IN THE SIX MONTHS' DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 251, 23 October 1928, Page 17

IN THE SIX MONTHS' DAY.

EXPLORING ANTARCTICA.

THREE EXPEDITIONS SET OUT.

BOUND BY COMMON TIES.

(Exclusive to "Auckland Star.")

NEW YORK, August 18.

Three adventuresome friends, natives of countries lying at opposite points of the globe, will within a few weeks be leading expeditions along routes as variant as their native lands to spend a six-months-long summer day in the mysterious south-polar continent of the Antarctic.

One of them is Commander Richard

Evelyn Byrd, United States Navy, retired, a native of the United States. Another is Captain Sir George Hubert Wilkins, a native of Australia, born of

an old French family, the De Villiers. The third is Commander Douglas George Jeffrey, Royal Navy, retired, a native of England.

There are three strands in the tie that binds them together in the public's mind: Their common purpose of scientific exploration in the region of the South Pole, their friendship and admiration for one another's previous accomplishments, and the American financial backing for the separate expeditions. Individually and collectively thev deny inferences and assumptions that their expeditions ar§ to be in the nature of a momentous race into the unknown. Only Byrd will say definitely that he expects to pay a call at the South Pole. Wilkins does not intend to go near the pole. And Jeffrey says he "may possibly' fly over the pole if other phases of his plans are accomplished without mishap.

Byrd and Wilkins will start approximately at the same time, on a day early in September, from, opposite sides of the North American continent, Bvrd from New York and Sir Hubert from

San Francisco. Toward the end of September Jeffrey will sail from New York. Despite the later date of sailing, Jeffrey expects to be on the field of operations earlier than his two friends* iffygnw he has less, distance to travel. Jeffrey's Crew.

Jeffrey expects to sail directly southward, visiting Argentine to co-operate with meteorological experts of that nation. Montevideo will be his last port of call, and he will sail past the tip of South America, slip into the Antarctic circle and establish his headquarters on Graham Land on the c-oast of the Weddell Sea. His crew, including ship hands, will number about twenty-five. * - Commander Byrd with his fifty-fire men, bis Eskimo' dogs, his airplanes, and his equipment 'for spending not only the coming summer day. but a six-months' night and another day in fhe Antarctic, wilL take a much longer *V route, proceeding to New Zealand. Large quantities of his supplies, particularly foodstuffs, already have been shipped to Dunedin, New Zealand, to be taken on there, the last port of call. Wilkins, from his Pacific Coast starting point, expects to go to Panama, barter there for passage for his retinue, which will not exceed seven men, and

go to Tasmania, where he will lxmril a

whaler bound for the Ross Sea, in the Antarctic circle, about Novembef 1, beginningrhfa"flight from a point probably within 250 miles of Commander

