PREFACE 
longitude.' Reference to a map will show that this includes 
the area in which the present Expedition will work. 
How the Continent will he crossed. 
" The Weddell Sea ship, with all the members of the Expedi- 
tion operating from that base, wiU leave Buenos Ayres in 
October 1914, and endeavour to land in November in lati- 
tude 78 degrees south. 
''Should this be done, the Transcontinental party will set 
out on their 1800-mile journey at once, in the hope of accom- 
phshing the march across the Pole and reaching the Ross Sea 
base in five months. Should the landing be made too late 
in the season, the party will go into winter quarters, lay out 
depots during the autumn and the following spring, and as 
early as possible in 1915 set out on the journey. 
"The Transcontinental party will be led by Sir Ernest 
Shackleton, and will consist of six men. It will take 100 dogs 
with sledges, and two motor-sledges with aerial propellers. 
The equipment will embody everything that the experience 
of the leader and his expert advisers can suggest. When this 
party has reached the area of the Pole, after covering 800 
miles of unknown ground, it will strike due north towards the 
head of the Beardmore Glacier, and there it is hoped to meet 
the outcoming party from the Ross Sea. Both will join up 
and make for the Ross Sea base, where the previous Expedition 
had its winter quarters. 
"In all, fourteen men will be landed by the Endurance on 
the Weddell Sea. Six will set out on the Transcontinental 
journey, three will go westward, three eastward, and two remain 
at the base carrying on the work already outlined. 
" The Aurora will land six men at the Ross Sea base. They 
will lay down depots on the route of the Transcontinental 
party, and make a march south to assist that party, and to make 
geological and other observations as already described. 
" Should the Transcontinental party succeed, as is hoped, 
in crossing during the first season, its return to civilization 
may be expected about April 1915. The other sections in 
April 1916. 
X 
