SOUTHWARD HO!

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 35, 5 November 1928, Page 13

SOUTHWARD HO!

BYRD ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION COMMANDER ARRIVES THIS MORNING POLAR AEROPLANE ADVENTURE At daybreak this morning Commander Richard E. Byrd, United States Navy, with the advance guard of his Antarctic expedition, will arrive at Wellington on board the Norwegian whaling ship C. A. Larsen, which is coming from San Pedro, California, to take in oil, fuel, and water before proceeding to Stewart Island and the Antarctic.

Since the days of Captain Cook, and particularly during the last century, New Zealand has been closely identified with Antarctic exploration. Since 1901 two expeditions led by the late Captain Scott, and that of Sir Ernest Shackleton, have made the Dominion their “hopping-off” base. It is peculiarly fitting, therefore, that Commander Byrd, who is. leading the 'best-equipped and most ambitious Antarctic expedition ever fitted out, should select a New Zealand port as his refitting ■base and point of departure for the Great Ice Barrier, 2300 miles directly south of the Dominion, and in the Ross Sea Dependency, which is within the jurisdiction of New Zealand. Until he arrives it will not be known which or how many of Commander Byrd’s party are with him on board the C. A. Larsen. It is understood, however, that they include his business manager, Mr. Richard G. Brophy, and Lieutenant Bernt Balchen, the air pilot who flew with Byrd across the Atlantic, and a number of Other leading officers. Flying Equipment. On board the C. A. Larsen is most of the flying equipment of the expedition. This includes a large Ford monoplane with a wing spread of 76ft., and equipped with three high-powered motors. It embodies all the improvements suggested by Byrd’s experience in the Arctic and crossing the Atlantic. In addition there are two smaller monoplanes with single engines, similar to the machine Chamberlain used to cross the Atlantic. All the ’planes are equipped with interchangeable landing gear so that they can fly from the water with pontoons, from snow with skis, or from land with wheels. A large supply of spare parts and equipment for the planes is also being carried. Tractors with treads suitable for use on snow and ice are being brought, but it is not known whether these are on board the C. A. Larsen. Although Commander Byrd’s arrangements have not been made public it is probable that much of the heavier and bulky packages of equipment may be taken to the Ross Sea in the big whaler and landed there to save transhipment and possible damage in the expedition's small ships during their voyage to the Antarctic. The City of New York and Eieanor Bolling will doubtless be heavily ci f l ] 7 laden, and the experiences of Shackleton and Scott are against the carrying of- bulky deck loads in small ships through the stormy Antarctic Ocean.

