Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-14

ing vessel will bring the little party
North when its work Is over.
Jeffrey a veteran of the last Shackle-
ton expedition to Antarctica. sails south
from New York in September, expecting
to return In May, He is chartering
ship.
Something more than spirit of adj
venture. more than a desire to give the
airnlane another strenuous workout Is
sending these pioneers into the most in
hospitable region on the globe. The
vast south polar continent, nearly as
large as the United States and the
mainland of Canada together, is the last
great geographical challenge to science.
Buried under a colossal ice-cap. it has
given only fragmentary interviews to
the geologist. meteorologist, Oceanog-
rapher, paleontologist, biologist and the
other biographers of the planet Earth.
Now. however, science is taking to the
air. and given good luck its representa-
tiVeS with the forthcoming expeditions
should see and learn more about the
Antarctic in few days than the men
of sledging days saw and learned IN
years.
The persistent efforts of explorers
since the time of the famous Capt
Cook have cleaned such scant informa-
ton about this frozen land that even to-
dav sections of its outline must be
drawn by guess Parts of the coast and
their immediate hinterlands have been
explored rather thoroughly and have
Welded valuable data, but the narrow
stretches of the far interior seen by
Amundsen. Scott and Shackleton are
the only recorded glimpses of the con-
tinents heart.
There Antarctica lies, surrounded and
covered by iCe-a huge white dome with
the South Pole near its center, percheG
on plateau nearly two miles high, end
the remainder of it's 100000 square
miles tapering to the Atlantic, Pacific
and Indian Oceans.
The ice-cap is believed to extend
down to the sea at nearly all points
1t terminates generally in towering,
unscalable ice cliffs. from which
break huge bergs, covering the ocean
with white mountains and closely
packed ice that hold ships at bay.
Parts of the coast are more accessible
than others and it is from two such
points that the three expeditions pur-
pose to operate A glance at the map
shows two great indentatons. or CULTS -
one, Ross Sea. opposite New Zealand:
the other, Weddell Sea, across from
South America.
The Byrd and wilkins parties pla1
to launch their aerial assaults on the
interior from Ross Sea. or rather from
the ice barrier that chokes more than
half Of that ocean arm II was from
this barrier that Amundsen and Scott
started on their trips to the pole. JEFF
ferry expects to attack from the shore
of Weddel Sea. and will therefore be
across the continent from the other two
leaders
The three zones of fight. as mapped
in advance, will hardly overlap. If at
all Byrd plans 10 fly eastward over
what is called King Edward VII Land .
| in addition, Of course. he will attempt
a flight to the South Pole, which
| Amundsen and Scott reached after
| laborious sledge journeys
Sir Hubert proposes an eastward
! fight along the unmapped unseen
coast between Ross Sea and Grahams
| Land. the western boundary Of Wedde,l
Sea. He does not contemplate hop
/ to the pole
/ JeTerv's effort will start from a base
on the west coast of Grahams Land.
He plans to do his exploring eastward
to Goats Land. which lies on the other
side of Weddell Sea. He may also try
a trip TO the pole and across the conti-
! nent to Ross Sea.