Part 15 (1/2)
But they did not want to turn back. They would take their chance.
Balchen and Acosta piloted with great skill, and Byrd took his turn at the wheel while they slept. The wind was with them, and they made excellent speed. Radio messages came to them clearly. They judged their position, and their gas supply, and found that they had underestimated their remaining gas. They could get to Rome.
”On the afternoon of the second day they came out of the thick fog, and saw the welcome water beneath them. They were bound for France, and they hit the coastline at Finisterre. They headed for Paris. Then they radioed ahead for the weather report. Fog! Fog and storm, with its center at Paris. This was the worst thing that could possibly have happened to them, this arriving at their destination in a fog. But they went on. It would be a triumph, and an addition to aviation knowledge if they could land in a storm, after coming all the way from America.
”They figured finally that they must be almost over Paris. But suddenly the fog below them was pierced by a queer light. It was the revolving signal of a lighthouse! Their compa.s.s had gone back on them, and they had made a circle, coming out not at Paris, but back to the coast of France.
”They turned around, after adjusting their compa.s.ses, and made once more for Paris by dead reckoning. They were above Le Bourget. But what could they do? They could see nothing below them, only an inky blackness that nothing could penetrate. Landing would have meant not only death to themselves, but perhaps to many people who had gathered to watch their triumphal landing. Their gas was getting low. Byrd saw only one solution. They turned and flew once more back to the coast. They were heading for the lighthouse that they had come upon accidentally before.
They flew very low, over the sleeping towns and villages that they knew were below them, but which were shrouded in pitch blackness. A revolving light pierced the blackness, and they were at the seacoast. But over the water it was just as inky black as over the land.
”Balchen was at the wheel. Byrd gave the signal to land. They threw over a line of flares that gave them some idea as to where to land, then descended. The force of their impact with the water sheared off the landing gear. The plane sank to the wings in the water, and the fuselage filled rapidly.
”Byrd was thrown into the water. He swam to the plane. Noville was climbing out. The other two were nowhere to be seen. Byrd called to them. He swam over to the plane, which was almost submerged. Balchen was caught in the wreckage, but managed to extricate himself. Then Acosta swam up from nowhere. His collar bone was broken. But a hasty survey a.s.sured Byrd that the others were all right. Almost exhausted, they got out the collapsible boat, blew it up, and paddled to sh.o.r.e. It was a mile to the village, and they trudged wearily on.
”They certainly did not look like a triumphal parade when they got to the village, four tired, wet, dirty men, who looked more like tramps than aviators. They tried to arouse the villagers, but they could not. A small boy riding by became frightened when they spoke to him, and scooted away. Finally they approached the lighthouse, aroused the lighthouse keeper and his wife, and made them understand what had happened.
”From then on, all was beer and skittles. There wasn't enough that the villagers could do for the Americans who had landed so unceremoniously in their midst-or practically in their midst. They rescued the plane, and the mail that was in it.
”Paris was next, and the real triumphal parade started then. The flyers were almost overwhelmed with the wonderful greeting that the Parisians gave them. It was worth all of the hours of agony that they had gone through. They had accomplished what they had set out to accomplish, after all.
”Then America. Once more the American people welcomed d.i.c.k Byrd back as the hero of the moment. He had excited interest in aviation; he had proved many valuable scientific facts; he had proved a hero under trying circ.u.mstances; he had added to the friendly feeling felt by the French for the American people; in fact, he had done all things except one. He had not extinguished his spirit of adventure.
”No sooner was Admiral Byrd back from his trip across the Atlantic when he was planning another voyage, this time reflecting again the boyish dreams of his early youth. He planned to go to the South Pole to make certain scientific studies, and to fly across the Pole when he was there.
”Very carefully he began to plan. He first obtained his s.h.i.+ps. The _La.r.s.en_ and the _Sir James Clark Ross_ were to be used as supply s.h.i.+ps.
_The City of New York_, once an ice breaker, was to be his chief s.h.i.+p, and the _Eleanor Bolling_, named in honor of his mother, was to be the chief supply s.h.i.+p. He took, too, four planes, three for observation flights, and the huge three-motored Fokker, the _Floyd Bennett_. Every division of the expedition was equipped with radio sets. Every division of the expedition was further so equipped that in case of accident, or in case it should be separated from any other unit, it could rescue itself.
”Among the preparations was the purchase of about a hundred eskimo dogs, which were to be used in the arctic. s.h.i.+ps, planes, cameras, radios, footgear, and a thousand other details Byrd had to plan carefully.
Almost a million dollars had been spent before the s.h.i.+ps even left New York.
”In the midst of the preparations Admiral Byrd received a terrible blow.
This was the death of Floyd Bennett, that someone has already told about. Bennett flew to the aid of Major Fitzmaurice, Captain Koebl and Baron von Huenefeld, who had been forced down in the Gulf of St.
Lawrence, during the first east to west crossing of the Atlantic. At Murray Bay, Quebec, he developed influenza, which turned into pneumonia.
He died in Quebec. Colonel Lindbergh rushed to Quebec with serum to save his life, but it was of no use. Floyd Bennett, whom everybody loved, and one of the greatest pilots of his day, had flown his last flight.
”It meant a loss to all aviation, but to d.i.c.k Byrd especially, since the two men had been close friends. There was no man with whom Byrd would rather have flown over the South Pole, as he had flown over the North.
In memory of his friend, Byrd named the plane with which he was to fly over the Pole the _Floyd Bennett_.
”Preparations had to go on. It came time to choose the crew and staff which was to go with Byrd, to be gone for such a long time in the arctic wastes. The prospect does not seem inviting-the leaving of comfortable homes, of families, in order to spend a year in the coldest climate that will sustain life. But so great is the spirit of adventure in man that 15,000 people volunteered to go on the expedition. The men who were finally chosen were picked men-all physically in perfect health, and mentally alert. True, some of them s.h.i.+pped in positions in which they had had no training, but Admiral Byrd could safely say that he had made a mistake in no case. Every man that he chose proved himself worthy of the choice.
”Finally all was ready. On August 26, 1928, the _City of New York_ started out. _The Eleanor Bolling_, a steams.h.i.+p, started later, as did the supply s.h.i.+p, the _La.r.s.en_. _The City of New York_, a sail boat, got to New Zealand about the middle of November, the last to arrive. The _La.r.s.en's_ cargo was s.h.i.+fted to the other s.h.i.+ps. On December 2, the _Eleanor Bolling_ and the _City of New York_ sailed for the ice pack. In about two weeks it came into sight. Then the latter s.h.i.+p took over the former's cargo, and while the sail boat sailed back for New Zealand, the steamer went on to penetrate the ice pack and steam at last into the Ross Sea.
”The s.h.i.+p and its precious cargo went on to the ice barrier, and it was on the ice barrier that Little America, the base of the expedition, that was to be the home of Byrd and his men for a rigorous year and a half, was built.
”The village they built was complete in every detail. As soon as they landed, the men started in with the building program. There were three cl.u.s.ters of buildings set in a circle about a thousand feet around.
These included the Administration Building, containing living quarters, dispensary and radio reception room, a meteorological shelter, etc. Then there was the general dormitory, and the observation igloo. Other buildings included the store houses and medical supply store-house; a Mess Hall, which was reached by a tunnel, and contained the dining room, and more living quarters.
”The community was a comfortable one. There was plenty of work, of course, but there was time for leisure, too, and the men could listen to the radio, play with the dogs, read one of the books of the large library; play cards, in fact, do any one of a number of things. The food was good. Dried vegetables and fruits had been taken down in quant.i.ties.