BYRD’S MEN BUSY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 577, 1 February 1929, Page 9

BYRD’S MEN BUSY

HASTY' UNLOADING DONE FORD PLANE AND FOKKER BY BUSSELL OWEN Copyrighted, 1928, by the “New York Times” company and the St. Louis ‘‘PostDispatch.” All rights for publication reserved throughout the -world. Wireless to the “New York Times.” Received 9 a.m. BAY OF WHALES, Thursday. Hard work has been done by every member of the expedition to make up for the loss of our dock. The ships are moored alongside the low Barrier edge, which here only to the level of the Eleanor Boling’s bridge, and unloading is being rushed as fast as possible, to get the three-motored Ford plane, one of our heaviest and bulkiest pieces of equipment, out of the hold before we are forced to move. Supplies for Wild's party, of Sir Douglas Mawson’s expedition, were landed in this way. Byrd has been quick to seize a similar opportunity. All the materials are being moved back along the trail nearly a mile, so that they may be picked up later and hauled to the base. The Fokker is being taxied inland. The break-up of the Bay ice came yesterdaj r as a result of a heavy swell the night before. In a few hours it cracked into small cakes as far as the first big pressure ridge, over which the dog-teams used to pass, and that trail over which so much good sledging work was done is nowgoing seaward in a thousand pieces. We have even seen some of the flags -which were used to make the trail marching by on cakes of ice. The Bay is full of small bergs also, which have broken oft' to the south and north of us, and we have several times seen that interesting phenomena, the calving or birth of an iceberg.