BYRD’S FLIGHT

Hokitika Guardian, 5 December 1929, Page 6

BYRD’S FLIGHT

AT THE SOUTH POLE FURTHER DETAILS OF JOURNEY -—■ —■ —— (By Russel Owen.— Copyrighted 1929 by the New York Times Company and St, Louis Post-Dispatch. _ Ali rights for publication reserved throughout the world. Wireless to New York Times.)

BAY OF WHALES, Dec. 3

Unless we reached our pass on the Axel Heiberg Glacier and thence fly

Commander Byrd, continuing his account of the Polar flight, alter the pass was reached, showing a plateau with an unobstructed route to the Pole, continues as follows: “There was not less than three hundred miles between us and the Pole, il' the sun remained, the sun-compass and wind-drift indicator should take us there as straight as a bee flies. We would have to ride the engines all the way. The plateau was so high that, if one of the three engines should stop, we would have to land "Tin the snow, which at places was nearly two miles above sea level. It was an uncertain:,thing at any time, and the engines must keep going. I was saying this to myself when the starboard engine began to splutter ; and .Brent nosed down;' T v j {? [

through down to the Barrier, we might lie trapped by the mountains which we could not scale. There were many very important reasons, then, why the wind drift indicator and the sun compass should lie used with the greatest care, and why Brent and Harold should steer carefully. Suppose the clouds should close in around the mountains before our return? That would, indeed, trap us, but it was one of those chances we bad to take. The character of the plateau surface varied greatly from time to time. We saw to the left the foot of a magnificent glacier running down from the mountains ami showing • chaotic masses' of crevassed ice shining blue against: the - white snow. This may have been the Devil’s Ballroom,' that dangerous area which Amundsen traversed We passed over groups of haycocks—those small, rounded domes of snow which cover bottomlets - pits; There were wind-formed sastitigi", arrow-shaped, which appeared' hard, with knife edges, and glistening more in I lie Aim'than other-snow surfaces. That area must have been one of violent winds. A landing there would have been like landing among rocks.- It was in great contrast to tlie surface that we reached later, which was smooth, and had the appearance of soft snow-.in an area of Tight winds. While the.mountains were still looming large on the left, we attempted to shoot the sun with the sextant, to got our altitude, and so as to give us a su'd line that would cut our' 1 ilie of flight, aird, at the point Of'intersection, tell us what the. suit had ,to shv about our progress; but the air whs hot smooth enough.' The live hundred and twenty-five horse power engines in the nose of the nlafic, exerting their great' force' to' keep us two milek high, seemed to ;Wd to'.the .weaving niotibn of' the plane.' It'was impossible at this .tiiiie to keep the sun and the bubble 1 in' the sextant together long' eiioiigh to get a dependable sight. We hoped that things would be favourable later on, but this did not worry us, for our distance was so short that we could haredy miss our objective. Our altimeter showed us to be keeping about the same atmospheric pressure, and we were therefore not changing our altitude verb'muclh ’ The sußw -beiVeatli us seemed to be getting fii'r.thef away, so, ive. judged that 'the plntc.hu was' sloping down with"a gentle incline. Back' ■ in tlie tail of the plane was the meteorograph, recording tlie changes' m temperature, pressure and humidity, which, after the flight would fell the whole story. Wo would know the exact moment of the 1 taking'off, the time of every sub.ha jut lit 'altitude, and 1 th ! e moment of landing at the mountain base and at Little America! Beneath us, somewhere’ was the ‘trail that Amundsen blazed to the South Pole, now buried far beneath the snow. My admiration for that great explorer increased tremendously when I saw what be bad to contend with. In ms honour, and in honour of Bernt and the other Norwegians at Lfttie Aiw*. iea, and the whalers, who, with great generosity have helped us, we carried with us a Norwegian flag. We have not forgotten the extraordinary ho® pitalfty that France showed to the Trans-Atlantic flyers, nor the friendship demonstrated lor America at unite time, and the sportsmanship displayed at the success of the Americans in face of their gallant flier, who had set out on a more difficult feat. .Half an hour past midnight, we again tried, to get the altitude of the sun. The sight was better this time. It- showed us to he close to our dead reckoning position. That was good, but there was'still enough movement in the plane to prevent our being certain of that sight.' There was probably an error in it, and just how much we could not tell. AYe felt confidence in our sun compass and drift indicator, and luckily our sight did not change our calculations. r l he temperature seemed to be falling as we neared the Pole. Tlie mountains abaft the beam were fading now, and clouds, which may have covered unseen mountains, showed on the horizon off the port bow. Harold was piloting and Brent came aft to tell me that it was not quite clear ahead, and that we might find mist near the Pole. Once or twice wo thought we saw snow drifting beneath. An Antarctic storm seemed to be closing in on us, but we thought we could get back to the mountains ahead of it. It was a great plane, with great engines. YVitli reasonable hick we should beat the storm. We bad extended tlie Gmsvenor frail. We were now so near the Pole and within easiy visibility of Scott’s trail, who with his companions perished on liis wav hack—that great hero, who had shown that there are tilings more important than life; who in failure won immortal success. In his memory and that of ids gallant• comrades, and in honour of our cousin and friend, the British Empire, we carried with us a British flag. “AWAY WITH CONTROVERSY!” Commander Byrcf continues : “There

