Show 0 WAS W AS AA N 0 too A 0 OAK of N k 2 IM ul V K AZ K t 0 X i vz I 1 W 4 all ROSS M AX maw A 6 5 C er t F N D N C f by ELMO SCOTT WATSON ND when commander richard E byrd of the united states navy in his giant three motored airplane the 1 12 flew fiew over the south pole on november 0 29 9 1929 his feat did more mor e than merely add to a brilliant brilli record the achievement of being aben the first man to ceacil reach tile the south pole by air and the first to fly over both the north and south poles during hla his history mal mak ing flight he discovered square miles rn iles of ice blanketed lands never before seen by min man and claimed them rhem in the name of the alie united states and thereby hangs the tale of a 91 dispute between nations LIS as to who owns antarctica dispute which would to the casual ob observer serer to be a silly one for as lie would naturally think what differ difference eDee does it make who downs owns that square miles of ice and snow so far as practical value to the posse possessor sor is concerned but what if it should be discovered that that vast territory contains vast stores of oil gold ild and other mineral wealth that would be something ft else again while the dispute so far has not reached anything approaching approach in a critical stage it Is nevertheless one which offers some interesting possibilities for uncle sam and john cull bull are the two would be ow owners tiers of antarctica when it became known that commander byrd was planning an antarctic expedition the british government filed with the state department of this country a communication offering ofT ering to liend lend way assistance tance possible while ayrd was in I 1 british territory anil and defining that territory by quoting a resolution of the imperial conference in 1020 promulgated at the request of australia this note was received by the state depar department truent on november 17 1928 but the department dd not give dive its official answer until 1 ember 1029 just a short time before byrd made his epic flight that reply it is said ly was a courteous thank you for En glands expression of interest in byrds activities in tile the ross dependency and tile the Pal falkland kland wand mand depond ency but was strictly noncommittal la in either conce conceding dlug or denying british claims to sovereignty oner oer the areas enumerated in ili the british note british british claims to sovereignty in antarctica go back tor for their beginnings to an event which tool took place jut juit ears ars ae agu go that was on january 17 1771 when bupt lames janies ciok later famous for his discovery of the ila ha wallan islands Island 5 in his ship IZ lesol u tion accompanied by the active ture crossed cross cil the antarctic circle for the first time in history A year later hi he reached what was then barthet far thet south even though it wils was 1 lla 18 ti milus lils from the south pole and discovered discover Ld EL a land which aich tie he the isle of Geor georgia gla in honor of George lill and sandwich land in honor of the fourth earl barl of sandwich first ord lord of ilie elie admiralty during the american Ite devolution volu in 1823 james weddell of the brit cirit lab royal navy discovered the sea which now bears his name and set it new farthest south record or 1102 miles from the pole soon after that the famous whaling firm of Eri enderby derby in london became interested lu in antarctic exploration and sent oui out several expeditions lu ILI one of them in 1830 james jaimes briscoe of the brichs ti navy discovered and named kemp lund land and in 1839 jolin john ballany dist discovered on ered and named tile B ISal albeny leny islands by tills this time tire tilia united states had become interested in south polar exploration plo rallon also and lu in 1836 congress authorized an expedition was to puke discoveries upon which our principal claims to ownership of land in antarctica were to be based command of the expedition was riven given to T 0 1 willon will 1 p on rif tho T 1 W A 4 k g 9 A IR ZA v g tic ap t 1 wk mr 1 az 4 1 I 1 XA 1 ships the stoops sloops vincennes and peacock the It relief clief all the brig Por porpoise and tile the tenders sea gull and flying fish he set sail from hampton Hain roads va for the ibe polar jolar regions on august 18 ills his long wanderings in the antarctic regions are recorded dod in detail in the five volume narrative of the alie expedition written by willin himself so only a brief summary of what tie he ac complis lied can be given here embarking from sydney australia on december 20 1839 wilkes made macquarie island the first rendezvous ile he had already ewt the sea gull and all its crew in the south pacific below south america and within a week after leavan leaving sydney the flying fish arid and the Pea peacock poel dropped out of sight in the fog gy then the corp porpoise olse dilip feared but wilkes pushed on south ward in the vincennes by january 10 16 1840 he had reached afi W degrees south latitude and had found the peacock and tile the Por porpoise they were v ere now confronted confront d by an ice harrier hut but the crews of the remain ing ships reported that appearances beyond the harrier seemed to indicate amid arid in his report willies Vil Jes sets Jant lavy 10 as tile the dote date of the disco discovery vory of a new continent for the ne next t two tn weeks the ships cruls d about independently and repeatedly saw of land on jan enry 30 tho flip ani enle ered redan an indentation dent atlon of if the ice hound coast tv which il 1 was hamod nis iod biners pay eny we ve at ap clied within half a mile of tile the chirl volcanic aftic rocks