WYATT EARP AT DUNEDIN

Taranaki Daily News, 29 January 1934, Page 6

WYATT EARP AT DUNEDIN

“BITTEREST MOMENT IN LIFE” HOPES DASHED AT LAST MINUTE. ELLSWORTH’S PLANS INDEFINITE. VESSEL SCARRED BY POLAR ICE. By Telegraph—Press Association. Dunedin. Last Night With the ironwork rust-stained and the copper sheathing scarred by the ice floes of the south, the Wyatt Earp arrived at Dunedin this evening. “It was the bitterest moment of my, life,” said the leader, Mr. Lincoln Ellsworth, to a reporter, “to come so near success and have it snatched from us at the last minute. “In the trials the machine went beautifully; everything was ready for the dash across. I have no plans for the future and do not know if I shall go back to the Antarctic. Until I return to America I cannot decide anything. ■ “The blow fell suddenly. ’ An hour or two more and we would have been in the air and disaster would have been averted. In fifteen minutes five miles of the barrier crumpled.” GUSTS OF 70 MILES AN HOUR OCEAN SPRAY LIKE HAILSTONES. SHIP JUST HOLDING ITS OWN. (Special to United Press Association.) By Radio. Wyatt Earp, Jan. 26. Mr. Lincoln Ellsworth writes from the Wyatt Earp: “We are. 320 miles from Dunedin but are making little headway owing to the strong wind which swung right round the compass in 24 hour? the day before yesterday, turned to northeast yesterday .and increased to a velocity of 70 miles an hour. Some gusts were estimated at 80 miles an hour. Heavy, white-crested waves appearing suddenly mounted to an average of 20 feet high, and some rose to 30 feet or more. The swirling foam hid the blue- . ness of the ocean and the spray whipped from the waves by the wind stung the faces of those on watch, on the Wyatt Earp like hailstones. “The Wyatt Earp, a splendid sea-boat, rose, fell, rolled and twisted like a light canoe on a cataract. She was making little heavy water on the decks but was continually drenched from the top of the bridge to the alleyways with spray. Water penetrated everywhere, all who ventured on deck, including myself, fail- ; ing to escape repeated soakings. Last evening when I was for the second time hanging my clothes to dry in the “fiddley” above the engines. a shower came through.'the engine-room skylight and drenched me yet again. “It is impossible to keep the alleyways and the messroom free of water. It swilled from end to end, and as we struggled between the rollings of the ship to ladle a few spoonfuls of . hot stew from the basins to. our lips, .part of the ocean on the messroom floor curled about our feet. How. the cook managed to prepare the meals is still a mystery, as was probably the contents of the meal itself. All through the day and night the wind raged, and at night I tried to rest in my bunk, but dare not go to sleep for fear of rolling to the floor. “With the engine full" speed, ahead the Wyatt Earp just managed to hold her own for 24 hours, but made no progress, and at 8 o’clock this morning we are in the same place as 8 a.m. yesterday. About noon to-day the wind partly subsided. We are going ahead, in spite of the wind force, which is still rated as half-gale force, and making about two miles an hour. “Had the good weather held we would have been at Dunedin to-morrow morning, but now as to the time of our arrival, so long as the wind keeps up,' one guess is as good as another. Howeve - , there is no desperate hurry. Even with several days’ delay there will still be time to crate the aeroplane Polar Star in readiness to be shipped on the boat sailing for San Francisco on February 2J, and for me to catch, as I plan to do, the Mariposa sailing from Auckland on February 10 to the United States.