THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY, ARE STRUGGLING TO REACH …ARE STRUGGLING TO REACH THE POLES TO THE NORTH...

ARE STRUGGLING TO REACH THE POLESTO THE NORTH POLE

BY ICE BREAKER.

ADMIRALMAKAROFr,the well-

known explorer of the NorthPacific, is making preparations

to reach the north pole. Andhe declares that he is sure ofsuccess.

His Intention Ifto cut a way through

the ice fields by means of powerful icebreakers thnt at present are in courseof construction.

The ice breaker is a craft with a good

record behind it. The first one put in

use whs at Cronstadt, Russia, in 1864.Since then numbers have been built in

this country. Alon<? the Eastern Ca-nadian const they are In constant useall winter plying between th" small is-lands off Bhore and the mainland.

An ordinary steamer could no moreforce a passageway through the icefields in this part of the world than itcould instantly convert Itself into a fly-ing: machine.

The general appearance of the hullof an ice breaker differs little from anordinary steamer. But it is builtof heavy steel and its prow is heavilyarmored. Each vessel is fitted withtwin screws at the stern and a singlelarge screw at the prow. The enginesare of the finest and the horsepower isalways very high.

An ice breaker that plies betweenPrince Edwards Island and the main-land is of 0000 horsepower. It easilysails through ice four feet thick. Infact, ice of this thickness hardly in-

terferes with its speed and It is possi-ble for this craft to pierce ice walls 15 „*

feet high. iTaking into account that, according

to Nansen, the ice walls (toroaes) inthe Arctic basin seldom attain thy /height of 25 feet, and that the PolarSea is free from ice over, at least, athird of its surface, while all the iceis weakened in summer by thawms,

and especially by interior canals dueto accumulations of salt, and by crev-ices, Admiral Makaroff concludes thatan ice-breaking steamer of 20,000 horse- |power would overcome all the llfficul-ties which polar ice may oppose to herprogress. j

The distance between the latitude of'

78 degrees north to the pole being .20miles, he calculates the various speeds

ni wiiich such a steamer could makeher way through ice of various thick-nesses from four to seven feet, and hofinds that the total distance couid be

'covered in twelve days.Moreover, instead Of one ice brciKer j

of 2U.000 horsepower, it would be ad- \vantageous to have two such vessel* iof 10,000 horsepower each, it having jlately been proved by actual ctperl-

jment in Russia that two ice breakers ,iplaced one behind the other, and The 1

rear one pushing the front one by\u25a0means of a special wooden frame, actas effectively as one single ice breakerof a double force.

Admiral Makaroff's intention is,therefore, to build two special ice |

breakers of 6000 tons and 10,000 hors3- !power each, provided with stem screws, iand to force a way through the ice to Ithe pole.

TO THE SOUTH POLEBY DOG TEAM.

THEfine steam bark Southern

Cross has just sailed on her ad-venturous voyage to reach thesouth pole. The desolate regionswhich girdle the southern, end of

the axis upon which our globe Is

ever spinning have the great merit ofoffering a terra Incognita to the ex-plorer. C. E. Borchgrevink, who willlead the expedition, tells us that he

would not be surprised to find a newrace of men. Who knows, then, thathe may not bring an Antarctic deRougemont back with him? No polar

bear has ever been seen in these whitewiMernesses. But there is no reasonwhy that animal may not be encoun-tered

—a new variety.

It is the supposed absence of mam- jmals, however, in the interior whichwill form one of the chief difficulties of

the expedition. A mere tabloid is butan indifferent substitute for a bearBteak hot and smoking. Luckily,how-ever, the country teems with sea birds,

arid these and their eggs will be large-ly used to supplement the bounteous

stores which Sir George Newnes, who

haa generously fitted out the expedi-tion, has crammed into the hold of theSouthern Cross. From morn till night

stowed away an amaz-ing variety of fixidstuffs.

