IN ANTARCTICA

Hokitika Guardian, 3 December 1929, Page 5

IN ANTARCTICA

(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 Yoik limes.)

H.YI.NU CONDITIONS

IMPORTANCE OF CLEAR VISIBILITY. [United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.] (Received this day at 9.-10 a.m.) BAY OK WHALES. Dec. 1. Flying down here with a cloud-cover-ed sky is like flying in a world that has turned to milk. There is nothing to check on the horizon, and there is no way to tell where the snow begins, how rough the surface is. or even how high we are above it. The altimeter records inaccurately on account of the rapid changes in the sea level barometer and there are bigger barometrical changes in the Antarctic than anywhere else in the world. With such weather navigation would be uncertain

and landing impossible. Visibility down here is like a little girl with the curl—-very good when it is good and terrible when it is bad. To have sunshine for eight hundred miles in this country of changeable weather is more than we can expect, but for the success of our flight it would he absolutely necessary that the mountains around the plateau should not be cloud covered. In flying across the ocean, one can. fly through clouds and even storms with impunity, but when the course goes over the mountains whose peaks tower higher than the plane can fly good visibility is required to get between the peaks and over glaciers.

We have long felt that we might have to make several attempts before we could get the proper combination of the circumstances. When we took off with our load the clouds partly covered the sky. There was, however, a rim of green on the horizon to the south and we knew it would be clear lieyond. As the skis left the snow all I could see in that white howl beneath us was a little group of my shipmates throwing their hats in the air, wild with joy that at last we were headed for the Pole. My ni.iiid shot back to exactly tiie similar scene in the Arctic Spring on May Dili. 1927 when Bennett and 1 rose from the snow at Spitsbergen and headed for the North Pole. Many of the fellows who were

in the cheering crowd at Spitsbergen were below me now. It had been three of us, Bennett, Balclien and myself, who bad set out on this job years before. and three of us would be together at the finish, for we knew that Bennett’s spirit flew with us. He had selected the Ford plane, prepared it and flown it, and had helped with our early plans, so.that his genius and his friendship were with us, helping us to reach our goal. The last thing we put in the plane was a stone that came from Lloyd’s grave at Arlington. We weighted with it an American flag we proposed to drop on the South Pole. In a few moments we emerged from the confusing bowl of milk over the take-off into a sunshine that stretched ahead to the horizon. A thousand feet beneath us we picked up the dog team trail. It is only with the sun in certain positions that the trail oan |b© see.it 'from the air. Now it was a faint broken thread, that we lost time and again, but managed to pick up each time with the sun compass.

A strong easterly breeze forced us to head ten degrees left of the course, to allow for this wind, so the ’plane crabbed along towards the south with its nose pointed well to the left of the trail. We had constantly to check our course by '-the drift indicator, the instrument through which the ground is sighted to ascertain the amount the wind has caused the ’plane to drift from its true direction. Wo enjoyed the first few hours of the flight when we had time to look around, for flying over this mysterious barrier never loses fascination. Shortly after we passed the crovassed area, 150 miles from Little America, we sighted the mountains to the westward. Again 1 was struck with the majesty of these ranges. We saw one .great mountain mass and another one unaccounted for on the maps begin to the south and running toward the Bread more Glacier, Great white glaciers flowed into the barrier and about a bundled miles oil were some alpine snow covered peaks, towering bigli over the harrier, that glistened like a fire from the sun s reflection, so that they looked like great volcanoes in ei’uption. Soon great mountains ahead loomed on and an hour afterwards we sighted the trail party three hundred miles due south from Little Anieriea. There could be no doubt that so lar wo had collie south as straight as an arrow. It was well for us for we hau and photographs to drop for Gould and his party. We planned to leave food and fuel at our mountain base for them and in order to enable Larry to locate the cache, a little speck in those great spaces, McKinley had located tlm spot oil photographs he had taken on our base laying flight over the surrounding mountains.

We dropped these in a hag attached to a parachute. We could see two or three of our hoys dashing after it for they knew it contained also radio messages from home. ietteis from friends at Little America, <igareltes ami various other tilings that the trail party had asked for hv radio. We are expecting great results from Gould’s work, for geologi-

callv speaking these mountains should tell things of great importance to science. Those fellows are a long way from Little America and they must be hitting the trail like veterans to make good as they arc doing. Seldom have men undertaken so difficult a trail journey for purely scientific investigation. They will have many weary weeks of hiking before tliir job is done.

Immediately noon dropping t ; package we started our long climb to get over a bump about a hundred miles ahead. Here was great uncertainty. For many months our minds bad been concentrated on the knotty problem of rotting over this rampart without having to leave behind our ilia,oping camera, without which., the geological value of our flight would have been greatly lessoned. Neither June, Balehen. nor T could manipulate a hundred pound camera, as serial surveying is a highly soeeialised work. McKinley with his three months food, polar equipment and surveying outfit, weighed barely six hundred pounds. This cut down bv about a thousand feet, the highest altitude at which we could fly. We had to make very careful tests with the ’plane and had checked and rechecked our figures for weeks. Finally wo had decided we could just stagger over the bump with the extra six hundred pounds.

CONGRATULATIONS. (British Official Wireless.) (Received this dav at noon.) RUGBY, December 2. Lord Thomson sent a message to Commander llyrd on behalf of the Air Council: “Hearty congratulations to yourself and companions on the splendid flight over the South Pole.”