It was announced on Monday that Sir Ernest Shackleton intends
to lead a new expedition to the South Pole in the coming year. The expedition, which will probably start from Buenos Aires in October, 1914, aims at crossing the Antarctic Continent from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea, a distance of seventeen hundred miles, passing the Pole on the way, with a view to settling the geographical problems con- nected with the extent of the Polar Plateau and the Victoria Range. The expedition will be equipped for two years ; the two ships required will both be fitted to burn oil instead of coal, thus reducing the complement, which will number forty-two all told. Amongst special features of the equip- ment will be two sledges driven by aeroplane propellers with aeroplane engines, an aeroplane with clipped wings to glide over the snow, an installation of wireless of five hundred miles radius, and a gyroscope compass.
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