EARLY WINTER

Hokitika Guardian, 26 February 1929, Page 3

EARLY WINTER

IN ANTARCTIC. by TELEGRAPH —rRESS ASSN., COPYRIGHT WELLINGTON, Feb. 25. Judging from a radio message received in Wellington early this morning from Mr R. G. Bropliy, of Commander Byrd’s Antarctic Expedition, who is aboard the Eleanor Bolling, now seven days out from Port Chalmers, on her way to the Bay of Whales, winter conditions are setting in unusually early this year in the Antarctic. Mr Brophy, whose message was timed 10.35 p.m. on Sunday, says: “We have intercepted a message from the City of New York, directed to the New York Times, saying that new ice, freezing over the Bay of Whales, has driven the ship out. She reported that she was proceeding with groat difficulty through ice more than six inches thick last night. She has twenty men on hoard, The balance have been put ashore for the winter period. We are proceeding under forced draught, with a tow- line to her, and if we find her clear, we hope to proceed with the Eleanor Boding to Discovery Inlet and discharge our cargo for Commander Byrd to pick up next spring.” In ordinary times it is not usual for the sea to freeze over near the ice barrier until nearly the end of March. In 1912 the Terra Nova did not leave Scott’s winter quarters in MeMurdo Sound until early in March, and she cleared the ice pack on her return t» Lvttelton on March 21st.