SOUTHWARD BOUND

Evening Star, Issue 21619, 15 January 1934, Page 3

SOUTHWARD BOUND

THE BEAR OF OAKLAND A LENGTHY PASSAGE TO. RENDEZVOUS IN ANTARCTICA The long voyage of Rear-admiral. 11. C. Byrd’s supply ship, the Bear of Oakland, from Boston to Little America in the',.-Antarctic was advanced a stage further, on Saturday; evening, when the vessel' reached Dunedin to load addiional expedition equipment. She arrived off the Heads early ,in the evening, and was later boarded by the Harbour Board’s; pilot, Captaux'.Page, who brought- her -up to a berth at • wharf. , ' ' ‘ * As. sho. steamed., up- the Victoria channel she was saluted By cheers from small knots of people -bn. the roadside,, and? tiie- men grouped-about t the deck exchanged greetings with, those ashore. Her progress was - slow against the ebb tide, and it was about 7 o'clock before afce came in view of . the small crowd which had'assembled on the wharf. As she,approached her berth one was impressed by her solid construction and the evidence of encounters? with the Arctic 'ice' in her 'scarred sides. When the .vessel was being swung into her berth‘the last rays of the setting sun illuminated in sharp_ relief her masts and spars, with, their neatlyfurled; sails and the intricate maze of standing and . running figging. From the foremast fluttered the red ensign of New Zealand,‘flown as a compliment to. the dominion, andthe Stars and Stripes flew from. the peak. . On her stem, beneath the bowsprit,, is- the figurehead, appropriately, enough a polar boar. Mounted on '6fldv quarter of the poop is a light quick-firing gun, relics of her Ipng service in the United Mates Coastguard service. The. members of the ship’s company are typical specimens of. . American, manhood. Young and energetic, they are, deeply interested in their respective branches of the work. BOSTON TO WELLINGTON. The Bear of Oakland left Boston September 25, and after being dryclocked at Newport News she sailed from Hampton Roads on November 1. A brief stay was made at the Panama Canal, and the little ship then headed out on her long run across the Pacific, .her'v scientific staff carrying out a prearranged programme of deep-sea soundings -and. .other.. oceanographical work bn the way to New Zealand. About the middle' of December the Bear of .Oakland; called at Papeete, Tahiti, where she took in sufficient coal, to bring her to New Zealand. after leaving Papeete on December 17 two young stowaways were found on board, and the ship put back and landed them. Had it not been for this delay it is probable , that ■ -the ship would have escaped. the southerly gale that beset her on the New Zealand coast, and have reached Wellington at least a week earlier. , The Bear of Oakland had a good run down to New Zealand from Tahiti, making her/landfall at East Cape. She was nearly..,abeam oL Mahja Peninsula !at the northern end of Hawke s Bay 'when she encountered the violent southerly gale which swept the dominion during Christmas week. For a time she battled hard against the gale and the high seas, but finally had to run for shelter to Hicks Bay, to the westward of East Cape. To illustrate the force of the gale. Lieutenant English said that while running for shelter, the ■Bear- passed tjbe Golden Eagle battling against the storm. The following day he "asked by wireless what progress had been made. The master of'the Golden Eagle replied that his. ship was in exactly the. same : position in which she had been seen by the Bear of Oakland s 'crew the previous day. The Golden- ■ Eagle had ten times the,'power of the expedition vessel, and could make no ■headway, so the latter could not_ be ■ expected even to; hold her own against the elements. The Bear of Oakland put to sea on New Year’s Day, and for the two .following days she plugged t gainst strong southerly winds and heavy seas. The vessel was flying fight, and her coal supply was running low, so it was decided to put into Napier to replenish the bunkers in order to have a reserve in the event of adverse winds which were ‘ expected, in Cook Strait. One hundred tons of fuel were taken aboard on January 3 and ;4, when the Bear, of Oakland sailed for Wellington. The capital city was reached on January 6, and 1 a varied assortment of supplies was loaded. These included a large number of sides of beef, which were immediately stowed in the refrigerating cham-ber;-tinned foods and vegetables, while a five-ton tractor was also taken aboard. This will be added to the

