Happy Wilkins

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 337, 24 April 1928, Page 11

Happy Wilkins

RESTING AT SVALBARD

United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian Press Association)

Reed. 12.45 p.m. CAPTAIN WILKINS and Li the wireless station here, Captain Wilkins is dressed in reindeer trousers and sealskin boots. lie says he feels very comfortable, and smiles all day, even when awakened at five o’clock in the morning to answer offers from newspapers. Telegrams continue to pour in. Lieutenant Eielson spends most of his time smoking and reading. He says he never felt better in his life. He disports himself in waterproof trousers of oiled silk. Captain Wilkins says he intends to return to New York, via Oslo, in May. He will visit London en route. FIVE DAYS MAROONED Captain Wilkins’s own story, detailing what happened after the plane landed in the snow, concludes: “We sat eating chocolates and smoking a few cigarettes. We had to wait patiently for the weather to clear. Our flight consumed exactly 22 hours 20 minutes, but it was not until 3 a.m. on Saturday, April 21, that the weather was again fit for flying. We shovelled snow for six hours to make a run-way. “We had only 20 gallons of petrol with us in the machine, but she would not budge. However, when I climbed out and pushed her she moved. But it was difficult to climb in again, and I fell off in the attempt. “Eielson threw out an emergency rope ladder. The machine gained momentum, and I struggled desperately to gain the cockpit. My hands were stiffened and numb. I grasped the ropes with my teeth. Then I slithered off the shiny fuselage, and was struck by the tail of the machine and flung upon the snow. As I sit now and write, I feel that every one of my front teeth is loose. “We tried again to make a start. For an hour we had been wasting our precious petrol. This time we were successful. I piled into the cockpit in spite of my bruises. The machine rose to a height of 3,000 feet, and we saw the wireless mast at Green Harbour, Svalbard. “We had been marooned for five days on Dead Man’s Island. The wireless officials at Green Harbour treated us with bountiful hospitality. Our Norwegian friends are our friends for ever. Here we shall st*ay until some boat can take us and our trusty Lockhead plane to a more .southern clime.”

Flight Rigours Forgotten

SVALBARD, Monday, ■utenant Eielson are living- at after their trans-polar fligb 4 . ANTARCTIC VENTURE WILKINS’S FUTURE PLANS STATEMENT CONFIRMED (Australian P.A.—United Service) NEW YORK, Sunday. The Los Angeles correspondent o£ the Associated Press says the Los Angeles “Examiner,’' in a copyrighted article, confirms the statement that Captain Wilkins contemplated flying over the uncharted wastes of the Antarctic. The article says Mr. J. K. Northrop, aeronautical engineer and designer of Captain Wilkins’s plane, disclosed the fact that the explorer told him and his friends of his plans and of his needs for the flight over the South Polar regions. Mr. Northrop said the Antarctic plans were advanced so far as to make it certain that Captain Wilkins will be at Los Angeles In four or five weeks. The desolate regions of the South Pole may therefore see a race between Captain Wilkins and Commander R. Byrd. The former wishes to learn if there Is an unbroken continental chain at the South Pole. He proposes to board a Norwegian whaler and sail by her Into the Ross Sea, past South Victoria Land, and there to launch his seaplane and take the air toward King Edward VII. Land. Mr. Northrop says the journey will then be made through BransfleTd Straits to South Shetland Island, 800 miles south of Cape Horn.