The vefcss< 1 in which the venture willbe made was originally a whaler andsealer, and since her purchase has beenfor many months in the hands of ColinArcher, who built the Fram, Nansen'sfamous ship that became ice packedIn the search for the north pole. TheSouthern Cross is really almost smarten'iugh for a yacht; spick and spanfrom keel to crow's nest; with roomycabins, saloon and forecastle; Bplendid-lyequipped with everything that Arcticadventurer could require.

The expedition consists of thirty-two

men all told, including six scientists,

and in addition to being furnish-d withan equipment very similar to that takenby the polar expedition under Sverdrup,

Is provided with over eighty Siberiandogs including some ten Greenlandanimals which were once owned by thelate Eivlnd Astrup. The master. Ber-nard Jensen. Is an experienced ice navi- |gator, and was mate of the Antarcticwhen in 1895 he landed with Borchgre-

vink at Cape Adair. The principal of-ficers are as follows: Carsen EgebergBorchgrevink (Norwegian), leader, sur-veyor, etc.; Herlof Klovstad (Norwe-

gian), surgeon; Nlcolal Hanson (Nor-

wegian) and Hugh Evans (British sub-

ject), zoologists; William Colbeck, lieu-tenant R. N. (British subject), andLouis Bernaccnl (British subject), as-tronomera and magnetic observers;Bernard Jensen (Norwegian), master;H«..nsen (Norwegian), first mate; Jor-gen Pedersei- (Norwegian), secondmate.

The ingenuities that are devised now-adays for expeditions of all sorts,whether they are to penetrate the frigidor the torrid zone, are innumerable,once the basis o* supplies is reachedthe question of transport is all-govern-ing; so a pound of beef may be repre-sented by a dozen lozenges. The gal-lant adventurers of old had no suchfacilities, and scurvy brought many aparty to a deadly and horrible end.Not one ease occurred on the Fiam.

But it is not for the food alone thatthe equipment of this Antarctic expe-dition is remarkable. Guns, skis, kay-aks, Bnow shoes, ice axes, sledges, furs,sleeping bags, instruments— all havebeen selected with a view to the workin contemplation, and are really a re-markable collection. The ninety Sa-tnoyed dogs alone cost close on to $10,-000, and to gather them an agent wasspecially dispatched to Siberia, mak-ing a journey of 4000 miles for the pur-pose. Sir ( leorge Newncs placed $100,-000 at the disposal of Borchgrevink tooutfit the expedition.

Mr. Borchgrevink expresses himselfvery hopeful that most valuable re-sults willbe the issue of the expedition.

In 1841 Sir James Ross first sightedthe vast ice fields which he called Vic-toria Land, lie made the best of hisway around a small bit of the coast,saw and named Mount Erebus, a vol-cano 12,000 feet in height, Mount Ter-ror and many other points. But hispassage to the Interior was barred bya lofty ice wall, which seemed to pro-hibit all attacks upon it. Mr. Borch-grevink, who was the first man to landthe- re since those remote days, regardsthis barrier with less diffidence. Hisappliances willenable him to storm it,and when once atop he hopes to find avast table land of snow, over whichhe and his men, his dogs and hissledges willmake their way.

The Southern Cross will sail to Hr>-bart Town direct; thence she will pro-ceed to Cape Adalr. The land partyof eight willbe put ashore there in 70degrees south latitude. They will atonce erect the base huts, the timberfor which they are taking with them,every plar.k ready for its place. Theship will then leave them and do a lit-tle surveying under Captain Jensen andreturn to Hobart Town.Itwill thus be seen that the explor-

ers will have the end of the summer(the seasons, of course, being reversed)and autumn to make things snug, climbthe ice wall and get the hang of thecountry before the long and drearywinter sets in. The Antarctic spring,that is about September, 1899, they willexpect the Southern Cross.

According to the plan adopted theland party and sea party will then Joinforces and make a bold dash for thepole.

