ANTARCTIC FLIGHT

Evening Star, Issue 22195, 25 November 1935, Page 11

ANTARCTIC FLIGHT

ELLSWORTH'S SECOND VENTURE WIRELESS MESSAGES CEASE Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright NEW YORK, November 23. A message from Dundee Island at 10 p.m. Greenwich time'says: “Ellsworth and Kenyon have been away about 14 hours, and since 4.05 p.m. no wireless communication has been received from the Polar Star. Whether it has made a forced landing or the transmitting set is out of commission there is no way of knowing. At 4.03 p.m. an indication was given that the position of the plane was about 76deg longitude, 79deg latitude, after which the sending, bqcame jumbled, and finally ceased. They may still he on the way to the Bay of, Whales, as they have fuel for about 20 hours, but in any case the Wyatt Earp, although prepared to sail, will remain - here until definite word has been received.

“Until 4.05 p.m. frequent wireless messages were exchanged with the Polar Star, indicating that, although there was some fog the flight was progressing favourably. At 11,45 a.m. the plane reported seeing Lurabee Channel and Stefanson Strait from an altitude of 3,oQoft, the temperature being minus 21deg Centigrade. Until that time the plane maintained a speed of 125 miles an hour. From then until the final message was sent there was a rapid fire of reports of the sighting of new mountains and the spotting of charted geographical positions. •• The flyers once mentioned seeing many crevasses, but added; ‘There are a lot of places one could land.’ “The Point- Star is equipped with emergency radio, and it was prearranged, that, if necessary, it would attempt to communicate with the Wyatt Earp at specified hours. One of these limes Jins passed already, however, without word.” THE FIRST FLIGHT PRAISE FROM OTHER EXPLORERS. NEW YORK, November 23. (Received November 25, at 1 a.m.) Admiral Byrd and Mr Stefansson are among the many explorers familiar with the Antarctic to praise Mr Ellsworth’s 10-hour flight as definitely adding to the map of that region. Admiral Byrd, when told of the discovery of.a mountain chain, declared: “I am delighted to hear of it for It will undoubtedly fill in another blank space in the map of Antarctic. The importance of this discovery is appreciated by all who are interested in the Antarctic region.” Ho added that to previous , explorers, including himself, the mountains were unknown. Mr Stefansson .: declared: It Us a fine contribution to geography. It seems to me to have made a substantial addition to the work previously done in the same section by Sir Hubert Wilkin. It is particularly interesting as there is a presumption that the range of mountains observed may be a continuation of the Andes.” Mesrs Rawsou (Byrd’s navigator), T. Davidson (President of the American Museum of Natural History),.'and R. C, Andrews are among others who praise the flight.