RACE TO ICE BARRIER

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18253, 23 November 1933, Page 9

RACE TO ICE BARRIER

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONS WORK ON WYATT EARP Work on the. Ellsworth Antarctic Expedition's ship AV yatt Earp at -Dunedin is proceeding apace, and there is no reason to expect that the vessel will be delayed at Dunedin after December 3. The leader, Mr. Lincoln EBswprth, hirs gone to Mount Cook for show .work and' tramping, and is due to return to Dunedin on November 26Apparently there is a race between tlic Ellsworth ami Byrd expeditious to. reach Antarctica first. .The expeditions, are entirely independent of each other, but it is known that Mr. Ellsworth is not desirous of being “headed” in reachjng the ice barrier. A message from the Jacob Ruppert, lias already indicated that Rear-Admiral Byrd is anxious to speed up bis trio south, and not to delay his ships in New Zealand waters. The petrol for the Northrop Gamma monoplane was emptied from 169 drltms into big tanks on the deck of the- Wyatt Earp. Mr. Bernt Balcheh, and Mr.yC. Braathcn, mechanic, who were Wjjtfy with the former Byrd, expedition, avp still assembling the plane, which Mr. Balcheu states to be in as good condition as when it left Hie United* States. The painting of the monoplane has not been carried out yet. Only the top section of the fuselage is to be painted,. The color is to be otfatlge, been proved to be most discernible at a distance.