Evening star., 1929-12-16
BYRD CAMP FLOATS
IN 1,6OO-FT. WATER
First SoundingS at Little
America Show Bottom of
Bay to Be Clay.
BY RUSSELL OWEN.

BY Radio to The Star and the New York
Times.
LITTLE AMERICA, Antarctica, De-
cember 15.-The first sounding made
near the base camp of the Byrd eXpe-
dition shows that we are indeed floating.
Through hole in the ice at the head
of Ver-sur-Mer Inlet, only about $50
yarC from our front door, a sounding
of 1900 feet was obtained. That is a
long way to the bottom.
1t is hoped that series of soundings
around the bay and in crevasSeS south
of the camp may be made so that some
thing more definite may be learned
about the possible presence of land near
here. Something must hold this Barrier
or the Bay of Whales would have dis
appeared long ago.
Sounding is hard work where the old
ice remains and 19 feet of it were pene-
trated before the water was reached.
Device Operated by SipIe.
This sounding was done by Paul
Siple, the Boy Scout and Victor
Czegka, our machinist. A sled had been
fixed up to hold a reel, the framework
for 1t being made by Arnold Clark, our
fireman, on a forge set up on the Bar
rier surface.
dig a hole through the ice. For the
first feet Tom Mulroy helped him by
burning oil and using gasoline torches
A long pipe was then used, and for
hours he tapped away, scooping up the
broken ice chips with tin can,
When the pipe had gone down as far
as 1t would reach and the bottom of the
ice was not reached, Czegka put to-
gether two pieces of angle iron, making
a drill 20 feet long. Czegka worked
down through the last 3 feet and when
the drill went through 1t nearly jerked
from his hand.
Bed of Bay Found to Be Clay.
The sounding line was then let down
through the hole and after dropping
1880 feet brought up against the boz
tom. 1t showed a clay floor at this
part of the bay.
Czegka has made a device for bring
ing up samples of the bottom which
will be used in future sounding
1t is small and its end is a scoop
dredges used in deepening channels, but
1t is actuated by powerful springs which
snap the Jaws together when the bot
tom is reached and hold them closed
Some interesting specimens may be OBJ
tanned with 1t.
The Byrd geological party in the
Queen Maud Mountains travelled east
ward II miles on Friday and yesterday
were held in their tents by snow
fall of 8 inches.
Cache Gives Margin of Safety.
DR.. Lawrence Gold, leader of the
party, reported that the cache laid
down by Comdr. Byrd on his first flight
to the mountains was found on Thurs
day and that the food in it gives them
a good margin of safety, for which
they are grateful. The strong winds
near the mountains had blown things
about to some extent.
The belief that Carmen Land is not
what has been shown on the map, anu
the result OF observations and studies
of photographs made on the two south
ern flights make this part of DR..
Gould's trip very important and he
hopes to be able to learn something
definite about the land in that dlrec-
ton before starting back.
much cloudineSs interferes with our
work" he says in message to Comor.
Byrd "You surely made the polar
flight at the right time. There have
been very few good flying days In De-
cember. All of the party JOIN IN warm
regards to you. We call TINS Camp
Tom Mulroy."
(Copyright, 1929 by the New York Times
Co. and the e. Lou LOUIS rtseSyeS reSISSpt ptSroughont
the worldly