EXPLORERS REACH DISCOVERY INLET

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 548, 28 December 1928, Page 9

EXPLORERS REACH DISCOVERY INLET

Ashore At Last

Men of Crew Stretch Their Legs On Frozen Strand of the Barrier

MAJESTIC, FORBIDDING PLACE

(United. P.A.—By Telegraph Copyright) (United Service)

Reed. 9.5 a.m. DISCOVERY INLET, Wednesday (By Russell Owen, special Press representative with, the Byrd Expedition.)

WE have been ashore at last, if one can call this floating sheet and bay of ice a shore; but as the entire Barrier is supposed to be afloat, we have at least been on its doorstep.

About two-thirds of the ship’s company are out on the ice in this snug harbour, playing with penguins, skiing, or hunting seals to get meat for the dogs.

We reached the Barrier yesterday at Longitude 177.25 W., and cruised along it in the City of New York all last night and this morning. With all we had read of this wall of ice, we found that no pictures or descriptions of it could convey an adequate impression. It rose 80 or 90 feet, majestic and forbidding, beautiful and terrible. We watched it for the most part silently, marking the clean lines of cleavage where great bergs have broken off, caves into which the waves dashed, overhanging cliffs which seemed about to topple into the sea as we moved eastward. Prank Davies, the physicist, and Quin A. Blackburn, topographer, sketched the face of the Barrier, and soundings were' taken every hour. They showed depths ranging from 250 to 300 fathoms at distances from a mile to three miles off the shore. SCRAMBLE ASHORE About 8 o’clock in the morning, Commander Byrd had predicted that we should see the beginning of Discovery Inlet, and just about that time we sighted what first was believed to be a distant ice-floe or berg. A glance at the chart, however, convinced the Commander that we were In the mouth of this "ide bay. That opinion was justified a short ume later, when with the glasses we were able to see that the walls of the inlet were coming together to the east. Three hours later we were well inside, where the inlet narrows to a width of from one to three miles. A short run brought us to the bay of ice, which was about half way down the narrowest part of the inlet, and here we came alongside the ice, threw out two ice anchors and made them fast. There was a scramble to be the first one over the side, and Captain Alton Parker, of the Marine Corps, won by a second. A moment later, and the ice near the ship was covered with men running to stretch their legs and pelting each other with snowballs. Imagine a long narrow bay, where instead of land the walls are glistening white cliffs of snow and ice, rising sheer above the water of the bay. The ice runs in a long curve between these walls, which stretch inland for miles, and against the edge of this ice we are now lying. We are not more than 100 yards from the Barrier, which here is about 100 feet high. BEAUTIFUL ICE CAVES The walls are broken —-u worn in some places, and as smooth as if they ■. | had been cut with a knife. In other places, and along the base, are beautiful ice caves, at which the light shines with the most perfect blue imaginable. As soon as we had made fast, Commander Byrd, with Bernt Balchen and others, went inland to try to locate a landing field at the edge of the Barrier. Such a field could be used as a base for exploring the Barrier, and also there has always been a possibility that Discovery Inlet would make a better base than the Bay of Whales, although the latter would be much nearer the area which Commander Byrd wishes to explore. They are still away and will not return for several hours. They are travelling on skis, and when they reach the Barrier they will be tied together with an Alpine rope. HUNTING FOR FOOD Another party is composed of Captain Parker, Pilot Vaughan and Jacob

Bursey. Both dog drivers have gone some distance in to get seals which are lying there in the sun. We need them for food for ourselves and it is necessary to lay in as large a store as possible also for the dogs. In these few minutes the clouds which obscured the sun have rolled away and the entire bay is a shining place of blue and white, wonderfully beautiful in this clear atmosphere. It is the cleanest place in the world—a spotless wilderness. Dean Smith started off to hunt seals, but on the way he found two penguins, which interested him so much that he stopped to play with them. They regarded him with friendly, curious eyes until he tried to pick one up. Then he found that the little fellow

could fight with his flippers and bite with his beak. He brought them back finally with many bruises on his arms and legs, and posed them in front of the cameras of Vanderveer and Rucker, who were over the side with the first and who have been busier than Commander Byrd. STRUGGLE WITH PENGUIN The dogs ever since have been trying to' keep up with what has been going on, but the real fun began when an Emperor penguin walked up to welcome us—the official greeter of the Antarctic, resplendent in his white shirt-front and frock coat. He has a long brilliant black beak coloured purple on the sides, and bright yellow spots on each side of his neck. He was a most imposing bird, and regarded us with just the proper touch of scornful toleration. He was at least three and a-half feet high and weighed about GO pounds, and with his powerful flippers made an antagonist not to be laughed at. Harold June, the Navy, pilot, regarded the Emperor for a time, and made up his mind that it should be his, or at least should be photographed in a proper state of subjection, so Harold walked up and held out his arms, looking for a yrlp on the disdainful bird, which turned and stuck his beak out and squawked. Harold paused and i egarded the Emperor with more respect. He made another attempt. Bird and pilot together rolled over in the snow, to the sound of grunts and whacks of flippers, and loud squawking protests from the penguin. It was a battle royal for a moment, and June is a strong man; but he finally foun- 1 that by tackling hard, holding his head down and out of the way of the beak, and wrapping both arms around the flippers and then lying on his Majesty, he could hold him June then roped the penguin and brought him in front of the camera, the bird protesting every inch of the way.