Evening star., 1935-01-06
ELLSWORTH FINDS
FIVE NEW ISLANDS
BaIchen Makes Daring
Take.Off on Exploration
Hop in Antarctic.
BY LINCOLN ELLSWORTH.
Leader Ellsworth Transantarctic Flight
Expedition.


SNOW HILL ISLAND, Weddell Sea,
Antarctica, January 5 by Wireless).
Another section of the unknown has
been wrested from the great Antarc-
tica. Five islands. three deep fJords
and several conspicuous mountain
peaks not marked on the latest Official
charts are some of the discoveries
made Thursday during our flight In
the Polar Star.
Not until you are flying mile
above its surface is 1t possible TO
comprehend the vaStneSs, the might
of this icebound world, over which
Bernt Balchen and I flew. Nothing
in all the world equals in color and
beauty these lonely, purple tinted
snow fields.
One big feature discovered Thurs
day is ford directly behind what is
marked on the charts as Cape Sobral.
and which we found was in fact an
island. The fjord, walled with glaciers
and floored with gaping crevasses. in
dents Nordenskiold Coast and runs
for about 80 miles northwest into
Detroit Aviation Plateau. Together
with another deep ford extending
from Larsen Bay, it changes conspic-
uously the general configuration of
Trinity Peninsula, as marked at pres
ent on the charts I named it James
w. Ellsworth Fjord, after my father.
Squalls Handicap Survey.
For many days we waited for
weather which would allow us to fly
some distance from our base and
make a record of the new areas dis
covered. Thursday came our first op-
portunity. 1t was limited in COM
parison to what we hoped for, since
after flying southwark for about 16o
miles snow squalls on wide front.
extending northwest and southeast,
barred our way.
It was with some difficulty we got
the Polar Star into the air. The new
snow of January l had orifted into
low sastrugi in patches on the glazed
surface of the snow hill island bar
rier, and these sastrugi acted as
would series of morasses on ter
rain landing field. Each one slowed
up the speed of the plane with a
marked tendency to turn the ma
chine over on its nose. Time and
time again Balchen brought the air
plane into the wind, which was blow
ing down the slope of the best take
off area, but We could not get on on
the up grade.
After almost an hour of taxing,
Balchen boldly turned to dangerous
down-hill slope on the southern side
of the island, and. in a side wind.
opened up the 525 horsepower motor
to 1,780 revolutions, and our movable
pitch propeller finally lifted us clear.
Clouds Close In.
After circling the Wyatt carp. we
crossed Snow Hill Island, Lockyer
Island and over the glacier-fringed
southern end of Ross Island to Cape
Longing. Then, skirting Sobral, we
passed over Lindenberg Island and
between Robertson Island and Seal
Nunataks. Here the clouds closed in
above us. Light conditions were ex-
tremely bad.
In few minutes we could see heavy
snow squalls descending. and We had
to turn southWeStWard along the
storm edge. The air was extremely
'bumpy and visibility was reduced at
times to two miles. But as we neared
King Oscar Second Coast and turned
due west, we came to clear weather.
We had been flying over the Larsen
shelf ice, which extended from Rob- |
ertson Island slightly toward Cape |
Disappointment, then swung south
westward until hidden by the storm
clouds. We reached the high coastal |
area few miles south of Evans Inlet, !
then, turning north, came to Hektoria +!
Fjords. Here We turned easterly over |
Tilberg Island and saw long ford, |
ending in two steep glaciers, extend |
ing from Cape Ruth for about Is
miles to the north.
Following closely along Norden-
skiold Coast, we observed an inlet
about 10 miles from Cape Ruth, and
then, behind Sobral we saw the deep,
wide ford, which I have already
mentioned. Ten miles to the north
east of this and in the bottom of Lar
sen Bay another deep, uncharted
fjord was seen.
We crossed over this to Sjogren
Fjord, and noticed that the land be-
tween Sobral Island, Cape Longing
and Sjogren Fjord is very rugged, and
several mountain peaks reached up to
near our altitude, which was then
$500 feet.
Uncharted Island Found.
At the entrance to Sjogren Fjord
there is an uncharted Island, remark
able for its sharp-topped peak, and
three other islands of considerable
size, also uncharted, were observed in
Prince Gustav Channel. The north
western coast of Ross Island is much
lndented with bays and fjords, and,
lying between Ross ind Vega Islands
is another one, conspicuous but hither-
to uncharted.
Following the coast of Prince Gustav
Channel to opposite Sydney Herbert
Sound, we came to remarkable low
passage across Trinity Peninsula. The
width of the peninsula at this place is
about is miles. and, through the pass,
we could see the peaks of Livingstone
Island about so miles further north
than Tower, an Astrolabe Islands.
We had apparently exhausted the
possibilities Of conspicuous geograph-
ical discovery in this area, so we
turned back over Ross Island to a
landing at our base. We had been
2 hours and % minutes in the air,
averaging about 160 miles per hour.
Friday the weather clouded over
again. and there was no chance for
further flying.
(copyrisht. 1885. by the North American
Newspaper Alliance, Inc, and the
New York Times Coz
nITIcC CCcM DEhnN