Mr. Borchgrevink goes with thestrong belief that Victoria Land mayprove another Greenland. Nansen'schief difficulty in that venture was thelanding. Once ashore he, too, hadan ice wall to surmount, and havingreached it found the vast table landover which he and his men sailed andsledged to the other side." Of coursethere Is no "other side" to VictoriaLand

—at least they will never try to

reach it, Antartica covering an area ofsome ten million square miles. But ifthere is a plateau, no matter how-scored with crevasses, they should givea good account of themselves.

Here is what Mr. Borchgrevink hasto say of the venture: "While the mainobject of the expedition will be to col-lect scientific data, full attention willalso be given to further investigation ofthe commercial possibilities of thesouthern seas, of the islands and of theshores of Victoria Land, and the shipwilltherefore be fitted out with the ne-cessary implements for such research.Istill maintain my belief in a futurefor commercial energy in those parts,both In regard to the gruano beds and

also in respect to whaling and sealing.However, my scientific staff will havetheir entire energy directed to scientificresearch."Ipropose to land at Cape Adalr with

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an adequate outfit of instruments, pro-visions, dogs and sledges and to estab-lish my winter quarters at that spot.Semi-globular huts, constructed on theEskimo principle and \uilt out of hardwood, willbe taken with us for the pur-pose of sheltering my staff and alsoBorne livestock which Iintend tn takewith me. As soon as the provisions andimplements of the main camp havebeen landed the vessel will proceed

southward with its crew, myself andthree of my staff, Ifpossible, as far as76 degrees south, where my companionsand Iwill be landed (all must neces-sarily be snow-shoe runners), with ourinstruments, dogs, sledges, provisions

and other necessaries for the inland

Journey toward the sou h magneticpole.

"IfIsucced in landing on VictoriaLand at that latitude Ishall have tocross about ten degrees of longitude ina westerly direction to reach the placewhere the south magnetic pole (accord-ing to dip-compass observations) oughtto be situated In latitude 75 degrees 5minutes south, longitude 150 degreeseast, or about 150 English miles; th«longitudes at 76 degrees south beingabout fifteen miles apart.

"Ihope to have covered the distanceinland and back in two months, inwhich time Ishall have made thenecessary magnetic observations, andagain join the camp at Cape Adalr be-fore the Antarctic winter sets in.

"Myscientific staff at Cape Adair willmeanwhile have been occupied in ex-ploring the bay at Victorlla Land, intaking deep water soundings, investi-gating the fjords, and in collectingspecimens of the fauna and flora, be-

sides making pendulum observations,taking meteorological data, etc.

"The whaler wil lreturn to Australiaor Tasmania, both because it would besafer for the vessel and because Itcould do so valuable work among theislands between Australia and VictoriaLand during the latter part of the An-tipodean winter. Itwould be safer, be-cause it would avoid the danger of theice pressure in winter and because Itcould start fresh for Victoria Landthe succeeding spring for the purposeof bringing the members of the expe-dition back to civilization.

"Inzoological direction Iexpect greatdiscoveries to be made, especially onthe Victoria continent itself. So far weknow that the Antarctic circle is thehome of fish, whales, seals and birds ofthe most widely different kinds, butundoubtedly ther* are also In those re-gions hitherto unknown mammals."

WHY OUR NAVYSHOOTS SO WELL

SINCEthe welcome news of Admir-

al Dewey's remarkable victory atManila on the Ist of May It has

been a matter for wonder every-

where, not less in the United Statesthan in Europe, that the Americangunners were able to destroy a Spanishsquadron in a Spanish harbor withoutthe loss of a single American life. Whenhistory repeated itself at Santiago twomonths later the wonder was intensi-fied.

In the Government building at theTrana-Mississippi Exposition is an ex-hibit which in a measure explains themystery. This Is a naval range finder,the invention of a United States navalofficer. Up to date no one outside ofUncle Sam's service has been able todiscover how it is operated. The in-strument is shown Ina glass case withvarious other nautical paraphernalia,

and of course the attendants refuse toanswer questions as to its method ofworking.

