THE WYATT EARP

Hokitika Guardian, 18 December 1933, Page 6

THE WYATT EARP

200 MiLES INSIDE ICEPACK

MEN BUSY ON BOARD SHIP

(Special to United Press Association) 1 Copyright by Radio from Mr 1 ,r Ellsworth.

WYATT EARP, December 15

We are about 200 miles inside the great Polar icepack, held up by wide heavy floes. Snow is drifting up with a south-west wind, and the whole pack is in motion. To be locked in there without means of propulsion would be a serious affair, but we expect wind and current soon to make rifts in the ice, and to leave lanes of , open water, of which we may take ad- i vantage,' and proceed. j Our entry into the. pack was sudden and dramatic. Our only warning was a quick drop of •temperature to two below freezing point, and a light fog. Three hours later two huge icebergs loomed in sight one to port and one to stai board. Fitting guardians they seemed to that realm of the Ice King. Wepassed between them, and two hours later, and 180 miles to the north of where Byrd found it in 1930, we entered the Polar Pack—a world apart from the one we -left, and where silence and desolation reign supreme. Lifeless and -unfriendly as it tna-y seem, yet it bolds a fascination all of its own. Amidst such surroundings men are drawn closer'together, so that within the four walls of our little ship, there exists a comradeship that can make us forget the .dreary outside. To .work in these latitudes, we must eat often, and we look forward .to our mess every -four. Lours, which brings us-together from our work. None-.on an exploring ship can afford to-be idle. There Are sledges to make to do,, films to take, and | everybody takes a turn at the watchon deck. Occasional ivory gulls, fulmar, and black and white Antarctic petrels are to be seen. Yesterday morning we saw the first sea crab-eater and last night Balchen shot one, which we had do-day for dinner. Notwithstanding the .first there is much colour in polar scenes, for the drifting ice is tinged . with yellow, red and green. The yellow is microscopic vegetable matter, known .as diatoms, and upon it tiny red and green shrimp life feeds. The shrimp, in .turn, food for seals and whales. Interest-T----ing phenomena seen in these latitudes are iceblinks, and water sky iceblinks are indicated white or pale greyish streaks upon the,clouds, while water sky is represented by a heavy streak of dull tarnished lead grey colour.