Harold rushed to the gas tank valves and stood looking'at the engine, and listening to the jarring interruptions, which the missing- cylinders : paused -in 'Hhytlim! Mac,' lor• 'once,": hesitated tin :hy ’mapping:work. After winning our hardest struggle, was our . flight to be eriddd-, so' hear't'dhe'i .objective!? hurriedly manipulated the altitude control. In an effort to economise on the precious fuel, the gasolene had been made too lean. The motor began to sing again. I say sing, for its roa, was music, when it was not missing a beat. Flying on a flight of this kind is full of contrasts. Everything is perfect one minute. The next, everything is black. Alii was well again. We looked around. Ahead was an .-apparently-'limitless > plateau glistening ,in ,the sun»mne. ..

The Great Polar Plateau at last! It'Svas good to see it after’the months we 'had' wondered- about it, ’and the hundreds of times we, had masked ourselves if we would be lucky enough, to reach it!’ Ts' the “left there were gTeat- n’lduhtairi'' masses Looming; Abote our ..level.-. .'I would hesitate: tosestir mate their altitude, but they, are, very high, since at this place the plateau itself was about, ten ..thousand, feet, above the sea level. MacVphoogfaphk must tell the story. Beyond this mass here were separated peaks of many different shapes running to the south-, eastward. There was one great isomt, ed peak, completely snow-covered, and : (poking -JiJfe*:*; .gteat, invertedp; Wjh.ife porcelain bowl! Back of us, running east 'andswest,rt(leng tire,line ’oT[t>n.i" plateau, 'there were enormous peaks, lifting their heads high into the air. 1. looked over to- the-right; and ,<!■ gotone of those kicks that pulls a man away from civilisation—which repajs him for his efforts.

. .There was,a ; fehf distpfco^n#i|ting tyMlj ki.yfl '-Tlws ; 'bi4 &PHin&*w 4kM* to the map of the world Mac would shoot with his camera and we felt it was worth while bringing him for that alone. It occurred to ine, as I looked around at the mountains, that they must fringe the whole plateau. This was Nature’s Great Dam, holding the ice and snow there until, in geological ages, the frigid period would lift itself from Antarctica, until a vast amount of the snow melts and runs out to the ocean that lies down below. It will not he revealed at present. AYe can only guess what lies beneath that great ice cap, and what is itsulepth. It is one of the world’s mysteries. That imaginary point, the South Pole, is in the centre of an uplifted plain hundreds of miles in diameter—a magnificent edifice, seemingly built to make more invoilable the tiny spot which we were seeking. The plateau seems to range 'from seven thousand to eleven thousand feet in. altitude. Beyond the new mountain mass, we saw a small peak sticking up through a great expanse of snow, a very lonely little black speck. On we went flying at the rate of one hundred miles an hour through the air towards our goal. Our drift indicator showed the wind was from the left. We had to head the plane a dozen degrees to the left in order to fly straight south. It was impossible to tell our exact altitude above the plateau, and therefore it was not easy to get our actual ground speed, as it would have been over water or ice near sea level; but there was a way! With a stop watch we got the time that it took a smoke bomb beneath to traverse a length of 12in wire in the bottom of the plane. Turning south, we took the time over the same object in the same manner. Then, with simple arithmetic we calculated our speed. To do this we were forced to open two foot trap-doors. A strong wind coming up through it quickly numbed the face. We observed it was 10 below zero and was getting colder as we approached the Pole. We found the wind as we neared the Pole was against us. Instead of flying one hundred miles an hour over the plateau, we were making only eighty four or eighty-five miles. This was a disappointment. It would take us longer to reach the Pole than we had calculated; but we would come back faster. AVe took a look back at the mountains, and when we saw their great height avc realised that we must be very careful to allow for’the wind.

flashed through my mind the fact that some had attempted to start a wild controversy covering the territorial rights of the British Empire and tlie United States as Hie result of our discoveries. What a pity that there could be such a controversy! This is a peaceful and scientific mission—trying to extend the boundaries ul land and knowledge made by those heroes who gave Their lives here! If the spirit of this expedition towards those gallant men, and the nation’s Unit they represented, could be known and felt, it would add its mite toward furthering the good fellowship so vitally important now that our country lias joined with other nations in a sincere effort to secure peace., and liarmonv for the world. ,

The harrier edge was now about four hours back. No wonder that the boys thought I was living beyond the Pole—the pole which was only a little more than three hundred miles from the barrier’s edge. The wind had caused us to take longer than we. had expected, but, at last the big moment had come. That imaginary point, tlie very bottom of the world, was according to my reckoning, somewhere beneath and within our view!

