Evening star., 1928-12-06
POLAR EXPLORERS
AVERT DISASTER
SkiIlfuI Handling of Tow Ship
Prevents Crash With
Byrd Flagship.
BY RUSSELL OWEN.

BY RUSSELL OWEN.
By Wireless to The Star and the New York
Times.
ON BOARD THE BARK THE CITY
OF NEW YORK, December 6.--The sky
today is like a great inverted bowl of
pearl gray. the horizon shutting in
closely in a band of haze. Overhead
the sun shines pale, surrounded by
circle colored like a faint rainbow and
underneath is this strange, narrow
world of water, so small and circum-
scribed to our view SO vast in actual
extent.
Our two shi IS are tearing along over
the high seas that break in lines of
cold, sparkling white and brilliant green
where the light shines through the tips
of the waves.
The sea is Jumping unsteadily all the
time. towering above the taffrail till it
seems that it would come aboard to
drop tons on our decks, but the ship
rises to it Ike one of the sea birds
lifting lazily as they watch us pass.
Fortunately the wind is fair easter
and with most of her canvas set. the
City of New York is keeping up with
the Eleanor Boiling easily and making
more than 7 knots, sometimes nearly g.
After every dizzy rise of the stern till
the ship seems to be sliding down
foam f1ecked hills. it lifts again until
bowsprt points against the sky and
rolls slowly and gracefully to the top
and over
Most every one has his sea legs now
and is at ease on deck. The motion is
not unpleasant, SO easily does the City
of New York ride.
No expedition was ever more fortu-
nate In its weather for although this
wind may keep on rising and make
things unpleasant, the weather so far
has been favorable, and we are going
south faster than we could have had
any reason to hope.
Already we are far south Of most
of the world. The latitude of New
of Cape Horn and even the Georgian
Islands. Most of the world is on top
now, yet there is long way to go
before the barrier is reached
Wheel Is Tricky on Tow.
1t is tricky work keeping sailing
ship in full sail in tow of steamship,
and every once In while 1t required
skillful jockeying to keep the vessels
in line. Every movement has to be
watched like a hawk by the men at
the wheel. This afternoon the wheel
nearly threw E. j. Demas and Jacob
BurSey clear over to the other side of
the deck
During the morning the City of New
York swung off to one side for time
before it could be checked and in a
few minutes the drag of the hawSer
stretched between the two ships so
checked the Eleanor Boiling that she
was slowed up to point where the
City of New York hauled alongside.
The Eleanor Boiling could not pull
ahead and the City of New York. with
all sails set, could not be checked i'm
mediately.
AS soon as possible the sails were
taken in and then the City of New
York dropped back to her normal po-
sition again; but it was a rather anxious
moment on both ships, because of the
unusual strain brought to bear on the
Eleanor Bolling's stern.
Capt. Gustav Brown of the Eleanor
Boiling has shown great skill In ham
ding his ship On him up to the
present has fallen a good part of the
burden Of keeping up speed. We do
not need him today. but we do not
want to let him go. for this wind may
shift and tomorrow or the next day we
shall need him badly.
Brown has been keeping up the good
work he has done all along" said
Ccmdr. Byrd as he watched the Eleanor
Boiling rolling with her amidships deck
under
When the ships were we'll under way
after the sail-doffing incident, every
thing was set again. Comdr. Byrd
went aloft to take a hand in setting
the main upper topsail, just to see what
it was like. The main rigging was all
patches of SCOT from the funnel. and
he found it was messy business He
kept on afterward and went to the
crows nest atop the mainmast, which
swung in wide arc under the sky.
Finds 1t Great Sight.
"It was a great sight" he said when
he came down. This ship rides like
a duck"
So far we have not shipped any
water. but it is too soon to crow about
it and there Is a big deck load.
The dogs were all over the small
poop deck, the only place on ship
where one can stretch his legs at ALL
while their boxes were being shifted
and lashed more securely They howled
and barked and gave one of their most
disturbing concerts for an hour, and
one even tried to start fight by
grabbing a passing dog by the back
A we'll directed boot ended what might
have been good fight.
Most of the dogs seem fairly friendly
and want to be petted. and even shake
hands; but a few snap and snarl and
them cautiously.
Going to meals these days is rather
an experience for the amateur sailors
aboard The deckload Is SO large that
the only way to get forward to the
forecastle Is along the rail, hanging op
by a rope or boards wherever possible.
It Is not so bad when the motion of
the ship is easy, but If she ever gets 10
jumping it will not be much fun and
will be very wet. The top of the deck
load would be more inviting then.
The great advance made in science
since the last Antarctic expedition was
shown today when the two ships
communicated by wireless telephones,
using the battery operated sets intend
ed for field work between the bases.
Comdr. Byrd on the City Of New York
and Capt. Brown on the Eleanor Boiling
had long conversation regarding the
courses and problems to be met and
heard each other as distinctly as over
a land phone.
When added to this it Is remembered
that every day we get press report OF
what Is going on in the world and that
III lS pOSSlUlC W WAoAA hAoAAS
stations daily, modern communication
by means of the radio seems more
wonderful than ever before. One ap-
preciates it this far from home,
The position of the City of New York
and the Eleanor Boiling at noon today
was latitude 7507 south. longitude
l7235 east, 685 miles south OF Taiora
Head, New Zealand.
tCopyright. 1928. by the New York Times
Co and the st. Louis PoSt-DiSpatch. All
rights for publication reserved throushout
the world.)
CHARGES OF ASSAULT