prison.
For four years-until 1918+the in
trepid unraveller of the secrets of the
far south and north expects to be ice
bound, isolated from the rest of the
world by the impossible floes that
have their birth in the land of per-
petual cold. And all that will connect
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 outfit, high
upon the mast of the Fran, that day
after day will send out its brief log
of progress. Whalers, prowling
through the ice jetted waters, tramps
daring swift venture into the north,
may pick up the messages from the
air. On this slim chance does Amund-
sen hope to keep his whereabouts be-
fore the world.
The exact route of the ice floes
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 carry
ing their heritage of winter as ice
bergs.
That this plan of drifting across the
arctic sea is possibility has been
proved by the wrecking of the ill
fated Jeanette. This vessel sailed
from San Francisco in 1879 1t was
crushed and sunk in the midst of the
arctic ice in 1881, some of the wreck
age being frozen near the surface.
The 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. An
other test of polar currents was made
about ten years ago by the late Ad-
miral Melville and Henry G. Bryant
of Philadelphia, who constructed
about fifty very strong casks which
were designed to withstand the ter
rife strain of the ice. These casks
were numbered and dropped over
Loard at various points in the Arctic
ocean north of 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
ard proved herself a magnificent ice
boa. with Nansen in the arctic as long
ago as 1893 and as recently as 1911
with Amundsen in the antarctic. Dur
ing the course of the expedition, Cap
tain Amundsen will have practically
the same equipment and personnel
that he had with him on his voyage to
the south pole, including the redoubt-
ahle I.indstrom-the cook of the south
polar party-who is the only man who
has sailed completely around the
American continents.
The expedition, if successful, VIII
h. of immense value from scientific
standpoint for there are more than
million square miles Of the arctic al
vet unexplored and it is quite certain
that the vexed question Of the "pola'
continent" will be finally settled BY 1t