Back From Ross Sea

Evening Star, Issue 20054, 20 December 1928, Page 6

Back From Ross Sea

Eleanor Boling Reaches Port

Ice Thick This Season

Furthest South Tow Recorded

Having completed the furthest south tow ever made, the Byrd Antarctic expedition steamer Eleanor Boling arrived back in Otago Harbour this morning after a trip of 3,000 miles to 6Bdeg South, close into the pack ice.

Towing the base ship, the City of New York, the Eleanor Boling encountered heavy seas and squalls on her trip south, yet she averaged 7 knots an hour. The strain was severe on the towing ship, and twice the line broke, considerable difficulty being experienced in securing it again. Seven days’ steam south of Otago Harbour the first iceberg was met, it being of tremendous size, and from then onwards the ships passed hundreds of bergs before entering the ice pack.

By the Boling come reports that the ice pack is the thickest this year for thirteen summers, and the value of meeting the whaler C. A. Larsen and following her through the pack will by this time have been more deeply appreciated by the expedition. Good health is reported on both ships.

With the City of New York in tow the Eleanor Boling passed out of the channel under Taiaroa Head on the morning of December 2, beaded for the Antarctic to meet the whaling mother ship, C. A. Larsen, which was to open up leads for the barque through the ico to the open waters of the Ross Sea, through which the sailing vessel will proceed on her own to the base at the Bay of Whales.

Tho weather was dull but fine ns the ships turned southward on tho final lap of the great adventure into the unknown icy wastes of Antarctica. Tho deck load on the City of New York look d dangerous, but all hands were soon at work securing the valuable cargo of dogs, aviation spirits and provisions. By evening tho barque was ship shape, and as the vessels once again dipped in the swell no one feared tho consequences of heavy and dirty weather. HEAVY GALES AND SEA. When the ships were one day from Otago Harbour the province was struck by a gale, and the reports from the City of New York of good progress were misconstructcd as meaning that the vessels had escaped the gale. They met the full fury of it, according to Captain Gustavo Brown, of the Eleanor Boling. On December 3 a strong wind set in from the northwest bringing with it heavy seas. Tho weather kept clear, however, _ and an average of seven knots was maintained. Tho sliced was well up to expectations, and by December 7 1,100 miles had been left behind. Despite her naming by her crew the ” Evermore Bolling,” tho Boling was behaving exceedingly well in the sens, although a good deal of water was coming aboard. Eor two days tho cook had to work in tho galley in wading hoots! The City of New York was also taking seas aboard, and on December 7 the wire bridle on the tow rope over tho stern of tho Eleanor Boling broke owing to the strain. The ships parted company, and the steamer could not take tho barque in tow till tho following day. Tho linking up of the ships again was a hazardous task in the heavy seas and thick weather. It was smartly accomplished, and a speedier journey towards the ice pack was made.

FIRST HUGE BERG, On the following day the first berg was seen. This solid block of floating ice was GOO to 700 feet long, aid fifty and sixty feet above water, and there were great tunnels in it. As chief' engineer MH’herson of the Boling said New Zealand would not need to make ice for two years if that block could be anchored at its back door. Later in tho day ice bergs were floating about in every direction. The visibility was poor, and in tho north-west squalls and heavy seas cautious going had to be observed on the ships. The weather was hazy, but little snow fell. SCOTT ISLAND SIGHTED. Icebergs continued to dominate tho view throughout tho night, and on December 10, Captain Brown sighted Scott Island, which was discovered by the late Captain Robert Falcon Scott. Explorers who have since visited tho Antarctic have reported Scott Island as non-existent, but Captain Brown definitely established the correctness of Scott’s observations. By calculations, Captain Brown and Commander Byrd ascertained that Captain Scott was roughly half a mile out in his position of tho island, but for general pur-po-e-. Captain Brown states, the position is correct. Tho island is a moss-covored rock, with an area of not more than one hundred square yards. It was off the island that the first pack ice was encountered. On the 10th, the expeditions ships entered the ice pack, and as soon as the Boling entered, the tow line parted from the City of New York. Tho line was again secured, and a little later, the C. A. Larsen was sighted. The gigantic whaler was lying in a small bay in the ice pack, about twelve miles away. The City of New York was directed to follow 'the Boling through the ice pack and the ships moved slowly towards the rendezvous. In this big open bay, surrounded by ice, the transhipment of 100 tons of coal from the Boling to the City of New York was undertaken. The ships lay close alongside the pack, but with every movement of the ice they had to he moved out into open water and then back to the pack. All night long the coal gangs were working, and in the morning, the City of New York joined the Larsen. The icc pack towered above the ships, and as far as the eye could see stretched tiie pack. According to Captain Nilsen, of the Larsen, tho pack ice was thicker this year than for the past thirteen summers. The Larsen had already been five or six days in tho ice, as she was at 75 south when first in communication with tho City of New York on her way south. The second ship of the Ross Sea Whaling Co., the Sir James Clark Ross, was at this time proceeding into the ice, further to the eastward.

