Evening star., 1925-05-25
FEARS R FOR ttRRNEN
!. At POLE A[.LA!YED.
WoodhouSe, Who Planned
Trip, Says Panic of World
. r" Is Premature.
BY Consolidated Press.

NEW YORK, May 25.-Eoald
Amundsen had mapped out four full
days work at the North Pole and
1ears for his safety are premature.
MS statement was made here today
ny Henry Woodhouse. president of the
Aerial League of America, who plan
ned Amundsen's flight for him, helped
MN procure his first aeroplane and
knows the full details of the work he
hoped to accomplish. Woodhouse was
emphatic in his decla ration that
AmilndsenS S stay at the Pole might be
extended neutrality-suspicious. 10 days.
lie added that Amundsen proposed
dehnlte studies and observations which
should require at least four days.
World Panicky.
The world-or as much of il as
fa interested in the northern eXplora-
lions of Capt. Amundsen and the fate
OF his American companion, Lieut..
Ellsworth-has become panicky be-
cause it has not heard from the flyers
= that they are safe" he said. But
could not send bulletins on their prog
ress. And If they were meeting the
utmost success and completing the
work they and I planned they should
do they could not have left the Pole
for four days after reaching it.
They will make plenty of observa-
tons and photographs, for Amundsen
is a careful man and will not repeat
the mistake other explorers have
made of coming back with too meager
proof of their accomplishment.
The last words Capt. Amundsen
said to me when I saw him not many
months ago were that he would stay
at the Pole until he found conditions
favorable enough to enable his deter
mining all he hoped to determine
about the existence of another CONT
nent and the like if it took year.
Needed Long Time.
1T would take some time, even with
the most accurate navigating instru-
ments, and it might mean several
landings and repeated short flights, to
determine their position in flight and
insure their landing at as near the
earth's axis as possible. If they did
not land within 20 miles of the pole
they would have to start all over
again. make new observations and try
once more for a landing that would not
give more than 20 miles for the explor-
erS to walk to their destination
1T would take them hours, perhaps
days and weeks, to find the platform
they must have which would be less
wobbly than an airplane from which
to make their observations.
Where the ice is broken and clear
water flows in the Polar seas there
would be thick water clouds caused by
the condensation of vapor and the re-
hection of the black water on the
vapor. These clouds would screen the
sun and prevent accurate observations
for days at a time, perhaps.
Ice Fields Drift.
THE ice fields about the Pole drift
In the Summer time. Thus the ex-
plorers might be carried far from the
Pole while doing their work-and their
steps would have to be retraced.
"A series of "a to 4S hourly obser
vations of the sun must be made, and
the hours of the day must be calcu
lated from the observations.
But the longest part of the work
was to have been the circling of the
pole by the explorers, two of whom
were to have been sent out in diff
ferent directions at right angles to
the course they were steering, and
third of whom was to continue on
that course for 1914 miles, after which
the data obtained has to be checked
the pole is located.
With all that to be done, there is
no cause to suppose the explorers
have been lost if they are, not heard
from for two months or more"
Copyright. 1925 by the Consolidated Press
Assoclat1on.1