THROUGH THE ICE

Evening Star, Issue 20059, 27 December 1928, Page 9

THROUGH THE ICE

PROGRESS Of BYRD EXPEDITION '{Special -to Press Association.] (Copyright.) WELLINGTON, December 26. A copyright message received from the Byrd Expedition in Ross Sea, dated December 23, reads as follows “ We are out of the ice pack and sailing along in a calm sea. There is a blue sky overhead, and the sun is so warm that we can stay on deck without' hat or gloves and not feel uncomfortable. The pack is behind us, and only one iceberg shows to the . cast, shining vyhite in the sun. Oddly enough in ibis lonely sea we see the smoke of a ship on the horizon. Jt is one of those whalers which come hero, each year. All the way across the Pacific we did not see a single ship,.and now we have three large snips and 'fifteen small chasers moving about within UK) miles of us. We came through the (lack in seven and a-hall days, being lowed by the Larsen-, the big whaler which jironght Commander Byrd and some of his men from California' to New Zealand. We have been towed nearly 2,000 miles. The Larsen, .which is of 17,000 tons, goes through the-ico every year, and we were fortunate in being able to use the pathway she lelt ahead when her powerful engines forced aside ice which we could not have hocked. As a result we came through cpiicklv and easily, using very JiUlc coal; and if the good weather holds we should he at the harrier several days before it lias been reached by the ether expeditions. We hope to bo at Discovery Inlet, in the ice barrier, on. Christmas night, hut we do not know how much ice lies between ns and that point. The barometer is high amt steady for the first, time, and t»e hope it wifi stav there. “Our last, day in tiie pack was one of the most interesting ol the entiretrip. The ice was heavy, and with alt our manoeuvring we could not avoid some violent collisions. Once we glided up to a huge Hoc and scraped along it, trying to go round a corner, lint we nearly knocked off our port lileboat -against Dio top. We had several false alarms of sea ahead, and when we actually meet the edge of the pack it came upon ns so suddenly that we were taken by surprise. This was duo to several reasons, the most important of which was the peculiar alignment of the bergs along its edge. For some time before we reached the bergs We had seen them outlined against the sky and wondered at their cause. They stretched to the right and the left of us as far as we could see, small Table bergs with perfectly flat tops which rose about 30ft above the water. They formed a perfect natural wall, which reminded one of the great wall of China. As ,wo drew nearer we could see dark water between some of them, and realised that we were only a low miles from the open water. Heavy bergs had completely stopped the swell which usually warns that the edge of the pack is near, although we learned when we had passed through them that Ross Sea was almost as calm as Long Island Sound on a pleasant summer day. As we drew abreast of this icerampart through an opening between the two largest bergs we began to rise and fall on a little swell, and wo were outside, in the midst of the mushy ice that was to seaward of the bergs lor upwards of a mile. “Before ns lay the smiling, smooth surface of Ross Sea, which after the storms of the higher latitudes and- the threatening pack ice was the pleasantest sight wo had ever looked upon. Wo turned to look hack at the pack, that great white wall of bergs, which were even more imposing from the open water. Beyond them was an unbroken stretch of white, and the passage through which we had come might almost have had written upon it. ‘Abandon hope all ye who enter here,so desolate it looked. “After our swift release the Larsen cut us off, and in a short time the little chasers were dashing away, stretching out like skirmishers, looking for whales. In not more than ah hour there was the banging of a gun to windward, and tiie fishing had begun again. Captain Nilsen, of the Larsen, came aboard the City of New York for a moment to bid Commander ByiV good-bye and wisli him luck, and wo toasted him as one of the finest sportsmen and friends anyone could wish in these forsaken wafers. Busy as he has been, lie has found time to give us good advice and help ns in innumerable ways which did not interfere with his operations. He has given us a lot of whale meat, which lias been a welcome addition to our fresh meat supply, and we had it in almost every form George Tennant, our cook, could devise. Ik seems best when cut thin and fried or chopped up with onions in meat bulls. It is as tender and as good meat as one could desire. About two tons of it are hung in our rigging, and some will be dried for use on the trail. It is feed to the dogs as well as to the crew, and both are thriving on it. ‘Pass the whale’ is one of the phrases at mess, at which we have Jong ceased to laugh. Captain Nilsen was of the opinion that the berg barrier at the edge of the ice pack, which he find never seen before, was due to the breaking off of a large but low piece of barrier ice, which itad floated to the edg*of the pack before disintegrating."