The Expedition Ships. The City of New York is a wooden barauxiliary steam power. Built in 1885, by Larsen, of Arendal, as the Samson, the little ship was for many years employed as a whaler. She is smaller than either the Terra Nova or the Discovery, the ships used by Captain bcott, in his Antarctic expeditions. The City of New York, which was so reMsaed by Byrd, is 506 tons gross, and 254 tons net register, 148 feet long, 31 feet beam, and 17 feet depth.- She is ,v- ntted with a compound steam engine. « . The other ship, renamed Eleanor Boll,ing by Byrd,, in. honour, of .his mother/is a wooden steamer of 565 tons gross' register, built in 1892 as the Chelsea;' She is 140.4 feet in length, 34.2 feet in breadth, and 10.8 feet depth of hold. According to American papers, the New ork was purchased for 40,000 dollars, and the Eleanor Bolling for 34,000 dollars. Both ships have been thoroughly overhauled, and specially fitted out for the work of the expedition, their hulls being sheathed, and otherwise strengthened to withstand the pressure of pack ice, which must be passed through on the voyage to the open water of the Ross Sea. Captain F. C. Melville, master of the City of New York, is said to be a second cousin of Herman Melville, author of “Moby Dick,” and other books. It is probable that one or other of the ■ two ships will call at Wellington to ship certain equipment before proceeding to Port Chalmers, where a large quantity of stores, equipment, and foodstuffs is awaiting shipment for the Antarctic. Both ships are due in New Zealand waters within the next week or two. The City of New York and the Eleanor Bolling are equipped with powerful modern radio apparatus, both long and short wave, with which it is expected to keep in touch with the outer world, from the Antarctic. It is proposed to use the short wave radio during the six months’ daylight down South. The Ross Sea Base. Commander Byrd has practically decided to place his main base at the Bay of Whales, on the Ross Sea Ice Barrier, close to the spot selected by Amundsen in 1911. The Great Ice Barrier, which forms . the southern navigable limit of the Ross Sea, is. 360 miles long, and stretches in an almost straight line from Cape Crozier, the northern point of Ross Island, at its western end to the practically unexplored King Edward VII Land, at its pastern end. For the greater part of this distance the Ross Sea exceeds 1800 feet in depth. The Ice Barrier averages 150 feet in height above sea level, so that a much greater depth is submerged. It is generally conceded that the ice sheet is afloat over most of its vast area. On its west- 1 ern side it is bounded by the mountain ranges of Victoria Land, and on the south by the vast buttresses of the South Polar plateau. Its eastern boundary is unknown, but it is probably formed by the mountains of Carmen Land, discovered by Amundsen, extending northwards to King Edward VII Land. So it may be said that the Barrier is a vast ice sheet fed from the Polar plateau, and filling a huge bay in the Antarctic continent, 360 miles wide by about the same depth. The Bay of Whales is a deep indentation in the Ice Barrier, about twothirds of its length cast from Ross Island. Amundsen selected it as the site for his main base in 1911-12, because “the inner part of the bay does not consist of floating ice, but the Barrier there rests upon a good solid foundation, probably in the form of small islands, skerries, or shoals.” He considered that if Shackleton, when he passed the Bay of Whales on January 24, 1908, and saw the ice in the bay breaking up, had waited a few hours, he would have selected it ns his base, and “the problem of the South Pole would have been solved long before December, 1911.” From the Bay of Whales to the South Pole the distance is roughly 750 miles by the route taken by Amundsen. He left his base on. October 19, 1911, with four men, four sledges, nnd 52 dogs, and ararrived at the Pole on January 18, 79 a journey of 56 days. Leaving the Pole on December 17, the party arrived back at the Bay of Whales nt 4 a.m. on January 25, after a fast trip of 39 days. The whole journey occupied 98 days. Scott and his companions started their SOO- - journey on November 1. 1911. nnd arrived at the Pole on January 17. 79 days out. They struggled back to their last camp, 130 miles from Cape Evans, on March 19. 1912. and perished only 11 miles from One Ton Depot, some days later. They actually travelled 139 days out and back. Antarctic Flying Problems. Commander Byrd flew from Spitzbergen to the North Pole and back, a total distance of about 1600 miles, in 16 hours, go that if the Antarctic conditions were

