FINAL SUCCESS ANTARCTIC CROSSING

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 15, 18 January 1936, Page 9

FINAL SUCCESS

ANTARCTIC CROSSING

EXPLORER'S PREVIOUS EFFORTS

The newest flight of Mr. Lincoln Ellsworth across Antarctic wastes commenced on November 23 at 8.3 a.m. Greenwich time, the machine used being the Polar Star, in which he had previously essayed to cross the frozen continent. After ,4.5 p.m., according to advice received from Dundee Island, no further communication was received from Ellsworth, a silence which puzzled everyone, as the machine was equipped with radio, including an emergency apparatus for use if it landed; Since then complete silence has enwrapped the aviators, who previously had sent frequent wireless messages.

These messages included a report, at 11.45 a.m., of sighting the Lurabee Channel and Stefansson Strait from an altitude of 13,000 feet, and of the fact that, despite some fog, flying conditions had been good enough for favourable progress. The machine had then been maintaining a speed of about 125 miles an hour. ' From that moment forward there came reports of sighting new mountains and of positions already, charted, the airmen adding at one time that there were "a lot of places" where a landing would be possible. OVEE A TOWERING RANGE. The distance to the Bay cf Whales from Ellsworth's starting point, along the Great Circle course, is about 2140 miles, and high altitudes are necessary in order to cross the towering mountain ranges which exist there. The average speed of the Polar Star was expected to make the flight possible in 20 hours, and Ellsworth was known at,the time the messages ceased to. have been in the air for less than half that time. He was equipped with ample fuel for the flight and with provisions for some time in case of necessity. The Wyatt Earp, his ship, was under instructions to proceed to the Bay of Whales and await him there, but has been raced by the Discovery 11, which was made available for the search through the co-operative action of the Empire Governments. THE FIRST EFFORTS. Ellsworth's flight across Antarctica followed an ynsuccessful effort on November 20, when, after a very favourable start, Hollick-Kenyon turned to Ellsworth and handed him a note stating that they would have to return because of a slight leak in the fuel line which he feared might become worse. Then it was discovered that the fuel gauge had broken, and the machine was turned about after having been less than two hours in th,e air and was flown back to a spot near the starting-point. From the time when the aviators were six hours out they expected to be flying in unknown territory, and after passing the 80th meridian they intended to drop an American flag, claiming the area they discovered up to the 120 th meridian for the United States.

At the end of 1934 Ellsworth was in the Antarctic awaiting an opportunity to cross the continent by air. On that occasion, he was forced to abandon the attempt as the aeroplane was damaged in a storm.