THE BYRD EXPEDITION

Otago Witness, Issue 4038, 4 August 1931, Page 7

THE BYRD EXPEDITION

OAMARU MAN’S PLIGHT. DEPORTED FROM AMERICA. Assistant engineer with Commander R. E. Byrd on his expedition to the South Pole, Mr P. J. Hart, was, together with other members of the expedition, given a rousing reception when lie stepped ashore on American soil from the City of New York last year. His departure from the United States was strangely different. He was deported, for the reason that his papers did not comply with the American regulations.

Mr Hart, whose mother lives in Oamaru, arrived at Auckland by the Sonoma. His wife is in America, and he hopes to be able to return to that country at an early date. Speaking of his visit to the Polar regions. Mr Hart said that even coffee would freeze in a few minutes if it were left on the lips. Even perspiration would freeze beneath your clothes when you were working, he said. “ And when you tried to pull that ice off it took skin and everything else along with it. Several members of the expedition tried pouring hot water on themselves, but the water froze, and we almost had to dig them out with axes. Probably every man who went down there would go again if he had the chance, but at times we were all pretty well sick of the place and wished we were home. Byrd was a champion. He peeled potatoes and did his fair share of the work. Down there everv man was equal. “ One night on the voyage down." said Mr Hart. “we ran into an iceberg and the ship heeled over. Lifeboats were lowered and everyone prep ■ed to leave the ship, although we knew that the'small boafe would never have lived among that ice. Fortunately the pumps got rid of the water and the ship righted herself. For two days we never had our lifebelts off."

Speaking of the reception Byrd’s party got in New York, Mr Hart said he would never forgot it. All wore uniforms, but as their hair and whiskers were long all looked about alike. “ I had no sooner reached shore than a girl rushed me and started kissing me I couldn’t quite understand it, but I didn’t ask any questions She was standing by me when we were all called up to receive our medals. When she heard my name, she cried, “ Good heavens, you’re the wrong man ” After the expedition disbanded, Mr Hart, who wears the badge of the Byrd expedition on the lapel of his coat, got a job with a chemical firm in Illinois, and for some- time was flying a six-pas-senger aeroplane. While in the States he gave a number of lectures on the work of the expedition.