PLENTY OF WHALES. Commander Byrd spent the final night abord the Eleanor Boling, and as the steamer turned to make the return trip to Dunedin, cheers wore exchanged by the crews. Every man on the City of New York was in capital health, and the Larsen was enjoying a profitable time, five whales having been brought alongside her by the Star chasers while Byrd's ships were in tho bay. When the Eleanor Boling and the City of Now York parted company, the little steamer bad completed the longest tow south ever recorded. Tows have been made as far south as CO deg., but to the bay in-the Ross Sea, tho Boling went to 68 deg. smith. At noon on December II (New Zealand time) or December 12 on tho ship’s log (as the vessels were then eastward of the 180th meridian) the Boling commenced her journey back to New Zealand. The weather was fine, but the sea was far from smooth. Westerly winds were experienced, with fair seas, and throughout her trip she averaged eight knots hourly. As she was running light, she could not bo driven into the seas. Land was sighted last night, and from 11 o’clock the Boling headed towards Otago Harbour at dead slow speed. She entered the Heads shortly after 6 this morning, arid was piloted rip to an anchorage off tho George street wharf to await the doctor. NEW PROPELLER FITTED. Shortly before 8 pratique was granted, and the Eleanor Boling was docked a little later in tho Port Chalmers dock for tho fitting of a propeller, brought out from New York. No damage has been done to her old propeller, but a more efficient one was desirable. Tho vessel suffered no damage during her passage through the ice lloes, but several plates aft on tho starboard side were dented through the City of New York bumping against tho Boling while tho coal was being transhipped.

Several other alterations to the machinery and deck houses arc contemplated, hut it was expected that the ship would be floated out of clock this afternoon and brought up to Dunedin. While the Boling was being docked three members of the expedition who remained in Dunedin arranging the stores arrived with several bags of mail They gloated, too, over their mates aboard the steamer.

“ We’ve had a great time.” said one. “Wc live in an hotel, and wo don’t have to make our own beds. This life will do ns. But wo had better not say too much, or you fellows will kill us when you get ashore.” The first aboard when ibe gangway was thrown ashore were the mail carriers, and the crow made a rush for the captain’s room to collect their mail from America. On her nest trip to tho ice tho Boling will take a big mail for tho members of the crew of the City of New York. LUCKY NEW ZEALANDER.

‘‘Bright and dandy,” was Engineer MTliorson’s description of the health of tho expedition. No one had found tho trip too rigorous. And all are eagerly looking forward to the nest journey to the Ross Sea. Only one man transferred from the Boling to tho City of New York when they reached tho icc pack. An hour before tho ships parted company P. Y. Wallace, the saiimaker from Sawyers Bay, was told that he was to he a. member of the ice party, and his kit was transferred. He will work with Jacobson and Martin Uoniic, the sailmakers, and will have the distinction of being the only New Zealander to bo a member of Byrd’s ice party. It seems almost certain, according to reliable men on the Eleanor Boling, that the City of New York will not reach the open water on the other side of the pack this month. The Larsen is not to tow her through the ice. The whaler is to go ahead and open up leads for tho barque. Owing to the exceptional thickness of the ice, progress will be slow, as the Larsen reported having taken seven days to go twentyeight miles through the ice. FUTURE TRIPS PLANNED. Tho Boling will take aboard two of the bigger aeroplanes and a large quantity of stores before sailing again for the Antarctic on January 5. On this trip she will go through to theha.se at the Bay of Whales, as it is expected that the ice pack wilt he broken up by the time she heads south. She expects to ente; the icc on January 12 and to reach tho Bay of Whales on January 20. Leaving the Bay on 24th, tho Boling should be back in Dunedin on February 6. Further supplies will then be loaded, and the steamer will clear Otago again for the Antarctic three days later. She is expected to reach the ice on February 23, and after a stay of two days will sot out again on the return passage to Dunedin, arriving here twelve later. She will then tie up for the winter, leaving for the base as soon as word is received that the pack conditions are favourable in the summer.