POLAR EXPLORER

Taranaki Daily News, 21 November 1933, Page 4

POLAR EXPLORER

MB. ELLSWORTH’S RECORD. HAZARDS OF COMING FLIGHT. Dunedin, Nov. 10. A personal friend of Mr. Lincoln Ellsworth to-day gave some interesting > particulars concerning the famous explorer. He stated that Mr. Ellsworth for >. many years had been a patron of polar exploration. In 1925 he had given many thousands of dollars to assist Captain Amundsen’s North Pole flight and had provided two Dornier-Wai aeroplanes. In the year following he had supplied most of the funds for the Amundsen-Nobile flight in the airship Norge across the North Pole from Spitsbergen to Alaska, and in 1928 he had subscribed largely to the cost of the Wilkins-Ellsworth transArctic submarine expedition. However, he did not take an active part in this latter expedition. Mr. Ellsworth has been able to devote money to polar exploration, it was stated, by setting.aside a sum each year from his limited income. He did not possess the millions with which he was credited. He lived what perhaps might be termed a frugal life and had no expensive personal tastes. This year saw Mr. Ellsworth’s crowning effort, as he was conducting his own expedition. He had set himself a hazardous undertaking. He and his pilot, Mr. Bernt Balchen, were to fly in a Nortnrop Gamma aeroplane from the' Ross Sea across the Antarctic to the Weddell Sea and back again, a distance of just on 3000 miles. If the two adventurers were to have trouble with their machine, which has a flying range of 7000 miles, and fell and became irretrievably damaged in the first 500 miles after leaving the Ross Sea, they would have a good chance of being able to walk back to the Ross Sea base. Similarly, if the machine fell in the 500 miles nearest the Weddell Sea they would also have a good prospect of walking back to the fringe of the Weddell Sea. If> however, an accident occurred in the ’■ middle sector, their chances of making their way on foot to safety would be very remote. They will carry three months’ provisions.