ELEANOR BOLLING SAILS AGAIN.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19851, 12 February 1930, Page 5

ELEANOR BOLLING SAILS AGAIN.

VESSEL AGROUND ON SANDBANK [THE PBESS Special Service.] DUNEDIN, February 11. Bound for the southern regions on her final voyage in connexion with the Byrd Antarctic Expedition, the supply steamer Eleanor Boiling left Dunedin this afternoon carrying a full cargo of provisions and coal. Little time was wasted since the vessel returned to Dunedin on Sunday afternoon from the southern ice pack, as the crew and also several waterside workers were kept busy placing supplies on board. The ship is loaded to her plimsoll mark. In addition to about 600 tons of bunker coal she is carrying sufficient food supplies to last one hundred men for one year, and also pontoons'for the aeroplanes being used by Sir Hubert Wilkins in his Antarctic exploration work. A number of dog boxes are also being carried by the Eleanor Boiling. There is a possibility that the ice may close in before the Eleanor Boiling can leave the Barrier, and it is for this reason that she is carrying such a large supply of provisions and coal. Her southward voyage and also the return trip through the Ross Sea will be a race against time. The time is limited as the ice will probably commence to re-form before the end of February, so that the chances of the vessel getting through after leaving the Bay of Whales will depend largely on smart work and good judgment on the. part of.the captain. Should the venture have that good fortune which attended it on the first long voyage to the Barrier in December, 1928, the Eleanor Boiling may be expected to return to Dnnedin about the first week in March. Under favourable conditions the Eleanor Boiling should reach the Bay of Whales in twelve days' steaming.

When steaming down Victoria Channel, the Eleanor Boiling went ashore near Port Chalmers, about one hundred vards from the western shore of the harbour. The vessel apparently got out of Ihe channel in attempting to pass between Goat Island and the mainland. The tide was falling, and at 7 p.m. the ship was hard and fßst on a sandbank. A tug and several motor-boats are standing by, and it is expected the vessel will be refloated on the flood tide after midnight. VESSEL REFLOATED. (PKESS ABSOCIATIO* TELEGRAM.) DUNEDIN, February 11. The Byrd Expedition supply ship, Eleanor Boiling, which was aground on a sandbank at St. Leonard's, was refloated at 10.30 o'clock to-night.