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His successful polar flights
undoubtedly were due to his pioneering experimentation
during World War I of flying over water out of sight of
land. Navigation of these early seaplanes without visual
landmarks as an aid prompted him to experiment with a number
of scientific instruments ranging from drift indicators to
bubble sextants. His reputation from this work was
responsible for an appointment by the United States Navy to
plan the flight navigation for the transatlantic flight in
1919 of the US Navy Flying Boats NC1, NC3, and NC4. The NC4
was the first plane to succeed in crossing the Atlantic, via
Newfoundland and the Azores, having done so in May 1919. In
1926 he and Floyd Bennett made the first flight over the
North Pole and upon their return to New York, Byrd was asked
by Roald
Amundsen what his next plans
would be. His response? "Fly over the South Pole". At this
point Amundsen had no reason to doubt him and the only
advice offered was to "take a good plane, take plenty of
dogs and only the best men". With this as his background,
Richard E. Byrd began the modern American assault on
Antarctica. The Byrd
Expedition was the first American expedition to explore
Antarctica since the U. S. Exploring Expedition under
Charles
Wilkes in 1840. The expedition
launched a revival of interest in the Antarctic for
Americans, an area much in the public mind during the early
1800's. The
exploring expedition organized by Richard E. Byrd in 1928
may be considered the first of the mechanical age of
exploration in Antarctica. The program was the first of its
kind to utilize the airplane, aerial camera, snowmobile and
massive communications resources. Although Sir Hubert
Wilkins, on November 6, 1928, was the first to fly an
airplane in Antarctica, he preceded Byrd by only ten weeks.
(Byrd first flew on January 15, 1929). However, Byrd's
flights, made with three planes (Ford monoplane, Fokker
Universal and a Fairchild monoplane), were much more
significant than Wilkins since they were made in higher
latitudes and were tied in with ground surveys.
Sir Douglas
Mawson was the first to use
radio in the Antarctic, and the whalers, R. R. S.
Discovery, the Norwegian exploring ship Norvegia
and Sir Wilkins had all been using radio in the Antarctic at
the time the Byrd Expedition entered the field but Byrds use
of communications equipment overshadowed that of the others
as regular wireless communications were established with the
outside world, as well as with all flights and field
parties. As Byrd put it, "...this single
department received more attention than any other, for our
program called for the most elaborate system of
communication ever proposed in a Continent where radio
conditions are notoriously bad". Assistance was provided for
the selection of equipment by the US Navy, the New York
Times and several corporations. Five radio engineers
were assigned to the communications team. Although very
costly, a total of 24 transmitters and 31 receivers were
supplied for the two expedition ships, the main base at
Little America, three airplanes, three dog teams and two
sub-bases. As for photography, Wilkins took photos from his
plane while in flight, but they were taken with a hand-held
camera. On the Byrd Expedition, Captain Ashley McKinley used
a Fairchild K-3 for aerial mapping. It was the finest camera
available at the time for this purpose and by present-day
standards can still provide satisfactory results.
Sir Ernest
Shackleton, Robert
Scott and Sir
Douglas Mawson had all tried,
with mixed success, to use automobiles for land
transportation. Byrd had more success with a Ford
snowmobile, but it too broke down only 75 miles from the
base while hauling supplies. The
City of New York Her one great drawback was her small
auxiliary steam engine, scarcely able to generate 200
horsepower. Byrd felt fortunate that an engine built in 1882
could still run and since funds had been exhausted, the tiny
engine would have to suffice. The ship was rated 515 tons,
with a length of 170 feet and beam of 31 feet. Due to her
slow speed, the City of New York was the first to
depart for the Antarctic. With 200 tons of material aboard
and 33 people, the re-named City of New York put out
from Hoboken on August 25, 1928, and made for Dunedin, New
Zealand, via the Panama Canal. The
Eleanor Bolling She was put into drydock where she
underwent extensive repairs, primarily in strengthening her
hull against the inevitable blows from the ice pack. The
cost of purchasing the two ships and outfitting them was
approximately $285,000. The work was done, at cost, by
William Todd at the Todd Ship Yard. Under the command of
Captain Gustav Brown, the Eleanor Bolling put out
from Norfolk, Virginia, on September 25, 1928, with 300 tons
of supplies and 28 men. The dog drivers and 94 dogs with 40
tons of dog biscuit were taken aboard the James Clark
Ross at Norfolk, Virginia. The greater speed of this
whale ship meant less danger to the dogs while crossing the
