Evening star., 1926-05-09
B> STEPHEN LEACOCk.

1T appears likely that next sum
mer there will be a regular mi
grafton TO the North Pole. capt.
Roald Amundsen is going; Lin
coin Ellsworth is going; two cap
tatns Of the United States Air Service
are starting out from Detroit; Capt.
Bernier, the great Canadian explorer
will go: Vi1hjalmar Stefansson IS IN
it, and so, | believe, is Henry ford.
There are others whose names can
even think Of.
Good old DR.. Frederick Cook Wrifes
enthusiastically from his penitentlar!
and makes an offer. II they VIII leave
the door open, to start for the Norm
Pole and never come back.
Counting in my own expedition,
have calculated that there will be over
hundred Of us strung ont toward
the North Pole next July.
My own interest in polar eXplora-
ton is OF long standing. [ followed
Nansen step by step 80 years ago. !
have been-as an indomitable reader
with Nordensk jold and Peary and
Scott and ShaCkleton. From the depth
of my armchair I have Travelled over
thousands of miles Of snow and ice.
The colder It is. the better ] like II.
But this time | propose to go IN
{ person, lie ITOSIcSS Va oIAoiNC ~
rapidly bringing polar exploration
within the reach of the masses. ana
after reading OF SO many voyages.
marches and flights toward the Pole
believe that | know how TO organize
and carry through a polar expedition
/ upon lines absolutely up to date and
with a practical certainty OF success.
! In the coming Summer some of the
! explorers will hop off from Spitzber-
| gen; others will hop from Trondhjen1,
| Norway, which looks an admirable
place TO get away from. In short, by
the middle of June they will be hop.
ping in all directions.
But my own polar expedition is TO
have as its center of organizati00 ana
its hopping-off place the Mount Royal
Hotel, in Montreal. This will be what
we explorers call the base Here.
at the base, all the necessary supplies
will be gathered; stores Of food and
drink will be accumulated. In fact,
they are there now. Here our instru-
ments-our sextants, quadrants. hy-
drants. etc--will be set up and prop.
erly coagulated with one another.
shall expect to accumulate so
many supplies at the Mount Royal
as to be compelled to leave half Of
them behind-an essential feature of
good polar organization. To the hotel
also will be sent all presents given to
us by the makers OF cocoa, patent
food, patent stores, patent leather,
and so on. In fact. articles of this
sort may be sent there now at any
time.
To the hotel also will be forwarded
our balloon, so that il we wish We can
take it with us. It is an open ques-
ton in polar work whether to take
ones balloon to the Pole itself, or to
abandon it half way. On the other
hand, it has been suggested that II
our balloon were packed up tight
, we might manage to put it into one
Of our trunks and check it as ordi-
nary baggage.
The whole question OF the equip.
ment for myself and my three COM
panions will have to be worked out
later in detail. AS long as we have
enough equipment SO as to throw
away half Of it. we shall be all right.
Meanwhile the uncertainty as to who
my companions are to be renders de-
lay in detail almost necessary.
The qualifications for polar work.
[ need hardly remind my readers, are
! of no mean order. l must not only
endeavor to find men Of the highest
! courage, but / must have at least
| one of them able to drive a Ford car,
and another who can work fractions.
| After assembling at our base"
early in June, the next few days Wlii
be spent in earnest discussion OF the
route to be followed. need hardly
! say that we do not contemplate
mere sensational dash to the Pole.
In modern expeditions, the question
of reaching the Pole. or even or get
| ting near to it, is entirely suoordl-
mated To scientific work and observa-
| tions of temperature. wind. ocean
depths, and so on.
I'VE shall there begin at once tax.
| ing observations at the Mount Royal
/ Hotel, so as TO know exactly how
hight it is, and how long 1t is. and
where it is. Careful observations OF
this sort are the only prevention es
diSa