ANTARCTIC ROTARIANS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 49, 21 November 1928, Page 13

ANTARCTIC ROTARIANS

COMMANDER BYRD ENTERTAINED A GOOD-WILL OFFER Rousing cheers and the singing of the .Maori version of “For They are Jollv Good Fellows” greeted Commander R. E. Byrd, Lieut R. Shropshire, Mr. C. Lofgren and Mi. Mil laid Van der Veer, who were the chief guests of the Rotary Club at luncheon J. McGowan, who presided, said that it was a proud privilege to introduce Commander Byrd and his men. The gathering was a truly international one, Rotarians from scleral parts of New Zealand, from Australia, Canada, the United States and Britain being introduced. _ “On behalf of my shipmates and myself,” said Commander Byrd, 1 thank you for your welcome and hospitality. As a Rotarian of Winchester. Virginia, I have the right to call you all by your first names. i carried a Rotary flag with me on my flight to the Foie and was proud to do it. (Applause.) If jou will present me with a flag, I will carry it with me down South (Loud applause.) I shall be proud to do that because I have found that Rotary always stands for progress in the right direction and for the promotion of goodfellowship and goodwill between countries. (Applause.) I brlllg greetings from the Rotary clubs of the United States.” (Applause.) Keeping Fit. Referring to the expedition, Commander Byrd said he wished Mr. Harison Cook would volunteer to go South with them to keep them amuscd during the long winter night. (Laughter.) He had had that morning the pleasure of meeting Sn Dot g las Mawson, who was a great scientist and whose book, “The Home of the Blizzard,” had been their Bible as far as their scientific preparations find the weather conditions they would meet were concerned. The average wind velocity recorded by Mawsoils expedition for two years was 51 nines an hour. At times gusts up to 200 miles an hour had been experienced. Commander Byrd said they would not get winds anything like so strong as that at the Bay of Whales, but their houses had been designed to withstand such winds. One of the most difficult things in the Antarctic was to keep their feet and hands in good condition. The shore party would be equipped with reindeer skin boots, the bottoms of which were made of tough sealskin. The boots were of big sizes and very roomy, as it had been proved over and over again that any tight-fitting where there was any moisture caused frost-bite at once. Many men had lost their lives in the polar regions through frozen feet. It was often difficult to realise that feet were frozen, as at the first touch there was a warm numb feeling and the tendency was for men to keep on going without realising that frost-bite had started Woollen socks would be worn inside the boots, but it was impossible to avoid moisture getting through when on the march. To minimise its effect they put sennegras., in the boots to form a padding and absorb the moisture. The grass could afterwards be thrown away or dried out. They had also to take special precautions to keep their hands from getting frostbitten. Commander Byrd went on to describe their plans for getting back safely to the base in the event of any of their ’planes having to make a forced landing. In the big ’plane for the Polar flight they would carry a specially constructed band sledge, flexible and strong, with Norwegian skis fitted as runners. With fair luck it would be possible to get back 300 miles. They would carry four months’ food supply, including chocolate, powdered milk, tea, pemmican. Other gear in the ’plane would include a tent for three men. a primus stove and reindeer sleeping bags. Prevention of Scurvy. At the base one big problem would be to prevent scurvy among the personnel. One thousand men . had lost their lives in trying to reach the North Pole and many of them had died from scurvy. With plenty of fresh meat there was little chance of getting scurvy. The Eskimos of North Greenland lived, as they had done for thousands of years, on meat, yet they kept quite healthy. Immediately on landing at the Bay of Whales, a party would set to work to kill a large supply of seal meat. Commander Byrd said that a company which had developed insulin had given them a supply of powder, containing a large proportion of vitamin C, but they would not trust to this to prevent scurvy. It had been the e perience of previous expeditions that some discomfort had been caused by the entire lack of sunlight during the long winter months. They were taking special electric lamps which gave a light very like that of the sun’s rays, and they would give these a good try-out. Expedition Personnel. Mr. C. Lofgren, personal secretary to Commander Byrd, who was called upon for a speech, gave some interesting facts about the personnel of the expedition, which numbered 81. The oldest man was their sailmaker, a veteran of Amundsen’s Antarctic Expedition, who was 65; and the youngest was not the Boy Scout, but a lad of 18, who had been accepted as a member after stowing away in their ships three times. ’They had 17 men who had been in Commander Byrd's North Pole expedition, and the United States Navy, Marine Corps, nd Army was represented by 25 men. the Navy being in the ascendancy. Several members of the expedition were not American citizens. There were several Norwegians, and Professor Davies, their physicist and glaciologist, a Welshman, familiarly known as “Taffy,” could be said to be truly representative of the British Empire. (Applause.) The singing of a verse of the British and American National Anthems concluded a memorable function.