Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-07-26
On to the Arctics!

- EXPLORATION of the earth's surface
r has been a fascinating pursuit since
the first coracle was launched on seas
long since dried to deserts 1t would seem,
after all these centuries, after all the tides
OF migration that have flowed up and down
the continents, after pioneer on pioneer has
blazed through trackless jungles the path
which men and machi- cry and great cities
followed, it would seem, with all the wander
lust and restles1-ess that have sent men
seeking everywhere that there would be
little left on the globe for mar to discover.
Yet the tropic wilderness of Africa and
South America and the frigid Businesses that
belt the polls still defy human efforts to-
penetrate their secrets. Expedition after eX-
petition has been sent against their barriers
in varying degrees of success And now the
poles again are to be called upon to with
stand the onslaughts of explorers who would
rip from them the last knowledoe of his
earth withheld from man.
This year witnesses the launching of two
OF the most important polar expeditions
undertaken since the war. One of these al
ready has started for the north, the second
shortly will set sail for the Antarctic.
The first is under command of Donald B..
Macmillan, Pearys chief lieutenant OF the
commodores successful dash for the North
Pole in 1909, and veteran of eight Arctic
voyages. Macmillan and ST adventurous
followers sailed from Maine port on July
16. Their goal is Baffin Land, the vast
island southwest Of Greenland, whose fifteen
hundred miles of western coaStline are as
much a mystery today as they were when
William Baffln, the British navigator, an
nounced his discovery more than three hun
dred years ago.
MacMillan's principal object on this trip
is to map Blffin Land, and possibly to cir
cumnavigate the frozen island, but Othe-
romantic possibilities loom ahead for him
and his companions. They will attempt to
penetrate to the interior, where the Esklmos
tell tales of one of the richest and most allur-
ing fields of research in the entire Arctic.
They hint at huge mineral deposits high
mountains and beautiful lakes never seen
by white men, at vast breeding grounds of
strange water fowl, 1t other mysteries pro-
vocative of Zoo-.gical, botanical, geological
and meteorological exploration.
Vile Macmillan and his men are forging
northward, thee will depart from England
for the south Sir Ernest Shackleton, the
famous Antarctic Explorer, on mission
equally as zestful as MacMillan's. The core
of their adventure is the exploration of what
is known as the Enderby Quadrant of the
Antarctic Area.
The late SIR Clements Markham ex-
plains the London Times, "hit upon the
happy expedient of dividing; the polar cap Of
the southern hemisphere into the four quad
rants defined bv the meridian O.. Greenwich
and its continuation of $50 degrees crossed
by the meridians of 80 degrees East and
West. To these he gave appropriate names,
and the most appropriate is that of the
Enderby Quadrant, between the meridian of
Greenwich and 90 degrees East, though for
eign purists prefer to call it the African
Quadrant, as it lies to the south Of that con-
t. ent. It so happens that the two adjoin-
ing quadrants well known; in the Victo-
rian Cor Australian) Quadrant, to the east
Amundsen and Scott reached the Pole itself
the latter following. in the footsteps Of
Shackleton, whu had come within 100 miles
of the goal some years earlier while in the
Weddell Cor American) Quadrant, on the
west, Bruce Fletcher and Shackleton haC
traced new land to nearly rs degrees south
Between these two Quadrants that of Ender-
by interposes a sector of unprobed possibili
ties, for no vessel has yet succeeded in get
ting as far as the 10th parallel within it,
The Enderby Quadrant for the most par
has been passed by when great south-polal
expeditions were undertaken 1t takes it
name from the small sealing vessels sen
out in the last century by Enderby Brothers
firm of romantic ship-oWners who seemed
to prefer geographical discovery to financia
gain. One of their SHIPPERS John Biscoe
effected complete circumnavigation close
to the Antarctic Circle in lS30-31, says the
Times, his 200ton brig, he TuIa, fightin
for months against furious billiards. in al
effort to penetrate still further southwark
Another of Enderby's vessels the Kemp
made the most southerly passage yet accom-
by Quadrant reporting lands on the Ant
arctic circle which no one has reached since
To explore the Enderby Quadrant ia
deeper than any of these early sailing yes
sells is the ambition of Sir Ernest Shackleton
perhaps to reach the Pole itself through thi
unknown -.rea.
No one who reads of these attempts bu
must be struck, and thrilled as we'll, by tn
fact that MacMillan's boat and Shackleton'
vessel are but little larger than the slips il
which the earliest polar adventures were at
tempted. MacMillan's party has set sail i
a tiny 115-ton schooner, the Bowdo.n, of tn
Gloucester fishing-smack, knockabout type
sheathed with ironWood to protect it agains
the grinding of the ice floes. Shackleto
and his men Ill make their 3O,000-mil
cruise to the "outh in the Quest, a vesse
Of only go tons.
Their small size, hoWevel, coupled wit
their great strength, will give them specia
advantages In working their way throug
the pack around the poles and they Wi
have other vast advantages in modern ma
chinery and other equipment which may Wi
for their masters laurels such as never wen