Evening star., 1925-10-22
ELLSWORTH HERO,
AMUNDSEN SAYS.
Dared Death on Thin Ice to
Save Two From Drowning
on Arctic Flight.

Lincoln Ellsworth, the American
member of the Amundsen airplane ex'
pedition into the Arctic last Spring,
not only saved the lives of two mem
bers of the N-24. but saved the entire
project from disaster, Roald Amund-
sen, the noted Arctic explorer, re-
vealed in lecture on the undertaking
at Polls Theater yesterday.
Ellsworth, the chief financial hacker
of the expedition, pulled the pilot and
mechanic of the Inflated MA out of
the water when they had broken
through thin ice on their Smile jour
ney to the place where the MS, com
panion ship, was down. Both men
We're on the verge of drowning when
Ellsworth, with the aid of skis.
crawled to the struggling men and
pulled them to safety. The loss of
these two men, Capt. Amundsen said,
would have made it impossible for the
remainder to prepare a take-off in the
ice and water for the remaining air
worthy plane.
Did Years Task i'm Eight Hours.
Declaring that in eight hours fly
ing he looked down upon 10000
square miles of unknown territory
Capt. Amundsen said it would have
| taken months and maybe years to
accomplish the same feat by dog
| team and on foot, "and probably with
the sacrifice of many lives" He told
| of plans now in the making for
another aerial trip into the frozen
| country next year. but declared 1t
would not be with airplanes 'as they
are now" A dirigible powered by
! three motors has been loaned him
| by Premier Mussolini of Italy, and it
! is planned to again take off from
| Kings Bay, Spitzbergen, and fly over
the unknown continent" the Pole
and land at Alaska. He estimated
! the flight would require about 60
hours. Ellsworth, he said, again
| would be along.
Capt. Amundsen's story of his four
weeks adventure in the polar pack,
| all of which was spent in trying TO
| get free of the clutches of ice and
| fog. was virtually the same as car
| ried by The Star under his signature
f, shortly after his return to Spitzber-
| gen. A clearer conception of the
| hardships undergone by those six
| men, however, was given the audi
ence yesterday-the same persons
| who anXiously awaited word of his
safety last Spring-by valuable pho
| tographs taken on the ground and
| from the air from start to finish. The
! pictures flashed on the screen were
! amazing and it was plainly evident
| death and destruction was miraculous.
The clearest illustration of the Suf-
| fering felt by the six men in their bat
! tie against death was given in be
| fore'i and after" individual photo
! graphs of the two crews. Every one
! without exception on the return was
J thin, emaciated, haggard and aged.
Worry, coupled with a food ration of
! three crackers, a cup of cocoa and
! Of
plus 24-hour days of shoveling snow,
choppinE ice and clearing runway
! after runway for the N-25 to take off,
produced this.
Determined to either get into the
| air or crash and die on the spot,
the N-25's crew, after suffering many
reverseS due to ice closing in on them,
| finally made a dash down a narrow
! opening of water; the Dornier-Wal
| got up its flying speed, struck a ridge
of ice and leaped into the air. Exami-
nation of the surrounding territory
| showed there was no other opening
available for the take-off.
! Heading south, the plane picked up
the mountains of Spitzenbergen and
! as it neared them a long lane of
water was picked up. Although slight
| ly off the base course, the pilot flew
| over this and scarcely had he reached
it than the right aileron control broke
and a landing had to be made. Capt.
| Amundsen said an examination of the
fuel supply on the water showed 90
! gallons of petrol left. A few hours
| later they sighted the steamer that
brought them back to Kings Bay and
| a good meal.
The explorer was introduced by
| Lieut.. Comdr. Richard E. Byrd, him.
self just back from an airplane ven
| Arctic C0n1dr
| Byrd characterized Amundsens flight
as the most daring in the history of
aviation" lie said it was the plan Of
| the Macmillan Arctic expedition to
| 1y to Cape Columbia after Etah was
| reached and search for Amundsen,
as it was thought he would try to
make that point by foot.