Notes

Abstract

NEWS of Capt. Roald Amundsen's Arctic Expedition has unexpectedly been received from Siberia via Alaska. The Maud left Norway in June, 1918, and was last heard of some months later from Dickson Island, at the mouth of the Yenisei. According to the telegram published in the Times, two men left the ship in October, 1918, in the vicinity of Cape Chelyuskin. Nothing has been heard of these men, although they presumably made for the fishing settlements of the Lower Yenisei, a distance of some six or seven hundred miles across the barren tundra, here seems to be little hope that the two men are alive. The Maud appears to have spent last winter in the neighbourhood of Aion Island, at the mouth of Chaun Bay, in north-eastern Siberia, within six hundred miles of Bering Strait. Aion Island is noted for its reindeer pasture. The coast in the vicinity is ^visited by native and occasional American traders in summer. The distance to the nearest wireless station at the mouth of the Anadir is about 450 miles across rough country. Until, further news arrives it would be rash to suppose that Amundsen has abandoned his trans-polar drift. It is quite possible that he intends to push into the Arctic basin north of Bering Strait in order to ensure the drift taking him to a high latitude. On the other hand, the loss of two men* even supposing: his messengers to the Anadir return, will seriously weaken his expedition, Capt. Amundsen always maintained that his aims were scientific, and jthat he had no desire merely to reach the North Pole. It is not, therefore, probable that he will return this year, since the coast of Siberia along which the Maud lias sailed has been explored in recent years by Russian expeditions. The Maud is provisioned for another three years.