Bvrd's base about January 1. TJpon arriving In Ross Sea, Sir Hufert expects to drop overboard his Lockheed seaplane, similar to the Lockheed V«gt plane in which he dew over the North Pole, from Alaska*to. Spitsbergen last spring,. and fly eastward along the coast' toward Graham. Land, landing beside one of the forty whaling vessels-usually operating at that season. Aboard the whaler, he expects to be taken hack to Montevideo. To Remain Eighteen Months. Je'ffrey will spend only the Antarctic summer season in his explorations, returning to civilisation next May. Byrd expects to remain in the unknown ice , continent 18 months with approximately 25 of his men. The remainder will take his ship, the Samson,' a whaler, "out of the dangerous ice pack daring the winter night. : „ v While Byrd and' Jeffrey are working inward from the great ice barrier from , opposite sides of the Antarctic continent, Wiikins' flight will almost draw a linq . as the base of a triangle connecting theii operating bases, the apex of the triangle leing the Sooth Pole. The fact* that the three expeditions will be In various ports of the Antarctic at the same time is expected to result in a great addition to the world's fond of meteorological knowledge. Each expedition will be supplied with complete > and modern radio equipment. Radic ■communication between the expeditions is expected; to enable the scientists whe are members of the respective parties tc fcaiq,greater value from their own immediate observations. The south polai region is the home of the blizzard; it ii the birthplace of the'lndian monsoon; it is definitely related to floods, on th< ffipgpll; River Nile and to weather condition! sf';' :' throughout the world. If these explorer! . wrench from the Antarctic grasp the j - seoifit'of much of - the world's bad weather they will have performed a monumental task. _ , . No Animal Life. Aside from this.: meteorological data . thfc aims of the expeditions are many— ail, however, centring about the genera term "explorative." The region of tb< ■ • Antarctic is the last challenge to tbt adventuresome exploring spirit of man The Antarctic continent is an area a: large as the United States and Mexiet > combined, upon the major portion o: • which the eye of man has never looked So far as is known from the records ol ; Amundsen and whose expeditioni > t ; fought their ways to the pole and back % Scott giving his life on the return trip Jfe .no animal life larger than a spider existi beyond the rim of the Antarctic con tinent. It is considered certain'thattbe grea Andes mountain range of South Amerio extends into the continent which caps tin South Pole. Geologists will seek\to deter mine whether the polarmduntainseon f tain the satne rich vein#, of valuaM mineral ore that are found in- the And* further north toward the tropfes. Othe scientists will seek to determine if theri are any fossils in the great expanse indi v ; . s that thousands of years ago, per haps before the glacial age. the contineQ C, _ may have been inhabited or used as i i " way of travel between other continent! ' • " " . ■ ■ ■ 1 Elaborate Expedition. jfll J Any adequate description of the aimos innumerable details of fo these explorative tripe would requir volumes. Commander Byrd's expeditio is bv far the most elaborate. It i* esti > mated it will cost iIOOjOOO. It h(U Iwe

under way since the intrepid voyageur . . a ' r returned to Spitzbergen from his flight over the North Pole. .Resources of the entire world have been called; upon. In his headquarters in the Biltmore Hotel in New York he seems less an adventuresome young scientist and more like the head of a great business or commercial organisation, with staffs of secretaries, stenographers, clerks, and purchasing agents busily engaged from dawn to dusk.

- Furthermore, representatives ,\ in ft dozen, different countries are using *i»» cables and the majln and the transoceanic express to obtain for him the most perfect equipment of suitable food, clothing, scientific instruments, dog* sledges, Eskimo dogs, and other parapher* nalia. A huge tri-motored Ford 'plane and two smaller ones will be used. "Success In exploring expeditions,* he says, "like wars, is won in the preparations made in advance.* 1 Tons «f Supplies. The following is a list of the supplies j and provisions already ordered by the : Byrd expedition:— Three phonographs. One hundred and fifteen records. . A small piano. A library of 2000 books. A ukelele. A banjo. s Five hundred thousand cigarettes. One ton of tobaceo. ; T A supply of chewing gum, candy, pipes, 'etc. ; An artificial sunlight machine for swi baths and other purposes. ° Two tons of ham. Three tons of bacon. — Five tons of beef. Two tons of pork. Five hundred cases of eggs. Two tons of tin butter. A ton of powdered milk. % A proportional supply of condensed, evaporated and malted* milk. Fifteen tons of flour. A ton of kitchen utensils. Sixty thousand sheets of writing paper. Eight hundred bed sheets. Four hundred pillow cases. The Jeffrey expedition, the former British naval commander estimates, will cost approximately £40,000. He will use a steel steamship for the first time in i exploration history to penetrate the icefields. He will have a Bellanca J-5 airplane, similar, to the one used by Chamberlin and Levine in flying from New York to Germany, and will have two other 'planes, one smaller for reconnaisance work, which probably will be an amphibian. The other 'plane may be larger. 'The Bellanca J-5 will have a cruising radius of 4400 miles. Commander Jeffrey is a veteran of the second Shackleton expedition, and will have with him four or £ve others of that expedition.

The Wilkins' expedition will be the least elaborate of the three, but it may prove the most colourful, inasmuch as the daring aviator proposes an aerial photographic and mapping flight along the coast of the icebound continent, with no goal but an uncertain whaling fleet ahead.