LIFE AMONGST ICE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 13 June 1925, Page 11

LIFE AMONGST ICE

I.AKT INTERVIEW WITH AM f NT)SEN VVi-i.m Li;* March s-.tr, was sendmg >ls ■■ j;.o’ er Uto> :vio» .spots hc-av.eC'ii in..' lo 1 * frees n.m t : g a i;otr.eslc*a4 t m- ■ d l s.:d?:>bu! s , "vartskeg, taplm! Rim hi Amundsen gave his las! interview before leaving cm his present expedition, tin a reporter from Oslo. Tlie reporter had hesitated, a little doubtful, hut soon heard a jolly voice call out. Hello." Raold Amundsen was coming along, with a big tub in los hand, bareheaded, and in knickers. II il had not been for his white hair, and tPe weather-beaten, strong expression ot. iiis fare, he might easily have passed for a youth in his twenties. I’.verity years before, when the (fjora was lying at the quay at Christiania (Oslo) the same reporter had his first interview with Amundsen. A stalwart voting man. with light moustache and n mere decided nose than any the Prissmau had ever seen, was walking on hoard. He was the owner cl the ship. "When I slink hands with him. reflects the reporter, "I was thinking ■(irxl knows if 1 ever again shall shake hands with Raold Amundsen." TRACK IX< i DOWN AM I'XDSEX A long interval passed, in which no one saw or heard anything of the explorer. Then the reporter heard lluit lie was m the town again, and tracked him down. He had returned incognito, and his secret was closely preserved, h r in the interval he had become while-hair-ed. and was clean-shaven. ! hint ecu years litter Amundsen was still going strong, and the picture of him which tiie reporter had kept iu his mind answered exactly to the man then lie-lY.-re him.

Questioned regarding his Highl to the Role, the explorer said: "I hope to he at Spiizbergcn shortly to wail, lor an opportunity to start. I have seen the living boats, and have become acquaint, ed with the flyers. That gives me eonii deuce. Tile meters are wonderful, the safest < otainahle. When everything was ready. five men came from the Rolls-Royce factory with some, cases. They had found out a new invention, and we, had to include it. .Both the Hying machine manufacturers and the motor manufacturers have shown a great interest in the flight, and havo always been ready to help. We are getting first-class men from the factories who Know the motors perfectly. I think both Nansen and Sverdrup, who are boiler acquainted with the ice than I am, will agree that there are many great flat stretches which we can use for landing-places.'’ “T. understand you intend to land at the pole:" ‘Acs. we will try that, and when we have taken out observations we shall fiv straight back. There will he three men on each machine, and provisions enough for a month, also skis, snow sledges, anil eskimo kajaks. We are taking parachutes to Spitsbergen in ease we might, want to, ship them with us. Eaeli of the machines can lift three tons ”

"How much, are you taking as provisions," "Thirty kilograms for each man, one kilo a day. We shall include cream chocolates, oat. biscuits, milk powder, and coffee. “(.’mild you imagine a pi lot going asleep through being tired?’’ "'[lien lie will get a good belt on tlie hack to keep him awake for a while afterwards. We have thermos flasks, with hot coffee, which is good for keeping you awake; hut personally 1 would rather take hot chocolate.” "If you should happen to pass over land ?” "That is not probable, hut if it happens we shall fly as low as possible, without risking anything. We have splendid flyers, the host this expedition could have found, and I ’mow that none of them will run into danger. Anyhow, I think one can he safer in the air over the. polar regions than in the streets in Oslo.

“The other day I was nearly run over by a motor-ear.” lit* said ; with tlit* assurance that he thought everything would come out all right. "How many years have you been in the ice?'’ "In 1984 1 started to develop myself lor these expeditions. 1 went on sealsin'.':,! ing excursions and in 1897 1 tlitl mv first voyage. It is thirty-one years since I went north the first time." "I suppose many people were, doubtful how the. Gjo'Pa would get along, when the little craft lay ready to sail in Osin for the far north?” "1 remember very well." Amundsen asserted, "two young sailors, who were ahead of me on my way down to the Gjipa. started laughing, and turned round with scorn on their laces. Oh, yes, thirty-one years is a long time." "It, doesn't, look as though your adversities have affected you, Captain,” said the reporter.

"No, they haven’t affected me a hit. The more adversity the better ; nothing is stimulating like tliaL. No, they shall never overwhelm me. 1 am now in my fifties. 1 did my best voyage two years ago, after I had my fiftieth birtlidnv.”

Captain Amundsen then told how, in the. month of November, he journeys from VViiinwright. to Kotzebue, in Alaska, a stretch of about 450 sea miles, in Hit* company of an Eskimo mail carrier. The pair did the run in ten days, averaging torty-live miles per day. .the sledges were so loaded that the men could ride only over short stretches. As the road went over rough ice Amundson and the Eskimo were walking or running, every day, from three in the morning until ton in the evening, ami most ot the time in the dark. It was a record for them both. "Oh, tfes, the will is there." he said, with a touch ol pride, "and my legs are as good as ever. "I suppose it was a very cold trip!” "Aye, forty or fifty degrees below zero. "Did you meet any wild animals?” "No. there are none in that part of Alaska; but still, it is only fools Hint go, unarmed in the ice. because hears will often attack in the summer; aid it is reckless to go unprepared." "How is it about that fantastic .‘Amy of an inhabited land and warm geysers m the unknown?” "It is good that vnu mentioned tTr.:. Art American naval officer, EiU.iou Green, who had been along with Peary, circulated the mad idea. Hammer mentioned it in an article referring to Eitzliou Green and, after that, th.s damned nonsense was sheathed home to me.’ ’