EXPLORERS LEAVE SOON FOR FROZEN SOUTH

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 442, 25 August 1928, Page 19

EXPLORERS LEAVE SOON FOR FROZEN SOUTH

Byrd, Leaving Dimedin, Will Sail Under Shadow of Memorial to Scott.

(Written for THE SUN) Richard Evelyn Byrd, bold conqueror of the North Pole and the Atlantic by air, has long had his eyes fixed on the Far South. His months of patient preparation are over at last, and any day now the stout ice-ship Samson and her companion boat, with all the planes and equipment for the greatest polar expedition ever planned, will £ lip out of New York harbour on the long voyage to Dunedin, which will be the starting-point of the adventure. Let us consider the man himself, and his career. He is 40 years old, being born at Winchester, Virginia, in October, 1888. At the age of 12 he jnafle a trip round the world unaccompanied. After studying at the Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virgnia he entered the United States Naval Academy in 1908 and passed into the navy in 1912. After four years at sea he was placed on the retired list because of an injury he had received, but he actually remained on active service and specialised in aviation. North Pole Flight. Byrd volunteered for Captain Roald Amundsen’s Polar flight in 1924, but, as he was married, he was Going to Greenland with the Macmillan expedition in 1925, he gained much experience of Arctic aviation by flyhng several thousand miles. He came, to the conclusion that an airplane trip to the North Pole was possible arvfl on his return to the United States secured the support of John IX Rockefeller. Edsel Ford, Vincent Astor and fljhomas Ryan for his expedition. On May 9, 1926, at 12.37 ajn„ with the late Floyd Bennett, of the United States Navy as his pilot, Byrd left King’s Bay. They had two exciting experiences. The engines began to “konk” and Bennett climbed out on the wing in the bitter cold and remedied the trouble. About an hour from the Pole an oil tank began to leak badly. At first they feared the airplane would come down, in which case, they would never have returned, Fut they decided to get to their destination, if they could and on cutting out the motor affected they found that the machine would fly on two motors. On arriving at the Pale at 9.4 a.m. they circled round it 13 times and Byrd took bearings which confirmed those of Commander Robert E. Peary. Byrd, who carried with him as a mascot the coin which Peary had taken to the Pole, said he did not drop an American flag, as Peary had done that. At 4.34 p.m. they got back to King’s Bay after a flight which had lasted 16 hours and were warmer welcomed by Amundsen, whose atempt they had anticipated, as Amundsen had anticipated Scott at the South Pole. In Scott’s Shadow. Byrd has inspiring precedent for making Dunedin his last call before sailing away to the frozen South. Captain Scott’s ship, the Terra Nova, was there in November, 1910, before that gallant explorer—one of the bravest men who ever led a forlorn hope—went to the Pole and to death, with hie noble colleagues, Wilson, Oates, Bowers and Evans. When Byrd and his men sail out of Dunedin’s pleasant haven, they will pass beneath the shadow of the Scott. memorial on the hill above Port Chalmers, and as theyturn to sail South this will be the lasi; land mark they will see. Surely it Iti an inspiring thing that their aue/s'.t should start thus. The departure from Dunedin for *the Antarctic will be made about November 10. Twenty-five men will append the Antarctic winter with Comra/xnder Byrd, and 30 more will spend t£j.e two summer seasons on the ice, tjund the remaining period on the ship. Two big airplanes will be ttfeken. Commander Byrd, announcing his plans recently, said: “The «expedltion expects to return in June, 1030, though there is a possibility we might be delayed. New Zealand 'will be the first stop. We will then, voyage across the Ross Ice Barrier. The main base of the expedition will be the Bay of Whales, where Captain Amundsen had bis headquarters. This is 2,300 miles irom the nearest human dwelling, and the farthest people have ever lived from civilisation. Great Frozen Land. ‘‘There we shall establish a small yulage, and after making a camp, we -nail establish several sub-bases 100 miles apart on the way to the South ° le - These are necessary in the °* a forced landing. The final w ul be most hazardous. Besides rauio we shall use a kite to keep in wit h the last base. Landing be difficult, as the South Pole is u ’ 6 last plateau I,oooft high. The , at 2 .000 ft has lost so much of its nseness that it requires a great deal Power to take the plane off the wound. We shall land with 1,200 galof gasoline and I.ooolb weight of emergency equipment. frozen area to be explored Is fban the United States and mesico combined.” Commander Byrd added: ‘T regard iuc+{«^5 r hazards are encountered as l3y the increase in man’s mai. ledge that the expedition will ® a ke possible.” the* 1 ? Sled ,le carried by Byrd in be .. airplane so that he may is f rans P°rt provisions if he Aim.?” down, is one sent to him by Oscar I T la<3e after a design by Am.,-, listing, who accompanied »sen to the South Pole, and “ 8 expected to go with Byrd. shin^ S . a beautiful piece of workman-Wei-i, elas *, le an d strong. Although It e&siiy S on,y 601 b, It will carry 1,2001 b Sixty Dogs Ch osen. ? og - s h av e been chosen, the chose* k £ an be grot * They were knowo Scotty Allen, who probably one elslTar about sucb dogs than anythe flight will not only his *r * dto the s °uth Pole. Dike Zander £ ce ® sors ln that sector, Ctomest In rd Rees " rP at scientific iuterof i a _,tn© two million square miles * an(! In that area. & lreadv° PeS to add materially to the c °mprehensive information fro m * h e a b°ut the Polar territory tions e T Ih af 'hleton and Scott expediern 1 .. hether the extensive southIs co*t? lnent is broken by water or to c onflrpi° US * an<3 he hopes to be able *°rld B JJn? rea t enterprise, and all the gallant h! 3^ atc h the progress of the ° n in tho< of PX rlorers as they pros« 'irearv fj An r , r ° r h for seJence. in that *ang meet ° la * e Pha.ce where all merid-

A Band of Pioneers in the Exploration of the Last Remaining Unknown Lands of the World. Leading Members of Commander Byrd’s Expedition to the South Pole.

(Photographs by the New York “Times.”)