FLIGHT OF DISCOVERY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 595, 22 February 1929, Page 9

FLIGHT OF DISCOVERY

Beyond Britain’s Southern Realm To Vast Places, Hitherto Unseen LOFTY MOUNTAINS NAMED BY RUSSELL OWEN Copyrighted, 1028, by the “New York Times” company and the St. Louis “Post-Dispatch.” All rights for publication reserved throughout the world. Wireless to the “New York Times.” Received 9 a.m. BAY OF WHALES, Tuesday. MEW territory was claimed for the United States by Commauder Byrd as a result of his latest flights, particularly those of yesterday. Two new mountain ranges were discovered. The Rockefeller Range is within territory claimed by the British and known as the Ross Dependency; hut the other large range, with peaks towering from 8,000 to 10,000 feet, is apparently outside the limit of the British, at the border of a new land in limitless portions lying between the Ross Sea and Graham Land.

Other peaks on the Rockefellers have been seen, and everything- indicates that Commander . Byrd, in his flights next season, will be able to chart a land greater in extent than the known territory of the Ross Dependency, and possibly equally majestic in character. None of this territory eastward has ever been seen by another explorer. Captain Scott, who discovered King Edward Band, and the Scott Nunataks, was unable to reach the shore beyond. Now, not only have 40,000 square miles of the Antarctic been explored, owing to the amazing visibility gained by airplane, but also the Rockefeller Range has been mapped by aerocamera, and a sketch of the entire sector has been made by Captain Ashley McKinley. GREAT NEW LAND This great new land, which has so aroused the enthusiasm of the members of the expedition, has been named Marie Byrd Land. Two new peaks have been sighted due east of the Rockefeller Range, which incidentally runs north-east and south-west, beginning at a point 50 miles south of the Scott Nunataks, and Commander Byrd, who penetrated a long distance south yesterday, saw what he believed to be high land at almost the exact point where Captain Amundsen, on his trip to the Pole, reported the appearance of land. This was about halfway between the Bay of Whales and the Axel Heiberg Glacier. , So it can be seen that in almost every direction, to east, south-east, and south from our base, land has been sighted, with a probability that mountain ranges and high land extend as far as the cruising radius of the planes. The results so far offer a very hopeful prospect for next year’s work. Commander Byrd believes that this season is too late for exploration flights now, and will confine his aviation work to flights for recording by aeromapping interesting territory near the base, and as much as possible of the region penetrated on past trips of exploration. To Captain McKinley, Dean Smith (pilot), and Lloyd Berkner (radio operator), on the mapping flight yesterday, Commander Byrd has given the honour of discovering the new range to the east, although he himself first sighted its highest peak. Nothing could show more perfectly the dramatic character of the unexpected in Antarctic exploration than yesterday’s work. Discoveries leap upon the aerial adventurer down here in the course of a few hours. The first flight of the day was planned as a trip to the north of King Edward Land, and an attempt to push further in the direction where Commander Byrd was turned back by a snowstorm on his first flight. He was convcined, as was Scott, that land existed as the only explanation of the impenetrable icefield, which lies to the north of us on the eastern side of the Ross Sea. He had gone to the base the night before in the hope of getting off, but the weather became overcast, and increasing cold filled the air with particles of ice. which caused some beautiful phenomena. A GOLDEN CATARACT As the sun swung down low in the west, just opposite the inlet on which the base is situated, the light from it was so diffused that it became a golden flame, which filled the sky. From it fell a cataract of gold that splashed on the surface of the bay like an explosion of light. On each side of the sun were arcs like a rainbow, and in the colour of them just below the line of the sun were mock suns. Over the sun was the lower arc of another rainbow. But the conditions which caused this entrancing effect were such as made flying out of the question. The next morning, however, the weather was perfect over the Barrier, and as soon as the engines were warmed and heated, oil was poured into them, and they were started, and were soon purring rhythmically. Two planes went on this flight. Commander Byrd, Bernt Balchen, and Lloyd Berkner went in the Virginia, while Captain Allen Parker flew the Stars and Stripes. It was cold, 14 degrees below zero. During these hours the sun was low, and the crews were warmly dressed in furs. The thermometer registered one to two degrees below zero during the flight, but it was comfortable in the cabin and the cockpits. PLANES OFF EASILY Both planes got off easily with their heavy loads, and after circling over the camp, turned north-east toward the Nunataks, the Virginia leading, and Captain Parker flying just above and to one side of it. After hours of flight, the planes ran into heavy clouds, which hovered on the coast, and hung across the. route. They were heavy snowclouds, and hung low. Balchen did not think it wise to try to fly under them. Just before reaching Hal flood Bay, the commander directed Balchen to turn to the south-east. They flew oh this course until they had passed about 15 miles south of the Rockefeller Range. The planes were in constant communication with the base and the ship by radio, and also with the whalers in the Ross Sea. MESSAGE TO WHALER Some time ago Commander Byrd had told Captain Arthur Nielsen, of the whaler C. A. Larsen, which towed him through the ice pack, that he would name a mountain after him, and when he was abreast of the Rockefeller Range he sent word to the whaling captain: “We have just passed Mount N ielsen.” He kept on for some distance to the south-east. Commander Byrd’s map, when he returned, was covered with notations, positions, courses, and hours of observation.

The navigation in itself, with the use of the sun compass and the magnetic compasses, was a good piece of work, because of many changes in the course. Past the Rockefeller Range, as they swung southward, the snow surface of the Barrier was at least 1,000 feet above sea level, and both Balchen and Byrd feel certain that under it was land. The visibility at this distance from the coast was perfect. The snowsurface stretched away, a glistening white plain, at least 100 miles on each side, only slight differences in colour showing where the snow was soft or packed by ±he wind, to smooth hard undulations caused by streaky winds ran over it in places, and sometimes there would be a low but long mound; but for the most part the surface looked as though there had been no movement there for ages. Again Byrd turned south, and kept in this direction until he had penetrated 100 miles beyond his furthest southern limit in previous flights. It was on this course that he saw twin peaks far to the east, and a high mountain, which later was seen more plainly by the McKinley party. MORE MOUNTAINS When the flyers turned again for home, they had penetrated so far to the south that another mountain range could be seen plainly far from the dark streak on the horizon. This was undoubtedly the land faintly seen by Captain Amundsen to the east of his polar route. The commander passed many rolling hills of snow on the way back to the base, the hills indicating land, and a few pressure ridges. On this one leg of the flight, which was 140 miles from the Bay of Whales, he was able to see at least 100 miles to the south, covering an area of 1,400 square miles of hitherto unknown territory. Both planes landed smoothly at the base after a flight of four hours and 15 minutes, the last part of the trip being made with a strong tail-wind, enabling them to do 140 miles in the last hour. The planes covered a total of 400 miles. Two hours later, McKinley left upon another survey north-east along the coast, and all the evening Byrd, in the radio room of the City of New York, kept touch with the flyers, knowing that everything was going well, and mapping their course so accurately that they could easily be rescued if they were forced down. McKinley’s final flight lasted five hours and 40 minutes.