Thank you for correcting the text in this article. Your corrections improve Papers Past searches for everyone. See the latest corrections.

This article contains searchable text which was automatically generated and may contain errors. Join the community and correct any errors you spot to help us improve Papers Past.

Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

POLAR TRAGEDY

PILOTS FAIL TO RETURN

NORWEIGAN AIRMEN

WHALE SPOTTING MACHINE MISSING

(By Russell Owen—C'opyrighted 192.9 by the New York Times Company, and St. Louis Post Dispatch. All rights lor publication reserved throughout the world Wireless to New Yoik Times.)

BAY OF WHALES, Dec. 30. The .bay. ide is beginning to roll up oh the eastern side and break away into lagoons of water in which seals play. The last two weeks have been unusually warm and for three days now we have had hours when the sky overhead was clear and the sun shone down with mid-summer warmth. The men wander round on the snow without caps or. gloves, wearing glasses to protect their eyes from the brilliant light. They sit on boxes basking sleepily in the , sun in odd moments, and sometimes someone can be seen stretched on the engine prate drowsing in the grateful warmth.

The signs of the breaking of the ice have been watched with great interest,, for on what happens to the bay depends in a large measure the method of loading the ships. If the ice does not' go out and stays as it- is now, it will. be a tremendous task to get the ’planes on board and, although there is a breaking up on the da stem side of the bay, the central part and western siae are as smooth and unbroken as during the winter..

HEAVY PACK ICE.

With regard to the pack ice, whalers report that' it is the heaviest that they haye seen for. years, when it stretched across our path from latitude 68 to 70 250 miles of almost solid pack, but this year it reaches from latidude 67 to 74, three' degrees further of 450 miles of pack to be penetrated. So heavy was the ice that one of the first whalers to' go through lost a chaser in the crush. This condition is delaying the start of our ships from New Zealand, for it was hoped that they would have been on' their way long before this. • >'

ICE PENETRATED

. It is probable that the City of New York will start in a few days and sail to ti£ie pack to save coal, and that the Eleanor Bolling, which is a steel ship, will follow her some days later. They will meet at the edge of the ice and come through together for mutual safety. It is hoped that by the time they reach here the pack will have 'been broken, sufficiently, and they will be able to get through fairly easily after the middle of January, at least we hope so, for with the job done everybody wants to get home and it still seems a long way off. It will be a great day when the mast heads appear down the bay.

AEROPLANE VANISHES

Another tragedy has been written on the ice strewn sea on the Antarctic. An aeropane used in scouting for whales by the whaler Kosmos vanished near the edge of the ice pack in spite of a search for it since -Christmas Day. It was flown by Lief Lier, a well known pilot in Norway, who had with him as passenger Dr Lngvald Schreiner, the ship’s doctor, and a son of the.well known physician of Oslo. The search for the missing men is being continued by the Kosmos, although after five days of desperate effort in which the entire ice pack was penetrated deeply between Scott Island and'-'Balleny Islands, there is little hope that they will be found. What happened to them must have come so suddenly that Lier had not the opportunity to make a safe landing on the ice or in the sheltered ice hay. The loss of the two young men, both of whom were popular on the ship and at home spoiled the Christmas season for the whalers, and they are saddened by an accident which they could not avert and which they have tried so hard to overcome by rescue operations.

BYRD OFFERS AID

A POPULAR PILOT,

Kosmos, which- is commanded by Captain, Larsen, is the largest of the Norwegian whalers It had been thought in recent • years that an aeroplane would be of value for spotting whales, arid : Byrd’s expedition coming through last year did much to hasten the experiment. A light two>-seater aeroplane, -a Gypsy Moth, was fitted with pontoons and Lier was engaged as pilot. Balchen knew him well and so did Carl Peterson, t one of our radio operators, and I met him in Oslo on thd -way to Spitzbergen with Captain Amjundsen and Lincoln Ellsworth in ■MB. He was a tall, handsome man of who until this trip had been commercial flying in Norwav, H- his own planes. He learned to Hungary in 1921, and after ||M hours solo flying bought a ’plane IJfjßlew it home over Germany and —quite a feat for a new pilot. Lier had made a number of 1 rjHflights in his small ’plane, and had been completely successful .Bialing. One day he flew in all He was always careful, the danger of getting out of

touch with the ships, and in addition to using radio when he flew alone he kept along the edge of the pack with tne mother ship or sonic; of the chasers in sight, ■ but on this occasion he did not carry his radio because of the added weight of his passenger.

The day Lier disappeared he started at six in the evening, when the summer sun was high in a clear sky. Whaling operations had been resumed after the Christmas festivities. The whalers are on the other side of the date line from us, that our Christmas was on December 26 for them. He started and had with him fuel for five or six hours. His orders were to inspect the ice pack to the west of the Kosmos. Three big whalers north of the pack were strung out west of Scott Island, and the Kosmos was more to the west. The ’plane carried emergency rations for two days, ns t)ie possibility of a forced landing was always present, but it did not seem dangerous in view oi Liar’s method of flying within sight of the ships, .Captain Andresen had taken every possible safety precaution. After six hours had passed and Lier had not returned, anxiety began to be felt. The chasers of the Kosmos were ordered out to look for the ’plane, and as time went on the chasers from the other two ships also joined in the search, so that there were sixteen of these fast little vessels tearing along at fourteen knots across the edge of the pack. ■ Then two whalers of the east came up to aid their chasers, and hunted the entire territory between Scott’s Island and the Ivosmo?. Then the small fleet struck off to the westward.

In the, five days that have'elapsed thfey have searched 220 miles to the westward of the Kosmos. Some of tnem penetrated the pack at intervals as much as 160 miles from the edge. When they returned they came back in parallel lines far apart, sweeping the entire sea area for a long distance from the edge of the pack.

It in unbelievable that Lier made a mistake in bis course, as the sun was visible at the time, and he could have followed the edge of the pack. Pilots here are more inclined to believe that, due to engine failure in a climb, he fell off on the wing and spun into the pack or the sea. The sea was fairly smooth at first, but after the second, day it rose and the atmosphere became foggy. The weather cleared again in a short time. After the first hunt there was a conference of the captains on the Kosmos, and there seemed very little hope from the way the search had been carried out that the ’plane could be found. Chasers of the Kosmos are still searching however, penetrating the pack, which now seems to be breaking up.

Commander Byrd was much concerned when he heard of the mishap, arid sent word to Captain Andresen that he wished it were in his power to do something to help. From the extent of the search which has already been made it is certain that the plane could not have drifted beyond the distance reached by the whalers. He also offered to send down the City of New York to search, it she would be of assistance. It would have been impossible to fly from here to aid in the search, for there are no pontoons for the ’planes, and the distance to the northern edge of the ice pack it more than 800 miles further than to the pole itself. Even if the ’plane could get that far it would be impossible for it to land and re-fuel, and it would have to turn round immediatey and fly back.

The possibility of such help was immediately dismissed by the whalers as too hazardous, and Captain Andresen ,wirelesesd Byrd to-day: “Risk of the ’plane, even flying up here from your base would be a great one, in view of tne uncertain weather experienced outside the pack, there being many days of fog at this time of the year. I thank you for your generous offer to help in our time of trouble, and know that you are with us.”

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HOG19300103.2.7

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Hokitika Guardian, 3 January 1930, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,568

POLAR TRAGEDY Hokitika Guardian, 3 January 1930, Page 2

POLAR TRAGEDY Hokitika Guardian, 3 January 1930, Page 2

Help

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert