Evening star., 1926-06-20

we were started fair ana true Tor
the Pole.
Reaches Edge of Ice Pack.
We had gone only a short distance
when we reached the edge of the ice
pack. 1t was a rather clearly de-
fined edge, for there was little drift |
ing ice, and it was with queer SEN |
sation that 1 realized that at last we
were over the famous ice sheet upon !
which SO many famous men had
struggled and fought their way |
northward without success, until |
Peary made his epic trip. What a !
lonesome and uninviting expanse it |
was! 1 thought Of all the tragedy |
which was written on those shifting |
ice floeS-of men and ships which |
had disappeared below them, leaving |
no trace behind, of brave and fear |
less souls who had dared the North |
vainly, often to perish. And here we |
were in a huge contrivance of mans i
ingenuity, driven by three powerful |
motors, humming over the pack at |
so miles an hour. safely and in !
comparative comfort. with the mid |
night sun overhead guiding us north !
ward, always northward.
l did not know which most to ad- |
mire, the brave men who had toiled !
on foot or the genius of man which |
had made this flight possible.
All this time l was buster than a !
bird dog. 1 was working in a small |
compartment filled with tanks hold |
ing 100 gallons each. with a small |
aisle between them, through which, |
in my fur coat, l could just |
squeeze. Back along the sides were |
loose 5-gallon cans of gasoline.
over the forward tank on the left,
nv eli
apparatus. Back of the right.hand |
tank was a trapdoor in the floor for
sighting with the drift indicator. |
Directly behind was small shelf for |
my maps and sun compass, with a |
smaller shelf on the other side to
which 1 could transfer the sun COM |
pass. if necessary, so that the sun
shining through small windows in |
the fuselage would hit it.
There was another sun compass |
fastened on top of the fuselage just |
back of the trapdoor in the top, |
could see this by standing on a box |
and sometimes l had to look forward !
and check up the direction of the |
plane. 1t was in doing this that the |
blast from the wind stream froZe |
my nose and cheeks; only by vigorous |
rubbing did l restore circulation. |
Below the sun compass aft and di- !
rectly under the trapdoor was the |
ships big compass. Fortunately |
there were no bumps over the Polar
Sea on the day we flew, SO the plane
maintained a fairly even altitude, /
avoiding those jerks which throw a
compass off. 1 believe the Polar Sea |
is seldom bumpy, except in a storm.
over the chart shelf were chronom-
eters. Il had been studying for weeks |
to be sure that l had exact Greenwich |
time.
Danger in Getting OF Course.
We knew our greatest danger was |
getting off the course and that we /
must fly a straight course If we ,
were to reach the Pole. 1t is very |
easy to deviate from the course a
little, one side or the other, but the
tendency is to eventually even up If
navigation is correct. l was watch
ing the drift indicator and sun com
pass at intervals of not more than
three minutes. hopping from one to
the other, and 1 found by calculat
ing the speed and drift that we were
able to navigate by dead reckoning
las it is called at seal with an ac-
curacy that far exceeded my expec-
tations. BY making sights on the
sun with my sextant and getting |
lines of position at intervals l |
learned that this method checked |
pretty well with dead reckoning. This
was interesting to me, for, having |
done a good deal of navigation both |
by sea and air, 1t seemed apparent |
that dead reckoning in the air un-
der the favorable conditions we en-
countered was more reliable than on |
a ship when 1t encounters ocean cur
rents. For on ship there is no |
nf hot T
ice or of checking speed currents as
could check wind drift by sighting |
down at the ice. This correspond |
ence between dead reckoning and |
sights with the sextant was very |
encouraging.
During these long periods of navi-
cation, when 1 was jumping from one |
instrument to another and making |
my calculations from sextant sight |
by means of the rapid method 1 had |
learned and applied on other flights, |
I had little opportunity to think of |
anything else. The mind became a
machine which registered, calculated |
and deducted with precision. Every |
moment Of time was occupied. There /
was no leisure to think of what we |
were passing over or the hazards |
which might lie before us. But after |
time it became necessary for Ben
nett to pour gasoline from the cans |
into the big tanks and thereafter |
every now and then 1 relieved him
at the controls. 1t was a welcome |
change, so much so that when the |
flight was half over 1 relaxed with |
such unconscious relief that l dozed |
off. Only the increased speed of the |
motors as the plane nosed downward |
woke me from hypnotic trance !
caused by the constant beat, and I !
started up to find the plane diving |
toward the ice. During these in
tervals of plotting I kept the course |
by holding the sun compass-that in
valuable little instrument-in one |
hand and plotting the plane with the |
other.
Sensation of Flyer and Explorer.
There came a time when / knew !
we were holding our course with |
accuracy. / could then turn my at |
tention to the ice below us and gaze !
down upon it with mingled sensa-
tions of flyer and explorer The |
many stretches of snow-covered ice |
looked fairly smooth and even, so it |
seemed that there must be landing |
places within view all the time. But |
I knew that ice is deceptive from |
above, and what seemed smooth was
possibly rough and hummocked sur
face, for this diffused light of the |
midnight sun does not throw
shadows. To one who had time to |
observe it all, 100000 square miles !
of ice spread out before us during
the flight. and toward the end we
saw 10000 square miles never before |
viewed by man. Peary's vision was
relatively limited. and from the air
we saw distances which he in his
lonely, unceasing toll could never |
have seen.
1t was with strangely mingled |
I<.x-4 ,.d 1nlo lL-l.ax. L