Evening star., 1928-12-09
STORM SUBSIDIES;
/ BYRD PARTY SAFE
Terrific Sweep of Gale
Threatening Antarctic Ship
Blows Itself Out.
BY RUSSELL OWEN.

ABOARD CITY OF NEW YORK, AT
SEA, December S.-The gale which
threatened us yesterday blew itself out
during the evening of today. We have
been sailing over moderate seas with
a fair wind on our quarter. If all goes
well we should reach pack ice in two
or three days, as it is much farther
south this year than usual. We suf-
fered no damage from the storm aside
from the loss Of the main lower top
sail, which was replaced last night with
a new sail. A number of amateur
sailors aboard assisted the experienced
sean1en in mending the sail and Comdr.
Byrd also went aloft and helped the
rest. His face was streaked with SCOT
when he came down after strenuous
hour aloft, but he had good time.
Not a thing was carried away on deck,
80 carefully had it been lashed. and all
the dog crates amidships were abSo-
lutely dry, as they had been placed
high with their opening inboard.
Early this morning line was fasten-
ed to a buoy and dropped aStern to be
picked up by Boiling, and after some
Skillful maneuvering by Capts. Brown
and Melville it was hauled aboard the
Boiling and the hawser again hauled
in and fastened to the Bolling'S stern,
so that all day in fairly light wind
we have been in tow again. making
seven knots. Altogether it has been a
happy ending to an experience which
might have been much more un-
pleasant.
The Antarctic is living up to its repu-
tation. All Thursday night and Friday
we ran before gale under fore and
main topsails. with huge seas mount
ing UP behind us and tossing us FORE
ward as If We were a toy.
Holding Fast Difficult.
It was all those aboard could do, at
times. to hold fast and keep from be-
ing thrown across the deck. The ship
trembled like a live thing as she lay
far over on her side before recovering
and heeling over the other way, her tall
spars sweeping back and forth under
the leaden sky so swiftly as to make
one dizzy. The lookout man up there
watching for ice had giddy time,
Behind rose wave after wave, some OF
them 20 to 25 feet high-perhaps a
little more. They tore down on the
ship like a real Cape Horn roller, and
lowered above the taffrail as If about
to fall on us, and one almost inStinc-
lively recoiled before the coming shock.
And then the stout little ship lifted and
threw her stern in the air and the
wave went roaring by under the counter
In a smother of foam to break amid
ships, while we slid down a steep hill
and started to climb it, only to be
caught again and lifted and thrown
forward. The sound of the seas break
ing alongside when one is below was
like distant thunder and one could feel
the ship shake and hesitate and tremble
&C the top of her lift before begin
ming the swift drop.
The storm reached its height early
Friday morning. One sea came aboard
at the break of poop, swept aft and
hit life boat so hard as almost to
wreck it. At the same time the r1ldder
kicked and Capt. Mckinley, one of the
helsmen was thrown over the wheel
and knocked out when his head hit
against a packing case lashed against
the rail. The rest of the watch aft
was unable to help him as they were too
busy with the wheel, and Mac had to
come to as best he could. In few
minutes he was back at the wheel.
Daybreak Friday found the ship
staggering behind the Boiling, just able
to maintain position, and then came our
first mishap. The bride holding the
hawser over the Bolling's stern parted
on one side, and as the terrific strain
oil Iao nfh na
bride it was instantly chopped loose.
The Boiling blew six faint tootS of her
whistle, barely audible in the gale, al
though she was only short distance
away, and bore of to Starboard while
the New York's wheel was put up the
other way, and she Sheered off, dragging
the long steel hawSer after her from
her bows. Somebody loosed the main
lower topsail sheets, and as the sail be-
gan to flap it split to ribbons down the
Starboard end Capt. Melville jumped
up and down with rage as he watched
his pet sail, the one used to heave to
with in an emergency, fly into tatters,
and his language was all that deep
water sailors should be under the cir
cunstances. The job of getting that
hawser on board was terrific. It weighs
tons and tons, and the drag through
the water kept it down as though it
were tied to the bottom. The whole
crew, led by Sverre Strom, the mate, a
huge Norwegian with the carriage and
the face of viking, tailed onto the
capstan and for hours struggled to
bring the hawSer home. They groaned
and sweated and sang chanties till their
backs ached and their heads swan with
fatigue, but finally got the thing in.
Dogs Dislike Wet.
Part of this time water was sweeping
over the poop, and the dogs there
whined and howled their dislike of being
wet as they Shivered in the keen air.
The men at the wheel could pay no at
tention to the gang. and the others
>were too busy lashing the other dog
boxes and working forward They were
miserable and unhappy looking lot OF
I animals, but the men were just as wet.
Getting food was a problem, as Ten
nant, the cook, and his assistant Creach
were working in a foot of water in the
galley, which stopped from side to side
Tenant stuck his head out of the gal
ley as we went by. What will YOU
have boys. soup? We have plenty of
it here" he said looking down at the
mess washing around his legs. But he
turned out a dinner of real soup, boiled
beef, potatoes and Stewed tomatoes and
pudding which. after splicing the main
brace at Capt Melville's invitation,
made every one cheer up a lot AS a
matter OF fact, every one would look on
the storm as an interesting adventure
were 1t not for the proximity of ice.
copyright, 1923. by the New York Times
and the St Louis Post-Dispatch.