POLAR EXPLORATION

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 5 November 1928, Page 9

POLAR EXPLORATION

LATE EDITION

BYRD’S EXPEDITION. COMMANDER AT WELLINGTON. HIS PROPOSED PLIGHTS. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Nov. 5. The C. A. Larsen, with Commander Byrd and fifteen members of his Polar expedition, arrived ;n the stream at daybreak this morning and berthed at noon at Pipitea wharf, after a voyage from San Pedro, California. The programme stands unaltered from what has already bi3en announced, and: Commander Byrd had nothing to add to what has appeared from time to time. The C. A. Larsen carries four ’planes, one large one and three smaller ones. Commander Byrd considers it probable that the altitudes estimated by Captain Amundsen and others are excessive, and anticipates that probably the extreme altitude required to cross the Polar mountains will be 9500 feet. Commander Byrd takes 15,000 gallons of 'petrol and 7000 gallons of oil south. He said that some of the maps describing his proposed flights have now found to be inaccurate. The flight will not b© entirely across Antarctica, but will be to the Pole and back at a slight angle. A series of such triangles will enab’/e the mapping of the whole continent. The priniarv object of the trip is not an attack on the Pole, but exploration.

TWO OTHER VESSELS DUE SHORTLY. WELLINGTON, Nov. 5. The Eleanor Bolling, on her way from Papeete, is due here in about ten days’ time, and the City of New York should arrive in about three weeks, but, being sailers, nothing can be stated definitely. These carry the bulk of the party. The C. A. Larsen will proceed almost at once to Dunedin, but the members oi the party who arrived in her will remain in Wellington for three weeks. The first week is expected to be taken up by checking and loading stores, etc., and the remainder of the stay will be available for touring New Zealand for golf and fishing, at both of which Commander Byrd is proficient. The other two ships will both come to Wellington and remain here quite a while. There are eighty men in the two vessels, more than half of whom will come back after a short stay in the Antarctic, only 35 or 40 men remaining till February the following year, practically fifteen months’ stay. Commander Byrd wishes it to be understood that he was not setting out with the intention of making wonderful additions to Antarctic knowledge, as so much has already been accomplished. He would be very content, indeed, if he could add a little to the wonderful work already done by Captain Scott, Sir Ernest Sliackleton, Sir Douglas Mawson and others. The planes were the chief additions to the equipment possessed over the other expeditiqns. It was hoped to acquire locally a boring plant for the purpose of determining the depth of the ice cap in the strait between the Ross and Weddel Seas.