fleet of snowmobiles and tractors carried by the Jacob Ruppert. While at Wellington a special parachute was also loaded »6n the Bear for the iise of Bernard W. Skinner, an expert and record-holder in line. It has a diameter of 28ft, being of the type speciallv designed for exhibition jumping; There are ten other parachutes on the Jacob Ruppert. These are the or-, dinary emergency packs used by pilots, and are 24ft in diameter. Dr Hilton Wilcox, of the residential staff of the Auckland Hospital, joined th» Bear of Oakland at Wellington. On the trip to the Antarctic he Trill act' as able seaman and medical officer. Dr Wilcox was a member of Admiral Byrd's first expedition to the south.: .. The ship’s company was accorded every hospitality • at Wellington, their Excellencies,' members of the Cabinet, the Harbour Board, and the people were painstaking in their _ efforts to help them to overcome their obstacles. TO DUNEDIN. Wellington was left on Thursday evening, and variable winds were experienced on the trip down the coast, which delayed the arrival several hours, the vessel, arriving off the Heads about 5 pm. The ship’s company is very pleased to be in Duhedinj as it is looked upon as a second home by the members of the previous Byrd expedition. .The members are deeply appreciative of the hospitality; which has already been afforded them, and for the most cordial reception which was accorded them on their arrival. Lieutenant English said that their present stay was necessarily brief, as . they had a definite task to perform, but they would eagerly look forward to their return to the city during the winter months. ‘ - / BUILT FOR POLAR SEAS. The Bear of Oakland was built at Greenock, Scotland, of British oak and greenheart, in 1874 for whaling and sealing with the Dundee fleet, Other vessels in this fleet which later became famous were Aurora, which Douglas Mawaon used in his expedition be-

fore the war, and the Nimrod, of Shackleton’s expedition in 19CL-8. The Bear ended her connection with Dundee in 1885, when she nas chartered by the United States Government to go to the relief of Lieutenant Greeley and his party, who were held up at Camp Conger, in North Greenland, far beyond the Arctic Circle. The United States paid 100,000dol for the Boar, which, with two other small ships, the Thetis and Alert, formed the relief expedition which rescued the explorers. Subsequently the Bear was retained under the United States flag and transferred to the reyenuc cutter service for duty in the Behring Sea, in the Arctic Ocean; and along the Alaskan coast. She figured in the Klondike gold rush and was also engaged in keeping an eye on thd sealers and whalers in the north. What was perhaps the greatest rescue feat ever accomplished in the Arctic and. in the dead’ of winter occurred during the return of c the whaling fleets to San Francisco late in 1897, when word that eight of their number, with 265 men aboard, were locked in the ice off Point Barrow, the farthest north point of Alaska.

The. Bear was'then in Seattle, ami was ordered away to the assistance of the ice-hound whalers. It was, 1 the first time that any. vessel had ever headed to the north from a westcoast port at that time of year, and the Bear was hastily stocked with emergency provisions, and manned by a volunteer crew. 'Following a bitter struggle she finally reached Cape Vancouver.: From there three of the company went ashore and started a heart-breaking overland journey of) 1,200 miles in the teeth of the Arctic iwinter. At Cape Prince of Wales a herd of reindeer was gathered together and driven the rest of the wav to Point Barrow. They made the cruel trek in 120 days—lo miles a day—eventually reaching the starving sailors, who had been driven to the last resource of boiling down their boot leather for soup. THE “ WHITE ANGEL.” Many other stirring adventures fell to the lot of the Bear during her long career. Apart from her routine duty as a coastguard ship, she figured in about 100, rescues in the Behring Sea apd heybnd, and became known as the “White Angel of Alaska.” About six years ago the Bear was retired from; active service and was awarded by the United States Congress to the city of Oakland, California, to serve as a marine museum; . On May 6, 1932, she was bought at public auction in Oakland by Rear-admiral Byrd. The city authorities 'had planned to present the ship to him, but were legally unable to do so. The Bear was therefore put up for sale by public auction, and was secured l by Admiral Byrd for l,ooodol. Like the Nimrod and Aurora, the Bear is rigged as- a barquentine—she carries yards- on the foremast and is fore-and-aft rigged on the main and mizzen masts. A single Scotch boiler supplies steam to a compound steam engine of remarkably robust construction driving a single propeller. The ship has steam steering gear and a steam-driven windlass and capstan, and is electrically lighted throughout. She is also fitted with the latest patterns of radio direction-finder, gyro compass, and electric refrigerator. The wireless plant is also of the latest type, and is practically a duplicate of that in the Jacob Ruppert. At all times it enables the Bear to maintain radio communication with ’the Jacob Ruppert and practically every world station. STOUTLY CONSTRUCTED. The Bear is-of immensely strong construction, and in spite of her great age she is in remarkably sound condition, having been well looked after during her service under the United States Government. Built of oak and greenheart throughout, with very closely-spaced frames. 14in square, the Bear’s hull is 32in thick to well up the topsides, the oak- planking being sheathed with Australian ironbark. In the bows the frames are even more' closely spaced, and this part of her structure is practically al solid, timber for a thickness of 3ft. ‘The bow is heavily sheathed with steel plating to protect the timber during ice-breaking operations. In the holds much space is taken up by massive oak beams diagonally braced to strengthen the ship’s frames and deck beams. .

