POLAR FLIGHT.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18659, 7 April 1926, Page 9

POLAR FLIGHT.

+ WILKINS'S EXPEDITION.

TWO LEADERS MISSING,

(BT CABLE-TRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT.) "Sun" Sebvice.)

VANCOUVER, April 5. Sonic anxiety is felt at Fairbanks, Alaska, owing to the silence of Captain Wilkins, who has not been heard from since Friday night. He was expected to return to Fairbanks on Easter Sunday, but has not appeared, although the flying weather is perfect. The party which left Fairbanks by dog-sledge for Point Barrow also struck trouble.

After crossing the Endacott Mountains they wirelessed that they were short of food for the dogs, and unless relief was sent soon they would have to shoot some of the animals.

The leader of this party, Malcolm Smith, set out for help and provisions, and has not since been heard of.

[Captain Wilkins left Fairbanks on Wednesdav for Point Barrow, where he had established his base preparatory to his Polar flight, and arrived there the following day J

NO FOOD FOR DOGS. (reuter's telegrams.) (Received April 6th, 10.25 p.m.) NEW YORK, April 6. A Detroit message states that the Arctic expedition may have to shoot its dogs, if food is not obtained for them in a short time.

A radio dispatch from the party, which is exploring the polar lands of North Alaska, said that on Monday the huskies were drawing the sleds of one division of the expedition which was pushing overland toward the South Coleville river, 140 miles from Point Barrow, Alaska, the explorers' base of operations. ,

Tho men of the party, the dispatch said, were living* on ptarmigan, but there was not sufficient for the dogs. Unless the relief party, which was sent for food for the. dogs to Jones Island, returned in two days, it was feared the animals would havb to be sacrificed. Tho expedition. is sponsored by the Detroit Aviation Society, and is in command of Captain George Wilkins. CHANTIER SAILS. (AU3TBALIAN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION.) NEW YORK, April 5. The Polar ship Chantier, carrying the expedition headed by Commander Byrd, sailed on Monday for Spitsbergen. Two aeroplanes* and stores are in tho holds of the vessel. The charting of now lands and the obtaining of meteorological data are tho scientific objects, of tho expedition, which has the backing of 'tho United States Government. Tho expedition's hope is to fly to the Pole and back. [Commander 11. E. Byrd, who was 6ocond-in-command of tho Macmillan expedition last year, leads the expedition, which has entered the race by air to the Pole. Commander Byrd expects to reach King's Bay, Spitzbergen, inApril, and from there will fly in a Fokker aeroplane, to Capo Morris Jessup, in Greenland, establishing a ' second base, about 400 miles from the Pole. Wide exploration flights will bo attempted if the weather is favourable. May 20th has tentatively been fixed for the final dash to the Pole. Lloyd Bennett and George Neville will be Commander Byrd's flying companions. The United States Government is providing them with a ship to reach Spitzbergen.]

DETAILS OF VENTURE. Some interesting details concerning the Wilkins' expedition have come to hand by the '--st mail from the Homeland. The London "Observer," dealing with the subject, stateß that to the centre of the Polar ice pack, to which Captain G. H. Wilkinson, the Australian explorer, Intends to penetrate, no explorer has ever ventured. Peary, on his sledge trip to'the geographical Pole, was on the other side of the sphere, as was AmundseA last year, and Nangen skirted the region in the Fram, while Stefansson followed a similar route with his dog teams. The line of flight of the Wilkins expedition, will be northwards, along the meridian of 156 West Longitude. The daring of Catitain Wilkins may be gathered from his understanding, explicitly made, "that if we fail to return, or to feaeh Spitsbergen, no rescue expedition will he sent for at least two years. We can live off the ice indefinitely, and expect to find seals as far north as the earth's top." This valuable lesson of "living on the country''' Captain Wilkins learned from Stefansson. He has such faith in his belief, that he is taking with him only two weeks' food.

The aeroplanes can cover 2,500 miles without refuelling. It is 800 miles from Barrow to the Ice Pole (i.e., 1,600 if the airman is forced to return to Cape Barrow) and 2,100 miles Over the Pole itself. Wireless installed on the aeroplanes will keep the world in touch with the progress of the dash through the Arctic. Captain Wilkins is best remembered as a member of the Stefansson Arctic Expedition and the Shackleton Expedition. He is an experienced airman. Shortly after the war he attempted to fly from London to Australia, but was forced to come down in Crete. In 1921 he was second in command of the British' Imperial Antarctic Expedition to Graham's Land, and recently he has commanded ah expedition into littleknown Australia for the British Museum of Natural History. His pilot will be Carl Eielson, a University man, who has specialised in flights in Alaska and the North.