DRIVEN FROM BAY OF WHALES

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 131, 27 February 1929, Page 11

DRIVEN FROM BAY OF WHALES

CITY OF NEW YORK LEAVES FOR NEW ZEALAND

QUICKLY-FREEZING SEA COMPELS DECISION

EXCITING EXPERIENCES IN STORM (By Russell Owen.—Special to “New York Times.”) (United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright) (United Serviced Bay of Whales, February 23. The City of New York has left for New Zealand, and, if the Eleanor Billing should be turned back by the ice, our little group on the barrier will be beyond reach except by radio until next December.

It was with strangely mixed feelings that we stood on the edge of the bay ic yesterday and watched the tall white ship move slowly away and disappear in the mists northward. We felt alone, as if for the first time it were possible to realise how far away we were from the normal life of home, and yet we were glad that this part of ’’ work was safely finished. Why Decision Was Made. Commander Byrd made the decision to send the ship back after sailing to the north-east to get soundings in uncharted waters, and incidentally to lay bases on the barrier for the flight next year. He was driven back'by a severe storm, and there were so many indications that the sea,would soon freeze over that he merely tied the ship,up long enough to get. his last personal effects ashore, and then sent her on the long journey back through the storms ' low latitudes.

The storm which checked his progress northward was the worst yet experienced down here, the wind blowing 50 miles an hour and lashing the waves into a spray which froze before it fell back into the sea or on deck. These high winds existed outside, while there was a comparative calm at the base on the barrier, and the City of New York struck bad weather as soon as she pushed past the capes. It swept down off the barrier in chilling gusts which drove the temperature down to 29 below. The cold air created a dense, low-hanging gloom of frost smoke which swirled almost as high as the ship’s masts and made an impenetrable curtain through which the look-out could see barely a hundred yards ahead. With big cakes of ice and small bergs floating about, the condition was disconcerting. The wind became stronger as the ship went farther north, and finally froze-the surface of the water into a sort of slush through which it was difficult to force a way. The tops of the waves broke, and as they were whipped into the air frozeand fell, back into the sea as ice. In a short time vast areas of glasslike mush ii had been formed several inches thick, and the waves rolled under it so that the surface of the sea undulated like a living thing that clutched at the sides of the vessel. Some Anxious Moments. The commander determined to turn back, but when the attempt was made to tack, it was found that the ice had frozen around the. rudder so thickly that it became jammed. With icecutters bound on long poles the men cut and chopped around the rudder-post through a hole in the deck until the rudder could be freed, but even then the turn had to be made very slowly. The men’s faces froze, and their hands and feet were nipped as they worked. Dr. Coman, on the look-out on the forecastle head, w.°s caked in an ice armour as the spray froze on his clothes. In the midst of this turmoil things began to go’ wrong below. The steam valve in the boiler room froze in the cold draught that came down below, but fortunately the one in the engine room stayed warm. Then a gasket blew out, and later the high-pressure valve slipped. They were quickly repaired, but without engine power the ship was almost helpless for a time.

[Copyrighted 1928 by "New fork Times” Company and "St. Louis Post-Dispatch.” All rights for publication reserved throughout the world.l