WHO’S WHO ABOARD THE BEAR. Lieutenant Robert A. J. English, who is in command of the Bear of Oakland, is an officer of the United States navy, who , has been granted special leave of absence in order to participate in the expedition. He is thirty-four of age, married, and a native of San Diego, California. Captain B. Jolianssen, a Norwegian veteran of the Arctic, is a native of Tromso, in the far north of Norway. He was an officer in the City of New York in Admiral Byrd’s first Antarctic Expedition, and is in the Bear of. Oakland as an ice pilot and sailing master. Mr S. E. Roos, oceanographer, was also, a member of Byrd’s first Antarctic expedition. He is an experienced seaman, having served for some years in the British ship Alonkbarns, one of the last “ square-riggers ” under the British flag. Mr 6. Grimminger, meteorologist, belongs to Washington, D.C., and lias been lent to the expedition by the United States Weather Biireau.

Mr R. B. Black, surveyor, belongs to San Francisco, where he is in the service of the city engineer’s department. Mr Russell 8. Robinson, who is an aviation engineer, was born in Hastings, New Zealand. Ho is the son of Mr E. H. Robinson, formerly of Hamilton, and now of New York.

ATr C. P. Roj’stcr was an electrician in the submarine Nautilus, in which Sir Hubert Wilkins attempted unsuccessfully to reach the North Pole. Air B. W. Skinner, who will serve with the aviation department of the

expedition, is an expert parachutist. He holds the record in the United States for the longest delayed-openmg jump from an ’ aeroplane.’ He fell B,Booft before opening his parachute;

Mr J. A. Von der Wall is an expert diver of considerable experience who took a prominent part in the salvage operations on the sunken American submarines S 4 and Sol.

Mr J. Murphy, boatswain of the Bear of Oakland, is the oldest mepiber of the expedition. He was a member of the expedition under Commander . (now Admiral) Peary when the latter reached the North Pole. Mr Murphy, who belongs to St. Johns, Newfoundland, is a veteran of the sealing industry of that dominion.

11. Fowler, the mess boy, worked ou board the Bear at Boston, but, not being included in her crew, he tramped to Newport News and obtained his wish bv stowing away in the ship. The complete list of the ship’s company in the Bear of Oakland, who number thirty-four, is ns follows: Lieutenant Robert A. J. English, U.S. Navy, in command; Captain Bendik Johanssen, ice pilot; Air S. D. Rose, chief officer; Air N. B. Davis, second officer; Mr L. L. Barter, chief engineer; Mr S. D. Pinkham, second engineer; Mr T. E. Litchfield, third engineer; Mr J, Murphy, boatswain; Air S. E. Roos, oceanographer; Mr G. Gnmminger, meteorologist; Mr 11. B. Black, surveyor; Mr A. Eilifsen, ski expert;. Dr J. D. Sterrett, ship's surgeon; Mr J. H. Von der Wall, expert diver and welder; Air W. A. Robertson, dog driver; Air A. Waite, chief radio engineer; Air R. Watson, assistant radio engineer; Air C. P Royster, electrician; Air W. Dornm. photographer; Mr B. Skinner, aviation parachutist; Mr R. S. Robinson, aviation engineer. The remainder of the crew are as follows.—J. A. Callahan, carpenter; J Albert, chief cook; P. Kallenberg, baker, T. A. d’Amico, steward; K. Fowler, mess boy; L. Miller, sad maker; W. A. Miller, A. Christensen, and R. A. van Reen. seamen; H Dickey, H. Lawson, V. G. Niewoehner, and G. Frizzell, engine room hands. Two great pets in the Bear are a little white Eskimo pup, Nome, and a kitten, known as Snowshoes, which has six claws in each of its forefeet. Eight or nine of the party aboard are from the active naval service, while most of the others have seen active service in the pn.st. “ The reason w)i> naval men are preferred," said Lieutenant English, “ is because on an expedition such as this discipline can be maintained. A high morale exists,

and devotion to duty is the regard of all." A VARIED CARGO. As auxiliary supply ship to the expedition the Bear of Oakland is carrying a large assortment of stores and equipment, supplementing the complete outfit taken south in the Jacob Ruppert. In addition to motor spirit for the aeroplanes and Diesel fuel oil for the electric generating plant, the Bear has a varied cargo of extra provisions, spare parts tor the aeroplanes, and scientific apparatus. A tractor, one of several presented to the expedition by the Citroen Motor Company, is carried on the welldeck aft.

