OUT OF ICE PACK

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 79, 27 December 1928, Page 9

OUT OF ICE PACK

MESSAGE FROM BYRD EXPEDITION CITY OF NEW YORK IN CALN SEA PATHWAY MADE BY BIG WHALER A message from the Byrd expedition states that the City of New York is sailing along in a calm sea, having been towed through the. pack ice by the C. A. Larsen in Seven and a half days. The weather is fine and the barometer high.(United Press Association.— By ■ Electric Telegraph.—<*o(>yrlgbl. I (Copyright—From the Byrd Expedition.) (Rec. December 26, 9 p.m.) Ross Sea, December 23. Mr. Russell Owen, on board the City of New York, in the Ross Sea, writes:—We are out-of the ice pack, sailing along in a calm sea, blue sky overhead, and the sun so warm that we can stay on deck without hat or gloves and not feel uncomfortable. The pack is behind us, and only one iceberg shows to the .east, shining white in the sun. And, oddly enough in this lonely sea, we see the smoke of a ship on the horizon. It is one ‘of those whalers which come here each year. AU the way. across the Pacific we did not see a single ship, and now We have three large ships' and' fifteen small chasers moving about within a hundred miles 'of us.

We came through the pack in seven and a half days,-towed by the C. A. Larsen, the big whaler which brought Commander-'Byrd and some of .his men from California to New Zealand. We have been towed nearly two thousand miles. The C. A. Larsen, of 17,000 tons, goes Uirbugh the ice every year, and "we were fortunate in being able to use the pathway it left ahead when its powerful engines forced aside ice which .we could not have bucked. As a result we came- through quickly and easily, using very little coal, and if the good weather holds we should be at- the' Barrier several days before it has been reached by the other expeditions. We:, hope; to be at Discovery -Inlet, in the ice barrier, on Christmas' night:, but we do not know bow much- ice - lies between-iis and that point. ' The barometer is high and steady for the first time, and we hope it will stay there. (Rec. December 26, 10 p.m.) Last Day in the Pack;, Our last day in the pack was one of the most interesting of-the'entire trip. The ice was heavy, and with all our manoeuvring we could not avoid some violent collisions. Once we slided up to a huge floe and scraped along it, trying to go round the corner, but nearly knocked off our port lifeboat against the top. We had several false alarms of sea ahead, and when we actually did meet the edge of the pack it came upon us so suddenly that we were taken by surprise. This was due to several reasons, the most important of which was the peculiar alignment of the bergs along its edge. For some time before we reached tlie bergs we had seen them outlined against the sky and wondered at their cause. They stretched to the right and left of us as far as we could see—small table bergs, with perfectly flat tops, which rose about thirty feet above the water. They formed a perfect natural wall, which reminded one of the Great Wall of China. As we drew nearer we could see the dark water between some of them, and realised that we were only a few miles from open water. The heavy bergs had completely stopped the swell which usually warns that the edge of the pack is near, although we learned when we had passed through them that Ross Sea was almost as calm as Long Island Sound on a pleasant summer day. As we drew-abreast of this ice rampart, through an opening between the two largest bergs, we began to rise and fall on a little swelL and we were outside in the midst of mushy ice that was to seaward of the bergs for upwards of a mile. Pleasant Sight of Ross Sea. Before us lay the smiling smooth’ surface of Ross Sea, which after the storms of the higher latitudes and the threatening pack ice was the pleasantest sight we had ever looked upon. We turned to look back at the pack, and that grim white wall of bergs was even more imposing from the open water. Beyond them was an unbroken stretch of white, and the passage through which we had come might almost have- had written upon it, “Abandon hope all" ye who enter here,” so desolate it looked. ■ . The Captain of the Whaler. After our swift release the Larsen cut us off and in a short time little chasers were dashing away, stretching out like skirmishers - looking for whales. In not more than an hour there was' the banging of a gun to windward and the fishing had begun. Again Captain Nilsen, of the C. A. Larsen, came aboard the City of New York for a moment to bid Commander Byrd good-bye and wish him luck, and we toasted him as one of the finest sportsmen and friends any one could wish in these forsaken waters. Busy as he has been he has found time to give us good advice and help us in innumerable ways which did not interfere with his operations. All Hands Thriving on Whale Meat. Captain Nilsen has given us a lot of whale meat, which has been a welcome addition to our fresh meat supply, and we have had it in almost every form George Tennant, our cook, could devise. It seems to be best cut thin and fried, or chopped up with onions in meat balls. It is tender and as good meat as one could desire. About two tons. of it is hung in our rigging, and some will be dried for use on the trail. It : is fed to the dogs as well as the crew, and all are thriving on it. “Pass the whale” is oue of tlie phrases at mess at which we have long ceased to laugh. Captain Nilsen was of opinion that the berg barrier at the edge of the icepack, which he-had never seen before, was due to the breaking off of a large but low piece of the barrier ice, which had floated to the edge of the pack before disintegrating.