BYRD EXPEDITION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 10, 12 January 1934, Page 8

BYRD EXPEDITION.

SUPPLY SUP'S VOYAGE. BOUND FOR DUNEDIN. - (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, this day. Bound for Dunedin, her last port of call before joining the Jacob Ruppert in the Antarctic, the Byrd expedition supply, ship Bear of Oakland left Wellington last evening. Given favourable weather, the Bear of Oakland should reach Dunedin on Saturday evening, and she will probably leave New Zealand shores immediately loading there is finished, at any rate, not later.than Monday. . A few rn-iscellane-ous supplies and a number of; huts, packed in sections, will be taken on at Dunedin. ... _~,•_, .;_ : "We should arrive, at the Bay of Whales very early in February, but this is dependent upon the weather and ice conditions," eaid Lieutenant English before the ship sailed. "We will stay in the Bay of i Whales while the Jacob Ruppert is unloading. Although our. own unloading will not take very long, I expect. that we will have to remain and assist the Jacob Ruppert • while she is discharging, her cargo. The time taken to complete this work will depend on the weather and the ice, and upon how often we. will have to shift our anchorage. Of course, a late entrance into the ice pack to reach the Barrier, such as we are' making, simply restricts the time of operations in southern waters. The ability of the ice party to raise their camp will govern the status of their living conditions when the winter does hit them."

Rejrardinj the lateness of the season at which the expedition is entering the ice pack, Lieutenant English had very little to say. He had no wish to act as an alarmist, he said, and so cause worry to the many people connected with the expedition's complement. The eeason was admittedly late, and the expedition was behind schedule; and the late entry would mean that the ships would have to act with dispatch while in the Ross Sea in order to avoid the approaching winter.