Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-06-03
CAPT. AMUNDSEN
READY To SAIL
FOR NORTH POLE
His Exploration Ship, Maud,
Is Crammed With Equip
ment and Supplies; Ready
to Cast Off Today.

Seattle, WASH, june wy tnS
Associated Press) Captain Road
Amundsens exploration ship,
Maud, crammed to the last inch
Of her cargo holds with equip
ment and supplies, is ready to set
sail tomorrow on the first lap or
the long voyage through the ice
fIoes about the north pole, Cap
tain Amundsen said today.
Two airplanes, to be used IN
meteorological and typographical
investigations in the uncharted
polar basin, We're loaded aboard
the vessel captain Amundsen will
not sail with the Maud, but will
ioin his ship at Nome. Alaska,
leaving Seattle Sunday on the
steamer Victoria.
Deck Load of Lumber.
A deck load OF lumber forms
an important item in the Maud's
cargo, The explorer explained
that after the ship is frozen into
the Arctic ice pack--with which
he expects to drift past the north
pole--living quarters for the dogs
of the expedition and huts for
scientific observations will be con-
structed on the ice. The ship, by
means of lumber, will be con-
vcrted into "house" where, for
the next five or more years the
vessel will drift and the crew will
live.
The University of Washington
women students arc planning to
contribute their share to the
ships supplies Saturday. Just be-
fore sailing time. For days the
explorers feminine admirers at
the university have been engaged
in making candy for members Of
the expedition. Candy, it seems.
is an essential in the navigation of
the Arctic wastes, and Capatin
Amuudsen gratefully has accepted
the gifts.
As Captain Amundsen drifts
slowly across the cherries ex-
pansc Of the polar basin from
which no white man ever emerged
alive, he will search the white
waste about him for signs of the
phantom fleet'-the frozen COM
pany Of lost ships that the Eski-
Illus NlIllll 6Nlu6O dlOulh tHC
north pole year in and year out,
gripped in the memorable clutch
of the great ice floes.
Scouting over a wide area on
each side of the auxiliary powered
schooner Maud, the famous ex-
plorer will have an extraordinary
opportunity to investigate the re-
ports of the eerie fleet brought
out from the farthest reaches Of
the north by the natives.
Whether the fleet is legendary or
really exists is one of the problems
that has haunted the minds of
Arctic explorers for many years.
While Captain Amundsen's expe-
dition is primarily scientific in its
scope and purpose, any clue to the
existence of the phantom fleet will
be investigated, members of the
party declared.
Vessels Have Disappeared.
Vessels h ave disappeared
strangely In the UNEMPLOYED polar
basin since the beginning of Arctic
navigation. In one swoop the hun
cry ice pack in 1876 carried off
I'M Wiiallilb SlllIo ilOlil thV
waters north of the American con-
tinent. Most of the men fled to the
ice and escaped to Point Barrow
and other points on the Arctic
coast. but seventy refused to de-
sert the ships. The slow but cease
less movement Of the ice carried
them into the mysterious unchart-
cd north region that comprises one
million square miles.
Eskimes who have escaped from
the ice pack after being carried
into unknown wastes have return
ed with stories of ghostly ships,
frozen in the ice. white frost and
manned by frozen crews,
Old time Arctic navisators al
ways have placed a certain amount
of credence in the reports. They
hold that once within the nav Of
the ice pack the ships would rest
secure in their foundation and that
from then on the chief destruction
would be wrought by the great
Wizards that swept the Arctic
seas.