Evening star., 1926-04-25
POLAR CONTINENT
INDICATIONS SEEN
Ellsworth Outlines Results to
Be Gained From Work
of Explorers.
BY LINCOLN ELLSWORTH.


from Spitzenbergen out over the
Polar Sea is now a matter of history
but history does not record the feel
incs of the six men who. after drift
ing about in the ice for % days. re-
turned to solid land again subdued.
saddened and perhaps humbled by
the experience. We had learned our
inconsequence, our inSignificance in
the presence OF the great elements.
But man is. after all an emotional
animal: he is easily brought to his
knees. One would naturally think
that after an experience such as we
had had we should be satisfied. But
no, Beyond the dread Of the great
waste with all it's danger, there is
a glamor, a fascination about this
silent, white realm-strikingly beau
tiful in it's elemental simplicity-that
draws men on. Nature is, after all.
an acquired taste, and as Van Dyke
says. "One begins by admiring a Hud-
son River landscape and ends by low
ing the desolation of the Sahara.
The Vast Unknown.
SO our work is not yet finished. To
the northward still lies the Great
Unexplored" True. we have wiped
out 10000 square miles of il, up to
the very pole itself-t1nding only
deep polar sea-on the European side
But between the pole and Alaska
there still lie 100000 square miles
of unexplored region-a territory al
most double the size of Alaska. or of
that of the United States east of the
MiSsippi River: and there are ind
cations that within that area there is
land.
The flood tides should reach the
Alaskan coast from the north if this
million square miles were but a deep
unobstructed basin. The times and
ranges of the semi-daily tide from the
Greenland coast to the Alaska coast
are also an indication that there is
land in the Polar Sea. Another indi-
cation is the great age of the ice
found in the Beaufort Sea.
Spitzbergen, ever since its discovery
in 1896, has been a favored starting
point for North Pole expeditions. The
northern coast line, although lying in
so degrees north latitude, which is
only 10 degrees, or 500 miles, from
the pole, is washed by an arm of the
Gulf Stream. Thus the waters are
Ice free for the greater part Of the
year and the islands are easily ac-
cesSible to ships from the outside.
But off shore some 80 or more miles.
depending on the prevailing winds
drifts the great polar pack" which
has ever been the barrier to those who
aspire to reach the North Pole by
using ships and dogs as means of
transport.
PerilOus Ice Barrier.
This frozen surface of the Arctic
Ocean, some fifteen hundred miles in
diameter, breaks up Completely every
Summer. the great fields of ice drift
ing under the influence of wind and
tide to an eventual exit into the North
Atlantic. At any time of year. how
ever, a storm may rift the ice surface
with cracks and lanes of open water
and throw up great ridges OF Ice
blocks by the pressure of the moving
ice fields, so that no place on the
frozen surface, as Peary says, can
he counted upon to be in the same
locality a month later.
Yet man with his ideals is forever
pushing onward and upward into the
unknown, seeking to find where no
man has ever found before.
After Parry's journey in 1927 north
ward from SpitZbergen to latitude 81
degrees As minutes, 66 years elapsed
before A further north was recorded,
although many expeditions made the
attempt. Nansen, in 1898. entered the
ice with his ship, the Farm. off the
New siberian 1SldnuS, anu dtteI uA u
ing for two Winters toward the pole,
marched over the ice with one COM
panion to latitude 86 degrees IA min
utes north, the Farm meanwhile
reaching S5 degrees 81 minutes to the
north of Spitzbergen.
1t remained for Cagni of the Duke
of the AbruZZi's expedition five years
later to be the most successful of all
those who had tried to reach high lati-
tudes on the European side of the
pole. Leaving his second supporting
party at latitude SO degrees 10 min
utes, Cagni pushed northward with
three compa MONS, determined, if he
could not attain the pole, at least to
outdistance his predecessor, Nansen.
He reached latitude Sc degrees 81
minutes, where, on account of failing
food supplies, he was forced to turn
back While the northward journey
had required As days, it took the party
so days to return. for the ice was
breaking up with the advancing Sum
mer, and the westward drift of the
pack threatened to carry them past
Franz Josefsland, their base, before
they could sight it.
SpitZbergen to Alaska.
As early as 1895 schemes for ex-
ploring the Arctic by balloon and air
ship were seriously entertained. Ihe
illfated Andree expedition in 1897
and that of Wellman in 1903. both of
which started from Spitzbergen. are
well remembered. But, with the de.
velopment OF aircraft during the great
war, a new era dawned for Arctic ex.
ploration.
In our proposed transpolar fight in
1926 we plan to fly from Spitzbergen
across the pole and right over the
great blind spot" in the Polar Sea to
Point Barrow, Alaska. The total fly
ing distance is 800 nautical miles, 60C
10 the pole and 1900 from the pole to
Alaska.
For this flight, instead Of using air
planes, as in our first attempt, we
have purchased from the Italian gov
ernment the Nj, a semi-rigid dirigible
airship about half the size of the
Shenandoah, and rechristened her the
Norge.
She was designed by Lieut.. Col. No
bile Of the Italian air service and
made her maiden flight on March
1924, over Rome. From tip to tip the
Norge measures 347 feet inches. Her
gas capacity is $4,000 cubic feet. The
Shenandoah was $40 feet long. with q
gas capacity of 2140, 900 cubic feet.
Using hydrogen, the Norge has a
gross lifting power of 22.9 tons. The
t*%z**%*@Skk&**-.*****A>A>* !. = !.