Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-21

loads and after circling over the camp
turned northeast toward the NunatakS.
the Virginia leading and Parker in the
Stars and Stripes lying just above and
to one side.
After an hours flight the planes ran
into heavy clouds. which covered the
coast and hung across the route. They
we're heavy snow clouds and hung low.
Balchen did not think it wise to try to
fly under them. He appreciates the
dangers of this country.
Just before reaching Halhood Bay,
named after Byrd's uncle, he directed
Balchen to turn to the southeast and
flew on this course until they passed
about Is miles south of the Rockefeller
range. The planes were in constant
communication with the base and the
ship by radio and also with the whalers
in the Ross Sea.
Honors Whaler's Captain.
Some time ago Byrd had told Capt.
Arthur Nilsen of the whaler Larson,
which towed him through the ice pack,
that he would name mountain after
him and when abreast of the Rockefel-
Ter range, he sent word to the whaling
captain, He just passed Mount Mil
SEN" He kept on for some distance
to the southeast. Byrd's map was
covered with notation of positions.
courses and times when ne returned.
The navigation in itself with the use of
the sun compass and magnetic compass
was good piece of work because of
the many changes in course and when
he set position for the Bay of Whales
after lodging over the waste of Antarc-
tica for hours in various directions he
hit the bay just south of Sranheim
Past the Rockefeller range he saw the
mountain he had glimpsed once befwe
looming up on the horizon and wrote a
not to Balchen, II think see land to
the east let's try it," They flew toward
the high mountain for some time with
out its getting nearer, and then turned
south again. The snow surface of the
barrier during the latter part of his
flight was at least 900 feet above sea
level as indicated by the plane slti-
meter. and both Balchen and Byrd were
certain that under it was land. The
visibility at this distance from the
coast was perfect The snow surface
stretched, a glistening white plain, for
at least 100 miles OF each side, only
slight differences in color showing where
the snow was soft or packed by the
wind to smooth, hard crust. Waves
OF. zastruga ran over it in places, and
sometimes there would be low but long
mounds, but the most part the surface
looked as though there had been no
movement there for ages.
Again Byrd turned. This time to the
south. and kept on this course until he
had penetrated more than 100 miles be-
yond his farthest southern point on
former flights. 1t was on this course
that he saw the twin peaks far to the
east and the high mountain later seen
more plainly by the Mckinley party.
When they turned again for home they
had penetrated SO far to the south that
another mountain range could be seen
plainly far ahead of them, a dark
streak on the horizon. This was un-
doubtedly the land family seen by
Amundsen to the east of his Polar
route.
He passed many rolling hills of snow
on the way home. hills indicating land
and few pressure ridges. On this one
leg of the flight, which was 140 miles
from the Bay of Whales, he was able to
see at least 100 miles to the south. COW
ering an area of $4,000 square miles of
unknown territory.
Area Claimed for United States.
Both planes landed smoothly at the
base after flight of 4 hours and Is
IiAAAiutCo, JllC last p1Ib Vi the IT'D nav
ing been made with a strong tail wind
which enabled them to make the l4O
miles in about an hour. Although he
had been kept from his original objec-
tive by the clouds, he had covered about
400 miles and obtained come tantalizing
glimpseS of new areas to be explored
next year, territory which he has
claimed for the United States. He does
not wish to infringe in any way on the
British dependency, and the new inter-
land the beginning of which he has seen
is well outside the limits of the British
claims. He hopes completely to sub
stantiate his claims by further flights.
When the planes had returned Nc
Kinley asked permission to make a
mapping flight to the northeast along
the coast. The tanks of the Fairchild
were filled again and, with Dean Smith
plotting and Borkner as radio operator,
they took off few hours after Byrd
had returned. In the meantime he had
travelled back to the New York by dog sled
and had ordered the ship out for another
attempt to reach the area north of King
Edward Land by sea, as the observations
from the planes showed that the water
close to the barrier was free from ice
for long distance. When he reached
the ship the plane had started and Byrd
went to the radio room, where the loud
speaker made audible the roaring note