1 ihe same he should make the flight from die Bay of Whales to the South Pole .uid back in about the same time. But die problems to be faced in the Antarctic are vastly different, as Byrd himself points out. “We expect to put down several sub-bases towards the South Pole about 100 miles apart,” he says. “The number of bases we can put down is another unknown quantity, for several reasons. First, because it will be impossible to predict the weather conditions that will exist on a flight from our main base to the South Pole. The winds in. that region come up very suddenly and blow violently, frequently with very thick snow, which would bring about a situation much worse than fog for the flyer, because he would not only be blinded but would have also a terrific wind at the same time. With bases every 100 miles the flyer would have a chance to land near one of them and survive the storm. In such a case he would have to carry some special apparatus and use some special methods to prevent the ’plane from being blown over. In a forced landing within 500 miles from the main base there would be a chance of getting back with bases down every 100 miles. Without them there would be no chanee, because there is uo animal life that would enable one to procure food, as is the case in the Arctic.” Further, the South Pole itself is on a plateau over 10,000 ft. high, and a ’plane to reach it will have to cross mountains 12,000 ft. high, where the worst storms are encountered. Byrd points out that landing on a Polar plateau “is going to be difficult because it is likely to be very cold, but what is more important the air at that height of nearly two miles has lost so much of its denseness that it will require more power to take the ’plane off the show. The landing speed will also be faster. It will be impossible to get back to the base from that distance should the ’plane for any reason be unable to rise after landing. There are some ’planes that cannot even reach that altitude. Our ’plane will need a ceiling of twice that altitude (over 20,000 ft.). This landing will be further complicated by the fact that we must have on board when we land at least 1290 gallons of gasoline and 10001 b. or so of emergency equipment. This weight, of course, will make the landing speed faster. * “In the-’plane itself on the final dash, it is possible we shall carry a small team of light dogs and a sledge. ... In addition there will be carried a primus stove, reindeer sleeping bags, two months food, together with dog food, also a special tent, medical kit, skis, etc., etc.” Exploration by Air. “Of course,” remarks Commander Byrd in an outline of his plans in “Skyward,” “we hope to finish the mission of our expedition during the Antarctic summer, which will last till about March 1.- That would give us about two months for operations. I should say the chances of doing this would be about even.” In the event of the work not being completed the ships will have to come back to New Zealand to winter and return south next summer. Reaching the South Pole itself is only a part of the work. The total area of the unknown region is 4,600,600 square miles. One outstanding problem that Byrd’s expedition will attempt to solve is whether the Antarctic Continent is one vast land mass or is divided by a belt of ice-covered ocean stretching from the Ross Sea across to the Weddell Sea on the American side. Scott, Shackleton, Mawson and Amundsen found mighty ranges of mountains with peaks up to. 15,500 feet trending southward from the western side of the Ross Sea and south-eastward into the Queen Maud range and Carmen Land. Given reasonably good flying conditions, aeroplane flights from the Bay of Whales and the sub-bases will enable vast stretches of this region to be explored, surveyed, and photographed in a few weeks, where years would be occupied by the methods of former Antarctic expeditions. Much valuable meteorological data will be gathered which inay shed light on the weather problems of New Zealand and Australia. A Million Dollar Expedition. The cost of Polar exploration has shared in the general increase of. prices since 1913. In many American newspapers it is estimated that Byrd’s expedition will probably cost 1,000,006 dollars before it is finished. Up to the middle of August donations of equipment and materials of every description from tri-motored aeroplanes to fur muttens, totalled 435,000 dollars. The itemised list of these was given out as follows: — ‘ Dollars. Tractors 5,000 Outward motors and gasoline engines 2,000 Foods and meats ...; 30,000 Miscellaneous foodstuffs 10,000 Galley equipment ..... (? . 8.000 Steward’s equipment othi'r than galley ... I 2,000 Medical supplies 3,000 Clothing 10,000 Aeroplanes, including a Ford allmetal tri-motor, a small monoplane of the General Aircraft Company, extra motors, etc. •. 200,000 General equipment 50,000 Ship equipment, coal, paint, canvas, etc. 10,000 Tents and tent cloth 2,500 Scientific instruments 40,000 Radio and electrical equipment.. 20,000 Gasoline and oils 20,000 Cardex and office supplies .... 2,500 Machinery and tools 10,000 Photographic supplies other than motion pictures 10,000 Total 435,000

Items not included in the list, representing thousands of dollars, include free use of a suite of nine rooms in the Hotel Biltmore, New York, and the work of many volunteers, who have been giving their time free to the expedition. The cash expenditures already paid or to be incurred were given out in September as follows: —

Dollars. City of New York 40,000 Eleanor Bolling 34,000 Salaries for crew and scientists, twenty-six men, for two years, an average of 1411 dollars per man 00,000 Additional food to that donated 30,000 A Fairchild cabin monoplane and a Fokker Super-Universal, both ■' with Wasp 400-horse-power motors, including extra parts. spare starters, compasses, and cost of crating and handling .. 75,000 Tractors and heavy sled equipment 15,000 100 dogs 3,500 Food for dogs 8,000 Sleighs and other dog equipment .. 3,000 Specially designed Alaskan reindeer clothing 8,000 Library, scientific, and general works 1,000 Special footwear, skis, and snowshoes 5'929 Additional scientific instruments 5.000 Additional mechanical tools .... 1,500 Radio equipment 22,000 Medical supplies 1,000 Tents of special design 1,000 Total 243,000

There are still a great many items and services to be paid for, including freight charges on stores and equipment to New Zealand, reconditioning the ships, etc.

