AMUNDSEN’S ADVENTURE

Evening Star, Issue 18035, 1 August 1922, Page 4

AMUNDSEN’S ADVENTURE

FLIGHT' TO THE POLE.

TO BE ATTEMPTED NEXT JUNE,

Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright.

LONDON, July 30,

(Received August 1, at 8.55 a.m.)

Tho 'following wireless was received from Captain Amundsen from Nome (Alaska) on July 28 : Just returned to our position from Point Lay, where wo found the ice broken up. In order to save time the Maud will proceed from Point Hope to her drift across tho polar basin, while Omdal, Lund, and myself will go aboard) an American schooner (to which the big

aeroplane has already been transferred) to Point Barrow. On account of the advanced season and the unfavorable con-

ditions, our flight across the polar basin may .be postponed till Juno next, in which case Lund and myself will winter at Point Barrow. Ask the Spitsbergen authorities to keep in touch with tho Maud. All well.

—A. and~N.Z. Cable, (Received August 1, at 10 a.m'.)

Later radio messages, from Amundsen state that bad weather has caused! him to postpone his. aeroplane flight across the North Pole until next year.—A. and N.Z. Cable. TO THE POLE BY PLANE. Aviation will play a capital part in Captain Roald Amundsen’s polar expedition of this year. It is a renewal of his attempt to drift over the Polo with the ice pack, but as it is very unlikely that iiis vessel will go precisely over tho .end of the earth’s axis, ho counts on getting there by a, side trip, using an airplane from the nearest point. Outfitted and provisioned for a seven-year cruise, the power schooner Maud left Puget Sound early this month with. Captain Amundsen and a crow of picked men. The Maud carries with it two airplanes, one of which is to be utilised, if necessary, for the final dash to tho Polo and l return. Says Lawrence W. Pedroso in''Popular Mechanics ’ (Chiago): “Financed by tho Government of Norway, Captain ’Amundsen loft Christiania in ’July, 1918, and entered the Arctic through Behring Strait in the fall of tho same year, intending to freeze in with the ice pack and drift across The polar sea. Tho Aland lost its propeller near Cape Sergo, Siberia, in October, 1921.' Short of supplies, Captain Amundsen returned to Nome, Alaska, and from there came to tho United States.

“ Returning, to Norway, Captain 'Amundsen perfected plans to continue his search for the North Pole. Then ho procured the services of a Norwegian army flight officer t-o pilot the airplane, an all-steel plane, obtained in New York, which held tho endurance record, having made a non-stop flight of 2,400 miles a few months previously. Because of its bulk tho machine was to bo flown across the- American ontinent before being dismantled) and stowed away in the Maud; Unfortunately it was wrecked on tho trip, but this did not alter Amundsen’s plans, and the largepiano will be able to take the whole crew out of the Arctic should! the ship be crushed in tho ice.

“Another modern invention, with which the ship will be equipped, is a long-range adiophone outfit, and it is not beyond tho bounds of possibility that this Arctic voyage, far from being tho lonesome venture of earlier explorers, will bo relieved by frequent exchange of news or _ other information with the centres-of civilisation. “ Although, provisions enough to last seven years are carried, Captain Amundsen believes his ship will emerge in the Atlantic Ocean within three to five years. It is expected the ship will reach a point nearest the Pole in tho early eptfng of 1924. With the Maud as a- base for operations, the big plane will -then be brought into use for the final dash to the North Pole, while the other plane, a Curtiss Orioio type, christened the Kristina before it was delivered to the explorer at Curtiss Field, on April 6, will be used for scouting purposes and -other incidental service. It is equipped with an electric self : starter, can stay in the air seven hours, and like its mother ship will fly the Nor-

wegian colors.”