which appeared on both sis s iq I q of us and saw the land gradually rising beyond the ice to the height of if foet says Wili vilo zog it coned lie le seen als distinctly ly extend extending Inz to th i aft and west of our poil tion fully sixty niiles miles I 1 gave the land tl the he nune name of the Arita antarctic continent after blurting tile the const coast for somi romp 1700 miles and oarl reat hing a point CO tl degrees grees I 1 rii anute nite south i ilas turid north and set sill sall for australia ile had disco lis ereo the rg trent of chieh no giov liens beirs his name willies land und an 1 e explorations x pl orations have what tie ile tie cleved he had discovered ii a vast antarctic continent in the meantime a british expedition was in ili tle the antarctic led by dept bilies dark clark ros nos of the I 1 joyal clavy n ivy IT ie e had planned to visit vilt the very region where wilkes was ex ev tind and when he learned that thai the elie american was ahead of him tie he was very much chagrined so he chai iKid liis his plans and tills this resulted in it his dis covery of victoria land and siou si ii while he was stopping stop pins it at town in november lier 1313 1310 he ha waived received a letter from wilkes describing his recent voyage and enclosing a chart there were sent ent jukith the friendliest intention of hiding alding a fellow explorer but it had bad the unexpected result of starting a long wit with rosc und and discrediting vv illes discoveries lu in the eyed of the on the chart which wilkes sent he had sot set down the supposed position of land found in 1810 1839 by ballany ISal Bal leny and identified it with land seen by men on one of the american vessels ile fie fd ed to Indi caio that this land wit was not orte one of his own discoveries when ross ness later directly over this pot lie d decided aided that it if willies was wrong in this regard lie was wrong 1 1 1 X 3 VIs wilkes discoveries it Is true that wilkes did make some mistakes in his locations because he could not land his instruments and check his locations magnetically so that they would be free from error due to the attraction of his bis instruments by the metal on board his ship but tor for all such errors he cannot in justice bo be denied his right to having dis discovered covered and described the antarctic continent thereby giving his hig country a claim to it by right of discovery ross noss crossed the antarctic circle on january 1 and during the course of his exploration that year year and the next he discovered two volcanoes which he named after his ships the 11 rebus and ter terror he saw a chain of high mountains naming one peak tor for lord Al elbourne the british premier and lie he landed on an island which he called possession island and took formal possession of the continent which lie he called victoria land in the name 0 of f queen victoria unfortunately for wilkes fame the doubt which had been cast upon hla his explorations by ross and later british ish writers was shared by many americans after lie he returned from his trip to the antarctic he was involved in a series of courts martial instigated by some of his officers who had disapproved of his management of the expedition tion lon great britaina Brit ains further claims to antarctica are based upon explorations made under their auspices by in in cruce bruce in 1001 1901 scott in 1902 and 1912 tile the latter date alje being ng the one lu in which ho ha reached the south polo pole and shackleton in 1101 1 and 1015 1915 one curious fact Is that wilkes discovery of wilkes land and the rightfulness of attaching his name to that territory aas confirmed by a briton in 1912 in ln 1911 lm 1911 sir douglas cawson landed ed two parties at the opposite ends of the antarctic continent writing of this lu 1912 dr W Y S cruce the st dipti explorer and geographer said that it hl had armed ed over a distance of more or fesq loss 1210 miles the existence of walles land which has ha been disputed during the past seventy seven tv to mo yenes but great britain and the united starts are not the only midi rs whdeh have pl jinis ased upon dis coory and exploration in antarctica Is pu sla which tool took a emild in the ganie its s fur far back us as ISM when czar cir alx alex ander aikler I 1 out nut to an expedition under bablan von Bollin glian wit en who discovered traverse rr averse islands tu in De december vember istl all and two years later found two othor other I 1 li indi aich ho he nampa alter after peter 1 cpr I 1 and alexinder alexander 1 I there Is r uri o which sent out the HIB dumont dj durville arville expedition erpf lillon abich in 1810 18 10 W von 1 en mikes and ross koss were sa 1 I I 1 g the south polar seas discovered land which was ans culled called adelle lend land arid and a high ice harrier barrier which was cearle coast there Is norway which sent out a series of expeditions from 1802 to including g the expedition of captain chrestensen Chrls who on oil january 23 ISM isil i landed landa M on the antarctic continent near cape adare thi the first human belill belnia t to set foot on that land arid and of course it was u H norwegian I 1 capt roal donld d amundsen who first reached the south polo pole on ID december 14 11 1011 1911 and even arg citina comes into the picture by bv declaring that she has the best right to antarctica nut not by explore ex plora lion or dl biery but geographically because slie she asserts the antarctic continent Is simply tin au extension of the falkland archipelago which by right belong to tier her even though she has been deprived of theta them by british occupation and by right of T n ril anif i i alm ilm nf |