El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-02-07

British Explorer Adopts a
New Method to Explore
Great Ice Waste.
MUST CARRY HIS
OWN FOOD ON TRIP
Flowers Near North Pole;
Only Ice, Cold and Dangers
at the South Pole.

ONDON Eng. Feb. Sir Ernest
shackleton's coming trip across
IL the Antartic continent with the
south pole as a halfway station Is
nrobably the most daring journey ever
undertaken by man. It reminds one OF
the conqueror COrtez burning his ships
behind him. On previous expeditions
with the pole as a goal. the explorers
have laid a succession OF bases upon
which they could depend when return
ing Sir Ernest will push stralghL n
ward from sea to sea. not reasoning u
an on the possibility that an expeoluOn
may come a little way. to meet hln-
For several years sir Ernest neld ne
record of approaching closer 70 ne
south pole than any other man ne
feels keenIy the dimming OF British
fame by the exploits OF Anundsen ana
Peary- With no more po1es 20 coAo Si5-,
he might well sit down and weep. IKE
Alexander the Great But instead ne
has set himself this unique feat
Sir Ernest expects to go TO the pn1lea
States before leaving fOJ the south seas
It is probable that wealthy Americans
viii add considerably to the funds Of
his expedition
Two Years to Pay Debt.
He started on his last expedition
$780, in debt It took him two years
after his return to pay on this debt and
it was hard work too, TINS time ne
has resolved not to run into debt again.
He has $25O,000 guaranteed by friend
whose name he. has not made public
This sum ne viii make do, If necessary
but he will be able TO carry on scleI-
1flc work much more extensively " ne
can obtain a further sum OF SluOsOOu.
Sir Ernest has announced that ne VIII
experiment with aerOplane motors and
prOpellers for travel over the snow this
winter. his laboratories to be in Cana
da or Siberia He hopes to perfect this
novel substitute for the Eskimo dos
(which he viii also usel and the hardy
Besides aeropIanes. ShackIetOn Wit
take advantage Of wireless. the movies
prepared foods, and many others Of the
He believes he will have the most
perfectly planned expedition that ever
set out, and, as he has himself helped TO
been a member Of several. he ought to
know
To the layman il may be surprising
to learn that there are 100000 square
miles OF unknown territory on the con-
tinent Of Antarctica- This gives an
idea Of the possibilities OF discovery
open to sir Ernest. More than half his
journey is said to be laid along a new
route, and, If things go right almost all
Will traverse virgin fields. 1t is not
an Overstatement to call it the biggest
polar journey ever attempted
Briefly stated, it viii cross the dead
continent Of snow. mountain ranges.
volcanoes and frfghtfuI storms from the
side Of the eastern hemisphere
The main party VIII leave ciYiliZa-
ton at Buenos Ayres and reach it again
in Christchurch, or some other New
Zealand city.
The start viii be from Argentina IN
October Of this year. and. IL a EOoo
landing is made on the shore OF Wedden
sea by the beginning Of November, -
shore party viii proceed Immediately
across. In this case the expedition
should reach Ross sea on the other side.
by March. 1915.
If the shore party has hard luck, e
will content itself with laying 8 series
of caches and win then return to the
Weddeu seashore. starting out again a
year later.
Two Ships for Expedition.
The expedition win have two ships
The first, which carries ShackletOn to
the Antartic continent. win do work in
tracing the shore Of the continent to
west, and viii go back to South Amer.
lea before the close CT navigation, re-
turning the next year to take up q
party which will winter on the shore
of Weddeu sea and carry out scientific.
work in the sOcalled eddell0uad-.
rant" Long sledge journeys viii be
taken east and west Of the base by tins
party.
The second ship will approach the
continent from the other, or Ross sea,
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