EERIE ANTARCTIC

Northern Advocate, 20 December 1928, Page 5

EERIE ANTARCTIC

WHITE ENSHROUDED WORLD FANTASTIC KALEIDOSCOPE. ICE-LOCKED EXPEDITION. (Per Press Association. —Copyright.) WELLINGTON, This Day, A copyright message from the Byrd expedition, dated December 18, states; ‘‘ We are lying amidst a world ol ! drifting white. For hours the ship has not moved. It is shut in by solid ice that stretches for many miles. It is snowing so hard that one cannot see for more than 50 yards, and in the wind the snow sifts past ns in a curtain that opens and closes, giving swift glimpses of tortuous surfaces, which are quickly hidden. . “Overhead is a pale glow, where the: sun is trying to -break through, but only Succeeds in making a diL fused light that hurts the eyes as they strain to pierc-e the obscuring drift.

“There is the fascination’ of the mysterious in this eerie concealment. It' is not haze or mist, 'but an enshrouding, impalpable light that closes about us. When it opens for a moment we realise that our micro- \ cosm is not the limit of this frozen sea, but almost instantly that quiek.stabbling drift is blotted out and we are alone. What is ahead for us in the for- * bidden land we -are approaching day and night? How have we been living ’ in this gray silence, broken only by the whistle of the wind in the rigging and the whine' of the dogs? Voices are lost in this vast emptiness. Every , hour the light and colour have changed, painting scenes which can never be forgotten. “Before the snow came there was a wind'which lifted clouds-of scurrying drift from the surface of the ice and concealed the horizon. It changed its density constantly, and lifted i up cakes of hummock which pushed out in the gloom and then were swiftly hidden, as if an opaque, but invisible, hand had swept down over them.

ELEANOR BOLLING BACK.

TOWLINE PARTED TWICE.

BASE (SHIP’S SLOW PACE.

(Per Press Association.—Copyright.) DUNEDIN, This Day.

Having completed the furthest South tour ever made, the Eleanor Bolling, the Byrd expedition steamer, arrived this morning.

.While towing the. base ship,. City of New Yprk, she had heavy weather, going south, the towline breaking twice.

The master reports that the ice pack is the thickest for 18 summers.

The, Eleanor Bolling has been docked for the fitting of a new propeller. The vessel suffered no damage in the iee-floes, but several plates were dented through bumping the City of New York during coaling. It is not expected that the latter vessel can reach open water this month. The C. A. Larsen is not to tow her, but will go ahead to open the way for the barque. Progress will be slow, the C. A. Larsen reporting having taken seven days to go through 28 miles of ice.

WIDENS’ ENDEAVOURS.

FURTHER FAILURE RECORDED

(Australian Press Association.) (Received 11.11 a.m.)

LONDON December 19. A copyright message from Sir Hubert Wilkins states;

“We made repeated efforts to get off the water with an aeroplane equipped with ipon toons, but failed, owing to the heavy load. We ran the plane four miles out before we abandoned the attempt.

“Meanwhile we are shovelling away ice and snow and have almost completed the land flying field from Where the next attempt will be made When the weather permits.”