The Antarctic Campaign

Abstract

AT the present time it is not unlikely that the south pole has been reached by both Captain Scott and Captain Amundsen, who are leading respectively British and Norwegian Antarctic expeditions. The accomplishment of this athletic feat is one that the public take an intense interest in, and not least of all at the present time because there are two competitors in the polar race, which adds zest from the sportsman's point of view. Any journey in Antarctic regions must also add something to our knowledge of the Antarctic regions, and any additional knowledge is of scientific value. But the two expeditions are of much greater interest to the scientific community from the point of view of the work they will do outside this journey to the pole, for, so far as the polar journey is concerned, Captain Scott intends to follow over his own track and Sir Ernest Shackleton's, except for the last hundred miles, and Captain Amundsen may, after tracking in a south-westerly direction across the surface of the Ross Barrier, also follow Sir Ernest Shackleton's track up the Beardmore Glacier, and thence to the pole, practically in the same line as Captain Scott. The only additional topographical information therefore gained by these journeys is in the possible track of Amundsen from the vicinity of Edward Land to the Beardmore Glacier, and the same track that both Scott and Amundsen are likely to take over the last hundred miles to the pole, which, we fairly well know from Shackleton's observations, must be situated at an altitude of something like 10,000 ft. on the inland ice of Antarctica. We hope that Scott and Amundsen will meet each other, and, mutually helping one another, reach the pole with honours divided.