BYRD THRILLED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 882, 28 January 1930, Page 9

BYRD THRILLED

RUSSELL OWEN TELLS POLAR FISH STORIES NEW YORK, Sunday. By BUSSELL. OWEN Copyrighted, 1928, by the “New Yorlc Times” company and the St. Louis “PostDispatch.” All rights for publication reserved throughout the world. Wireless to the “New York Times.’' BAY OF WHALES, Sunday. Our bay was filled with whales this morning. The weather was beautifully clear, and there was a cold southeasterly wind, which drove the temperature down to zero. Great numbers of whales suddenly appeared in the black pools broken in. the ice in the centre of the bay. They were so near us as we gathered on the edge of the ice that Rear-Admiral Byrd tapped one on the snout with a ski stick. They blew almost in our faces. Some of the whales merely lifted themselves to the surface, so that their long pointed heads stuck out a few feet from the water. Others floated lazily in a partially upright position, then sank back again. Occasionally one came from further below, and shot straight up into the air, with 10 feet of his big bulk above the water. Ho would seem to stay there for a moment before sinking down as straight as he had risen. When two or three of the whales did this at once, so that we had to look up at them, the effect was startling. Imagine a pool 30 feet wide, with men on both sides of it, and three whrles sticking 10 feet out of tho water between then). We wonder if anyone else has ever been so fortunate.