CLEARED FOR ACTION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18273, 16 December 1933, Page 5

CLEARED FOR ACTION

BYRD EXPEDITION SHIP PROGRESS SOUTHWARDS (Special to the Press Association from the Byrd Expedition) AT SEA, Dec. 14. The Jacob Ruppert is making full speed on a south-easterly course, and her 24-hour run at noon was 240 miles. The days grow perceptibly longer and colder. It will be Thursday all day tomorrow as well as to-day. The energies of the crew are being directed to preparing for the-impending struggle with the ice-pack. You have the feeling of a warship being cleared for action. Admiral Byrd lias issued strict orders for the conservation of food and materials. “We are entering ( the great non-shop area of the world,” te said, “and whatever is wasted or lost cannot bo replaced.” lie scolded a now man who tossed a stray piece of timber overboard. “You might have to 1 wait 100,000 years for the Antarctic to produce a piece of wood that big,” he commented.

There was another interesting incident. Whilst we were quietly steaming ahead, the ship’s bell set up a weird and terrific noise on the bridge. The engine room telegraph was swung full speed astern. The whole ship shuddered, and the men raised themselves in their bunks, wondering when the crash would come. Then up from the engine room came Homeric laughter. An inexperienced hand had struck eight bells and the vagrant wind had carried the sound to the bridge, where it sounded like an iceberg alarm from the forecastle head.”