BOW OF THE “ROOSEVELT” IN ICE
Impressive in its massive sturdiness and evident power
LAUNCHING THE “ROOSEVELT”
Bucksport, Maine, March 23, 1905. Very appropriate that the baptism of the ship should be in ice-filled water
The second, an observation station at the pole, might be an adjunct of the first, an overland party from the head of Weddell Sea establishing and provisioning the station. The traverse of such a party from the head of Weddell Sea to the south pole would, with the journeys of Amundsen, Scott, and Shackleton from McMurdo Sound on the opposite side, give a complete cross section of the antarctic continent.
The natural conditions in the antarctic region, that is, a continuous permanent surface from year to year, as compared with the north polar ocean, which may become intersected with lanes of open water at any time as the result of a storm—makes it possible for a party equipped like my north-pole party, to establish and maintain a regular route and system of transporting supplies right through the antarctic night. Or a few aëroplanes, working from a base at the head of Weddell Sea, could in a few weeks of the antarctic summer provision such a station for a year, as British planes in the Mesopotamia campaign carried supplies to Kut-el-amara.
Such a station, by making simultaneous observations with other existing stations, ought to add greatly to our meteorological and magnetic knowledge. If at the same time a similar station at Cape Columbia, the most northerly easily accessible point of land in the arctic regions, should be established, and take synchronous observations, the value of all would be still further increased.
The Cape Columbia station like the one at the south pole could be established and provisioned by aëroplanes in a few weeks from Whale Sound less than 400 miles distant and easily accessible every summer. With two such stations at the extremities of the globe observing simultaneously with selected stations in the inhabited portions of the world, there would certainly result a broader knowledge of meteorological, magnetic, and other natural conditions. The proposition has the approval of distinguished scientists, and will undoubtedly be eventually put in execution.