At Dunedin tlie Bear of Oakland is loading a number of huts, in sections.

THE SHIP AT DUNEDIN. During the week-end there was a continual stream of sightseers to and from the wharf tor the purpose of seeing the vessel. Small boys were visibly thrilled by the glamour of adventure, and their elders no doubt felt a stirring of the pulses as they looked on the ship which was to tight her way through the gales and ice of the Antarctic.

The crow was kept busy from an early hour on Sunday morning setting up the rigging in preparation for the tempestuous gales which are an inevitable part of navigation m the higher latitudes. A start was made on loading the cargo first thing this morning, and it was at first anticipated that the vessel would be dispatched for kittle America to-day, but certain necessary articles have riot yet arrived, and the vessel’s departure is delayed at any rate till to-morrow.

A HARDY NORSEMAN THE BEAR'S ICE PILOT Having spent the greater part of his forty-four years of life within the Arctic Circle, Captain B. Johanssen is going south because he wants a change. He was born at Troraso, nearly 250 miles within the Arctic Circle, and is now sailing master and ice pilot on the Bear of Oakland. Captain Johanssen’s knowledge of the far north conics from his association with five Arctic expeditions and in■immerablo seal-hunting voyages. He is making his second trip to the Antarctic, having been with. Rear-admiral

Byrd on the 1929-30 expedition. Be was hunting seals when lie was fifteen years old, and lie joined his first Arctic expedition when lie was twenty. This was organised by an Austrian party which carried out scientific research work in North-east Greenland, in the following year, 1811, he was hack in Greenland with another Austrian expedition which remained in the Arctic from May to September, and was in extreme danger lor many weeks when its ship was jammed in the ice. The members of the party took from her everything which might have been useful and established themselves on the ice. They plept aboard the vessel, but a watch was constantly kept in order to warn the sleeping members of the party in Die event of the ice crushing the vessel. At any moment all were ■'prepare' 1 , to run from the ship and make for the spot on the ice where the provisions and other equipment had been placed. For forty-two days the party drifted with the ice, and then, hy good fortune, the pack ice broke up and they were able to get the ship out and away. RUDDERLESS IN THE ANTARCTIC. In 1918 Captain Johansson commanded a seal-hunting expedition in tlie Arctic Ocean, east of Spitsbergen.' His ship was jammed in the ice and the rudder was carried away. Getting free from the icc, . the vessel was sailed without steering gear until a drifting log of wood was picked up and fashioned into a jury rudder, with which a safe return to Norway was accomplished. ' A Russian party which spent the Arctic summer of 1922 in Spitzbergen, and two British expeditions which explored the Arctic in 1923 and 1926, gave Captain Johansson occasion for three more visits to the north. The British expeditions were both from Cambridge University, and were commanded by Woldee, who had previously accompanied Shackleton to the Antarctic. A member of the 1923 expedition was Watkins, who afterwards; himself led Arctic exploration parties, /and who was drowned in the Arctic two years ago while in command of an expedition from Cambridge. Captain Johanssen has a brother farmir.; near Tawa Flat, in the North Island. The Byrd Expedition of 192930 provided the first occasion for their meeting in eighteen years.

CHARTING THE SEAS BEAR OF OAKLAND’S OCEANOGRAPHER Large portions of the seas between Panama and New Zealand, including the whole stretch between Tahiti and the dofninion, were charted for the first time when the Hear of Oakland came out from America. Mr S'. Edward Roos, who is the oceanographer of the expedition, described the exact nature of his work to the ‘Evening Post' while the vessel was in Wellington. Mr Uoos is attached to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute of Harvard University, amt up to the time of his joining the Byrd expedition was engaged on the institute’s ship Atlantis in carrying on oceanographical work, mainly in the Gulf Stream. “ My work began in Panama,” he said, “ and altogether we have covered about 4,500 ,miles of previously unsounded waters. VVc came round the north of Tahiti and then down towards the New Zealand coast, taking soundings every hour in open water and increasing it to every live minutes when nearing the coast.” The bad weather which had been experienced when nearing New Zealand had interfered with the progress of the research work. Soundings were taken by means of an echometer, which is fitted in Mr Boos’s little laboratory amidships. ‘‘The velocity of sound in seawater is known,” he continued, “ and by sending out a signal from an impact oscillator and picking it up with a hydrophone we can find, by means of a stop-watch, which works at 100th of a second, the depth of the sea over which we are passing. As the human error is one-tenth of a second, you can see we work pretty accurately.” MANY SAMPLES. The work to be done by Mr Boos includes the taking of soundings in every water the expedition may traverse, recording the temperatures of the water at various depths, and by means of sampling bottles ascertaining its density and salinity. A selection of sea-iloor deposits is to be made in southern waters outside of the regularly traversed shipping routes, at systematic distances apart. This is done by the use of the Sigabee snapper and corer. The corer is used* in obtaining samples of the vertical distribution of the ocean bottom, and is a drill which works down to a depth of about 4ft. The snapper is a heavily-weighted instrument with a strong spring attachment at the end, by which samples are taken of the sea-lioor. Other work includes ice observations and the' study of currents.

