BYRD EXPEDITION

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 682, 7 November 1933, Page 5

BYRD EXPEDITION

MAKING PROGRESS BUSY PREPARATIONS FOR THE BIG TASK CREW SETTLING DOWN

(Special by Radio to the N.Z. Press Association.) (Rec. 10.50 p.m.) Wellington, Monday. The Jacob Rupert, the advance guard of the Byrd polar expedition is now approximately 220 miles south of Balboa and ahead of the expedition there now lies an unbroken southward journey of 4990 miles. Its destination is a bight in the *ice continent west of Peter Island. The coast in this vicinity is entirely unknown and the risks of moving a large steel ship in these ice-clogged waters are great. Admiral Byrd expects to complete the second leg of the journey by Novemher 25. The trip from Norfolk has had the desired effect of settling down the organisation and the crew. Preparations are already being made for the main party." The task of landing all this material is one of very great difficulty and haste is necessary to avoid the threat of the drifting ice. Victor Szegka, a veteran of the last expedition, to-day commenced the assembly and rigging of 50 sledges while at the same time the dog crew under Captain Alan Taylor was engaged in splitting guy lines for the teams. The aviation unit under Chief Pilot June is preparing to equip three of the expedition's four planes and fit them with skis. _ Landlubbefs who form a large proportion of the crew, were pre-occu-pied with what is in store for them when the ship crosses the Equator to-morrow evening and King Neptune comes aboard. A ship so nondescript as this with 40 dogs, three cows and half a dozen ehickens, not to mention the rest of this amazing cargo is capable of providing many diabolical surprises, and if broad hints may be believed, diabolical they will certainly be.