WILKINS’ ADVENTURE

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11027, 27 December 1928, Page 7

WILKINS’ ADVENTURE

SIX ISLAXDS DISCOVERED. United Press Assn —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, December 21. A copyright message from Sir Hubert Wilkins at Deception Island, dated December 21, states: “Our flight of 1200 miles over hitherto unknown territory resulted in the discovery of six previously uncharted islands, which is the second outstanding result of the flight, enabling us to look 600 miles south across th e Antarctic wastes over a region human eyes have probably never previously seen. This region will be mapped when w e have had an opportunity of going over the data collected in the hazardous nine hour spin above Grahamland’s ice ranges. OVER THE ICY WASTES. LONDON, December 22. A copyright amplification of Wilkins’ twelve hundred miles hop: “The first part of our flight was over water, then high-peaked mountains on which flowed glaciers, reticulated with gaping crevasses, many of which could have swallowed our machine without leaving a trace. There was not a chance whatever of landing safely. Some peaks showed a horizontal strata, some of them black, perhaps coal. At times we flew to 8,0!)0 feet and returned at 130 miles an hour. We kept the compass course and easily located Deception Island and landed safely. The temperature in the cabin throughout the day was exceptionally warm, mostly 64 Fahrenheit. Only when we came low over Deception Island we felt the cold. We discovered no sign of any game or other sustenance. The prospect of being forced down was much less inspiring than our Arctic trip. When we returned to Hektoria we learned that our wireless transmitter functioned perfectly throughout the flight.”