Evening star., 1950-01-06
French Expedition to Put
Base on AdeIieIund Coast
Gutter Now En- Route to 'Enclave'
With Its Apex at South Pole
Bv Thomas r, Henry


A French expedition once more is smash
ing into the Antarctic Oceans 600-mile ice
pack to plant a semipermanent occupation
force on the coast of Adelieland, south of
Australia.
For more than one hundred years France
has laid claim to this wedge-shaped "en-
clave' with its apex at the South Pole, but
until now 1t has been impossible to occupy
the territory in any way, or even to get
ship there except by the rarest luck
Last year the cutter La Perouse, in COM
mand OF former Washington minister
Rev. Paul Riopel, up to the war pastor Of
the French congregation which worshiped
at st. Johns Episcopal Church-was forced
back by crushing ice after penetrating the
pack only short way. This year with i'm
proved equipment, Comdr. Riopel, who left
his pulpit at the outbreak of the war to take
up his reserve commission in the French
navy Is more confident Of success.
Permanent Camp Planned.
The plan, If Adelieland can be reached, Is
70 set up permanent camp during this
Antarctic summer and to leave small party
there during the winter night. This group
would be relieved next January.
The French claim to the territory rests
on It's discovery in 1910. During January
OF that year two major exploring expeditions
were In far southern waters-the American
expeoltlon IN command of Capt. Charles
Wilkes and French ships commanded bv
capt. Dumont D'Urville. They sighted the
Antarctic Continent almost simultaneously
IN tne same general area. Credit for dis
covery of the worlds seventh continent
usually is attributed to Wilkes with a priority
OF about twenty-four hours.
The claim has been disputed and ,Inheld
Both Wilkes and D'Urville may have been
mistaken because Of the tendency to mistake
mrageS Tor coastline. The French captain
named q strip of the coast after his wife
Ihey both were killed In the first great
european railroad accident shortly after his
return to France. He remains one of the
most glamorous figures in the history ~
Antarctic exploration.
Inus Frances sentimental attachment tn
Aoelleland is strong but, so far as recorded
no FTench ship has been in the neighborhood
since l840. The remarkable voyages of DR.
Jean Charcot in the Pourquoi Pas were far
to the eastward.
Reoccupied Kerguelen,
On his way Comdr. Riopel has reoccupied
for France the strange island of Kerguelen
Land on the northern edge of the Antarctic,
almost exactly halfway between Cape Horn
and Australia This island containing about
fourteen hundred square miles. was first dis
covered by the Breton nobleman, Yves de
herguelen, In li1Z, ana named South France.
1t formally was annexed by France in 1898.
On the Courbet Peninsula Comdr. Riopel
has set up permanent station, Fort AUX
France. It is expected that this will serve
as stopping place and refueling station for
South Africa-Australia flights.
Before the war France maintained a
colony OF about forty persons there. The
function of the establishment was to afford
haven for shipwrecked sailors in the South
ern Indian Ocean. A distinction of the island
Is one Of the finest harbors in the world,
Royal Sound on the southern coast. It
consists Of a labyrinth of mountain.
shadowed fjords in which navy could hide.
Royal Sound represented the southernmost
extension Of the last war. It was allegedly
used by the Germans as hiding place for
prizes captured in the Southern Indian and
Pacific Oceans and there have been slgges-
tions that the possible salvage there would
be rich indeed. None of Comdr. Riopel.s
dispatches however, mention having visited
the harbor.
The land itself consists OF rugged noun.
talns interspersed with deep valleys. Tho
lower slopes of the mountains are covered
with dense vegetation, the chief element
OF which is the Kerguelen cabbage. Iarps
and edible member Of the cabbage family