Evening star., 1925-08-10
MACM|LIANzFA|LS
TQE|ND PLANE BASE
Unable to Discover Halfway
Location Between Etah
and Cape Hubbard.
BY the 4 sspciatsd Press.

BY the 4 Associated Press.
Comdr. Donald f. Macmillan in
fight over F,llesmere Isla nd Saturday
night was unable 10 find a suitable
intermediate ha for his Arctic eN-
petition between Etah. Greenla nd, the
main has and Cape Thomas Hub
hard. where it is pla nned 10 establish
the advance flying ha Sc
The flight was in direct line to-
ward Cape Thomas Hubbard. hut
everywhere rugged country and ice
We're found Another fight further
South will he made in the effort 10
locate a base.
Details of the flight We're given in
radio dispatch to the Navy De
partment from Lieut.. Comdr. Byrd of
the Navy section of the expedition.
Left Etah Saturday.
MAS" the dispatch said with
Reber as pilot and Comdr. Byrd naVi-
gator pilot and MAJ. with Schur, pilot,
Eocheville mechanic. and fOmdr.
Donald Macmillan passenger. left
Etah Saturday night at $40 O'Clock.
Set course 81 degrees. which with
Varia tiOn Of 1a3 degrees gave COmpa SS
course of 60 degrees. from Cannon
Fiord in Greenland. for the purpose
Nf attempting to establish a has some
where on Cannon t'iord. $50 miles
from F,tah and on A direct line With
Cape Thomas Hnhha rd. ANel heiherg
Land.
Smith Sound was covered with ice
with the exception of a few leads of
open wafer. where landings might
have been made II necessary. Follow
ed these leads TO some extent. and so
did not reach Cape Sabine until 9:4n.
Noted that steering compass was en-
tirely useless. navicator's compass
very sluggish and bearings taken
from plane showed A devis ton of so
degrees westerly There was
nor sufficient sun to use the Sandun
compass. Altitude, 1000 feet.
Country Rugged.
After passing cape Sabine mag
nifcent spectacle opened To view. All
the fiords were covered with ice and
snow and the land showed around us
and beneath us 10 ne nothing hut deep
valleys and Jagged mountains rising
abruptly from the ford. and in many
cases covered with snow. with great
glaciers running down to the waters
edge. No idea of the extremely rug
ced character of the country can he
gotten from the charts or maps, which
! some of this territory seems to be
unknown.
There was hut very little open
water in the flords where landings
could have been made. E,Ismere con
tinued its rugged character. and il
became apparent no base would be
found on the land in the direction we
were going also the presence of ice
in fjerds that run parallel to Cannon
i1J Ba
no landing place AT the end Of our
''At l2O miles from Etah fog began
10 settle ahead and too thick to see
through. so il was decided to return TO
Etah. Had ~ Hy at altitude of $500
feet TO get above low clouds until we
reached siGht Of sound. Indicator
showed 30-nile gales blowing from the
north and water in harbor was quite
rough when plane landed alongside
Pesry AT minutes before midnight.
Walrus Threaten Plane.
Al mouth of harhor' when NA-3
started TO ia Ike of huge herd Of wal
rus came near the plane and appeared
70 get enraged Al il. but they were
soon left behind. where we took of.
4 piece of ice weighing about 500 tons
was blown by the gale into the he rhor
tween the Perry and the planes which
were anchored 100 Yards toward the
shore from the ship. II is necessary
to keep alI-night watch on the planes
on account of the drifting ice.
"Aerogra pher Francis has Just
handed me a report that a gale of
great intensity driving toward Etah
from the sound. All planes have been
secured.
"As soon a the weather clears all
three planes will make flights to the
southern shore of the Day Fjord. in
Ellesmere Land. 80 statute miles
from Etah. where Comdr. Macmillan
says there is landing field suitable
for planes. We hope that ii will clear
tomorrow sufficient for this flight.
The pigeons have been freed. and
four Of them have returned to the
pigeon house. The others. are circlins
around. md will proba bly, return when
they get hungry. There is now a driv-
ing snow. which bears out Francis
prediction
The planes have visited the camp
where Is members Of the exploring
party headed by Admiral GreeIy died
Of starvation in 1884. Comdr. NacMil
Ian reported in a dispatch.