Evening star., 1926-04-26
70 NORGE EXPERTS
REACH KINGS BAY
American Artist Among Group
to Arrive on Royal Yacht.
Many Outsiders Land.
BY RUSSELL ID. OWEN.
By Wireless to The Star.

By Wireless to The Star.
KINGS BAY, Spitzbergen. April
26.-The landing crew of the diriGlbie
Norge arrived in Kings Bay early
Yesterday morning aboard the Helm
dal. the Kings yacht and gunboat'
from Norway. With them were sew
eral Italian officers and an American
artist. Seventy in all arrived on the
Heimdal.
With this sudden increase in popu-
lstion a good Florida real estate pro
moter could probably make LATITUDE
so north a popular Summer resort
this wear. Some of the best granite
formations in the world are near mere
If one does not mind skiing IeW
miles to reach them. Kings bay
needs nothing now to make 1t com
nlete but a movie theater and
hot dog stand There are band con
certs every morning for breakfast.
The artist is Frank WIbert Stokes.
Now York. and he was soon at MS
fayorite occupation. The SnoWSlorh
blew itself out in the night ana IN
the morning the sun Shnne hrlEniiH
on white peaks of SpitzherGen, pro
ducing that dazzling hrlllIance Whlch
makes snow glasses necessary 10 pre-
vent blindness. But between the
neaks in such light are maGnlt1cent
D6rSDeEIlHSS VI pun l'iV
pIistening SHOWS which fasClnate
Stokes. In a few minutes Mr.. Stokes
was seated in a snow drift. his easel
before him, palette in hand, tunes OF
naint living about, busily sketchlnG.
Was With Peary
The Arctic is not new to him. lie
Is about 60 years old. a little man
with a goatee, a delightful smile, ana
a good part of his life has been given
TO painting pictures of the polar re-
cions. He was with Admiral PearN
on the west coast of Greenland in
1892. 1893 and 1894, and with Nord
enskiold in the Antarctic IN 1901. He
is an old friend of Capt. Amundsen,
and when he heard the expedition
was about to start packed and left
for Oslo on the chance he would take
him along.
So here he is, the first artist to
spend two months in SpitZherGen, and
determined to get every bit Of beauty
out Of the mountains.
Among the Italians who arrived to-
day are Maj. Nalliti, Capt. Alfredo
Frecerutti and Prof. Amedeo Nohlle
a brother of Col. Cmberto Mobile, the
pilot and builder of the Norge. They
will aid in landing the Norge and in
making necessary repairs before the
attempt 10 fiN over the North Pole to
Point Barrow. Alaska.
Norge Awaits Orders.
The mooring mast for the Norge is
nearly rugged. The Italians. unaccus
toned to working in snoWStorms
which cut the face and chill the hands
and feet, have labored hard in raising
protective pipes for hydrogen, swarm
ing up the steel structure in boat
SWANS chairs. They have rugged up
the heavy blocks at the foot of the
mast by which the airShip will be
drawn in during the morning.
AS soon as everything is ready.
which will be a few days more, word
will be sent to Leningrad, and the
Norge will take advantage of the first
favorable weather to make its flight
to Spitzerbergen. 1t will be a tough
go, for the weather shifts here in an
hour and these mountains let out
bottled winds without warning.
Kings Bay echoed yesterday TO
strange sounds when suffering and
enorting was heard at the end of the
village, and up the main street over
ten-foot snowhills rocked and slid a
Fordson tractor.
Tractor Gets Balky.
The Arctic had succumbed to engi-
neering. Instead of dog sledges. men
were using machines; thir northern
most village of the world busted itself
with the products of modern science.
Santa Claus probably drives a
sedan.
The tractor turned up its toes in
snowdrift, but Lieut.. Oscar Omdel,
airplane mechanic Of the expedition,
turned it inside out and made it be-
have. He thawed it out with a blow
torch, coaXed it with hot water,
plugged the radiator holes, and after
a few explosive coughs. which would
do credit to a rodeo, the tractor went
10 work All day it roared, from the