The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1913-07-16
EXPEDITION LEAVES New YORss
TO SEEK CROCKER LAND
DISCOVERED BY PEARY
With an Equipment Never Before Ex-
celled, Including Wireless, McMil-
Ian Expedition Leaves New York
With Gay Hearts-Several Depar-
lures in Way Of Equipment. 49,

Never, it is believed, did an Arctic
expedition leave port with as careful
ly chosen and complete equipment as
the party, off1cial'7 known as the
Crocker Land Expedition, which set
out from Brooklyn Navy Yard on
board the British steam whaler
Diana last Wednesday week.
Donald B. Mcmillan, the leader Of
the expedition, has been connected
with many scientific and exploring
parties, and in selecting his outfit he
had the benefit of the advice and aid
of such men as Anthony Fiala, Sir
Ernest Shackleton and Rear Admiral
Robert E. Peary.
The sledges Of the party are OF an
entirely new pattern, invented by Dr..
Mcmillan himself. While weighing
sixty-nine pounds-afty pounds less
than those with which Peary reached
the Pole-experts pronounce them
marvels of strength and durability.
Each sledge is fitted with a double
set of runners. On hard going they
will run on the narrow steel; as the
surface Of the snow becomes softer
and the sledge sinks in it Is taken up
on the second and wider runners; in
deep snow the whole bottom OF the
sledge forms runner.
DR.. Mcmillan also intends to feed
ais men on a new plan. Hitherto the
staple food for exploring parties in
the Arctic has been pemmican, with
hard biscuit, and either tea or choco-
late. Peary depended on tea, but
Shackleton and Scott used chocolate.
DR.. McMillan's party will be fed
during their dash across the Ice with
whole wheat biscuit, Of which the
party is carrying several thousand
pounds, and chocolate thickened with
ground peanuts-also an idea org
inal with the present expedition.
The wireless outfit which the Diana
carries to be set up ct the winter
quarters of the party in Kane Basin,
is a. two-kilowatt apparatus, furnish
ed by the government, and Is expect
ed to keep the party in constant
touch with civilization through the
Canadian government station at Cape
Wolstenholme.
]. L. Allen an expert electrician,
is the wireless operator Of the exped1-
ton. It will be not only the first
time that an expedition Of this kind
has employed wireless to commune
cate with home, but the first time
that wireless communication has ever
been attempted from a point so far
north. where the aurora borealis pre-
walls.
When Peary returned from the
Pole in 1908 he reported that on his
way north, in the fall Of 1906, Wnen
far to the north of Greenland and IN
the midst of what had always been
supposed to be ice-covered ocean, he
saw one morning lofty mountain
peaks on the horizon to the eastward.
He was unable to change his course
to approach nearer and explore the
mysterious land, which he named
Crocker Land. His announcement
caused a sensation in scientific cir
cles and plans were at once begun for
an expedition to locate and chart tae
new territory and hoist the Stars and
Stripes over 1t. ,
George Borup, who was with
Peary, was to have been the leader
but was drowned in the Sound. Dr.
Edmund o. Hovey Of the American
Museum of Natural History revived
the project and selected DR.. Mcmillan
az leader.