Evening star., 1936-04-16
ELLSWORTH TELLS
OF POLAR PLATEAU.
Geographic Society Medal
Given Flyer "Lost 22
DAYS on Trip.

Great mountain ranges with peaks
$4,000 to $4,000 feet high and high
plateau as large as the entire State
of Texas, never before seen by man,
were described by Lincoln Ellsworth
last night before members Of the Ma
tional Geographic Society and distin-
guished guests at Constitution Hall.
Ellsworth, who yesterday afternoon
received from President Roosevelt the
Hubbard Gold Medal, highest award
Of the National Geographic Society.
for his achievements in Arctic and
Antarctic exploration. was forced to
deliver his lecture twice, once yester-
day afternoon and again last night, to
meet the demands of society members.
The addresses were his first since his
return from Antarctica, where he was
''lost" to the world for % days.
Although Ellsworth and his pilot,
communication for more than three
weeks after they took off from Dundee
Island, south of the tip of South
America, he reported. they at no time
were "lost." They covered the course
they intended to cover and, except
for the fact that they ran out of fuel
16 miles short of their goal at Little
America, completed their flight with
out untoward incident.
Snow Take-Offs Easy.
Ellsworth said that he was agree
ably surprised to find the ease with
which landings and take-offs could be
made on the hard-packed snow of the
Antarctic plateau. Four intermedi-
ate landings were made during the
flight from Dundee to the Bay of
Whales, 2,340 miles across the Ant
arctic ice cap.
Their third landing, he said, was in
the midst of blizzard. They anchored
their airplane to pegs driven in the
ice, set up a balloon-silk tent and
"dug in" for eight days. After they
dug the airplane out of the snow, they
took off with surprising ease, Ellis
worth said.
Although they had intended to con-
tinue to Little America, they were
forced down when they ran out of
fuel 16 miles from the goal. They
went on foot to the old Byrd base,
where they found food and fuel.
Ellsworth told of claiming for the
United States an area of approxi-
mately $4,000 square miles, said to
be the last unclaimed land on earth.
He raised the United States flag there
and named the region James w. Els
worth Land for his deceased father.
Radio Breaks Down.
The radio of his airplane, the Polar
Star. broke down during the first leg
Of his fight when he had covered
1890 miles, Ellsworth said. He said
that the two emergency sets apparently
were in good order and that he and
Kenyon faithfully followed the pre-
arranged sending schedule three times
a day. None of these messages reach
ed the outside world and they said the
only messages they heard from their
ship were, I'VE can't hear you" He
said they had no navigation troubles
and never were more than As miles
OF their plotted course.
According to plans already made, the
expedition ship, Wyatt carp. left Dun
dee Island when the flyers took of
and sailed around Antarctica to pick
them up at the Bay Of Whales. The
British exploring ship, Discovery II,
however. was there three days ahead
OF the carp and took them aboard.
Ellsworth expressed belief that the
flight had opened the way to COM
plete exploration of the Antarctic con-
tinent. rs per cent of which still re-
mains unexplored. He did not an
nounce any plans for future explora-
tions, but did say that after six polar
expeditions, his enthusiasm "has not
dimmed."
Dark Shacks Appreciated.
Greatest treat of the expedition,
Ellsworth said, was getting into the
darkness deep under the snow in
abandoned shacks at Little America
after the continual glare Of the sun
on the snow, which made it almost i'm
possible for the two men to sleep, even
In their tent.
Ellsworth was introduced by DR..
Gilbert Grosvenor, president of the
National Geographic Society, who
described Ellsworth's previous achieve
ments and said that the latest flight
will rank among the great exploratory
voyages of the world, because Of the
great distance flown over regions never
before seen by man.
The explorer gave to DR.. Grosvenor,
for the society. flag which he had
carried $4,000 miles on his three expe.
ditions to the Antarctic and which was
down across the continent.
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