Smyrna times., 1936-08-20
NOTED FLIGHT
OF ELLSWORTH
Became Ep0chaI in Being the
First to Fly Across the
Antarctic
HIS TALK ABOUT 1T

WaShington.-Three hundred and
fifty thousand square miles of ter
ritory was claimed for the United
States when Lincoln Ellsworth, first
man to fly across the Antarctic con-
tinent between the eightieth and one
hundred and twentieth meridians
west longitude, and extending from
the coast to the South pole.
In his report just made to the Ma
tional Geographic society, Mr. Els
worth said that the flag was plant
ed with permission of the State de-
partment. The explorer named the
area James w. Ellsworth Land for
his father.
For his epoch-making flight and
for other feats of Arctic and Ant
arctic exploration since 1925, Mr..
Ellsworth was awarded the Hub
bard medal of the National Geo
graphic society.
Discovered Mountain Ranges.
Besides the exploration and claim
ing of the vast area Of Antarctica
for the United States, Mr.. Ellsworth
reported that he found Stefansson
strait, which separates the Antarc-
tic archipelago and the continent,
narrower than is shown on prevail
ing mapS-only about mile wide.
He discovered mountain ranges ris-
ing as high as 1900 feet above sea
level, and found new evidence that
the Andes mountains of South
America continue under the sea to
Antarctica and may extend to the
South polar continent.
During the period of nearly two
months that Ellsworth and Herbert
Hoillick- Kenyon, his pilot, were out
of touch with the rest of the world.
they were at no time lost" They
knew their exact position in terms
of latitude and longitude at all
times, but were unable to establish
radio contact with civilization.
Throughout their flight, up to the
time they abandoned their plane 16
miles from Little America, the two
| flyers kept to their predetermined
| schedule of broadcasting to their
supply ship, the Wyatt carp. Twice
during the might" hours and once
during the morning hours they at
temped to send word of their where
abouts, but the signals were not re-
ceived. The explorers had 24 hours
of daylight.
The fight across Antarctica Gov
cred 2.340 miles, about the distance
from Washington TO Los Angeles. of
which Ito were flown over the
Antarctic continent.
The explorers took off November
%, 1895. from Dundee island. which
| is 500 miles south of Cape Horn,
/ the sOuthernmoSt ftp of South Amer
lea. The Wyatt carp, the expedi-
tion ship, meanwhile started the
2000-mile voyage around to Little
America to meet them.
After crossing Stefansson strait
and striking out over the continent,
they flew over rugged. bold, noun
tain range bare of snow and rising
10000 feet above sea level. This
was named the Eternity range.
Plateau of Polar Ice.
Beyond these mountains the plane
scared over plateau of polar snow
and ice. This plateau continued un-
broken practically all the way to
the Ross Shelf ice. In the after
noon the planes radio failed. An
other mountain range sighted was
named the Sentinel range, and the
central peak, 1900 feet high, was
christened Mt. Mary Louise Ulmer
for Mrs. Ellsworth.
The first landing was made to de-
| termine position on the level pla-
| teau about 6.400 feet above the sea.
Here the flyers stayed II hours and
raised the United States flag. On
November "a, they took off again
but came down after 80 minutes be-
cause of low visibility. After stay
ing grounded three days, another at
tempt was made, but again bad
weather forced them down after so
minutes in the air. Then came a
blizzard and 45 mile gale which
grounded the men for eight days.
The temperature dropped TO five be-
low zero Fahrenheit.
The next flight lasted four hours
and vas followed by landing to
determine position. The flyers then
| took off on the last leg of their
flight, which was ended when the
last of their 466 gallons of fuel ran
| out. From the final landing point
the men CROPPED their way through
a fog to Little America. They
reached Admiral Byrd's abandoned
base December Is. They had been
on the way % days, Of which 20
hours and 10 minutes were spent in
| the air. =.
Fuel and some food were found
In the Byrd camp. The abandoned
huts. IS feet under the snow, afford
ed the explorers their first sleep in
the dark since they left their ship,
the Wyatt carp. On January Is,