400 APPENDIX IV 



MR. ALEXANDER'S REPORT. 



Captain Roald Amundsen, 



At your request I shall here give briefly the result of my 

 examination of the observations from your South Pole Expedition. 

 My calculations are based on the longitude for Framheim given to 

 me by Lieutenant Prestrud, 163° 37' W. of Greenwich. He 

 describes this longitude as provisional, but only to such an extent 

 that the final result cannot differ appreciably from it. My own 

 results may also be somewhat modified on a final treatment of tlie 

 material. But these modifications, again, will only be immaterial, 

 and, in any case, will not affect the result of the investigations 

 given below as to the position of the two Polar stations. 



At the first Polar station, on December 15, 1911, eighteen 

 altitudes of the sun were taken in all with each of the expedition's 

 sextants. The latitude calculated from these altitudes is, on an 

 average of both sextants, very near 89° 54', with a mean error 

 of ±2'. The longitude calculated from the altitudes is about 

 7*^ (105°) E.; but, as might be expected in this high latitude, the 

 aberrations are very considerable. We may, however, assume with 

 great certainty that this station lies between lat, 89° 52' and 

 89° 56' S., and between long. 90° and 120° E. 



The variation of the compass at the first Polar station was 

 determined by a series of bearings of the sun. This gives us the 

 absolute direction of the last day's line of route. The length 

 of this line was measured as five and a half geographical miles. 

 With the help of this we are able to construct for Polheim a field 

 of the same form and extent as that within which the first Polar 

 station must lie. 



At Polheim, during a period of twenty-four hours (December 

 16-17), observations were taken every hour with one of the sextants. 

 The observations show an upper culmination altitude of 23 19*2', 

 and a resulting lower culmination altitude of 23° 17'4'. These 



