Evening star., 1926-06-20
BYRD TELLS OF ICE FLOES
GRINDING ABOUT AT POLE
Dash Into Arctic a Feat of Navigation.
Flying Straig Int Ahead North
and South.
BY RICHARD f.. BYRD,
Lieutenant Commander, United States n


~ chance of making a great
monkey of himself in the eyes
'of the world. There are no airplane fac
tories in the Arctic. The smallest slip
might result in a cracked-up airplane,
failure, ridicule and possibly bank
Tuptcy. There are many opportunities
fer miShaps which mean all the differ
ure.
Last year we flew in Midsummer
with boats from open leads of water.
This year we flew from snow on skis.
Now our flight was somewhat expert
mental. Some explorers had said that
airships could explore the Arctic but
airplanes We're impossible because con-
ditions were largely unknown and
little was known about the task of
lifting a heavy three-motored plane
from skis. But II was not of the world
] was thinking when our skis left the
snG% for our flight Poleward l had
4 buick moment of thankfulneSS to-
ward the members of our expedition
TO whom we owed the success of our
e-off-thankfulness for their un-
Eelfish, tireless work and their ingenu-
Ety and skill Their intense pride in
the expedite and their loyalty had
expressed the highest patriotism. 1t
placed a terrific moral obligation upon
nhe. They were the world for Bennett
and myself. We felt we could not fail
them.
Single Mishap Meant Ruin.
All this flashed through my mind
rapidly: How easy 1t would be to go
back ruined by slight miShap, my
reputation gone. my naval record
eclipsed. One false start which would
smash the plane and there would be
nothing left but an ignominious re-
turn. Now we were off. What lay
ahead was in the lap of the gods. But
. this was forgotten instantly in the joy
which surged through me when l
realized that finally we We're off-on
our way after all our disappointments,
our motors roaring smoothly, the plane
lifting slowly but steadily with it's
great load; the midnight sun shining
only a few degrees to the right of our
course as we turned toward the white
waste of ice between us and the Pole.
When the motors were started for
our flight it was midnight, I looked
toward the North Pole ana there was
the sun exactly in line with it. What
a peculiar sensation it was to be start
ing at midnight with the sun shining
clearly!
Our skis had taken us off the snow
with a load-that much had been
accomplished. The confidence which
had been placed in us by Messrs.
Ford, Rockefeller and Astor before
we left home had been justified to
that extent at least, and that meant
a very great deal to me. There had
been many difficulties to overcome,
some tangible, others intangible. The
season had been early, much earlier
than we expected, which was char
acteristic of the capriciOus Arctic.
The year before ION May 2D, when
Amundsen took off from the ice of
Kings Bay in his flying boats, he had
q fairly smooth hard surface before
him, but on April 90 we found ice
broken and floating in cakes and small
bergs-an impossible surface for
planes equipped with skis When we
had taken to land covered with snow
We had broken skis and made false
starts and felt our hearts sink into
our boots. But now we were off.
Really OH Our Way.
The plane lifted over the ice-flecked
bay, rising higher and higher until
We passed cape Mitre about 1900 feet
in the air | think that was the first
moment we realized that we were
really on our way. 1t had seemed too
good to be true. Back there, behind
us, men waving their hats and cheer
ing had faded from view, the houses
of Kings Bay and even the great shed
of the dirigible Norge had faded into
q background of snow-covered noun
tains. We were alone in the wilder
ness Of snow and ice, with sea be-
meath, and northward on the horizon,
shimmering under the midnight sun,
was the ice glint--that line of flicker
ing, shining light where ice and sky
meet. There lay our goal. Through
that shining curtain we must pass to
whatever lay beyond.
Years ago when l was a boy [ read
\ book by Poe which told of the ap.
proach of some adventures toward
the South Pole and their being con-
fronted by a mysterious barrier mist
beyond which they could not see It
made a profound impression on my
mind as youngster, and for a mo-
ment as we looked northWard toward
this shining veil which always receded
and which we must penetrate, mem
\ Ory of it flashed through my mind.
1t was a strange world we were enter
ing, cold and battling. and what an ad-
venture 1t would be to fly 500 miles
through it! We drove north along the.
coast of Spitzbergen to Amsterdam
Island, where we were to head toward
;he Pole. / thought of what was
ahead, the difficulties of finding our
way in space where there are no guide
posts, where the compass f1uctuated
wildly, where we would be dependent
upon knowledge we had accumulated
Of navigation in the Arctic during the
preceding year. Would it be suffi-
cient? Would charts had and knowl-
edge ] had gained of variations be
enough to pilot US from land to that
tndeterminate point - the Pole - and
back again?
Checked Up COmpasses.
thought of this many times as
we hummed north with motors
working faultlessly. I got bearings
on known points of land, checked
up the compass we carried-a big
compass which I had placed in a
position where it was affected little
by the metal of the plane. / checked
up bearings by the sun compass and
prepared TO start off to the North.
Z had picked up a line from a
mountain peak or Hoel Peninsula
to the northernmost tip of Amster-
cam Island as giving us a course
true north. and when we got to that
Bennett swung the plane and we
began our flight into the unknown.
1 knew the variation of the magnetic
compass and found that ii checked
with the sun compass. That was
good. BY means of the sun compass
[ was able to check the course ex-
actly, so that by a wave of the hand
to right or left after sighting through
the trapdoor at the top of the fuse
t1ge / was able to keep Bennett on
che straight course / had outlined on
the map.
Strangely enough, Bennett had a
tendency to swing to right for no
reason which either he or | had been
able to account for since we have
talked the matter over, and l had