BYRD’S EXPEDITION

Hokitika Guardian, 19 January 1929, Page 6

BYRD’S EXPEDITION

BYRD IN THE AIR. I NTER EST ING FINDINGS. (By Telegraph—Press Association). (By Russell Owen—Copyrighted 1928 by the New York Times Company, and St. Louts Post Dispatch. All rights for publication reserved throughout the world. Wireless to New York ’limes.) BAY OF WHALES, Jan. 16. It has been difficult to get here, the farthest point south that the ship can go, but to-day we felt repaid for the long sea voyage as we flew, over the threshold of unexplored areavs. Setting our course south-westward, in Jive minutes we were looking into areas never before seen by man. It did not take long to ascertain that- our nearness to the South Alagnetic Pole made all three of our magnetic compasses entirely useless, so we had to use the sun compass. The magnetic compass started swinging immediately after our skiis left the ice and kept swinging until our return. First- we flew over an uncharteivd harbour three miles deep, lying to tlie west side of,the Bay of Whales, near Flyyd Bennett Harbour. With our own compasses swinging I thought of the trouble Clarence Chamberlain had with his compasses when starting his trans-Atlantic flight, so I decided to name it Chamberlain Harbour. The ice we Hew over was probably several hundred feet thick’. How much above water or land that some may rest on is impossible to tell. Some miles to tlie left we could see a ridge formed from the great pressure in the Barrier and this appeared to extend well over fifteen miles. The business o| looking out qf the windows with glasses searching for something new to put on the maps is very fascinating. Although we had sleeping bags, sled and other equipment in tile plane to give ns a chanc-e to return in case ol «i forced landing, we were determined not to give in to the great temptation of going on and as this was tin; first* day our plane had ever flown so far south, and since the compasses were acting badly, we would be, unable to steer a straight course if we were caught in.a log or snowstorm. After covering twenty-five miles wc*' saw an inlet ahead running north and south. This did not show on the maps we had, so here was .something we could add to the-charts of the Antarctic. A SPLENDID JOURNEY. NEW LANDS SEEN. ALSO -MAN SEALS. We flew over it, and found a beautiful formation in the. Barrier. At its mouth, ice cliffs to the eastward antiwestward rose vertically nearly n hundred feet from the water. A mile back from the entrance to Inlet Bay the ice began. It was smooth as a billiard table and extended for several miles. Then it narrowed and curved somewhat to the south-west. Here wo saw hundred. 1 , of seals lying on the ice alongside' tile pressure ridge. They turned on their hacks and craned their necks to see what manlier' of jbifd was .making tlie terrific noise. There was some excited movement among them for a; moment, but they soon fell hack to their lazy sleep. The inlet curved again to the southward and ended in a point a few miles away, being there filled with •great blocks of ice.. Far to the south the Barrier appeared to rise to an altitude of forty or fifty feet. To the Westward we saw a cloud formation which at first, looked like high land. It was exactly like a cloud we had seen. Had it been a trans-Atlantic tiiglit. we would have been certain it wa-: hind, had iie. not known tha,l wc W-*re imon i., the middle of tlie Ath iiti-.. We could hardly think of our ii gins of 827 without remembering a follow who so thoroughly showed us how i > do A. so we decided to name the newly discovered inlet after Lindberg. With the compasses acting as they did it seemed unwise to go further .and with a feeling that before going on longer flights we should geL more wise to the . eerie conditions of visibility down heiv,, we headed the plane shipward. It was impossible for os to tell how high we wore above the ice and snow. We might he a hundred feet or might be a thousand. When a little more than halfway hack to the ship the motors stopped dead. Smith decided, with his usual quick way of thinking,, that one of the gas tanks had gone dry. and instantly turned the proper valve. Our downward speed started -the engine again. We examined carefully 12<)U square miles of hitherto unknown areas that it would have taken a foot traveller weeks to explore. Again we marvel iIL the airplane so we don’t agree with some English authorities Unit aviation can do nothing down here.