BYRD’S EXPEDITION

Hokitika Guardian, 28 December 1928, Page 5

BYRD’S EXPEDITION

GREAT ICE BARRIER. REACHED BY BYRD. ON CHRISTMAS DAY. Copyright from Byrd Expedition, dated from Discovery Inlet, Antarctic, Dec. 26th. WELLINGTON, December 27. “ Christmas Day, and wo are at the ice barrier. That formidable and glistening symbol of impregnability which Commander Byrd is about to explore by air, appeared before us late this evening— a great wall of white on the distant horizon. Before midnight we were easting along the faceof it. Onr first real contact with the continent on which we will live for a year. We sighted it just after onr 'Xmas celebration in the Iforecastlc when everyone received presents and celebrated with song and talks—some of humour, and some changed with the feeling of all this ’Xmas means to us and to those left behind. No sooner had we reached the deck than’"in a severe storm, the first mate ill the crow’s nest, called down “ Barrier on starboard how.” A great cheer went rp, releasing all the pent up emotion of the men, who for months had been directing all their energies to this goal. It has been their dream and their ambition, to which.purpose they have dedicated two years of their lives, and the word that the barrier was actually in sight, acted like an electric stimulus.”

To-morrow we expect to go ashore at Discovery Islet, when we wiil set our feet, for the lirsL time on that mystic land which lias so drawn men, that they have laid down their lives to learn something Of its secrets. It is as much a milestone as their first flight will he, and that we should have reached it on Christmas Day, a day ol thanskgiving. dedication to the greatest ideals of men, is a source o! thanksgiving and happiness to all alienru. In a few days, it all goes well, our aeroplane may he winging itway over the snowy wilderness 61 the harrier.

Commander Byrd expressed this today, when in a message to the Secretary for the Navy, he said: “We leave reaebed the great mysterious ice banner. It presents to us an ice did higher than the masts of the ship. We are twenty-four hundred miles from the nearest human dwelling, in the only area in the world where a ship can get so Inr tlrom civilisation. That we are here safely is due to providence and my loyal and stout-heart-ed shipmates, who have worked to gather unselfishly as a unit. It will probably he some days before we get permanently ashore on account ol the ice that will he in the Bay of Whales.’ Not the least wonderful ol all the happenings of this evening, is that, as we are approaching the harrier wc all listened on deck to broadcasting from home and one cannot listen to those metallic tones coining from a loud speaker without feeling the tremendous progress made by man in science since, the last Antarctic adventure. It is weird, almost ghostly to us as we mo\e through these ice-tilled waters to our base, and comforting too, 'for we know (hat we have not wholly lost touch with a world so very far away. We are trying on skiis to-night on deck, making ready for our first run on shore, and there is great expectancy of new tilings; of meeting at last the-tremen-dous icefield, on which our home will lie for fourteen months,' o'f a glimpsing of some of the beauty of and stark loneliness of the Antarctic. This has been a great ’Xmas Day for us. By next ’Xmas Day our story will have i ICO n written <lor what it is worth, and there is not a man aboard who is not in his heart determined Unit it shall lie a .worthy one. ARRIVAL AT BARRIER, ASHORE ON THE ICE. (Received this day at 9.25. a.m.) WELLINGTON, Dec. 28. “Wc have l>e-cn ashore at last, if one can call a floating sheet of ic-e shore, hub as the entire Barrier is supposed to be afloat we have at least' been on its doorstep. We reached the Barrier yesterday at longitude 177 25w. We cruised along it all last night anti this morning it rose eighty or ninety feet, majestic, forbidding, beautiful and terrible.

“As we moved eastward, Frank Davies, physicist and Quin A. Blackburn, topographer, sketched the face of the Barrier and soundings were taken every hour. They showed depths ranging from 250 to 300 fathoms at distances from a mile to three miles off the shore.

“About eight o’clock in the morning, Commander Byrd had predicted wc should see the beginning of Discovery* Inlet and just about that time we sighted "hat we at first believed to be a distant ice Hoc or a borg. Three hours later, however, we "ere well inside the Inlet where it narrows to the width of one to three miles.” AT ONCE OUT EXPLORING. FUN WITH PENGUINS “A short run brought us to the Bay of fee. which was about half way down i,,.e narrowest part ol the Tnlct, and here we came alongside the ice. through a gut, and dropped two ice anchors and made them fast. A moment later the ice near the ship was covered with men running to .stretch their legs, pelting each other with snowballs.

“We are now lying not more than one hundred yards from the harrier, which here is about one hundred feet high.

“As soon as wc bad made fast, Byrd with Bornt, Baichen and others, wont inland to try to locate a landing field at the edge of the barrier. Such a field could he used as a base for exploring the barrier, and also there lias always been a possibility that Discovery Inlet would make a better base than the Bay of Whales, although the latter would be much nearer the area which Byrd wishes to explore. “They are travelling on skis and when they reach the harrier they will he tied together with an alpine rope. “Another party, composed of Capt. Barker, Pilot Vaughan and Jacob Bursoy. both dog drivers, have gone some distance in to get seals, which arc Tying there in the sun. We need them for food for ourselves,' and it is necessary to lay in as large a store as possible, and also for the dogs. “Dean Smith started off to hunt seals hut on the way lie found two penguins which interested him so much that lie stopped to play with them. They regarded him with friendly, curious eyes until he tried to pick one up. Then lie found that the little fellow could fight with his dippers and ite with his beak. He brought them hack finally, with many bruises on his arms and legs, and jxised them in front of (lie cameras, hut the real fun began when an emperor penguin walked up to welcome us, as official greeter of the Antarctic, resplendent in a white shirt front, frock coat and long brilliant black be ilk, coloured purple on tnc sides and with bright yellow spots on each side of his neck. He was a most imposing bird aid regarded us with just, the proper touch of scornful toleration.--He was at least three and a. half feet high, and weighed about 60 pounds, and with his powerful flippers, made an antagonist not to be laughed at. “Harold June (navy pilot), regarded the Emperor for a Lime and made up bis mind that it would be his or at least should be phongra plied in a proper state of subjection . So lie walked up. and after being unmercifully nipped. dived at the bird and both rolled over in the snow .to the sound of grunts. Wrapping both arms around the dippers and then lying on his majesty, he found lie could hold him. June then raped the penguin and brought him in front of the camera, the prisoner protesting every inch of ihc way.” .