1 handed Harold the following message to radio to our comrades at Little America: “My calculations indicate that we have reached the vicinity of the South Pole. Flying high for a survey. Soon turn north.” Bernt turned the nose .of' the plane to the right, while' I attempted., to get- the altitude of the sun witlr the sextant, hut there, was far too . much movement of the plane for results. YYo knew exactly what the altitude of the sun should he, since the altitude of the sun’s centre a.t any moment at the Pole is equal -to the declination of sun, which, at that time,was 21 degrees 27 minutes, The sun circles that, point without any noticeable change in altitude. YYc flew, on to the right for five or six miles. Then we circled and flew to the left for an equal distance, and we followed our original line of flight for five or six miles further. I had wanted to go fifty miles beyond the Pole, instead of half-a-dozen, but we had been a long time in reaching It. I saw Harold's and Berut’s anxious eyes on the gasolene gauges.

It would not be fair to these fellows to go. uny-YurUku'. Y\’e turned .the nose of the ~piane back toward Little America.'' YY’lieii we reached the place at which we .had turned to the right, vyc opened,'-:!''trap' door and <1 topped an American flag, weighted with a. stone froth Bennett’s grave. YYc stood and sfijiuted the spirit of oiir gallant comri'ple. and our/Fountry’s Hag—fhfg ''and that small stone, tied together, at the bottom of the world- YY'e were about 2,b00 feet above the Pole, and the temperature had further dropped I roin ten degrees below zero. The visibility was good in most directions. But what was direction? All directions are north from the Pole! \Y lieu wo passed over the Pole, we had changed hour time- a whole day. Now we had. changed it back again! YVe still jub_Jjo......\yjjidtL Yvbre gathcrnig'"in'''Tbree: in a' short time we could, v see more, patches -qf drifting sfu^v ;: .bii|i|athV.ife.! ’ YVe wajteli.. ’ ed the suii compass and the drift indicator like hawks.J |\fe"jnust hit the mountain pass | On and on we went, the lime that .seen,i,ej.l. long before cijawled now. The first mountains to ( the right, whieh ( ,h|i.d been clear'on the ' outward journey, were half covered " ith .clouds. .Yh|c photographed them. It was apparent;. Jim* i a!’storm had just reached here. Bernt had increased 'tlie motor revolution, and the great Cyclone engine was doing its stuff. We aimed our course a few degrees to the right, so as to reach the Barrier more to the eastward than we had left it. to get a better view of Carmen Land, and to obtain survey photographs which geographically are of great importance.

Suddenly Bernt gave a shout of joy • n- a bitm to our left was the pass we bad c,...,e through, only partly e oud eivered. and wlmt wo took for til'.’ Axel Ln'avg Glacier was almost dead ahead. ( iotids were beginning to iorm. We were just in time. We were, very thankful that we did not have to waste precious time and gasolene looking for a way through the mountains. Soon we were sliding down the Axel Heiberg Glacier, it was very rough, but our plane was light. In another few minutes, Harold brought her down gracefully on the ice-hard sastrngi—at our little mountain base. YY’c put aboard two hundred gallons of gasolene, and left three hundred and fifty pounds of flood, ton gallons of gasolene, ten gallons of oil, and a gasolene stove for Larry Gould’s party. In an hour wo were ready, and Harold lifted the “Floyd Bennett” easily from tlie snow and headed for the earn]). We took north over a rolling white plain, and it seemed to ns that we could see all that we had loft behind. A few more weeks’ work, and then home!

BYRD DEFENDED. BY ONE OF SCOTT'S MEN. LONDON, December 4. Herbert George Pouting, F.R.G.R., in a letter to the “Daily Mail,” speaking for all of Captain Scott’s comrades, denounces the whole tone and spirit of tlie remarks by Major Gran, cabled yesterday. Pouting says that bis remarks can only recoil himself. Commander Byrd spent two years in preparing bis expedition, and lie established his base on the Great Ice Barrier in December last. Tlis staff includes geologists, meteorologists and other scientists. Mis main geological part is now pro-ceeding-—with dog teams—to examine the mountains that are five hundred

miles from the base, which mountains Major Gran dismisses as a “phantasy.” Pouting adds: “Every Polar explorer knows that this vast range was first discovered by Sir Ernest Shackletcin. I ,liighly admire Commander Byrd’s and his comrades’ achievements. It was a colossal task. Byrd’s fine wireless tributes to Scott and the other pioneers, as well as his words before Scott’s statue at Dunedin, were a most beautiful and touching tribute from one man to the memory of another.”