BYRD EXPEDITION

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LVIII, Issue 10323, 10 March 1930, Page 3

BYRD EXPEDITION

Ships Due at Dunedin To-day C. A. LARSEN ARRIVES. Dunedin, March 10 Commander Byrd's ships "are due at the Heads at noon to-day, and will tie up at Dunedin at 3.30 p.m. Invercargill, March 9 Looking fit and well after their long sojourn in the frozen South, seven members of the Byrd Antarctic expedition returned to civilisation on Saturday by the Norwegian whaling ship C. A. Larsen. Rear-Admiral Byrd and the expedition’s two ships, Eleanor Bolling and City of New York, will reach Dunedin to-morrow afternoon. The men who have already returned make no secret of their thankfulness to be back in a country that is not perpetually covered with ice and i snow. Anxious to be in Dunedin be- | fore the remainder of the expedition ( returns, five of the party went im- j mediately to Dunedin. The members j of the party on the C. A. Larsen were: ! Captain Ashley C. McKinlay, aerial surveyor; Mr Joseph Rucker, cinema j photographer; Mr Russell Owen, re- : presenting the New York Times, and 1 who chronicled the progress of the ■ expedition during the period at Lit- I tie America; Mr Arthur T. Walden, Alaskan dog driver; Mr Martin Ronne, sailmaker; Dr Vaclov Vojleck, of Czeeho-Slovakia, who joined the expedition at Wellington, and Pari Siple, the Boy Scout with the expedition. The explorers were very reticent regarding their experiences in the frozen wastes, but were inclined to fervent expressions of appreciation that their long isolation had ended and that they would he able to don more conventional garb than had ; been possible in the Antarctic and en- j joy the luxuries of civilisation. A touching reunion took place when j the wives of two members were able i to meet their husbands before the C. | A. Larsen brought them to land. The ; two ladles were Mrs McKinlay and Mrs Rucker, who had come tp New ! Zealand from America for the express j purpose of meeting their husbands. They arrived at Invercargill on Fri- j day and set out from Bluff in tae whale-chaser sent to port to take 1 aboard the customs and medical officers for their inspection of the whaling ship An additional thrill was afforded the ladles on the journey to Stewart Island when the whale-chaser estab- j Jished two-way radio telephonic com- ■ munication with the C. A. Larsen, i They were thus enabled to converse I with their husbands when still many j miles away and after a complete separation for 17 months. t