BYRD'S PLANS

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 121, 28 November 1928, Page 12

BYRD'S PLANS

18 MONTHS ON THE ICE THE EXAMPLE OF SCOTT CO-OPERATIVE WORKERS (By Telegraph.) (Special to "The Evening Post.") DUNEDIN, This Day. . Provided the ice reports from the whaling ships in the Ross Sea are favourable, tho barque the City of Now York, with Commander Byrd and fifty members of his expedition on board, will leave Dunedin on Friday direct for tho Bay of Whales in the Antarctic. "We will bo on tho ice foi a year and a'half," said Commander Byrd. He had expressed the hope at one stage that if th'o conditions on tho ice plateau were propitious he would be able to do all the planned iiying in a few months, and with success achieved return to civilisation again before tho darkness settled over the Antarctic for the long winter. However, that plan or hope has now ,been definitely abandoned. He emphasised again that the expedition is not a dash or "stunt" exploit, but an expedition for bcientifie exploration. Tho second supply ship, the Eleanor Boiling, will stay in Dunedin till about Christmas, when she will sail for the south. Should the ice barrier of the Ross Sea provide a good passage, the steamer should be back in Dunedin thirty-five days later, and is expected to reach the base camp again on Ist March with the remainder of the supplies and equipmeut. With the City of New York, the Eleanor Boiling will then return to winter quarters at Dunedin, and will leave again at the breaking of the pack ice in the early summer of 1929, with fresh provisions for the ice party. Dr. Coman, in an interview, said: "There will be perils of ice, of sea, and of air, there will be perils of distance isolation and loneliness; but all these are to be surmounted as Scott surmounted them. We believe that there is so little difference between the Americans aiid the British, who are so closely connected, that we can go ahead and do what Scott did; in other words, we will follow the example of Scott. "Scott's example really started this expedition, and his memory and his deeds are getting the men ready to prove anything." Every man,' said Dr. Coman, was straining at his lashings so us to get on the ice. The co-operation was wonderful on tho trip. Every man had to perform tho most menial duties, and when tho cook or some other man asked another member to do something, he did not take the request offensively or as an order. The men pulled as one. LIFE OF ADVENTURE. The cook, A. B. Creagh, has had a remarkable career. At .eleven years of age he ran away to sea, and now at the age of forty-five years ,he has seen every country in the world save the Antarctic, and has packed into his life more adventure than the average man would think possible. Before the war he served with the French Foreign Legion in Algiers, Marseilles, and Egypt. When the war broke out he joined tho British Royal Flying Corps, and having been wounded in an air battle over the Somme ho was discharged in 1910, but he had not had a surfeit of adventure.' Returning to the United States, he enlisted with tho First Division of the Fifth Field Artillery, and sailed for France. Two days before tho Armistice' he was knocked out of action. According to some of tho greatest bono surgeons who served with tho army, he is a marvel in that he is rejuvenated by a most perfect piece of, surgery. Ho has a silver knee cap which gives the same action as a perfect joint. His back was also broken, and for eighteen months he was in a plaster splint. This adventuresome man declares that he is Al physically. NAMES OF ICE PARTY. For the first time the ■ personnel of tho expedition which will go to the ice was released to-day. The members who will stay on the ice during the winter have not yet been selected. The full list is as follows:—Richard E. Byrd, commander, U.S.N.; Richard G. Brophy, second in command; Frederick C. Melville, master of the City of New York; Gustav L. Brown, master of the Eleanor Boiling; Harry R. King, mate; Joe De Ganohl, mate; Harry Adams, mate; Charles J. M'Guinness, mate; Thomas B. Mulroy, chief engineer; Frank M'Pliorson, chief engineer;. John Cody, assistant engineer; Elbert J. Thawloy, assistant engineer; Esmond'e M. O'Brien, assistant engineer; John J. Bayer, assistant engineer; Malcolm P. Hanson, radio engineer; Lloyd V. Berkner, radio operator; Howard F. Mason, radio operator; Carl O. Petersen, radio operator; Lloyd K. Grenlie, radio operator; John L. Sutton, engineer department; Leland L. Barter, engineer department; Carroll B. Foster, engineer department; Arnold H. Clark, engineer department; John Olson, engineer department; George Siogren, engineer department; Arthur Berlin, engineer department; James A. Feury, engineer department; E. Erickson, seaman; Sydney Greason, commissary department; George W. Tennant, cook; Arthur B. Creagh, cook;' Louis . Reiehart, cook; Ralph Donnison, cook; Richard W. Konter, assistant steward; Clair D. Alexander, supply officer; William C. Haines, meteorologist; Henry T. Haririson, junr., aerologist; Dr. Francis D. Coman, medical director; Dr. Haldol- D. Barnes, assistant physician; Laurence M. Gould, geographer and gpologist; Ashley C. M'Kinley, aerial photographer; John S. O'Brien, surveyor; Charles E. Lofgren, personnel (officer; Russell Owen, newspaper ■ correspondent, "New York Times"; Willard Van Der Veer, motion picture photographer; Joseph T. Ruckcr, motion picture photographer; Martin Ronne, sailmaker; John Jacobson, sailmnkcr; Ralph F. Shropshire, hydrographcr; Bernt.Balchen, pilot; Dean Smith, pilot; Harold I. June, pilot; Alton N. Parker, pilot; Benjamin Roth, aviation mechanic; E. J. Demas, aviation mechanic," Jerry de Cccca, .aviation mechanic; Kennnrd F. Bubier, aviation mechanic; Arthur T. Wnldcn, in charge of dog teams; Norman D. 'Vaughan, dog driver; Edward .10. Goodalc, dog driver; Frederick ,E. Crockett, dog driver; Charles L. Kessler, seamanship division; John Buys, seamanship division; E. Edward Roos, seamanship division; George H. Black, seamanship division and tractor operator; Jacob Burs'ey, seamanship division and dog driver; Anson AY. Perkins, seamanship division; Paul A. Siplc, seamanship division (Boy Scout); George A. Thome, junr., seamanship division and ski man; I Cristoffer Braathen, seamanship division and ski man; Bendik Johansen, ice pilot; Everre Strom, boatswain; Prank R. Fritzon, seaman; Lyle Womack, seaman; Quin A. Blackburn, topographer; Victor H. Czegka, machinist; Frank T. Davies, physicist and glaciologist; Charles F. Gould, carpenter; Bochning, seaman; and Darling, seaman. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) DUNEDIN, 27th Nov. Commander Byrd will be givei a civic reception on Thursday, and expects to sail by the City of New York on the following day. The crews of both ves,sols will make :> pilgrimage to the cairn above Port Chalmers, and the. monument '.erected in memory of Captain Scott and his four companions who\perished in an *_-_tatctic-, blizzard-