Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-08
BYRD PARTY MOVES
MATERIAL TO BASE
Little America" Southern
most U. S. Camp by Thou
sands of Miles.
BY COMDR. r. E. BYRD,


! tCopyright, 1929. by the New York Time
Co: and the St. Louis ost-Dispatch. Al
rehts for publication reserved throughou
/ Wireless to the New York Times
BAY OF WHALES. Antarctica, Jan.
uary 8.-We have moved to our mair
base. Little America It is by many
/ thousands of miles the southernmost
! American base in the world, for it Is
/ the first time that Old Glory has ever
I flown from a base on the Antarctic
Continent.
| Our adventures continue and we are
| learning something about this extraordi-
nary part of the world
The Dist of December was our Mid
summer day. and yet even now the ice
fills the Bay of Whales. A leader in
the Antarctic is unfair to his shipmates
If he does not exercise much patience
with the elements
Each day brings q new caprice of
! nature. Yesterday 10-foOt crack
opened in the bay ice between the ship
and the main base. seven miles away,
and so today we have to send our nine
heavily loaded dog teams to the west
ward to get around this lead. so that
now the total distance We have to haul
our loads is nine miles. But that makes
l3 miles day for the teams.
Men Drag Sleds Third of Way.
Tomorrow we expect to have 10 dog
teams on the Job, and still the transfer
of our material will be a long. slow
process Our shipmates understand the
problem and those not on watch on the
ship and at camp have volunteered to
man to haul the equipment to the
base with the sleds.
~
aged to pull a ton and half of mate
rial a third Of the way to the base
Tomorrow they have got to haul at
least five tons the same distance. The
dogs will then make it the rest of the
way.
It will be some days before We can
do any flying, as we must give our
efforts to getting our material to the
shore to erect the houses The first
of the four houses should be up within
48 hours.
It will then take at least week to
prepare the landing field and another
several weeks before we can do any
flying. 1t is only by proceeding with
thoroughness that we will be able to
succeed.
Precautions on Hazardous Route.
The ice between us and the base may
begin to break up at any time, and so
we must be on the job continuously
with radio, lookout and strict rules to
prevent the transportation party from
getting caught on an ice foe that would
drift out to sea.
The men are safe as long as we can
keep our glasses on them, but in case
of fog or snow the ice party and the
ship lookout lose track of each other.
A navigator with compass is sent in
with the dog teams, the route is marked
with orange yellow flags, which are the
most visible on the snow, and the
hands have instructions to make rapid
~ for the camp in case of fog or snow.
Without the flags it would be quite
easy to get lost in a SnowStorm that
might last for days. Every member of
the transportation party is required to
take his reindeer skin sleeping bag with
him so that he can weather storm. if
necessary. No one is permitted on the
uneXplored part of the barrier without
companion tied to him with Alpine
rope.
Drift Ice Forces Ship Out for Night.
After the dog teams left yesterday,
a huge ice field of enormous jagged
cakes of ice drifted rapidly on to us
from the east, and to prevent our ship
from being injured by it we had to
leave our berth alongside the ice and
put out to sea. We could not drift with
the wind, as that would have taken us
against the ice barrier, SO We hoiSted
sail and tackled about all night.
In this way We saved coal, for we
are 1900 statute miles from the nearest
coaling station and so we are nursing
our precious fuel with the greatest pos
sible care. We must leave rs tons on
the barrier for fuel during the six
months night, and so from the begin
ming the preservation of coal has been
one of our serious problems.
Our conservation of coal would not
have been possible without the tow of
the City of New York FIRST by the
steamship Eleanor Boiling and then,
through the ice pack, by the whaler
c. A. Larsen) for 1000 miles on the
voyage from New Zealand
Fuel, Food and Clothing From Seals.
The field party is out every day. We
expect to use the seal blubber for fuel
and light during the six months night.
The meat we are feeding to the dogs.
Out of the skins We will make warm
clothing.
We would be we'll supplied with oil if
We could procure some of the great
schools of killer and finner whales that