IN THE FROZEN NORTH

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 24 May 1928, Page 9

IN THE FROZEN NORTH

LIFE OF THE ITALIA’S CREW A TOPSY-TURVY WORLD. SLEEP TIME AND WORK TIME (UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION—BY ELECTRICTELEGRAPH—COPYRIGHT.) UNITED SERVICE..) Received May 24, 12.35 p.m. LOADOJN, May 23. A message from King’s Bay states that the special correspondent aboard the Italia sent this wireless message prior to proceeding towards the pole." vVe spent most of the time aboard the City di Milano, where there was every comfort. We were occasionally homesick and had to consult the clock and the calendar in order to distinguish day trom night. If we felt sleepy we had to consider whether it was bedtime or rising time. It was a topsyturvy world, sleep time and work time intermingled. We might go for a brisk walk at 2 a.m. and were often abed at 3 p.m. in order to begin work at midnight. Breakfast was usually served at 1 p.m., when the sun was already high. When the Italia, is resting in her hangar, six hundred gas containers weighing dozens of tons must be taken across the fields to restore buoyancy when in flight, and these six hundred must be prepared against her return, depriving Commander Romagna and the crew of all leisure. Thousands of gulls surrounded the City Di Milano, seeking gaily scraps. White gulls are said to be the souls of dead sailors, black gulls the souls of stokers.’ Seals and sea lions are the favourite game, for they are easily shot. The ice pilot skinned the smallest seal and supervised its cooking, but he alone partook of wliat was “a terrible meal.”