POLAR EXPEDITION

Hokitika Guardian, 11 December 1933, Page 5

POLAR EXPEDITION

latest report ELLSWORTH NEARING THE ICE [From Ellsworth Expedition—by Mr Ellsworth,] WELLINGTON, December 10. “We have had a remarkably smooth trip so far. To-day finds us about half way to the pack ice. Even in these low seas, tiie Wyatt Earp rolls heavily, but with sails we make seven knots, instead of six without them. Athough yesterday, at noon, we entered the northern limit of the ice drift, to-day is warmer than when we left Dunedin. Squally weather, with rough water and increasing cold, is duev to come before long. The duration of the daylight is lengthening, and in another week, we should have the midnight run. A sooty-and-white wandering albatross, the first I have seen of these marvellous birds, with a wing span of fourteen feet, follows in our wake, while friendly little black-and-white ca.pe pigeons fly about tour decks. This year there will be no whalers in the Ross Sea, but on the Weddell Sea side there wi.ll be great activity, for a report from Capetown says that one hundred mother ships - and chasers are outfitting for these waters. Their equipment also included one aeroplane, to be used in spotting whales. Heavy icefields fringe Weddell Sea, so that the whaling grounds are at least three hundred miles out from the fixed ice barrier, to which I hope to fly; but I hope to establish radio communication with the whalers, and to receive weather reports from them before and during the flight across the Continent from Ross Sea to ’Weddell Sea.

Most men’s minds; as do ours aboard the Wyatt E'arp, turn to Christmas at this time of the year. Down ini the hold are suitcases and packages filled with boxes of dainties, tied with red ribbon, with which my wife j who will spend Christmas in Samoa,' en route for ‘America, has been busy for months past; but the contents have been kept a secret from -even me. Every other package aboard', from polar flying, clothes to cabbages, is listed and stowed in a known compartment, where it can be found , at , a moment's notice. All of the emergency equipment is placed handy to tne hatches, but I expect no emergency. - *

A message from the Prime Minister of New Zealand was received as we left Dunedin, which extended .the warmest good %5 .§W ces , s °f my venture, and expressed the willingness of the Government to extend any facilities within its power either in its own Dominion or in Ross Sea Dependency. This message is indeed appreciated but the expedition has been so well organised and painstakingly equipped, that we can dream of nothing hutsuccess as we .push off upon this last great adventure in the history of South Polar exploration.”