tropics. The aircraft, aviation personnel, gasoline, oil and
100 tons of supplies were also shipped out of Norfolk on the
C. A. Larsen. Commander Byrd boarded the
Larsen at San Pedro, California, from where she
departed on October 10, 1928. Ford
tri-motor Floyd Bennett The
James Clark Ross was the first to arrive in New
Zealand. The C. A. Larsen arrived in Wellington on
November 5, unloaded the men and supplies, and then embarked
on a whaling mission. The Eleanor Bolling arrived at
Dunedin on November 18 and soon left for Wellington to pick
up the supplies left there by the C. A. Larsen. The
City of New York didn't arrive at Dunedin until the
26th of November, after being at sea three months. At
Dunedin, the cargo was reloaded so that if the City of
New York was the only ship to make it through the pack
into the Bay of Whales, she would have enough supplies
aboard to maintain a limited scientific expedition for one
year. The Fairchild airplane was lashed to her deck. Heavily
laden, the Eleanor Bolling and City of New
York left Dunedin for the Antarctic at 6 a.m. on
December 2, 1928. There were a total of 29 men on board the
City of New York and 54 aboard the Eleanor
Bolling. The
expedition experienced fine weather at the beginning. If the
wind was right, the City of New York could proceed
under both sail and steam; when the wind died, the
Eleanor Bolling would take her in tow. The first
storm hit during the evening of December 6. The tow line
broke but other than a torn sail on the City of New
York, no other serious damage occurred as the storm
subsided the following day. The first iceberg was sighted on
Sunday, December 9. Snow squalls and foggy weather was
encountered the following day which made for difficult
navigation. Scott Island was sighted the same day, after
which the course was set due south until reaching the edge
of the ice pack. The following day the C. A. Larsen
was sighted. By 11 a.m. the next morning some 90 tons of
coal had been transferred in sacks from the Eleanor
Bolling to the City of New York. The Eleanor
Bolling then steamed for Dunedin (arriving December 20)
while the City of New York stood by to be taken in
tow by the C. A. Larsen. On December 15 the leads
opened sufficiently for Captain Nilsen to enter the pack in
about 178° E. The struggles were great but the C. A.
Larsen finally broke through into the open water of the
Ross Sea on December 23. At 2 p.m. the tow line was cast off
and the City of New York was now on her own. The edge
of the Ross Ice Shelf was reached in about 177° W. on
Christmas Day. Following the shelf eastward, the City of
New York reached the Bay of Whales on December
28. Unfortunately,
the Bay of Whales was nearly full of ice. The City of New
York found a place along the edge of the ice to tie up
and once accomplished, Byrd, Balchen, Petersen, Vaughan and
Waldon went ashore with two dog teams to locate a suitable
place to build the base camp. After several days of
exploration in the vicinity, a site was selected on top of
the Ross Ice Shelf on the east side of the bay,
approximately eight miles from where the ship was tied up
and four miles north of Amundsen's
base camp, Framheim. On January 2 the unloading began and
soon teams of men and dogs were hauling supplies over the
ice to their new home, Little America. On a good day, each
team made two round trips, totaling 30 miles until a total
of 650 tons of stores and materials had been transferred.
The City of New York had successfully transported one
airplane, 1200 gallons of gasoline, 75 tons of coal, 54 men,
80 dogs and enough food for 15 months. Two main buildings were constructed at
Little America along with several prefabricated buildings
which were used for special purposes. The primary building
was used for a library, hospital, radio laboratory and
housing quarters for the physician, geologist, meteorologist
and physicist. Another building, built from boxes and
crates, served as the machine shop while a third building
was used for the mess hall, bunk house and photographic
laboratory. A magnetic observatory and weather station was
also built. The radio storeroom and aviation workshop were
also built from boxes while other rooms were simply carved
out of the snow and roofed with tarpaulins. As a prevention
against fire, all main structures were built with some
distance between them and connected by a series of snow
tunnels. After
leaving the City of New York at the edge of the ice
pack on December 11, the Eleanor Bolling sailed for
and arrived at Dunedin on December 20 where she promptly
took on a second cargo, departing on January 14 for the
return trip to the Bay of Whales. She arrived at the bay on
January 27 with two airplanes, additional dogs and 7500
gallons of gasoline. The ice in the bay continued to break
up which forced both ships, on January 29, to move and two
days later a large piece of shelf ice broke off and nearly
capsized the Eleanor Bolling. The Eleanor
Bolling was unloaded in little more than five days and
on February 2 she departed for New Zealand, arriving in
Dunedin on February 16. