LIFE AT LITTLE AMERICA

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21404, 21 February 1935, Page 15

LIFE AT LITTLE AMERICA

ANTARCTIC MIGHT AID "NERVES" TTHE PRESS" Special Service.] DUNEDIN, February 20. "You have asked me whether the long Antarctic night gets en one's nerves. I should say that the man who can live on his own mental resources stands it quite well, but it is a different thing with the man v.ho has to fall back on others." It was in this strain that Captajn A-innes-Taylor spoke concerning liie at Little America during the months when winter darkness enshrouded the whole of the continent. "If a man could be happy with books or take an interest in something he was all right," he said. "The other sort were a burden to themselves and to everyone else." Captain InnesTaylor went on to say that a large number of seals had been killed before the winter set in, and these were used for food for the dogs, while they also provided fresh meat for the expedition. "What does seal taste like?' the explorer was asked. "You know what mutton bird is like," was the reply. "Well, seal is about six times stronger than that." Complete darkness set in over Little America about April 17, and for the next four months the world of ice and snow was shrouded in continuous night. "It was a great day when the sun appeared over the horizon for a time," said Captain Innes-Taylor. "We had a real feast, and it was a far more memorable occasion than Christmas."

BEAR OF OAKLAND AT DUNEDIN A STORMY VOYAGE (rRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) DUNEDIN. February 20. The Bear of Oakland reached Dun* edin at 9 o'clock this morning after a stormy trip from Little America, bringing eight of the remaining ice party. The commander. Lieutenant English, is proud of his ship, which has been criticised in some quarters, having travelled 20.000 miles since leaving New York. Owing to the cutter having to carry out the major work of evacuating Little America, the weather being so bad that in 11 days the Jacob Ruppert was able to moor at the barrier for only 14 hours to take the aeroplanes aboard, the project to explore the coast between King Edward Land and the Bellinghausen Sea had to be abandoned. The ship will now sail direct on the Great Circle course for Panama in about 10 days' time. Of the three New Zealanders. Dr. Potaka, Bernard Fleming, and Robert Young, who spent the winter on the ice, only Young is continuing the voyage to the United States.