Leaving Dunedin at 06.00 on January 2 the voyage to the southward was mainly favoured by good weather. This assisted the preparations for those possible emergencies which had to be provided for. Sledges were overhauled and rebound, sledge harnesses were made and rations weighed and packed. The oil fuel which was stowed in drums was gradually pumped below. On an average about 30 drums per day were emptied. The airmen too were constantly busy with their own preparations.

Only one aeroplane could be taken by the expedition and this necessarily had to be a single-engined machine, as there were no twin-engined aeroplanes at the price which the expedition could afford to pay. As a result great care had to be taken to choose a machine which was equally good as a seaplane and as a skiplane, with quickly interchangeable undercarriages, and which would combine as many of the most essential qualities as possible. The first essential was wooden construction. Many people, apparently qualified to give an opinion, will say that wooden construction is not suitable for service in cold climates, but I have found it extremely good during eighteen months' hard service in Greenland, and again after two and a half years in the Antarctic in much more severe conditions. The chief advantage on an expedition is the ease with which even major repairs can be carried out. It is not necessary to take a comprehensive supply of airframe spares as these can all be cut straight from a length of suitable timber, and even main and tail plane ribs can be constructed with a little patience. The wooden construction appears to be every bit as robust as metal and, of course, cannot corrode.

On April 14, 1912, the Titanic sank as the result of a collision with an iceberg and a large number of her passengers and crew were drowned. As a direct result of this disaster an International Conference on the Safety of Life at Sea was convened in London. In order to protect transatlantic shipping from dangers of icebergs and field-ice it was clear that it would be necessary to institute a systematic patrol of the North Atlantic. This work was undertaken by the United States Coast Guard who have carried it out most ably under the direction of the International Ice Patrol Board. As at present organised, the patrol is carried out by three vessels. One is an oceanographic vessel fully equipped with a seagoing laboratory which attempts to make one current map per month of the area that appears most critical at the time. The other two are patrol vessels which make cruises of two weeks' duration and relieve one another every fifteen days.

In 1931 an aerial survey of Northern Labrador was sponsored by the American Geographical Society (see Geographical Review, Jan. 1932). In the summers of 1931 and 1932 photographic flights and ground-control triangulations were made covering the Labrador Peninsula from Nachvak Fiord, north to Cape Chidley, and the shore line from Nachvak south to Port Manvers.

By mutual agreement of the two countries British and Norwegian pelagic whaling in the Antarctic (with which for whaling purposes South Georgian waters are included) during the season 1935–36 was limited to the period December 1, 1935, to March 15, 1936. The only factory ship not limited in her operations by this restriction was the Japanese Tonan Maru, ex Antarctic, then operating under her new flag for the second time. The pelagic season was thus limited to 106 days. In actual fact many ships ceased working before March 15; two factories had reached Norway before the end of March, and nine by the middle of April. It is hoped that the curtailment of season, and in particular the later start ensured, will have afforded useful protection to the stock, particularly that of the most valuable species, the Blue whale, which is at present the most menaced by intensive whaling.

During the last few years there has been a very noticeable increase in the number of expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic; and a consequent quickening of interest in polar exploration among those who are unable, through circumstance, to take any active part in the work. For this reason polar societies and clubs have come into being, in different countries, the membership of some of them confined strictly to explorers, while others welcome anybody interested in the subject.