FLIGHT TO SOUTH POLE

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 November 1929, Page 7

FLIGHT TO SOUTH POLE

/ BYRD’S PROGRESS WIRELESS MESSAGES RECEIVED [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.] 1 . . . (By Cable-Press Assn.—Copyright.) BAY OF WHALES, November 28. Commander Byrd has sent the following message to the personnel of the City of New York and Eleanor Bolling, who remain in New Zealand: ‘As we take off for the Pole flight, I send the best of good wishes to you and Tapleys. I want you all to knoW you are playing just as important a part as any one of us, down here.”. The flight to the Pole started at 3 o’clock bn Thursday morning, Antarctic time. '< * '

In addition to the Commander,■ [the crew 1 included Balchen (piloting), June (at the radio) and McKinley. ;.‘,j • Professor Larry Gould, Of the, Geological Party, has reported good flying conditions at the edge of the Polar Plateau. That Commander Byrd’s flight to the Pole is going well is indicated by four bulletins, each signed by June. He reported as follows: — “At 4 p.m.—-On the trail. Flying well. Just passed 45 miles depot. Motors fine.” • 1 “At 4.25. —Flying well. Passed the snowmobile. At 4.50 flying well.” The fourth bulletin reads: “Flying well. Motors fine. At crevasses at 5.30.

NEARING THE POLE. (Recd. November 30, 10 a.m.) VANCOUVER, November 29. A message picked up this morning stated: “Flying well. Motor fine. Headed south in tile vicinity of the South Pole.—Byrd.” Soon after’ the plane, reached the neighbourhood of Queen Maud mountains, there was an hour or two during which June’s signals faded so badly, that the Little America station could not hear. The plane must have risen ten to twelve thousand feet clear of the mountains. This apparently affected the radio. Then with coming daylight in zones north of Little America, there, was some fading as is customary in. messages at that hour. At’s.ls a.m. the “New York Times” again got a clear message from Little America saying that the plane’s signals had not been heard for an hour. Before eight o’clock, the New York Times however received a message that Byrd reported himself going in the vicinity of the South Pole. r ,

SCENES AT START. A GREAT TAKE-OFF. BAY OF WHALES, November 28. To-day’s start from Little America was a scene never to be forgotten. The furred and bulky figures climbed into the plane, the door was slammed, the pilot waved his hand, and. opened th® throttles wide to break the plane loose from the snow, while the mechanics with snow whirling about them so as almost to conceal them in its smother, loosened the skis of the heavy machine and it jerked forward. It slipped smoothly over the ground, carefully turned, and taxied up to one end of the field. The flying field lies in a sort of hollow, a long fairly level surface, with scattered materials of the camp and its snow-buried houses on one side, and on the other a long slope. ' This® was, apparently, at one 'time an indentation in the Barrier, a sort of bay,, and it has been built up through the years, until "now it is thirty feet above the water, but still sonie distance below the top of the Barrier. At the end of the runway, beyond where the plane leaves the ground is a line of haycocks. The whole field gleamed under the sun, dappled in patches of grey and cream colour, where the snow lay soft or was blown hard and crushed by the wind. A few little ridges, only inches high, ran across it, throwing the grey shadows in the line of the general wind direction at the end of the field on the side of the slope up to the edge of the barrier. ’ t

The plane was turned about and the pilot opened her up. The motors burst into a crescendo sound from a |ow growl to a deep tearing.note. The propellors flashed in circles of fire as the sun hit their invisible plane. The plane began to move and the group of men standing on the snow, oblivious to the cold, watched like statues. Faster and faster the great machine shot forward, its wings dipping slightly as the skis met inequalities in the surface. It seemed an age, although but a few moments before it was slid- - ing with terrific speed and so smoothly, that the almost imperceptible skis lifted, and small ■ space showed between them and?the snow.' Then the big ship leaped into life, and despite the heavy load soon lifted high above the field and the hill beyond the long smooth glide.-- There was a slow turn, and the great wings grew smaller and the sound of motors a muffled hum out of the sky. It diminished rapidly against the' clear blue above it, and became a thin dark line, graceful as a soaring gull, and then as eyes strained after it, it vanished into the silent south.

Byrd carried radio messages for the geological party on the trail, and it was planned to drop them with a parachute in a package of messages. There was also a packet of • photographs of the mountains of the. Queen Maud Range, which it is hoped would help Gould in his geological work. TERRITORIAL RIGHTS. ANGLO-AMERICAN NOTES. WASHINGTON, November 28. The question of the ownership of the Antarctic lands was raised by the British Government after Commander Byrd started his expedition,, and it was temporarily side-stepped by the American Government. On November 17 of last year, the British Government, in a polite but firm note to the United. States, said:, “His Majesty’s Governments- in the various countries of the Empire have watched with especial interest the progress of the expedition, on account of the interest which they themselves take ,in the regions where it. is understood Qommander Byrd would conduct the bulk of his research.” The note recalled that the entire

question -was discussed 1 at the last Imperial Conference, and a copy of the proceedings was transmitted to the State Department here. 'The Undersecretary for. State, Mr Gotten, last November 15 acknowledged the note, through the British Embassy, expressing regrets that the acknowledgement had so long been delayed, and also appreciation of the “interest” of the British in the Byrd Expedition. The immediate consideration of the ownership of the lands in the: Antarctic in which Commander Byrd is exploring, was averted by the Department. The “New York Times’s” Washington correspondent says: After a year’s consideration, the United States Government has responded to the British note of the 17th of November, 1928, referring to the question of sovereignty in the Antarctic "region, which had been raised in connection with Commander Byrd’s South Polar expedition. A note that was sent by the United States to Britain, dated November 15th., is still withheld from publication, but it is reported that the United States does not agree to the British, suggestion that Britain has a prior claim to. large portions of the Antarctic, anti that Ihe Upited States leaves tli£ issue, open to further discussion. New important angles to the British claims have developed by Commander Byrd’s discoveries of mineral deposits, and possibly petroleum in :the so-called Rockefeller Range, 1 and in Marie Byrd Land. While the possibilities of exploiting the territory through aviation may become celebrated, a case of eVen greater importance is the whaling industry in that region. This adds further importance, and it is to be noted that there are possibilities of actual commercial development. The ..minerals are of minor importance, if minerals are really present in the region. The American note expressed regrets for the delay’ in replying to the British •communication,' and expressed gratitude for a British offer of assistance to Commander Byrd while he was within the territory to which Britain has laid claim. It is. suggested that the United States reticence in giving a direct answer,-was due to the desire to avoid the possibilities of any controversy before the Arms Conference. Although the State Department has been studying the question with a view to submitting the reasons for the belief that the United States has claims to certain discussed area's, it is pointed out that the United States Government has advanced no formal claims, and has markedly left the question open for later- consideration. It is believed that Prime Minister MacDonald and President' Hoover considered this subject during their recent meeting, and that at the time they decided to delay any further discussions until the Arms question is settled more definitely.