THE FUTURE OF POLAR EXPLORATION

The efforts and successes of the last fifteen years in the Antarctic regions ought to, and I hope will, spur us as individuals, as societies, and as a nation to do all in our power to enable the United States to take its proper part and share in the great work yet to be done in that field. There are three ways in which this country could make up for its past lethargy in regard to Antarctic work, and take front rank at once in this attractive field.

One is to establish a station at the South Pole for a year’s continuous observations in various fields of scientific investigation. With the practical experience in methods of travel and transportation now at the command of the United States as the result of our last twenty-five years of North Polar work, this would not be so difficult as it may seem to the layman.

Copyright, 1913, by William H. Rau

THE THREE POLAR STARS

A photograph of Captain Roald Amundsen, Sir Ernest H. Shackleton, and Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary, taken at Philadelphia, January 16, 1913.

Another is to inaugurate and carry out, in a special ship, with a corps of experts, through a period of several seasons, a complete and systematic survey and study of the entire circumference of the Antarctic continent with its adjacent oceans, with up to date equipment and methods. This plan would probably be the most attractive to scientists, as it would secure a large harvest of new and valuable material to enrich our museums and keep our specialists busy for years. It would also be the most expensive.

The third would be the thorough explo­ra­tion of the Weddell Sea region southeast of Cape Horn, which is specially within our sphere of interest, together with a sledge traverse from the most southern part of that sea to the South Pole. Such a traverse, with the journeys of Amundsen, Scott, and Shackleton from the opposite side, would give a complete transverse section across the Antarctic continent.

This last would promise the largest measure of broad results in the shortest time, and least expense, and would probably be the most attractive to geographers.

The successful accomplishment of any one of these ventures would put the United States in the front rank of Antarctic achievements.

SUPPLEMENTARY READING—“Nearest the Pole” and “The North Pole,” Peary; “On the Polar Star,” Duke of the Abruzzi; “The Heart of the Antarctic,” Shackleton; “Farthest North,” Fridtjof Nansen; “The Uttermost South—the Undying Story of Captain Scott,” Everybody’s Magazine, July, August, September, and October, 1913.