Evening star., 1949-08-24
Stars, Men and Atoms
Six Nations Out to Claim
Anturctico This Winter
Permanent Settlements to Be Set Up
On Fringes on Continent
By Thomas X. Henry

By Thomas r. Henry
Six nations will be stalking their claims
this winter to the earth's seventh continent.
Great Britain, France, Norway, Australia.
Chile and Argentina will be engaged in set
ting up permanent settlements on the fringes
of the six million square miles, buried for
ever under mile thick blanket Of ice, which
surrounds the South Pole.
The United States, however, Is making
no territorial claims but has been con-
cerned purely with scientific exploration,
testing Of equipment and training Of men
in polar conditions.
Each Of the countries which makes terri
torial claims is following an almost identical
plan. Parties of volunteers will be landed
on the ice cap during the next six months
in the 24-hour daylight Of the Antarctic
summer. They will establish base camps,
abundantly supplied for year, where they
will remain during the six terrible months
Of perpetual winter. They will be relieved
by new groups Of volunteers from their home
lands as soon as ships can penetrate the
ice during the next Southern summer. It is
proposed to continue this rotation for an
indefinite number of years in order to sup.
port claims that the occupations are per.
manent
Three-Nation Venture.
The most pretentious new expedition will
be joint venture of Great Britain, Nor
way and Sweden. It is proposed to set up
land camp on the Weddell Sea side Of
the continent south Of Africa and make
both air and ground explorations as far as
possible into the Antarctics great unknown.
Veterans of Antarctic occupation are the
British. Essentially all Of North Antarctica,
the great, mountainous, ice-covered PENN.
sula which projects northward to within
about 200 miles Of Cape Horn, is claimed by
the Colonial Office as part Of the Falkland
Islands dependencies. This Is the region
marked on British maps as Graham Land
and on American maps as the Palmer Pen.
insula. The claims to discovery are debat-
able on both sides. The territorial claim
is considered so we'll established that special
Graham Land postage stamps, overprints Of
Falkland Islands issues, are used on all mail
from the base.
France is expected to enter the picture
for the first time this winter. On December
20, 1910, Admiral Jules Dumont D'Urville,
commander Of two-ship exploring expedi-
ton, sighted through break in the ever
lasting fog an ice-ramparted shore almost
directly south Of Australia. He kept this
coast in sight for approximately $50 miles,
claimed all the territory from sea to pole
for the French Republic, and named it Adele
Land, after his wife. Just the day before
the American explorer. Capt. Charles Wilkes.
had sighted what appeared to be land more
than 500 miles to the eastward. There has
been futile debate ever since over whether
Wilkes or DUrville can be considered the
discoverer Of the main land mass Of the
Antarctic Continent.
French Plan Expedition.
A French expedition planned to occupy .
base on the coast last winter The plan Is
expected to be carried out this winter.
About 500 miles to the westward Australia
is setting up the same kind Of base on the
coast of Enderby Land.
Claims of Chile and Argentina fall into .
quite different category. Both squat squarely
on the Falkland Islands dependencies. Chile
Is establishing three bases on the northern
and western coasts of Graham Land.
The United States, with rather vague
claims to original discovery but very good
claims based on air exploration and map
ping, has consistently refused to maintain
any territorial rights or recognize those OF
any other nation.
II American claims ever are asserted, per.
haps the most valid would be for o very
considerable territory whose coastline ex-
tends from Marguerite Bay, at the base OF
the Palmer Peninsula, to the Ross Sea. This
remains about the only completely orphan
land on earth. Nobody ever has landed on
its shores American flyers have mapped
much of its coastline, but there still arc
long stretches Of which nothing Is known.
It would slightly overlap New zealands Ross
Dependency which includes the mountainous
areas on both sides Of the Ross Sea.
All this territory is included in the region
which Admiral Byrd has called Marie Byrd
Land"
There is little prospect, however, Of any
change in the traditional American attitude.