CHRISTMAS NUMBER BYRD EXPEDITION NOW IN PACK-ICE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18637, 14 December 1928, Page 1

CHRISTMAS NUMBER

BYRD EXPEDITION NOW IN PACK-ICE.

COMMANDER SENDS RADIO TO MANAGER IN NEW ZEALAND. (special to the "Star.”) WELLINGTON, December 14. The. following radio message from Commander Byrd on board the City of New York, dated December 12. was received yesterday by Mr Brophy, second in command of the expedition: “Left Eleanor Bolling in Ross Sea. Expect Tier arrive in Dunedin on December 21.” The cable message from Vancouver indicates that the pack-ice is breaking up rapidly on the northern edge, probably due to the heavy weather. This would explain the experiences of the Eleanor Bolling and the City of New York. The coal mentioned in the cable message is 100 tons of bagged coal carried by the Eleanor Bolling which was to have been transhipped by the gear rigged on the towing hawser. Heavy weather and the probable close proximity of large masses of drifting ice floes necessitated the abandonment of the transhipping plan. Mention of the ships seeing a whale caught indicates that the expedition ships were in company with one of the C. A. Larsen’s chasers. From this and the radio message from Commander Byrd to Mr Brophy, it can be inferred that the City of New York is now proceeding south with the C. A. Larsen. The Eleanor Bolling is due at Dunedin next Friday and will leave again for the Antarctic about the end of the month. Scott Island, the existence of which has been confirmed by Commander Byrd, is a tiny speck well inside the Antarctic Circle, and slightly to the westward of the 180th degree of longitude. It was first sighted during the voyage of the Discovery in 1901-2. Yesterday Mr Brophy called on the Prime Minister and was presented to the other members of the Cabinet, which was sitting. Mr Brophy tendered the cordial greetings of Commander Byrd. Later Mr Brophy visited the Minister of Marine (the Hon J. G. Cobbe), who is also chairman of the Wellington Harbour Board, and the Minister of Railways and Customs (the Hon W. B. Taverner), who is also Mayor of Dunedin, and expressed the gratitude and appreciation of Commander B3*rd and himself lor the facilities extended to the expedition. Mr Brophy said that what had been done for the expedition by the Wellington Harbour Board had been of most valuable assistance in furthering their plans.