Byrd Back from Pole

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 918, 11 March 1930, Page 7

Byrd Back from Pole

DUNEDIN’S HEARTY WELCOME Year in Antarctic Wastes EXPEDITION’S GREAT SUCCESS Press Association DUNEDIN. Today. AFTER more than a year’s absence from civilisation, RearAdmiral Richard Byrd and the members of his Antarctic expedition returned from the frozen South yesterday, the mission having been successfully completed. “We have accomplished all that we set out to do and perhaps a little more,” said Admiral Byrd. “We are very glad that we selected New Zealand as the base, and we are very glad to get back. It would have been impossible for any people to have treated us better or with greater courtesy than the New Zealand people. The help they have given us has contributed to our success.”

The Polar flight, said Admiral Byrd, was not any more outstanding than the discovery of new land, comprising 280,000 square miles, which he had named Marie Byrd Land. This was to the eastward of the Ross Dependency. Claiming the land was not his main concern. The expedition’s success had been in a way due to luck and largely owing to the very unselfish work and attitude of the men. A royal welcome was given to the explorers, although the weather was cold and wet. A fleet of tugs, ferry boats and small craft went as far as the Heads to welcome the returning ships, and when they entered the harbour deafening notes of greeting sounded from foghorns and sirens in all parts of the bay. After her wretched trip to the Bay of Whales the City of New York experienced fair weather back to New Zealand. For several days a piping gale was blowing and she reached the Otago Harbour ahead of the Eleanor Boling, which was hidden behind a black cloud of smoke. SHIP BADLY BATTERED As the barque came under the lee of the peninsula with all sail set, she showed marks of her buffeting. When she left on her final trip to the South she was a spick and span ship, but once again she is begrimed and battered. On that momentous trip to the Barrier the ice was lying a foot thick on the forecastle head. About half a mile distant, the Eleanor Boling followed up the harbour in the wake of the City of New York. After the harbour had been entered the official party boarded the barque. It included the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon. P. A. de la Perrelle, representing the Government; the Mayor of Dunedin, Mr. R. S. Black; Mr. Gow, chairman of the Harbour Board; a representative of the Royal Navy; and Mr. H. L. Tapley, agent for the expedition ships. When the City of New York reached the wharf about 2.45 p.m. she was greeted with rounds of cheers from the thousands of people assembled there. The Kaikorai Band played the “Star Spangled Banner,” while Admiral Byrd stood at the salute at the head of the gangway.

The following naval signal was dispatched from H.M.S. Laburnum on behalf of Commander Hotham: “I have been asked by Commodore Blake, who commands the New Zealand division of the Royal Navy, to offer you, your officers and men, the heartiest congratulations and a warm welcome on your return from the Antarctic after such a successful expedition. “Polar exploration has always been a subject of interest to us in the Navy, since the exploits of the late Captain Scott. It gives us great pleasure to feel that this expedition has been so successfully led by an officer of the Navy of the United States of America.” “If there is one thing I am elated about it is that every man has returned,” said Admiral Byrd. “The return of every man is a feat in Antarctic exploration. The call of adventure has been the death call for numbers of gallant men, mostly Englishmen, who showed that Englishmen can endure hardships, help one another and meet death with as great a fortitude as in the past.” “Wonderful,” was the summary of opinions of the men who spent the winter on the ice. Everyone declared that the experience was unforgettable and said they were all delighted because the expedition had achieved success in everything it had attempted. THE EXPEDITION’S WORK Asked if he could indicate along general lines some of the branches of science which might be expected to benefit from the data obtained. Admiral Byrd said meteorology was one of the chief of them. Biological studies in the Antarctic had proved very fruitful, and experts in this line would have a great deal of interesting information to impart in regard to the peculiar forms of life that existed in certain parts of the Polar continent. Seals, whales, petrels, skua gulls and penguins had been investigated, and although a great deal of the observations broke no very new ground, they shed new light on very important aspects of the Antarctic. Botanically the expedition had been fruitless. The only samples of flora encountered were small, and for the most part uninteresting growths of

lichen. The ice physicist had a busy time in the south and a great deal of entirely new geological data had been secured. One of the really interesting results of the project from the scientific point of view was the demonstration of the value of radio communication under any conditions whatsoever. Geography, glaciology and physics generally should also benefit when the full activities of the scientists were presented to the world. BYRD THANKS N.Z. FOLLOWED FOOTSTEPS OF BRITISH HEROES DUNEDIN’S GREAT HELP Press Association DUNEDIN, Monday. A civic reception was accorded Rear-Admiral Byrd and his officers in the Town Hall this evening. There was a large and enthusiastic attendance of the public, who cheered lustily as the explorers entered. The Mayor, Mr. R. S. Black, in extending the ci-ty’s greetings, said their guests had returned from a wonderful Antarctic adventure, which would only be seen in proper perspective as time rolled on. The name of Admiral Byrd would stand out in the history of the world’s great explorers. The Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon. P. A. de la Perrelle, representing the Government, said the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, could not be present, but he had asked him to convey to Admiral Byrd and his officers his delight at their return. They had come back- no doubt with a vast amount of scientific information of value to the whole world, and to gather this they had suffered untold hardships. He sincerely trusted that when Admiral Byrd went back to his homeland he would advocate a continuance of the bond of friendship which began in the Great War, and had been still further cemented by his association with the people of New Zealand. On behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand, the Minister most heartily welcomed him back, and trusted that when he returned home, he would meet with a warm and enthusiastic welcome from hundreds of thousands of his own folk.

Admiral Byrd was greeted when he rose by a burst of cheering. He said' - he was only one of the 42 men he was representing. As far as he and the men were concerned, they only “began where those great heroes, Scott, Shackleton, Evans and Mawson, had left off. Scott was one of his boyhood heroes. He had showed that it could be a great thing to die, and tha-t there was something in death greater than life itself.

To the Mayor he tendered his most hearty thanks for the messages sent and for the hospitality extended to his men in Dunedin. The citizens had done things for the expedition far beyond the calls of mere hospitality, particularly Mr. H. L. Tapley, Mr. G. Tapley, and Mr. J. Duncan who, if they had been his brothers, could not have done more. He also wished to acknowledge publicly the wonderful assistance given by the Otago Harbour Board. One day, several years ago, looking at the map of the world, he had chosen Dunedin as his place of departure for and return from the Antarctic and that day, he considered, was a lucky one for the expedition. Dr. Gould, second-in-command to the expedition, was also cheered when he rose to speak. Dr. Gould said that New Zealand had always maintained an interest in Antarctic exploration which began as far back as the first voyage of the Discovery, and it was an interest which knew neither geographical nor national limits. Mr. Davies, physicist to the expedition, who was also greeted warmly, briefly voiced the thanks of himself and the men for the kindness that had been extended to them. Two things that would ever remain in their memory were the cheery sendoff on their departure 15 months ago and the warm welcome on their return. The meeting broke up singing “Auld Lang Syne” and giving cheers for Admiral Byrd and his men.