ANTARCTIC STORM

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 February 1929, Page 5

ANTARCTIC STORM

BYRD’S ANXIOUS TIME ICE ANCHORS LOST (Australian Press Association.) (By Cable—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (By Russell Owen, Copyrighted, 1929, by the New York Times Company, and St. Louis Post Dispatch. All rights for publication reserved throughout the world. Wireless to New York Times). (Received February 12, 10 a.m.) BAY OF WHALES, February 9. ‘‘We are jogging about from one side of the Bay and back again, under jib staysails, 'and spanker. It is snowing and foggy, so that the high white cliffs are invisible except when they loom suddenly out of the sea to warn us away from their crumbling sides. This doleful interim began on Thursday. We had been anchored securely under the shelter of the barrier, but as the wind increased, the three lines which held us to the ice grew taut. Under the incessant buffeting, the rigging sang, and the . ship laid over under pressure. There was a thud against the side, and scraping of ice. Men poured out from the cabin and forecastle to discovei- that the ice had given way under the slight swell and our tugging, and the ice anchors were caught on the far side of the floes. The ship began to drift along the edge and the ice started packing round us. “There was no time to save the anchors, if the propellor was to be kept clear of the thick ice, and Commander Byrd ordered the lines to be cut. Some of the crew wanted to get out on the heaving cakes to save the anchors, but Byrd ordered them back. The wind picked up during the night, and the City of New York heeled well over under a few sails. The sea also rose and some of us became seasick. All night long the ship rolled through this wilderness of white. The man at the wheel stood braced against it, ice crusting his helmet and beard.

“A few miles of threatening grey cliffs frowned suddenly ahead, and the ship went round with a rattle of stays, plunging in short waves like a startled thing. The wind lasted all Friday, and last night, but this morning had gone down to a gentle breeze. Visibility is no better, hdwever, and there seems little possibility of immediate change. These days are valuable, but we cannot complain for previously the weather has been so favourable. “Out at the base, the men are also weatherbound. They had dug part of the excavation for a large house, but they found yesterday that the snow had drifted it full again, and shovelling must be put off till the storm ends.”