Twice a day while at sea bottles are thrown overboard. These contain specially-printed " bottle papers ” issued by the United States Hydrographic Office, Washington. Cadi paper is inscribed with the master, officer, name, date, latitude, and longitude ot the ship from which the bottle is thrown into the sea. instructions are printed in eight languages. By this means it is hoped to add materially to the existing knowledge concerning ocean currents.

The collation of material is an endless task. With two of the Bear’s complement, whom he has trained in the work, Mr Roos is able to maintain a twenty-four-hour day, : and by coordinating with the ship’s navigator he can give the exact latitude and longitude of any sounding.

AN INSULAR APPROACH. The approach to a coast such as New Zealand’s, Mr Roos said, is called an insular approach, and soundings are taken with the echometer every five minutes. “ When we leave New Zealand our real work begins,” he said. “ We get the insular talus, and soundings will be taken all the way on the trip south. The velocity of sound changes in,those waters, and from Dunedin southwards we will be travelling in waters of unknown density. By means of a winch, which has 12,0(X)lt of wire, wo drop our instruments to bring up samples of water. From the salinity of this water we are able to determine its chlorinity and density.” The temperature of the water at various depths will also be taken, a special revolving thermometer being used. This thermometer is inverted at the required depth and records the temperature at that time. Ramples of marine growth arc aho collected, although this is not actually part of Mr Roos's job. He has already collected a few samples, which will ho banded over to the biologist on the Jacob Ruppert. Beneath his desk Mr Roos has a large glass jar which contains a number of preserved flying lish.

All the results of research are care fully tabulated and recorded, and to glance over the oceanographer’s files is to gam an insight into some very icareful scientific work, lie has already broken some new ground in obtaining the depths of hitherto untouched seas, and will have added materially to oceanographic, knowledge before he re-

turns to Dunedin later this year. While in Dunedin he will be engaged in putting the results of bis research into order and in making tidal observations, and he will accompany the Beaj of Oakland on her later voyages. THE ANTARCTIC MEETING. It is hoped to meet the Jacob lluppert about January 26, just below the Antarctic Circle, about longitude ISOdeg. No time will be lost by the ships in tackling the ice pack, through which the Lincoln Ellsworth ship Wyatt Earp has passed. Recent advices from the Jacob lluppert were to the effect that the ico pack has been thick, heavy, and impenetrable, but there are now signs of it breaking up. Providing a good passage is made the ships are expected to reach the great ice barrier early in February to commence the long task of discharging the expeditions tremendous equipment. _ Unloading at tlie barrier is a very tricky business, and the work will probably take about a month. Owing to the lateness of the season in which to attempt to reach the Bay of Whales and unload equipment and stores enough to last fifty men for the long period they are to be on the ice it is unlikely that the ships will bo able to get away from the barrier until the end of February at the earliest. In any case, they will have to be clear of the Little America base by the beginning of March on account of the approaching winter. The possibility of carrying out all operations to schedule is doubtful. Any lengthy interference by bad weather will put the expedition in a serious plight. It may even result in the ships having to leave the Bay of Whales without discharging the full equipment, for from about the end of February the watert along the barrier begin to freeze again. An iron steamer such as the Jacob Ruppert would not be able to remain at Die barrier under such conditions, and it would cause the ships to leave in a hurry should they be so caught.

The fact that the ice pack has been late in breaking up' this year does not necessarily .mean that the summer season. in the south will be longer than usual. The seasonal changes in the Antarctic are most unreliable, and in some years summer barely arrives before autumn and winter result in the water freezing again.