AT THE ICE BARRIER

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 49, Issue 66, 28 December 1928, Page 3

AT THE ICE BARRIER

THE BYRD EXPEDITION. » ATTAINMENT OF FIRST GOAL. (United Press Association—Copyright). NEW YORK, December 25. A copyright message from the Byrd expedition states: "Christmas Day, and we are at the Great Ice Barrier. That formidable and glistening symbol of impregnability which Commander Byrd is about to explore by air appeared before us late this evening, a great wall of white on the distant horizon. Before midnight we were coasting along the face of it—our first real contact with the continent on which we will live for a year. "We sighted it just after our Christmas celebration in the forecastle, when everyone received presents, and celebrated with song and talks, some of a humorous nature, and some charged with the feeling of all that this Christmas means to us and to those left hehind. "No sooner had we reached the deck than, in a severe storm, the first mate, who was in the crow's nest, called down: 'The Barrier is on the starboard bow.' "A great cheer went up, releasing all pent-up emotion of the men who for months had been directing all their energies to this goal. It has been their ambition, to which purpose they have dedicated two years, of their lives, and the word that the Barrier was actually in sight acted like an electric stimulus.

Far From Civilisation. "To-morrow we expect to gc ashore at Discovery Inlet, when we will set out on foot for the first time on that mystic land which has so drawn men that they have laidl down their lives to learn something of its secrets. It is as much a milestone as the first flight will be, and that we should have reached it on Christmas Day, the dav of thanksgiving and of dedication to'the greatest ideals of man, is a source of thanksgiving and happiness to all aboard. "In a few days, if all goes well, our aeroplane may he winging its way over the snowy wilderness of the Barrier. "Commander Byrd expressed this hope to-day when, in a message to the Secretary of the Navy, he said: < We have reached the great, mysterious Ire Barrier. It presents to us an ice cliff higher than the masts of .the ship. We are 2400 miles from the 'nearest human dwelling, in the only area in the world where a ship can! get so far from civilisation. That we are here safely is due to Providence and my loyal and stout-heartedj* pmates, who have worked together unselfishly as a unit. It will probably ho some days before we get permanently ashore, on account of the ice that will he in the Bay of Whales. The Wonder of Radio.

"Not the least wonderful of all the happenings of this evening is that as we were approaching the Barrier we all listened on deck to broadcasting from home, and one cannot listen to those metallic tones coming from the loud-speaker without feeling the tremendous progress made by man in science since the last Antarctic adventure It is weird, almost ghostly, to hear" words from home coming to us as we move through these ice-filled waters to our base; and comforting, too, for we know that we have not wholly lost touch with the world which seems so very far away. "We are trying on the skis to-night on deck, making ready for our first run on shore, and there is a great expectancy of new things, of meeting, at last, the tremendous icefield on which our home will be for 14 months of glimpsing some of the beauty and stark loneliness of the Antarctic "This has been a great Christmas Day for us. By next Christmas Day our story will have been written, tor what it is worth, and there is not a man aboard who is not in his heart determined that it shall be a worthy one "—Australian Press Association.