The Wilmington morning star., 1947-02-04
THE SOUTH POLE MEN
l. Early Antarctic Explorers

EDITORS NOTE: This is the
first in a series OF articles about
Antarctic explorers. The next arti-
Gle will appear soon.)
Antarctica, as we call the CONT
nent in the region Of the South
Pole, lies entirely under ice. The
site of the South Pole is from a
thousand to two thousand feet deep
beneath this frigid mail. And OF the
IA 600 miles of continental coast,
only 1000 lilies are free from ice.
which il places forms enormous
unbroken cliffs, hundreds Of feet
high. Amid this scene of eternal
cold, great mountains throw up
their heads. Some of them are
active volcanoes, living furnaces
covered with ice and snow.
Antarctica is a land mass as big
as Europe and Australia put to-
gether. Though a considerable
portion o: it is yet untrod by man,
several cams of coal have been
found, proving the existence of lux
urious forests and blazing sunshine
in ages long ago.
We may some day draw coal for
heat from this land OF fearful frost
and paralyzing blizzard. In fact,
the reason which urged the early
commercial pioneers into the seas
that wash these shores was the
need for heat and light. VIZ had
no gas then; oil was the source OF
light, and seals and whales we're
the source of oil. So it was South
ward no! that men went, on dread
full voyages, Of hardship sickness
and peril.
The search for the South Pole is
not traced into the dim distant cen.
turtles. Indeed, it was not until 1878
that the Antarctic Circle was eros
sed. Captain James Cook, sent out
by the British Admiralty, was the
man who crossed the line and be-
came famous. Following in Cooks
tracks, Fabian Won Bellingshausen
was sent out by Alexander l of
Russia to explore the Antarctic
Seas. He. too, crossed the Circle.
But it was the whalers and
sealers who more and more pieced
together knowledge of h e
Far South. They added genuine ex-
ploration to the hard and hazardous
chase of oil-charged sea animals.
Such men were John Biscoe and
James Weddell, typical whaling
captains, who reached the Antarc-
tic in their tough little cockle-shell
ships. Then there we're men like
the Enderby brothers, whose name
lives on the map.
Captain Won Belling shausen, who
led a Russian expedition to the An
tarctic from 1919 to 1921 got as
tar as 70 degrees South Latitude,
where he discovered and named
Peter I Island and Alexander l
Land. Weddell reached beyond IA
degrees South Latitude and dis.
covered the great bay which now
bears his name. Riscoe named En-
derby Land and found Graham
Land, Adelaide Island and Biscoe
Islands.
Then came the French naval Of
ficer, D'Uryille with his three
years voyage; and close on his
heels followed the American.
Charles Wilkes. and the English
man, Sir James Clark Ross. The
three expeditions, French, Amerj-
can and English, were in progress
at the same time crossing each
others tracks. Charles Wilkes sur
veyed. as far as possible. the coast
Of Wilkes Land, which has
a nothern limit beyond the Ant
arctic Circle.
A greater figure of his time was
Ross. The British Admiralty sent
him in 1889 to discover. the South
Magnetic Pole. In the course Of the
greatest cruise then accomplished.
ne enormously advanced our
knowledge.
With. his two little ships, the
Efebris and the Terror. he battled
with foes and herss, with unknown
tides and desperate winds. He sail.
ed straight for the Magnetic Pole
till land stopped him at what we
now call Cape Adare. The Ross Sea
marks n of his discoveries. Ross
sufvev.ed a great stretch of Inc
rNmr"'s o. the land. the f. n,,,,s
c@t lce F~rr'es. He fo,nd ~,
tfsmed South Victori. - "'i'
'"en' 4nen' after thrilling ad-