Evening star., 1937-04-26
ELLSWORTH PLANS
NEW POLAR FLIGHT
Arranges 1888 Expedition
on Opposite Side of
AntarCtiCa.
Special Dispatch to The Star.


dream of a lifetime when he flew
across the Antarctic continent from
the Wedell Sea to the Bay Of Whales
in the Ross Sea in December, 1885, has
set himself new goal-a flight as
long and perilouS across the opposite
side of Antarctica, where the last
great unexplored area of the earth
lies.
Mr.. Ellsworth said he began dream
ing of this new flight on the way back
from his last expedition. He has been
working on it ever since, and though
a thousand things remain to be set
tied between now and the end of the
chapter, I have gone this far in my
plans as of today:
Taking no unpredictables into ac
count, the expedition will approach
the barrier at Enderby Land in No
vember, 1888, take off during the lull
in the winds that blow almost cease
lessly there, draw bead on the Bay
of Whales, $500 miles away, and
shoot for it Except for the first mile
of the flight and the last few, we will
be over completely unknown areas
and the land ought to be rich in geo.
graphic, geologic and economic sur
prises"
Personnel Undecided.
Mr. Ellsworth's planning has not
included the personnel of the eXpedi-
ton yet, but he has sent the Wyatt
carp, supply ship of his other expedi-
tions, to its home port in Norway to
be refitted and refurbished. 1t is in
drydock there now and will return to
New York to pick up the plane to be
used on the expedition. Mr.. Ellsworth
donated the one he used on his previ-
Gus flight to the Smithsonian Insti-
tuition and will purchase new one
here. From New York the Wyatt carp
will sail for CapetoWn, South Africa
where Mr. Ellsworth will join it. Then
Enderby Land and the Unknown.
Mr.. Ellsworth pointed out that the
continent of Antarctica was first
touched at Enderby Land in 1881 by
Capt John Biscoe, R. NJ. who was
sent to that region by the London
whaling and sealing firm of Enderby
Bros.
Since that time" he said, "the
whole line has been explored, but no
one has ever been more than a mile
inland. There might be mountains
there, high plateau-well, anything
at ALL
1T is a much worse region than
the Wedell Sea, climatically, and
therefore the present flight will be
even more speculative than the last
one. The pack ice there is denser,
more tenacious, the winds more savage.
But I think a flight can be made. I
wouldn't be thinking of it at all if
! didn't think it could be done"
Will Fill in Blank.
The practical accomplishments Of
the new expedition will not be as
great as those of the last one, when
Mr.. Ellsworth added 100000 square
miles to United States territory. "Au
we will be doing now is filling in a
blank and theoretical space on the
map with facts. The land, though
never explored, has been claimed
by Australia by virtue Of coastal dis
coveries."
Mr.. Ellsworth was asked if he re-
garded a blank space on the map as
such a major irritant that it was
worth risking his life to remove.
Now" he replied, you have opened
up the whole subject of the why of
Antarctic exploration. Fundamental
", suppose, I go down there because
that's the way I am, the way I live
and want to live, because that's my
career
But the Antarctic is land, and
land, wherever it is, is valuable.
People seem to think that, because
it's ice-capped, it's worth nothing and
besides there are troubles enough to
occupy us on the habitable part of
the globe. But isn't that exactly the
way people felt when the Western
Hemisphere was being opened by ex-
plorers? North America was tree
covered, an unknown, a wilderness,
valueless, and Europe had troubles
enough of its own. So the richest
prize in the history of civilization lay,
first ignored, then spurned for almost
$50 years and maybe more before
Europe fumbled it's way to a dim
realization of what explorers had laid
in its lap.
Land Worth Having.
II don't know that Antartica will
ever become earth's next new world
But know that it's land are worth
having, rich land, and thus doubly
worth having. Only pin-pricks have
been made at its surface and already
huge, thick coal deposits have been
discovered, lead, tin, copper. Who
knows what isn't there and who knows
what the next SO or 100 or 200 years
will bring in the way of inventions to
make Antarctica's resource easily ac-
cessible and in the way of shortage
OF our own resources to make Ant
arctica's desirable?
once, and not so long ago as
biologists reckon time, Antarctica was
tropical land, sunlit storehouse
of the earth'S treasure. I found fos-
sils there OF sequoia wood, pecked and
holed by insect life, and fossils of
crayflsh, lobster, clans and oysters.
Disaster came to it overnight-How
don't know-but those animals I
found had all died suddenly. They
had been fat little beasts and they
died fat and not of starvation. Maybe,
by some coincidence, they all died OF
overeating.
But one thing is certain, and that
Is uncertainty. The blight that was
laid upon Antarctica may remain for
ever, but the chances are just as good
that it will not. Who cal say that
the day will not return when Ant
arctica will once more become tropi-
cal and the continert-nearly a.
large as North America-will emerge
as the hope of the world?"
Mr.. Ellsworths discovery of the
area known as James w. Ellsworth
Land and Rear Admiral Richard E