Byrd Prepares Men for Long Trek to South

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 693, 19 June 1929, Page 9

Byrd Prepares Men for Long Trek to South

Sleds to Go Ahead And Wait for Plane FLIGHT TO THE POLE BY RUSSEEI. OWEN Copyrighted, 1928, by the "New York Times” company and the SL Louis "PostDispatch.” All rights for publication reserved throughout the world. Wireless to the "New York Times.” Reed. 9.5 a.m. BAY OF WHALES, Tuesday. This darkness - enshrouded, mole-iike village is busy these days with preparations for the southern trip next season. Long before the weather is good enough to fly, the dog teams will start southward, probably on October 15, for the purpose of reaching the mountains of the Queen Maud Range, to establish a base under the towering peak of Mount Nansen.

While waiting for Commander Byrd to take off for the polar flight, Larry Gould, our geologist, will lead a sledging party into the Queen Maud mountains to gain all the knowledge possible about their structure. It is 400 miles from here to the foot of the mountains. The journey will take a month, because there will be interruptions due to blizzards.

The geological party hopes to spend at least a month there, and the trip home will take three weeks, therefore careful preparations are being made to keep this group of men in the field for a three months’ period, during which they must depend entirely on their own resources, and the provisions carried with them. It is this work of preparing food, clothing, tents, and sledges that is occupying the earnest attention of nearly everyone in camp.

Each detail has been made the responsibility of two or three men, who are working on the experience of others’ and their own experience, in the field to devise what they believe to be the best outfit to meet the difficulties of the trail. These recommendations and models are then turned over to the commander, who examines and approves them, or suggests improvements. In this way many new things have been invented, and adaptations have been made of tried articles of equipment used by other explorers. Such a procedure requires a great,deal of pains-taking work and experiment, hut promises to eliminate much hardship, due to the defects.

Dressing, for instance, offers the most difficult problem, for it has been proved almost impossible to keep dry while on the trail, or to keep the sleeping bags free of moisture and ice. All sorts of sleeping hags have been made in an effort to devise one that will stay dry. Byrd has experimented with at least a dozen types of foot gear to find one which will keep the men warm, without causing too much perspiration, for wet feet are dangerous in low temperatures. He has also tried out many kinds of masks to protect the face against frost bite. Windproof shirts and socks are being made, and many experiments on how to devise a perfect glove. New sleds are being constructed, and those used last year are being repaired. Each dog team will pull two double-ended sleds. The first one will be a little sled with a gee-pole and trailer. It will be a flexible sled. The second will be much lighter, and on the way home heavy sledges may be abandoned in order to travel faster. Stoves and tents have also been the subject of many experiments. FOOD ALL PACKED The food is all packed and ready for the trail. It has been divided in portions, a daily ration for the nine men, and packed in hags. When the bags are taken out they contain the food for that day—biscuits, pemmican, concentrated soup, malted milk, cocoa and bar chooclate. Sugar, powdered milk and tea are packed in oil-silk bags, holding a weekly ration. Butter is packed in tins. All these things are packed in canvas boxes for convenience in lashing them on the sleds, and so that at each depot the requisite number of boxes may merely be lifted off the sleds and cached. The delays in getting started in the morning, which every explorer found difficult to overcome, will be reduced by cooking oatmeal, the principal breakfast dish, in a thermos jar overnight. It has been tried out-of-doors here at 40 degrees below zero, and found that the oatmeal cooked perfectly and kept hot for 12 hours while the jar rested in the snow. Each man will have two and a-quar-ter pounds of food daily. Dog pemmican is being made into cakes, and each dog will have one and a-half pounds daily. With all these preparations proceeding, there is little time for idleness, despite the winter night, which is one reason why everyone is healthy and contented. The weather has continued freakish for a week. A warm wind from the north has kept up the temperature, and today it is two degrees above zero. Every rope and wire outside is coated with ice and hoarfrost. Our weather has been about as different as can be imagined from that experienced by Captain Amundsen. Several inches of snow have fallen during the last few days.