THE FROZEN SOUTH

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18235, 2 November 1933, Page 11

THE FROZEN SOUTH

BYRD’S EXPEDITION » OFFICERS AND EXPERTS SAN FRAN CISCO, Oct. 11. Rear-Admiral, Byrd’s two Antarctic exploration ships, tlie Jacob Ruppert (8800 tons) and Bear of Oakland (1800 tons), will shortly arrive at their base in New Zealand. The Bear will call at Valparaiso and is expected to arrive at Dunedin about November 2(). It- is not known if the .Jacob Ruppert will follow the same itinerary. Formerly :l .well-known lumber ship, she has been •renamed in honor of the Ne.w York brewer and owner of the American s baseball team, who is the expedition’s chief sponsor. She carries three aeroplanes and 50 sled dogs from Northern Canada. Captain Benedik Johanssen, a Norwegian, with 37 Arctic trips behind him, will navigate the Bear when she readies the icefield. Lieutenant A.” F. English of the United States Navy, has been granted leave of absence for a year to command tho expedition. Officers and expert personnel are First officer, S. D. Rose, Boston; second officer, N. B, Davis, jun., who graduated from tlie Naval Academy this year; chief engineer, George W. de Locke; assistant engineer, S. A. Pinkha; oceanographer, g. Edward Roos, Sweden; physicist, El. H. Branhall ; ski experts, Albert Eilefsen and Finn Ronne, Norway; meteorologist, George Gumniingcr, Washington, D.C. The expedition’s surgeon, Dr. William Maekay, will join it at Dunedin. Messrs. It. B. Black and Q. A. Blackburn are ship surveyors. The crew, comprise W. Miller, Joseph Coates, Vernon Boyd, R. S'. Robinson, C. P. Royston, It. L). Armstrong, J. 11. von dev Wall, L. I. Russel, Richard Russel and Henry M. Hough. WORK FOR ADVENTURERS Dr Waldo Schmitt, of the National Museum in Washington, who is an authority on zoology in southern latitudes, suggests that any observations or collections by tho Byrd Expedition, tending to prove that Antarctica was the “crossroads of the ancient world, would he an exceedingly valuable contribution to science. Dr. Schmitt’s field studies of marine life have taken him to Robinson Crusoe’s Juan Fernandez Island in the South Pacific, to the Falkland Islands (in the Atlantic, and to Reception Island in the .Antarctic, where lie lias found clues indicating Hie prehistoric land connections. Proof of the ancient land 'bridges, however, awaits additional fossil discoveries of plant or animal liic in tho icy wastes of the Antarctic continent. • “There is reason to believe that in the tertiary period, possibly 25,000.000 years ago, there were land connections "between tho present-day Antarctica and the land masses far northward,” Dr. Schmitt said. “There are vestiges of prehistoric plant life on Juan Fernandez Island, 600 miles off the Chilean coast, which is a veritable treasure-house lor scientists.” DEPOSITS OF FOSSILS Dr. Schmitt said that British and Swedish, explorers in Antarctic lands had found various fossil remains, but additional evidence is needed. Abundant fossil deposits undoubtedly. exist beneath the deep Antarctic ice, but their discovery would require an immense amount of blasting. Scientists say they are hopeful that iu its exploration of Hitherto unknown regions, the Byrd expedition may find areas where fossils are easily accessible, and in varieties comparable to the present or former life in South America, New Zealand and South Africa. Such discoveries would aid geologists in tracing the lines of tlie partially vanished continent of the tertiary period.

Rear-Admiral Byrd left Newport News for Dunedin in the Jacob Ruppert on October 21.