One of the naval officers in charge ofthe exhibit says:

"Itfs a fact that no other navy hasany means of finding the range thatdoes not involve a mathematical cal-culation. This implies a good deal oftime lost, and in most cases they findit quicker to get the range by actualexperiment. The Spaniards, for in-stance, have to fire several shots be-fore they can get the range of one ofUncle Sam's ships. If their first shotfalls short they try again and thenthey are apt to overshoot, and by thattime the position of the vessels mayhave been altered and they are still atsea. Meanwhile the officer in the con-ning tower of the American ship haslocated them almost exactly with thisinstrument and reported the range bytelephone to the various gun captainsThis has only consumed a few seconds,

and while the Spaniards are still tryingto get their range the shells from theAmerican guns are sweeping theirdecks.

"The.peculiar thing about the instru-ment," continued the officer, "is thatwhile it is one of the simplest things

in the world to any one who knows Itssecrets, the most expert mechanic orinventor might examine it as long ashe wanted to and still be unable to dis-cover how it works. This is why rep-resentatives of other navies have been

completely baffled In their efforts tofind it out. They have range finders oftheir own. but none that give the sameinstantaneous and accurate results.And as long as they can be kopt inthe dark we shall be able to outshootany nation on earth, even if there wasno difference in the skill of the gun-ners."

There is another advantage In the useof the instrument which amounts toconsiderable in the course of half adozen naval engagements. It costs$1360 to fire a pair of 13-inch guns once.Ifthe Spaniards go into a fight theymust fire at least two shots to securethe range. Frequently these do notanswer, and they go on shooting $680charges in the air, while every poundof powder that goes into the UnitedStates' gun is utilized. The ability ofthe American gunners to obtain the ex-act position of the enemy before a gunis fired saves thousands of dollars inammunition in every engagement.

COLONIAL POSSESSIONS OF THENATIONS.

Now that the question of colonial ex-pansion and "imperialism" is up fordiscussion the following figures show-

ing the areas and populations of thevarious countries and their colonies isvery interesting:

—Extent.—Country

—Motherland. Colonies.

Sq. STiles. Sq. MilesGreat Britain 120,979 16.622.073France 204,092 2.5a">.000German Empire 208.830 1,615.577Portugal 36.033 809.914Holland 12,648 7*3.000Spain 197,670 405.458Italy 110.840 242.420Denmark 15.289 86.614

—Population.Country— Motherland. Colonies.

Great Britain 39.525.000 322 .000 ."00France 38.520.000 44.290.000German Empire 53,325.0(10 7.450.000Portugal 5,050,000 10.215.000Holland 4.930,000 34,210.000Spain 17,300.000 9,800,000Italy 31.290,000 19f>.uOODenmark 2.175,000 130,000

•—•—•—"Why do you always use the stairs?""Afraid of meeting my creditors in the

elevator."—Cleveland Plain Dealer.Watts— What? You drinking again? I

thought you told me you had won a vic-tory over alcohol.

Lushforth— Sn-hlc-anish victory, ole fel-ler.—lndianapolis Journal.

The first llne-of-battleship launched af-ter the Queen came to the throne cost£110,000. Several recently launched steel

monsters have cost £910,000,

COUNTING ThE STROKES."Now that you have finished shaving

me, how many strokes of the razor didit require?" asked the man in the chair,

as he straightened up to have his haircombed.

"That's pretty hard to tell," said the

barber. . , .."Of course it is. But you ye been intna

business how long?""Fifteen years.""You ought to know by this time about

how many strokes of the razor it re-quires to shave a man, supposing thatyou go over his face a second time.'"Imight make a guess at it.""All right. What's your guess? Re-

member that Ihave a hard beard.""Well. Ishould say about 125.""You're a pood guesser, Idon't think.

Some time ago Igot into the habit ofcounting the strokes of a razor everytime Iwas being shaved. It's a good wayto employ your mind. In shaving me youJust made 732 strokes with the razor.""Iwouldn't have believed it."

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1898. 21