Evening star., 1928-12-25
BYRD AWATORS
EXPERT HELMSMEN
Flyers and Boy Scout Prove
Masters in Guiding Ship
Through Ice.
BY RUSSELL OWEN.

BY wireless to The Star and New York Times
ON BOARD THE CITY OF NEW
YORK, December 21.-The second
mate occasionally shoots stream of
tobacco Juice to the leeward, waves his
arms and yells back to the men at the
wheel:
Hard left! That's right: steady her
now. Know why they call ship she?
Because rigging costs so much.
Half astern there! Right Full
speed ahead"
AND wham! We go into an ice cake
1t is nervous and tiTeSome work find
ing way through these leads in ice
fields. The airplane pilots have been
especially good at it. They seem to get
the feel Of the ship instinctively, and ss
she swings meet her in time with the
wheel. Harold S. June. who has done
this work on one watch. handles, thu
ship as If he had been at sea buckine
the ice all his life.
Wheel Kicks ViciOuSly.
The wheel kicks viciously. Particu-
larly when backing, it strikes one, and
there is danger of being caught and
thrown completely over it. This has
happened several times, but fortunately
with no serious results.
Paul Siple, the Boy Scout, has be-
come one of the best helmsmen aboard.
He has been putting weight on his g.
foot frame since he left home and now
weighs nearly 200 pounds of hard
muscle. He stands in front of the wheel
and whirls 1t with one hand as if he
were cranking car.
Standing watch is cold work. and
there is the constant sound of stamp.
ing feet.
Frequent maneuvering keeps the men
in the engine room busy answering the
innumerable signals from above. Forty
in one hour is not uncommon, and every
time the engine is stopped for an,
length Of time and gets cold, 1t is . job
to start it again. It pounds and
wheezes and throws surplus water from
the condenser all over the engine room
The engineers, Thomas B. Mulroy
the chief, John Bayer, or Esmonde NJ
O'Brien. his hands working the throttl
and reversing gears back and forth
move as fast as If they were shade,
boxing.
The coffee mill. we will call 1t, an
curse its choking hesitancy when it be
comes overheated in a hurry But W
are beginning to have an affection fo
its ponderouS and ancient frame b.
cause of the way 1t has stood up unde
punishment.
Bathing Is PeriIous.
The boiler room is where we wasl
for on one side Is water pipe fros
the condenser, and with soap and lc
OF scrubbing 1t Is possible to get fairl
clean.
Capt. Alton Parker, the aviator, wa.
taking bath In the boiler room yes
terday, after coming off watch, an,
Tom Mulroy lifted curtain benin.
him and heaved a bucket of cold ser
water on Parker's back.
George H. Black, known to us a
Blackie, Is checking the weight of sup
plies for the sled parties in a corne
OF the wardroom. for most Of it is sti'
filled with fur bags, while Lawrenc
Nd. Larry Gould, geologist, lookin'
ike pirate with a black beard an
sweater, which he insists is clean. /
reading book on zoogeography.
Hey! How much does a theodoli
weigh?" asks Blackie.
"Oh, about IS pounds" says Cor
nonchalantly.
Huh! Guess I'd better weigh
retorts Biackie. Anyway, I can d;
that Just as quick as ! can a gr
bar"
Ice Fascinates Byrd.
Blackie is the supply officer on be
and his job Is to find things as l..
are needed. What a task that is on
ship loaded so tightly that hardly an
thing can be moved can be imagined
He has organized the I-Don't-Knol
Club, the phrase which Is invoked whe'
any one is asked the location of need
ed article. However, it Is general
found in the end, by dint of strenuous
digging into piles of boxes. 'Nobodi
could find scales yesterday and today
We have three sets.
Comdr. Byrd comes out of his cabin
with Sheaf of papers In his hand con-
tanning lists and weights and food values
of rationS for the sleds, over which he
has been working for several days. He
checks navigation, watches the coal and
the handling of the ship In difficult mo-
mentS.
The ice fascinates him and he stays
on deck for hours studying its forma-
ton. At any moment of the day or
night, II enc can call it night when the
sun shines, he is apt to pop out on
deck to see If everything is being con-
Quoted properly.
The important decisions are his. the
responsibility is his and the lives Of
these men depend upon his judgment.
There Is little that escapes him.
So 1t can be seen that our world. al
though narrowly circumScribed, is q
busy one There is something for every
one to do and it is done cheerfully.
lcopyright; 1928 by the New York Tim,
Co and the 81 Louis posDspfSteh A
the world)