Evening star., 1925-06-19
ICE GRIPS PLANE.
Amundsen Tells Graphic Story of
Flight North.
BY ROAiD AMCNDSEN.

| KINGS BAY, Spitzbergen (by radio
from steamer HeimdaD, June 49,
Our planes left Kings Bay at pm.
May 21. with load approximatins
| three tons, by way of Amsterdam Is
! land. At Sydagt we encountered
fog, above which we rose to a height
of 3.100 feet in order to navigate.
| During the next two hours the planes
| flew like bullets through the fog.
which lasted until o'clock.
After pm. and for the remainder
| of the journey the conditions of the
visibility were excellent An observa.
| ton at 10 pm. showed that we were
too far to the west, probably due to
| northeast winds above the fog, which
prevented us from positively observing
the deviation.
| we laid our course further east un-
! til l o'clock in the morning of Nav
q, when half of our gasoline was ex.
! hausted, and 1t became necessary to
attempt a descent in order to secure
| definite bearings with a view to our
| further movements.
We were then above a large lane in
| the ice. the first of this size which
| lower and observed the surrounding
| ice to discover whether there was
| block ice in the lane.
I Not once during the trip had we
seen suitable landing place among
| the jagged ice of the polar cap
| Neither was there one here. So we
| descended to the water in the broad
! ice lane.
Planes Gripped in Ice.
| Observations during the night dis
| closed our position as 81 degrees and
~ minutes north latitude and 10
degrees 20 minutes west longitude. SO
| that the distance covered in our eight
| hours flight was exactly 1000 kilo
| meters. AS our average speed was
| $50 kilometers per hour, this meant
that a head wind had put us back
! 200 kilometers.
Our fears regarding the descent
were not groundless, it proved. I'm.
| mediately after landing on the water
the N25 became locked between two
masses of ice while we were trying
to get our airplanes clear.
| In a short time the whole ice lane
froze tight. gripping the N24 also.
| We took two soundings at our land.
| ing place and found a depth Of $3.50
meters.
During the following days we
studied the drift conditions and OBJ.
served the magnetic variation and
also the meteorological situation
While flying northward we had lob
served" an area of about 100000
square kilometers, reaching to about
$3.50 north, without any indication OF
| land. Considering the depth disclosed
by our soundings, we therefore
thought 1t most improba BILE that we
| would find any land further north on
| this side of the Pole.
Flight Held Futile.
Moreover, there were no grounds
| for assuming that ice conditions fur.
| ther north would be such as to per.
| NIT of a successful landing. A land.
! ing at the actual Pole, with oppor.
tunity for observation would appar.
emily have been impossible. We be
! lieve that merely flying over the Pole
| without making these accurate OBJ.
| servations would have been feasible
| under the conditions we observed, al
| though without real significance and
| therefore not worth taking a great
! risk TO accomplish.
We agreed finally that, instead OF
continuing farther north, we would
! lay a return course by route farther
| east, in order to cross hitherto undis
covered tracts. With the planes ice
locked, apparently our greatest diff
Guilty was to get them into the air
again.
4
ical, and. with a view to lasting as
long as possible. we reduced our daily
rations after the first day to 800
grams per lead. This was less thar
| a pound per day per man and mean,
stretching our food supply over twice
the period originally planned.
| In order to get one plane clear we
| concentrated our energies on the N-25
and for, the following "a hours we
underwent all sorts of difficulties
caused by the vagaries of the fickle
| Arctic Ocean.
The N-25 being freed after the
greatest exertions, we examined the
plane. Though showing signs o
| strain, it was lugged practically un
damaged out of the pack ice to &
| starting place which we had levellet
some distance away.
Equipment Is Discarded.
On the 14th of June cracks sud
denly opened in the ice under ou
feet, threatening to remove thirC