EXPEDITION’S LEADER A DISTINGUISHED NAVAL FLYER COMMANDER BYRD’S ADVENTURES The distinguished leader of the expedition, Commander Richard Evelyn Byrd, who is about 40 years of age, is the second son of Richard Evelyn Byrd, lawyer, of Richmond, Virginia. He is married and has one child. He entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis in June 1908 and has now completed over 20 years of service. He is one of the three brothers known to their friends as Tom, Dick, and Harry. Thomas, the youngest, served in the United States Expeditionary Force during the Great War and gained his captaincy on the Hindenburg Line in 1918. Henry, the eldest, is at present Governor of the State of Virginia. Learning to Fly. Richard Byrd tells of his first aerial adventure in his book “Skyward.” It happened in the Annapolis gymnasium when he was captain of the navy gym. team which was out to win the intercollegiate championship of the year. “In line with *this ambition,” he writes, “I developed a hair-raising stunt on the flying rings.” Byrd crashed in carrying this out and badly damaged an ankle and foot, the same foot as he had broken playing football against Princeton. That was in December, 1911. Byrd’s team won the championship, but he missed his semi-annual examination. He was due to graduate in June, 1912. “For five months I wrestled with nature on one hand and with the spectre of academic failure on the other.” After a great struggle he graduated and went to sea as a junior officer for five years. His damaged foot troubled him greatly during all that time. “The navy regulations would not allow my promotion on account of my injury. I was retired on three-quarters pay; ordered home for good. Career ended, not enough income to live on; no chance of coming back; trained for a seafaring profession; temperamentally disinclined for business, A fizzle. Then war. War did a lot;of things for a lot of men. In a sense it saved me. Washington used me to mobilise the Rhode Island State Militia. Thence I was promoted to a swivel-chair job in the Navy Department. I transferred enlisted men from station to station and official papers from basket to basket. . . . For several years I had known my one chance to escape from a life of inaction was to learn to fly. I had wanted to fly, but my leg and obligations prevented me.” At last in the autumn of 1917 Byrd, then on the verge of a nervous breakdown, was ordered to Pensacola, Florida, for instruction. 'He quickly learned to fly, and when the time came “I passed ail tests with flying colours, was pronounced in perfect health, and have been so ever since.” Vi First Trans-Atlantic Flight.

In the spring of 1918, Byrd conceived the idea of flying across the Atlantic to deliver the NCI, the largest flying-boat ever built, to the commander-in-chief in Europe. He applied for the job, but on August 12 he was sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia, as commanding officer of the United States Air Station, to be established there, and remained in charge till it was disbanded after the armistice. TJien the Navy Department set about organising the trans-Atlantic flight project, which was officially approved on February 6, 1919. Byrd and seven other officers were appointed to the trans-Atlantic flight section of the Bureau of Aeronautics, which carried out all the preparations. On May 8, 1919, the three great seaplanes, N.C.I, N.C.B, and N.C.4, left Rockaway, Long Island, on the first stage of the flight. Byrd was permitted to fly with the commanding officer in the N.C.3 as far as Trepassey, Newfoundland, in charge of the navigational instruments. The N.C.4; in charge of Lieut.-Comman-der A. C. Read alone completed the trans-Atlantic flight, *via the Azores and Lisbon to Plymouth. Airship Disaster Missed. For the next two years Byrd spent much time assisting in the establishment of a Bureau of Aeronautics in the Navy Department. In July, 1921, he officially asked for permission to make a non-stop flight alone across the Atlantic. This was refused, and Byrd was then appointed to go to England to join airship ZR2, which had been purchased by America. He reached London on, August 20, 1921. but missed the train to Howden, an accident which paved, his life. On August 23,' the ZR2, while making a trial flight, broke in two, caught.fire, and fellinto the Humber River, ' near Hull, only five being saved out of her crew of 50 American and British officers and men. Byrd Turns Explorer. After his return to America Byrd assisted in the setting up of , several reserve air stations, and in 1924 was promoted by special Act of Congress, to LieutenantCommander. He then set about planning an Arctic air expedition, and joined forces with Donald B. MacMillan. With two ships and three seaplanes, the expedition arrived on August 1,1925, at Etah, North Greenland, Byrd being in command of the naval unit which was to do the flying. After the ’planes were ready for flight, there were but fifteen days of “summer” in which to accomplish their mission. More than half that time was dangerous for flying, yet t the explorers flew more than 5000 miles,' and saw 30,000 square miles of the Arctic region, much of which had never before been seen by human eyes. One flight was over the great Greenland iee-can. one of the wonders of the world, 1500 miles long by 500 miles wide. The expedition returned to New York on October 1, 1925. First Flight to the North Pole. In January, 1926, Byrd set about preparing for a flight to the North Pole in

