I AM THRILLED.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 945, 15 December 1933, Page 1

I AM THRILLED.

ELLSWORTH’S STORY OF VOYAGE. First Contact With Antarctic. HOPES TO GET THROUGH PACK ICE QUICKLY. (Special to United Press Assn. By Radio from the Wyatt Karp.) (By LINCOLN ELLSWORTH.) DECEMBER 14. To-day at 5 p.m. we sighted icebergs, one on either side in latitude 63.17 south and longitude 174.06 east. They are some distance off, and appear to be more than a quarter of a mile long, with rugged surfaces. They are my first contact with the Antarctic, and I am thrilled. They awaken thoughts of danger, but since it is light the whole night through now, we expect easily to avoid them. This morning we had our first snow squall. The temperature is now one degree below freezing point. The hospitable weather yesterday has passed, probably until our return from the Bay of Whales. To-day heavy clothes weic issued to the men. Although the seasons are reversed in latitudes south of the Equator, and it is almost midsummer with us, It is difficult to associate midsummer conditions in any latitude with the weather conditions we are now experiencing. To the crew of seasoned old whalers aboard, used as they are to going down to the seas in small ships, we are having a remaikably fine passage. Meal Time Incident. 44 Fine weather. Someone aboard must be carrying a rabbit's foot,” remarked one of the crew, but my memory of the jerky roll of the ship at meal times, and when Bernt Balchen’s plate, loaded with pork, potatoes, peas, preserves and gravy,, suddenly catapulted off the table opposite and struck me square in the chest, remained too vivid for me to agree. Our little wild pig has found his sea legs, and, as regular as the watches change, every four hours, he leaves his box to run up and down the passageway, pausing at my cabin door to squeal at the top of his lungs for food and still more tood. Is Pack Ice Near? Having sighted icebergs, we wonder if the pack ice is far off. If we meet it too early it means a long delay in getting through, and we haven't too much time, for we must leave the Barrier before the end of February, or get frozen in. The history ot ships getting through the pack ice is interesting. In January, 1008, the Nimrod, encountering no pack ice. made the passage in twelve hours. In 1896 the Erebus, entering the pack on December 18, took forty-four days to get through 800 miles of pack ice. In 1893 the Southern Cross got through in forty-eight days, after entering the pack on December 30. The Norwegian whalers contend that the best place for entering the pack is between 175 and 189 degrees east longitude. I have set a course for 175 degrees, and. if necessary, will work further eastwards.