ON THROUGH ICE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 383, 18 June 1928, Page 9

ON THROUGH ICE

TO AID NOBILE SHIPS FORCE WAY NEARER GOOD PROGRESS MADE FE expeditions which are moving by steamer and plane, to aid General Nobile and his men, have made good progress.

(United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) (United Service) Reed. 11.35 a.m. KING’S BAY, Sunday The ship Braganza, which is going to the aid of the Italia’s crew, has rounded the dreaded Cape North, laboriously forcing her way through the ice. She -will remain indefinitely in this position, as the base of a larger expedition, which will be landed as soon as the fog has lifted. The Hobby is close behind. She will probably return to King’s Bay for supplies and equipment. The fog is exasperatingly thick, preventing Larsen and Holm from start-, ing their flight to rescue the three men who are trekking across the ice. There is no possibility of sending out the equipment General Nobile asked for last week, until the arrival of Commandant Maddalena, who is expected at King’s Bay at 2.30 p.m. A dispatch from Oslo says that in readiness for the French airman Major Gilbaud’s arrival various provisions such as General Nobile is likely to need are being assembled at Bergen. Captain Amundsen is on his way there. He has taken with him Lieutenant Dietrichson, who w r as his pilot on the Polar flight of 1925, and also Wisting, Captain Amundsen’s inseparable Arctic and Antarctic companion. It is exactly 25 years to-day since Captain Amundsen started on his first expedition.

SPLENDID PROGRESS

RELIEF EXPEDITIONS AIRPLANES AND STEAMERS (Australian Press Association.) Reed. 12.19 p.m. LONDON, Sunday. Although the condition of the castaways is at present unknown the relief airplanes and steamers are progressing splendidly.

Commandant Maddalena’s seaplane had almost reached Bear Island on his second attempt when he was forced back by fog. He will again attempt to reach Spitzbergen to-morrow. A Swedish seaplane has arrived at Narvik, and a Finnish Junkers seaplane has reached Tromso. Major Gilbaud’s seaplane has arrived at Bergen, and picked up Captain Amundsen. The Braganza has wirelessed that she is now about six miles eastward of Cape North. The Hobby is nearby. A heavy snowfall and fog on Saturday prevented a flight from the airship. Conditions are still bad. A message from Rome says Commander Sansonetti, of the Ministry of Marine, gave an audience to journalists, and said that Italy had no illusions about the gravity of the disaster, but the organisation of relief was a question of time. “The Hobby and the Braganza look like penetrating beyond the usual Arctic limits,” he said. Commander Sansonetti considered that with an Italian rescue of the airmen big risks must be faced. There was at least a 600-miles non-stop flight. Heavy airplanes would have considerable risk in an attempt at landing. He considered that the Russian icebreaker. which is en route would penetrate farthest toward the castaways.