collaboration with Floyd Bennett, a navy mechanic whom he had discovered in the Greenland expedition. On April o they left New York, fully equipped, in the steamer Chantier, with 50 volunteers all young naval reservists. Byrd and Bennett had selected a Fokker three-engmed monoplane with 200 h.p. Wright motors. It had already flown 20,000 miles. The ’plane had a wing spread of b3tt. din., and was 42ft. 9iu. long in body, somewhat smaller than the Southern Cross. It was named Josephine I'ord, in honour of the three-year-old daughter ot Ldsel Ford (only son of Henry Ford), who had taken a great interest in the expedition. Arriving at King’s Bay, Spitsbergen, on April 29, 1926, Byrd found the Amundsen-Ellsworth-Nobile expedition awaiting the airship Norge, in which they subsequently flew over the North I ole to Alaska. After very great difficulties Byrd and his men landed their plane and got it ready for the great flight. The Josephine Ford was fitted with skis instead of wheels, for taking off and landing on. At 0.30 a.m. on M.iy 8, Byrd and Bennett took off in the Josephinei J< ord, carrying a load of nearly IO.OOOIb. (4 J tons). “At 9.02 a.m., May 9, 1926. Greenwich civil time, our calculations showed us to be at the Pole! The of a lifetime had at last been realised.. Throughout the flight, which was made in bright sunshine, Byrd navigated by means of the sextant and his own compasses. “We headed to the right to take two confirming sights of tj ie • I ; un ’ “>en turned and took two more. The plane then went on for several miles and made another larger circle “to be sure to take in the Pole.” At 9.15 a.m. they headed for Spitsbergen, and speeding at over 100 miles an hour, they landed at Kings Bay about 4 p.m.. having flown to the North Pole and back, about 1600 miles, in barely 16 hours. Trans-Atlantic Flight. Just over twelve months later Byrd s ambition, cherished for twelve years, to fly the Atlantic, was realised. Backed by Mr. Rodman Wanamaker, Byrd was able to get everything he needed. A three-en-gined Fokker monoplane, named America, was built by the Atlantic Aircraft Corporation and fitted with everything that experience and foresight could suggest to ensure success. The ’plane had a wing spread of 71ft. (the same as the Southern Cross) and was built to carry a load of 13,0001 b. (nearly five tons). Anthony Fokker, the designer, with Byrd, Bennett and Noville as passengers, took it up for a test flight in April, 1927, but it turned over and was rather badly damaged in landing. Byrd’s arm was broken, and Bennett’s leg fractured, the latter being unable - to make the Atlantic flight. Early in the morning of June 29, 1927, the America started on her flight. With Byrd were Bert Acosta. George O. Noville and Lieut. Bernt Balchen (the Norwegian pilot, who is a member of the Antarctic expedition). With a load of over 15,0001 b. (over 6J tons) the America safely took off from Roosevelt Field, and passing over Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, headed out across the Atlantic. Two radio messages from Byrd were picked up by Maitland and Hegenberger on their first successful flight from San Francisco to Honolulu. All the way across the Atlantic the America encountered dense fogs and after 2000 miles of blind flying sighted a lighthouse on the north coast of France. Over Paris a bad storm was run into, and finally after 42 hours in the air Balchen had to land the ’plane in the sea near the lighthouse at Ver-sur-ner. The ’plane was badly damaged, and Acosta broke his collar-bone, but all got ashore safely. The fliers had a tremendous reception in Paris, and Byrd, already a national hero, was accorded a marvellous welcome on his return to the United States, where he immediately set about preparing for his great Antarctic adventure.