Daily Kennebec journal., 1925-08-20
Two of Three Naval
Machines Out of Com
mission, Radio Word
to Geographic
Society
Expedition Must Cut Short Elk.
plOrati0n of Polar Sea And
Territory-Due to Unusually
Early Winter Conditions
Changed Plans Call for In
vestigation from Base at
Etah-Give up Idea of Ad-
vanced Base

Washington. Aug. 19.-(AP)-A
victim of unusual weather. the Mac
MILAN Artic Expedition was directed
today to abandon its effort to fly over
the unknown Polar sea and to con-
centrate upon supplementary ex-
plorations and Investigations in
Greenland, Labrador and Baffin ISL
and.
tional Geographic Society, sponsor
of the expedition, with the assent of
the Navy department which contri-
buted the planes and personnel, and
was based upon recommendation of
Commander Donald B. Macmillan,
leader of the expedition. While
Lieutenant Commander Byrd. in
command OF the Navy section re-
manned silent 1t was assumed by the
Navy that Commander Macmillan
had not submitted his recommenda-
tion without consulting and obtain
ing his assent.
Secretary Wilbur confessed him.
self frankly disappointed" that the
expedition could not complete it's
mission because of the unforeseen
barriers.
Commander Macmillan. realizing
the futility of attempting to complet-
ing the expedition in the face of
early encroachment of winter with
only a few days left for operations
so far North, did not hesitate to
recommend to the society the modi-
fications in plans. This was received
in a message Monday night. and was
followed by conference at the Navy
department yesterday In which it was
practically agreed to accept the views
of the leader of the expedition. De-
finite announcement was withheld
pending a reply to a request for a
report from Commander Byrd, but
as none was received today, an
nouncement of the abandonment of
the Polar Sea fight was made.
Before the day was over, word
was received from Macmillan of ad-
tional difficulties through virtual
destruction by fire of one of the
wings of the NAB. The Nal had
previously been damaged by rough
weather and thus only one plane was
left in service.
The speed with which the wing
can be replaced will determine large
ly the extent of subsequent flights
planned for regions farther south.
since it had been the policy to send
out none of the planes alone.
The message, reporting the latest
accident, said:
THE Navy planes are having
tough luck. Another Liberty mo-
tor out of commission. The last
spare is now being installed and our
work has not really begun, since we
have at least thousand miles flight
to place us beyond the point in the
Polar seas reached by my dog teams
in 1914.
"A fire last night in the water,
caused by the spreading of gaso-
line on the surface burned one of
the wings of the NAB so badly that
a new one must be substituted. Two
planes are now temporarily out of
commission. Orders are that one
plane must not fly alone across
Smith Sound"
The veteran explorer advised So
ciety officials that in view of all the
circumstances to go ahead with the
original plan would be to attempt the
impossible.
The society's announcement said:
Unexpected summer snowstorms,
continuous fog and unprecedented
weather conditions which prevent
flying. resulted in the announcement
Continued on Page 3-CoI. y