DASH FOR SOUTH POLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20070, 6 October 1928, Page 14

DASH FOR SOUTH POLE.

THE BYRD EXPEDITION. WHALING COMPANY'S HELP. C. A. LARSEft TO CO-OPERATE. BASE SHIP DUE THIS MONTH. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] DUNEDIN, Friday Under square rig and steam the City of New, York, the base ship of the Byrd Antarctic expedition, is now threading her way across the Pacific en route to Port Chalmers, where she is due about the end of the month. On arrival at Port Chalmers the City of New York will t*ke on board provisions already being bought and equipment necessary for a long stay in polar regions and for the dash to the South Polo by aeroplane. She will also carry the expedition south, the escort through the ico barrier to the Ross Sea probably being the whale factory ship C. A. Larson. . The City of New York, under Captain C. Frederick Melville, with a. crew of 32, is a staunch little ship formerly used as the mother ship of an Arctic whaling fleet. After being reconditioned at Tromso, far up in the Arctic circle of Norway, the vessel, which was then known as the Samson, was taken to Bergen for final fitting. She is built to withstand crushing and battering by the icefloes. Safety Factor Increased. From Port Chalmers the City of. New York will head for the Bay of Whales in the Antarctic, where she will be anchored near the main base. The presence of the C. A. Larsen within lOdeg. of the South Pole during the operations of the Byrd expedition for four months each year will add substantially to the safety factor. The C. A. Larsen and her equipment have been made available to Commander Byrd by Mr. Magnus Konow, the famous yachtsman, and chief owner of the Ross Sea Whaling Company, who is a close perspnal friend of Commander Byrd. Taking on board some of the equipment of the expedition at Norfolk, Virginia, last month, the 0. A. Larsen set a course for Los Angeles where she I was to bunker and take on stores and Commander Byrd and his party. J. hero will be little delay in clearing from Port Chalmers on the southward trek as the C. A. Larsen is scheduled to arrive at the advanced base, of the Byrd expedition on the shores of the Ross Sea about December 15, stopping en route at Price's Bay in Paterson's Inlet, where is located the supply base of the whaling company. At Paterson's Inlet the New Zealand members of the whaler's crew will also be taken on board. A Year at the Antarctic. From Stewart Island to the Ross Sea the C. A. Larsen will fight her way ••through the 200 miles of ice surrounding the Antarctic regions, The minimum time for this difficult passage is ten days but the exceptional power of the C. A. Larsen will prove of great value in expediting Commander Byrd's schedule. Recently a second ship, the Eleanor Boiling, was purchased for the expedition and is now on her way to Port Chalmers where she will meet the City of New York. During the winter months both the City of New York and the Eleanor Boiling will return to Dunedin, and at least one, or both, will go back into tho ice a year afterwards to bring out the members of the expedition, who will spend the Antarctic night on the barrier. In a recent letter to the Dunedin agents, Tapley and Company, the manager of the expedition, Mr. Richard P. Brophy, stated that about four or five hundred tons of coal! would be needed to last the expedition over the two years and mentioned that a large shipment of foodstuffs had been sent out from New York by the Port Hunter for Dunedin. Among other things on the Port Hunter are two caterpillar tractors which are to be assembled in Dunedin. FOOD AND EQUIPMENT. A. VARIED ASSORTMENT. FOWLS, CHICKENS AND EGGS. [BY TELEGRAPH —PB.ESS ASSOCIATION.] DUNEDIN, Friday. Tho shipment of foodstuffs and equipment for the Byrd expedition, now en route to Port Chalmers, includes 39*11 steel barrels of petrol, 844 cases of petrol, 80 dogs, ponies, 10.000 cigars., 10001b. of chewing tobacco, 12,0001b. ol! granulated sugar, 41 cases of cigarettes, 49 cases of tobacco, and 42 boxes of fowls,. In addition 3200 chickens have yet to be shipped. Thcso form but a tithe of the lists supplied. Thousands of dozens of eggs have been purchased in New Zealand, and are now being put through tho Kassel process of sterilisation. Two Eskimos aro now en route to New Zealand with the supplies.