ON DRIFTING ICE
RUSSIAN POLAR OBSERVERS POSITION NOW PERILOUS IN THE GRIP OF CURRENT (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) LONDON, Nov. 30. (Received Dec. 1, at 5.5 p.m.) The Times special correspondent says the position of the four Russian Polar observers is now perilous. They are in the grip of the Polar current and are drifting like Nansen’s Fram 40 years ago towards the Spitzbergen coast. Messages coming through with unfailing regularity show they have drifted 100 miles from the starting point, staggering from east to west as the winds and ice pressures dictate. Their fate becomes a matter of serious concern. These drifting icefields have been surveyed from the air by Amundsen and Sir Hubert Wilkins and others, but no explorers have previously entrusted themselves to the tender mercies of the irresistible ice stream. Escape for the Russians would be all but miraculous in a tumbled mass of grinding floes that sweeps down the wild coast of east Greenland. The Russians are in the depth of the Arctic winter night, lit only by the moon, stars and aurora, and are probably experiencing conditions similar to those experienced by the Fram, whose master, Captain Sverdrup, wrote: “ The ice round us roared, screamed, and trembled as if a tremendous gale was blowing.”
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19371202.2.81
Bibliographic details
Otago Daily Times, Issue 23364, 2 December 1937, Page 11
Word Count
212ON DRIFTING ICE Otago Daily Times, Issue 23364, 2 December 1937, Page 11
Using This Item
Allied Press Ltd is the copyright owner for the Otago Daily Times. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons New Zealand BY-NC-SA licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Allied Press Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.