ICEBERGS PASSED

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 144, 15 December 1933, Page 9

ICEBERGS PASSED

FIRST SIGHT THRILLS

ELLSWORTH IN ANTARCTIC

LIFE OX WYATT EAKP

(Special to United Press Association. — • By Radio, from Lincoln Ellsworth.) (Received December 15, 10 a.m.) WYATT EAEP .(at Sea), Dec. 14. "Today at 5 p.m. we sighted icebergs, one on either side in latitude C3deg 17min south, longitude 174deg 6min east. They were some distance off and appeared to be more than a quarter of a mile long, with- rugged surfaces. They wero my first contact with the Antarctic, and I was thrilled. They awakened thoughts of danger, but since it is light the whole night through now, we expect easily to avoid them. "This morning- we .had the first snow squall. The temperature is now one degree below freezing. The hospitable weather of yesterday has passed, probably until our return from the Bay of Whales. Today heavy clothes were issued to the men. Although the seasons are reversed in latitudes south of the Equator and it is almost midsummer with us, it is difficult to associate midsummer conditions in any latitude with the weather conditions we are now experiencing. "To the crew of seasoned old whalers aboard, used as they arc to going down to the seas in small ships, we are having a remarkably fine passage. 'Fine weather; someone aboard must be carrying a rabbit's foot,' remarked one of' the crew, but my memory of the jerky roll of tho ship at meal times and when Balchen's plate, loaded with pork, potatoes, peas, preserves, and gravy, suddenly catapulted off the table opposite and struck me square in the chest, remained too vivid for me to agree. "Our little wild pig has fouud his sea legs and, as regular as the watches change every four hours, he leaves his box to run up and down, the passageway, pausing at my cabin door to squeal at the top of his lungs for food and still more food. "Having sighted icebergs, we wonder if the pack ice is far off. If we meet it too early, it means a long delay in getting through, and wo haven't too much time, for we must leave the Barrier before the end of February or get frozen in. The history of ships getting through the ice pack is interesting. Iv January, 1908, the Nimrod, encountering no pack ice, made the passage.in twelve hours. In 1896 the Erebus, entering the pack on December 18, took 44 days to get through 800 miles of pack ice. In 1896 the Southern Cross got through in 48 days after entering the pack on December 30. The Norwegian whalers contend that the best place for entering the pack is between 175deg and 189deg east longitude. I have set a course for 175deg and, if necessary, will work further eastwards."