101 



" Deutschland ") was commanded by Capt. R. Vahsel, who had accompanied the 

 " Gauss " expedition, and there was a scientific staff of eleven, including Dr. Heim as 

 geologist, Dn W. Brunnecke (oceanographer) and Dr. Barkow (meteorologist). 



An Australasian expedition is also in the field, under the leadership of Dr. D. Maw- 

 son. Its chief support was obtained in Australia and New Zealand, the commonwealth 

 and state governments in the former country having together contributed 22,000. A 

 British Treasury grant of 2,000 was received. The vessel (the " Aurora "), under the 

 command of Capt. J. K. Davis, left London on July 27, 1911, and Hobart in Tasmania 

 for the south on December 2. A wireless telegraphic station was established at 

 Macquarie Island, which was expected to be of service in obtaining the longitude of the 

 principal base of operations in the Antarctic. On January 19, 1912 a party was landed 

 in the previously unknown Commonwealth Bay, at the western extremity of Adelie 

 Land. It had been intended also to put a party ashore on Knox Land. This was 

 impossible, and the ship suffered some damage from the pack ice in the attempt to carry 

 out the plan. But a party with provision for winter quarters was put on the barrier ice 

 in 66i8' S., 94s8' E., and the " Aurora " returned to Hobart on March n. The 

 landing parties were fully furnished for scientific work, and the Prince of Monaco pro- 

 vided an oceanographical equipment on board the " Aurora." 



A Japanese expedition under Lieut. N. Shirase started from Wellington, New Zea- 

 land, on February n, 1911, with the South Pole as its object. Judged by European 

 standards, it was poorly equipped, and it returned later in the year unsuccessful. 



Other projects for Antarctic work have been discussed. Dr. W. S. Bruce has pro- 

 posed to cross the Antarctic land-mass from a base in Weddell Sea, meeting another 

 party working from Ross Sea. Dr. A. Forbes Mackay, who accompanied Sir E. 

 Shackleton's expedition, has made plans for the exploration of the coasts between 

 Graham Land and King Edward VII Land with a small party. A scheme has also 

 been under the consideration of the Peary Arctic Club and the National Geographic 

 Society of Washington, for an attempt to reach the Pole from a base on the opposite 

 side of the Antarctic region to Scott's base. Dr. H. F. Osborn has suggested that the 

 American Department of Labor and Commerce should send an expedition to study the 

 habitat of the southern fur-seal and to make other zoological observations, and Mr. 

 E. S. Baich has proposed the further investigation of Wilkes Land and the verification 

 of Wilkes' discoveries. 



Arctic. 1 -An American expedition was organised to explore Crocker Land, the nor- 

 thernmost land known, which Was sighted by Peary in 1906 to the north of Grant Land. 

 The expedition was to be led by Professor D.. B. MacMillan and George Borup, who 

 both took part in Peary's expedition of 1909. But Borup was drowned in a canoe 

 accident in Long Island Sound in April 1912. He was educated at Yale University, 

 had studied in the American Museum of Natural History at New York, had worked 

 with the United States Geological Survey, and was also a trained astronomical observer 

 and expert photographer. It was decided to proceed with the Crocker Land expedi- 

 tion, as a memorial to Borup. Under the Department of Naval Service of Canada, 

 among other hydrographical investigations, a voyage to Hudson Bay was carried out in 

 1910 for the study of the conditions of navigation, with particular consideration for the 

 possibility of establishing a trans- Atlantic route from a port on the west coast of Hudson 

 Bay. Port Churchill and Port Nelson on this coast, both of which have been spoken of 

 as possible sites for a harbour and the terminus of a railway from the west, providing a 

 new route of export for Canadian grain, were investigated by this expedition, and Port 

 Churchill appeared to offer better prospects. Captain Bernier, a Canadian voyager, 

 attempted but failed in 1910-11 to make the north-west passage by way of Melville 

 Island, but he carried out some valuable survey work, especially on the hitherto unknown 

 coast of Baffin Land between Cape 'Kater and Fury and Hecla Strait. Mr. Stefans- 

 son's expedition returned in September 1912 from four years' work on the Arctic shores 



1 See E. B. xxi, 938 et seq. Sir F. Nansen's "In the Mists: Arctic Exploration in Early 

 Times" (London, 1911), is a comprehensive history of early Arctic exploration. 



