Evening star., 1925-07-13

story of an effort to save human life
When, in the face of these obstacles,
Bouman at last reached his objective
and obtained the news, three days
went by before he was permitted to
send it. It was said that the wire
less station at Kings Bay was pri-
vately controlled. AS to the wireless
aboard the steamer Heimdal also at
Kings Bay, a message received from
that vessel by the Associated Press
explains why Bouman was not heard
from. 1t reads:
Your correspondent arrived Kings
Bay. Found Amundsen, Ellsworth
good health. but in accordance agree
ment with Norwegian Aero Club, I,
its press agent, am compelled stop
all news messages regarding Amund-
sen expedition"
1t was with hardly more than his
Summer clothes as an Arctic outfit
that Mr.. Bouman hastily left London
for Oslo to board the relief ship.
There he found a fellow newspaper
man, who subsequently shared his ex-
periences-William Bird of the Con-
solidated Press. Writing aboard a
vessel by which he was making his
way back to Oslo, which he reached
wrote report to the general office
of the Associated Press, which fol-
lows:
BOuman's Report.
'The main difficulty in joining the
relief expedition was to break through
the objections Of the Amundsen press
monopoly, which aimed at anneXing
the relief story as well as the polar
expedition story. One, they held, was
part and parcel of the other. The
N0t-Nrnc>jna C1,th t1h
moted Amundsen's expedition, had
perfect interlocking arrangements
with the Norwegian admiralty, the
air department and the Spitzbergen
coal companies-which virtually rule
the Svalbard Archipelago-and 1t took
a vast amount of trouble, including a
cabinet council, to get any move at
all In the matter. American Minister
Swenson and Consul General Snyder,
however, gave most valuable assist
ance, and eventually l was permit
ted to join the relief mission aboard
the Ingertre.
The 1ngertre, as you know, was
first scheduled to go to Kings Bay.
How we would fare after that no one
could tell us, but the obvious thing
for us to do was to get there.
Spitzbergen may look small on
worlds map, but the distances are
enormous, and means of local trans
portation necessarily by seal rare and
slow at this time of the year. With
Kings Bay radio monopolized by the
Amundsen press organization, one
might as well be in London or New
York as at Green Harbor or Advent
Bay. AS a matter of fact, the first
public announcement Of Amundsen's
return reached Green Harbor in a
wireleses from New York instead of
from the port on the other side of the
island.
Our next troubles began at Advent
Bay, where the Ingertre landed the
relief men and ourselves. The for
mer flew to Kings Bay, and despite
our most urgent appeals. We could
get no transportation father north
on the patrol ship Heimdal. We had
to find a ship of our own to take us
there.
Drunken Oarsmen.
Incidentally, we had a taste of ad-
venture here while trying to get to
Advent Bay radio from the Ingertre,
which was coaling about a mile or so
away from the jetty. Walking along
the broken shore was impossible, but
three men offered to row us bird and
mel in a crazy boat which was leak
ing through every seam and with a
fresh breeze blowing over turbulent
waters. Too late we discovered they
were drunk as owls. and later they
became quarrelsome. One of them con-
cetved fancy that l was a German,
in which case he roared he would take
extreme pleasure in throwing me
overheard without ceremony. We en-
deavored to placate them, but he kept
on repeating in all intonations the
cheerful refrain: You German, over
board you 60.
I'VE zigzagged across those choppy
waters for an hour and a half, hold
ing on to the gunwale for dear life.
with our baggage and feet in cold
water, and were ultimately conveyed