122 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[June, 1901. 



■' Discovery," and is the first ship wliich has been 

 specially built in this country for such Polar work. She 

 has a displacement of 1500 tons, with engines of 

 450 h.p., and to suit her for a magnetic siu-vey, no 

 metals with magnetic properties were allowed in her 

 construction within a radius of 30 ft. from the magnetic 

 observatory, situated on the upper deck. 



The ship, of which we give an illustration, is expected 

 in the Thames about the end of May, and will lie in 

 the East India Docks to receive the -'supply of stores and 

 in&trunients. 



Whilst the expedition is planned for a couple of years 

 "-he will hf |)rovisioiird for liiree, should a pioloiigment 

 be necessary. 



Autarctic Sliip " Discovery" at Dundee (without masts). 



WlO(oi)/ rJJlJi by H. W. SkELTON, K.N. 



Personnel. 



The staff of the expedition is as follows: — Captain 

 R. r. Scott, K.N., is the commander. Lieutenant A. B. 

 Armitage, r.n.r., second in command, and navigating 

 officer (of the P. & O. Company). Lieutenants C. 

 Royds, R.N.. M. Baine, r.n., and E. H. Shackleton (of 

 the Union Castle Line Company). Mr. R. Skelton, r.n., 

 chief engineer. 



The scientific staff consists of Mr. T. V. 

 Hodgson, formerly of Plymouth Biological Laboratory, 

 biologist ; Dr. R. Koettlitz, of the Jackson-Hannsworth 

 Expedition, chief medical officer and botanist; Mr. 

 W. Shackleton, from the Solar Physics Observatory, 

 Royal College of Science, physicist and astronomer ; Dr! 

 E. H. Wilson, of St. George's Hospital, medical officer 

 for the landing party and zoologist, and a geologist 

 yet to be appointed. The three latter will, it 

 is intended, be put on shore with some half 

 dozen of the crew to fonn a land party. Mr. George 

 Murray, j-.r.s. (the editor of the Antarctic Manual), will 

 proceed with the ship as far as Melbourne ; and during 

 the voyage out he will give the officers the benefit of 

 his experience in sounding and dredging, as a prepara- 

 tion for similar work in the Antarctic area. 

 Other Expeditions. 

 Three otlior expeditions arc in contemplation, one of 



which, that from Germany, is of similar magnitude to 

 the British. The other two, one from Sweden, the other 

 from Scotland, are of smaller dimensions. 



The German ship, the " Gauss," has like features to 

 the " Discovei-y," and is being fitted out at Kiel. Her 

 programme will be carried out under the direction of 

 Professor Erik von Drygalski, who has already done 

 Polar work in his study of the Greenland glaciers. He 

 will be assisted by four other scientific men. 



The ship will be under the command of Captain Hans 

 Ruser, with Hcrr A. Stcho as engineer (both of the 

 Ham burg- American Line). 



The Swedish Expedition is led by Dr. Otto Norden- 

 skiold, of Upsala University. One naturally associates 

 his name with Baron Nordenskiold, and the discovery 

 of the N.E. passage in the voyage of the " Vega," and he 

 is indeed the nephew of that distinguished explorer, and 

 has himself been on expeditions to Greenland and Alaska. 

 His ship is the " Antarctic." and it is contemplated thj^t 

 in addition to Dr. Nordenskiold she will have six scien- 

 tific men on board, as well as the captain, officers, and 

 crew. It is intended that the voyage will be made ivV; 

 Terra del Fuego, and that the vicinity of the S. Shetlands 

 will form the arena of operations. 



The Scottish Expedition is to be under the leadership 

 of Mr. Wm. S. Bruce, who has already visited these 

 regions in the barque " Balaena." The plans of this 

 expedition are, however, not so far advanced as tho.se 

 above, but it is understood that Weddell sea will be 

 I its destination. 

 ' Programme of the Expeditions. 



Whilst the British and German ships form the prin- 

 cipal expeditions, the others will also support and act 

 ill hannony with them. Simultaneous observations will 

 be made of various phenomena on term days, wliich have 

 been decided upon by the committees. 



For magnetic work the Cape and Melbourne 

 will form the base stations for the ' Discovery," 

 and the Germans have decided to establish a similar 

 station at Kerguelen Island. The detailed in- 

 structions for the British expedition are yet to 

 be drawn up, but the general orders are in the main 

 those with which Sir James Ross sailed. He was 

 " to notice in the S. Atlantic the point where he crossed 

 the curve or line of least magnetic intensity ; to ascer- 

 tain the depth of the ocean whenever pi'acticable, and 

 the temperature and specific gravity of the water at 

 different distances below the surface ; the strength and 

 direction of currents and tides; periodical movement of 

 the barometer ; comparative brightness of stars ; re- 

 fraction ; and to swing pendulums in special localities 

 whereby to prove the figure of the earth. After refitting 

 at Van Diemen's Land he was to proceed direct to the 

 southward in order to determine the position of the 

 magnetic pole, and even to attain to it if possible, which 

 it is hoped will be one of the remarkable and creditable 

 results of the expedition, one calculated to engross the 

 attention of the scientific men of Europe." 



The programme is a good one. even to-day. and needs 

 little modification, except in so far as may be necessary 

 to solve peculiar features of the Antarctic which have 

 been brought to our notice by the researches of Sir James 

 Ross and later expeditions. 



Magnetism. 

 The primary object of the expedition is the completion 

 and bringing up to date of the magnetic work done by 

 Ross in the " Erebus " and " Terror." and by Moore 

 and Clerk in the " Pagoda." Since that time no accurate 

 survey of these regions has been attempted, and with 



