RETURN FROM ANTARCTIC

Taranaki Daily News, 1 June 1934, Page 3

RETURN FROM ANTARCTIC

DISSATISFACTION OF SIX MEN. NO “INTESTINAL FORTITUDE.” By Telegraph—Press Association. , Dunedin, May 31. Six men of Rear-Admiral R. E. Byrd’s ships Jacob Ruppert and Bear of Oakland left Dunedin to-day en route for the United States. Captain Vertigler, who has had to resign on account of ill-health following pneumonia, is also returning. The six men represent the dissatisfied element, who complain of their treatment. Lieut. English, when interviewed, praised the morale and loyalty of the crew generally. He stated that the six had resigned for personal reasons. They were not destitute, being given passages and transportation across the United States. Rear-Admiral Byrd had treated them generously. Lieut. English denied there had been any autocracy in the expedition. He said that the test had been applied and some of the men had failed through lack of “intestinal fortitude.”