BYRD EXPEDITION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21717, 5 February 1934, Page 9

BYRD EXPEDITION

SHIPS IN ANTARCTIC UNLOADING THE SUPPLIES GOOD PROGRESS MADE CALMNESS OF* WEATHER By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright (Received . February 4. 6.55 p.m.) KEW YORK, Feb.- 3 The following wireless message has been received from the Byrd expedition in the Antarctic: — The difficult £fnd dangerous work of unloading our winter supplies from th© Jacob Ruppert and transporting them, to Little America has been virtually completed and as soon as the vessel haa loaded 250 tons of coal from the Bear of Oakland she will start on the return, trip to New Zealand for the winter. To date 450 tons of stores and scientific equipment have been unloaded and all that xemains on the ship comprises scattered odds and ends and personal gear. ' For the first time in a fortnight the Jacob Ruppert appears to have found a stable mooring, although the ice in the Bay of Whales is still disintegrating. The Bear of Oakland has been: moored alongside her and will now unload her remaining 75. tons of supplies she brought. The tractors and dog teams are still busy moving supplies - from the relay; points to high barriers near Little America. They are working day and night shifts. The weather continues astonishingly; calm, but now the thermometer is dropping steadily. On the last three night# the night shifts worked in temperatures of from 10 to 15 degrees below; below zero and the sky, which for days was clear, now is constantly overcast and gloomy. Last :night some of the men were slightly frost bitten.