The Washington times., 1930-03-20
ANTARCTIC Discoveries TOLD
BY WILKINS UPON HIS RETURN
Continued from Page ~


houette looked tremendously
good to us as we ended the
second Wilkins-Hear Antarc.
tic expedition.
- We have spent six montsh
;atloat in ships on stormy
Southern waters and aloft in
turbulent frigid atmosphere.
;We are happy to return.
The hustle of f~rbor t. --ffic,
the romantic atmosphere of
the crowded wharfs. the toot
of taxi horns, the bright lights
of Broadway and the sour
smell of subway exits and en-
frances are welcome.
Month Ago in Arctic
% Three days more than
month ago we were streaming
through lanes of scattered ice
bergs. The sea, a deep blue,
lifted and curled with the force
Of heavy wind. White crests
raced and tumbled. The skies
were cloud-laden and lowering.
Snow squalls swept the ocean
as thunder showers sweep more
northerly latitudes.
Some of the icebergs we
measured. If the sun shone,
these huge crystal masses re.
Elected the spectrum in all ITS
splendor. "
Near the edge of the pack
ice the Antarctic skies are alive
with bird life. Skuas, gullS,
terms, petrels and milliemaukS
swing back and forth in the
heavy, frigid breezes.
Peaks Line Horizon
:. In the distance. as we started
homeward a month ago, peak
after peak of piebald noun
tains rose maiestically 20 our
view. Some of the peaks reached
above 10000 feet. We enjoyed
their eerie beauty and magni-
ficence, even though a few days
before, in our plane. we had.
for a fraction of time, dwarted
their altitude.
The Antarctic mountains are
black where the precipitous
cliffs prevent snow from cling
ing. They are snow white else
where, except where streaks OF
very old snow, dust strewn,
ranges in tone from chrome
yellow to dirty brown.
This year we had hoped that
we might make a flight from
our furthest west to join Rear
Admiral Byrd at his base on
the great Ross barrier and we
expected to find our way home
with the whalers hunting in
that vicinity.
The absence of firm, flat
ice, from which we could start
with our heavily laden planes.
made that long flight impos-
sible, but our efforts to solve
the problem of establishing a
. meteorological base at the
south of the Pacific Ocean,
our main purpose, have been
successful.
we are the first this year. as
we were last year, of the Ant
5Arctic commuters to return to
the Northern Hemisphere. For
"a years without a break, men
numbering from 1900 to 1000
have sailed forth from north of
the Equ tor to the frozen fast
:s1esses of the Antarctic They
wrest from that icy region a
livelihood. scientific facts or
tame.
The ma jority are hardy Morse
men engaged in whale fishing,
earning their living in an in
conspicuous manner, yet under
going hardships equal. to, if not
greater, than modern explorers
oeed bear.
Most Stay for Summer
-, Most of these go, as we have
done, to the Antarctic for the
six months of summer. but
others stay, as have Rear Ad-
niral Byrd and his party,
throughout the winter. These
whalers, while wintering in
not quite such Southern lati-
Itudes as the Ross Sea barrier,
are in even greater isolation.
Statistics will show that work
In the polar regions is even
safer than many other branches
of industry at home. A far
smaller percentage of men have
been lost on polar expeditions
and polar industries than in
coal mining or car driving.
Others Sunk By Ice
Yet the expedition, either in
dustrial or scientific, which sets
out for the Antarctic is fortu-
nate if it escapes without a
tragedy.
! Several steamers have been
overturned by the force of the
wind and waves in the southern
seas. Not a soul survived.
+ Other vessels, rammed by the
steely ice, have sunk before their
crews could even save vestige
of provisions. In some cases
these crews have been rescued
after surviving for many days
upon the raw, warm blood of
penguins, the only food avail
able, they declare, which would
have kept them alive. saturated
as they were with freezing sea
water.
The knowledge of these things