The Sentinel=record., 1914-04-22
AUSTRIA PARTY
 ON EXPLORING TRIP
WILL COMPETE WITH BRITISH EXPEDITION IN EXPLORATION
 OF ANTARCTIC SEAS.
Considerable Friction Exists Between the Parties, but the Austrans Will leave for South First.

Vienna, Austria, April 2l.-Plans of the Austrian Antarctic expedition to be led by Dr. Felix Koenig have not been changed in any particular on account of the controversy with the British explorer, Sir Ernest Shack teton, as to which of them is entitled to priority in the attempt to explore the Weddell Sea region of the Ant arctic. Both have selected the We'd dell Sea as their starting point. Neither is inclined to give way, but. at any rate, the Austrian will start first.
 Dr. Koenig, with about 90 men, is expected to start from Trieste about the beginning of July. The party should arrive at their base of opera tions in the Weddell Sea in January next and they expect to spend at least two years in that region. The total cost of the expedition will amount to about s150,000 most of which has been already subscribed.
 The expedition will sail from Fri este in the "Oesterreich," formerly the Deutschland" the ship used by the last German Antarctic expedition under Filchner in 191112. They will reach Buenos Ayres in about two months, carefully avoiding a too long soiourn in the tropics on account of the 150 EsQuimaux dogs which will be taken. Some two weeks later they will arrive in South Georgia and remain there several weeks, making arran gments for establishing a large coal depot and also for keeping in wireless communication with the out side world via South America during their stay in the Antarctic ice.
 Under the most favorable condi- tions the expedition cannot leave South Georgia before the beginning of December as the Weddell Sea is not free from ice before then. It is hoped that with skillful navigation and ordinarily good luck the "Oester- reich" will reach open water in the south before the end of January. Ar irving there, the next task will be to select suitable permanent quarters as starting point for the sledge jour neys inland.
 The main object and scope of the expedition is the exploration of the | hitherto entirely unknown Antarctic regions in the Weddell Sea and for this purpose three separate sledge expeditions have been projected.
 The first of these will proceed south, following the apparently pre- cipitous slope in that direction, en- deavoring to discover it's trend as well as it's eventual connection with the Queen Maud range of mountains, first seen by Amundsen. It. is hoped l that another result of this journey will be to ascertain the surface con- ditions of the ice barrier discovered by the Filchner expedition in the highest districts of the Weddell Sea and also to determine how far south | this ice barrier really extends.
 The second sledge expedition will go towards Graham Land with the object of discovering the character of the ice barrier and it's extension 10 the west This party will attempt to push through to the west Antarctic and if possible strike the southerly continuation of Graham land.
 The third sledge party will travel east southeast to investigate the ex- tension of the island ice and it's ele- vations in Enderby quadrant.
 It is just possible that the explorers may accomplish their work within two years. but, in case they should fail supplies are being taken for a stay of three years.
 Dr. Koenig, the director of the eX- petition, is a tall strongly built man in the prime of his life and physical condition. He was born at Gratz in Syria. thirty-three years ago, and studied in the university there, talk ing the degree of Ph. D. After leav- ing college he travelled extensively in the mountainous parts of Central and Southern Europe gaining valuable knowledge of the ice fields and gla- ciers. In 1910 he went to Greenland to secure dogs for the Filchner Ant arctic expedition which he accompa- ned as an ice expert. It was the experience gained on this expedition that led him to organize the present Austrian undertaking. He will act as director and the party will be under the actual command of an officer of the AustrO4Hungarian navy There will be two other ships officers.
 The scientific members of the eXpe- dition include two zoologists, me teorologist, a geologist, taxidemlst, and a photographer. The crew in clude a Norwegian ice pilot. four sledge experts, carpenter. and six teen sailors. Of the latter two are Norwegians, four Germans and ten Austrians. Three of them went with the Filchner expedition.
 Only two of the whole party are married. The youngest member, a sailor, is 19 and the oldest the lee