Evening star., 1926-06-05

| tracks and some seals that went out
of sight on hearing the unknown thun-
/ dering sound of engines. Now and then
we saw also a solitary gull lowering
over the ice. But 81 passed. all signs
| of life disappeared. The dark shadow
| of the airship was the only thing that
moved on the ice, and it was always
! broken up.
! The only difference in the picture
/ the ice gave approaching the North
| Pole was that the leads were fewer
and smaller. Often it happened that
we didn't see leads at all.
! At about Q O'Clock pm. we passed
| latitude 81 degrees As minutes y. II
was at this latitude that our flying
| boats landed ut | o'clock in the morn
| ing of May - on last years examina-
ton flight. but the landing took place
about 30 miles westward of this year :
! longitude. The motors of the ar
| ship. however. went with reduced
speed over the same latitude in com
memoration of the last flight. For
! Riser Larsen, Omdahl and ourselves
it was a solemn moment looking down
on the ice where a little lead in inn
mense polar ice for % days had been
all our world.
Fog Drives Them Upward.
! Approaching SS we saw the fog
in front of US, and when we reach
| ed it we had to go up at first to
| 500 feet to get over it. Later, the
| fog lying higher and higher we had
| to rise to more than 1900 feet to get
over it.
! The fog rolled under the ship like a
wooden ocean. This was d disappoint-
ment 20 all on board. especially to
/ -, re hn
years before we joined our forces in
| 1925 we had dreamed about unveiling
| the Arctic from the air. Should we
have to pass the North Pole and sail
over the unknown regions on it's other
side on fog? II seemed So
| For nearly two hours we flew over
| the fog. The only consolation to us
was that we received valuable weather
reports from the Stavanger radio sta
ton in southern Norway, promising
us favorable winds, at least on the
last part of the flight down to Nome
| in Alaska.
| Now and then. however. there were
openings in the fog, permitting us
| to look down on the ice, thus en-
abling us to assert that none of the
region we had passed since latitude
S8 was land This didn't surprise US.
over the ice to $3.50 from our planes.
! The depth of the ocean where we land
| ed being more than 10000 feet indi-
Gated also that in no case could land
exist before the Pole.
Sun Wins as Pole Nears.
| In that way we passed the eighty
ninth degree of latitude, going with
| an average speed of more than 90
miles an hour. We were quickly ap-
preaching the Pole. And not very
| far from this attractive point the
sun became victorious.
Proceeding northward, little by lit
tie the fog disappeared, and about
| / O'Clock in the morning, May II, we
had it behind us. Only some dispersed
clouds still were to be seen, but these
didn't reduce visibility, so from cabin
and engine gondolaS the crew could
| overlook the most northern part OF
the globe. In one way, flying through
and over the fog had been rather un-
| pleasant AS alluded to above, we
hadn't suffered from the low tenn
nerature when we flew in sunshine
The air not being humid. the cabin
was heated a little by the sun. But
when we were surrounded by the raw
fog and 1t penetrated the cabin when
we had to open it's circular windows
to make various observations, we felt
| indeed that we were far north.
| We had to put on more clothes to
keen us warm. Some of us also put
on big canvas boots that we filled
with a special kind of grass used for
| the same purpose by the nomadic
| natives in the interior of the noun
tains in northern Norway. Notwith-
standing the extra clothing, from now
IN every one suffered more or less
from cold. 1t was especially disagree
able to handle navigating and other
scientific instruments with uncovered
hands.
From Ellsworth's Diary.
Before we proceed in this narrative
we will give extracts from Mr.. Ellis
worth's diary which (Ellsworth) hope
| will give the readers an idea OF the
little monotonous impressions we had
during the first part of our flight In
| sunshine.
am leaving behind stratus clouds.
| Horizon clear. Our shadow on snow
below. Many bear tracks.
l115-Large white fish observed In
II :40-Few leads. No tracks.
10 noon-What feeling Of nothing
12:2o-Height. 1900 feet.
1925 p.m.-Passed 81 degrees north
| latitude.
21[Latitude $3.50; 1000 feet high;
temne&ature minus 9 centigrade: mar
row leads: sign of constant ice move
| .....+.. ,,1ao,. hl,,a SISy. southeast wind.