Evening star., 1922-01-22


for the task in the whole world. He
Is foremost scientist Of Norway,
Sverdrup. And he is q wonder. He
will have general charge of all our
scientific work. O
II have limited, now, think, at the
main details of our oceanographic and
meteorological plans. Tho next i'm
portant field Of study will be that OF
the earth's magnetism. Sverdrup At
the present moment is in Washington
with Prof. Bauer OF the Carnegie In
stitute. working out the most COM
plete equipment in this line that ever
has been got together. 1t will in
clude instruments especially devised
for this particular expedition.
Il know very little Of this subject
and will not talk about it learnedly.
But everybody knows. in these days.
that knowledge of the distribution
and direction of those magnetic cur
rents which pass around the earth and
over is essential to the progress OF
that higher scientific knowledge
which humanity in these days is de-
-veloping SO rapidly.
uTHIS expedition will make useful
contributions to Investigations
in these fields. In our geographical
work our two airplanes will give us
vast advantages which none, before US
has possessed up in those regions. l
have already said that we shall use
them in map-making on both sides
Of our route.
"Well. if we succeed in drifting
across the top Of the world. from the
western to the eastern ocean. we
shall have Of wide zone OF this en-
tirely unknown region maps a. care
full and as detailed IS any which were
made by either side Of enemy terrain
during the late war In good wealth
er. at high attitudes. working with
high-power glasses and telescope
Photographic lenses the range of OBJ
servation from ou- airplanes should
be very great.
For this airplane work as for work
from the ship and during surface ex-
plorations We shall use motion-pic-
ture cameras as we'll as others. Per-
haps we may take with us color-pho-
tographic equipment. also. although
there are few colors up there. don't
know much about such things. But
there will be members Of the party
who will know all there is to know
about them.
"It will be a fine ship which will
carry us. She has been built in Nor
way, especially for this trip. mostly
of the best oak that could be found.
She is named the Maud. is 120 feet
long, with a beam Of forty feet. and
differs from any other ship you ever
heard Of in that rer hull Is yard
thick of the best timbers in every
part below the upper ice line. That
is to make her capable Of resisting
ice pressure. and she will be able at
least to resist a greater pressure than
any other ship which ever went up
north. I do not say that there may
not be sufficient pressure to destroy
her, but think it most unlikely.
"She is built, you see. with her i'm
mensely strong huI' rounded. so that
ice pressure exerted from the sides
will tend to push her upward. lift her
till she sits upon the ice. in fact, In
stead of being crushed by 1t.
NO man can be absolutely sure that
this will happen in every ice emer-
sency which may confront US in the
Arctic. But we all hope 1t will. II
would be very disagreeable for US II
1t did not"
The Norwegian navigator laughed
rather solemnly.
will she be metal-sheated?" 1
asked.
mo; forgot to tell you that her
yard Of solid oak will be encased with
Ereenheart, the hardest wood obtain
able. 1t Is almost like iron in resist
ance, although for many other rea-
sons it is far better sthan any metal
could be. Our vessel is Of 800 regis
tered tons. Here IL the roster OF our
crew:
Leader and chief cook. myself:
master of the Maud. Oscar Visiting;
chief Of all scientific work. DR.. H. U.
Sverdrup. than whom there Is no
greater man alive for such a post; our
mate is Christian Hansen. an old arc
ticker; two engineers. S. Olonkin, q
Russian, and Chris Sybertson. Nor
wegian. They have been with mo
long.
tsrrHE two aviators to 90 with US
are X. NJ. Omda and v. N. Dahl.
They have had training in the Norwe-
gian air postal service. And must not
forget the native who will 60 with US.
He now is with the ship. His name
is Kakot and we found him In ST.
IBERIA. I know all these men. know
that they have strong. fine. depend
able bodies and souls both. They are
physically, mentally and psychologf-
cally to be relied upon. They are the
kind OF mon for Fuch q Job as that
which we are setting out to do. I have
chosen them with an elaborate care.
I'VE are not going to 60 hungry. We
shall be provisioned for seven years,
and literally. Not that we intend to
be away that long, but-well, work
ing as We shall work We shall need
three meals a day and good ones. I
expect my Job as cook will occupy
me quite sufficiently to keep me out
Of mischief. Everything that We are
taking is selected with especial care
and packed with scientific caution.
Every ounce Of food which we shall
take along with us will keep for all
of the seven years. OF course, you
say, we shall be living and therefore
storing it in an automatic iee.box.
Well, We shall take other prscau-
tions.
'.Every tin, for instance, IL painted
with q certain kind Of paint worked
out scientifically for this expedition.
Il makes each container alright and
r,lstproof. or this expedition all
the food has been put up in Norway.