BATTLE FOR LIFE

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 24 June 1925, Page 5

BATTLE FOR LIFE

AMUNDSEN AND HIS PARTY

HARD WORK ON THE ICE

A DANGEROUS TASK

i)Y CABLE —PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. LONDON, June 22. Captain Amundsen, continuing his thrilling narrative of his flight northwards, referred to the loss of the ’plane N 24. He said that after landing his machine (N 25) was frozen in by morning, and could not be moved, “so we prepared on May 22 for the journey on foot to Cape Columbia. So far we had not seen N 24, but heard a shot. We tried to cut a path, bnt it refroze as fast as it was cut, therefore we had to hack a path over the floe at the bow, Riiser Larsen using an axe, Feucht the ice anchor, and I a knife fastened to a ski stave. At night time the theremometer read l(Hdeg. Fahrenheit. We were terribly cold sleeping in bags. “Next afternoon we were delighted to see a flag mounted on a tall floe, by which we found the N 24 party and exchanged signals. We learned that N 24 was leaking, w necessitating constant pumping. Meanwhile the ice drift brought the parties closer.” Next day the ’plane was abandoned, and the party started to build a road to extricate N 25. After describing the dangers and difficulties attending this task the narrative proceeded: “Next day Riiser Larsen -tried to drive the ’plane .along, but she suddenly lifted at the tail because the ice could not bear the weight of the nose. We again hacked at the ice, realising that our lives were in the balance. Riiser Larsen tried full speed, and she was cleared.” Amundsen describes the galling task of keeping the track open, necessitating working almost the whole night long. He adds: “The hoving floes kept undoing our work. We decided to sleep in shifts, realising we had only till June 15 to make the vital decision whether to go afoot. “Though the rations were again reduced to three biscuits and a few tablets of malted milk, with a little cocoa each, we joked and sang while -working. The two pilots on June 2 found a large floe 800 metres away, which was suitable for making our departure track. This floe was reached after many trials and disappointments, as compensation for which the whole party indulged in a more generous allowance of pemmican. ‘ ‘lt was necessary on June 7 to cut through a 12 foot ice wall and build a bridge across the chasm, which N 25 just managed to clear. We tried to start on June 6, but the snow was cloggy, so we had to clear it away. “By June 15 we had completed 500 metres .of the track, half of which became flooded through a crack. Another attempt to start the ’plane was * unsuccessful, so we jettisoned everything that could be dispensed with. The temperature became lower, but a brc-eze was blowing, so we again tried ' to fly. “Riiser Larsen skilfully avoided rough patches, and we made 100 7 metres and then 200 metres, nearing the end of our track. Our speed is not yet full, but just sufficient to take the last jump from the floe, and we are in the air at last. Our feelings can be imagined.. We munch biscuits and chocolates, and begin to wonder - wlietliere we have enough petrol, but we soon see the heights of Spitzbergen.” About this time the stabilisation rudders began to give trouble, and finally the party had to alight in rough seas.' They rode over these, and reached land on the west side of North Cape. Proceeding, Amundsen says.: “Setting foot on the hard mountainside, I think we all thanked God for help during the months, when it was a constant battel for life. We were preparing to eat, when a shout of ‘ship ahey’ was heard. We saw the sealer Sjoeliv. All rushed on board the ’plane, and we taxied out to the sealer, on which we iourneved to King’s Bay. We are now busy filling out the hollow spots between our ribs.”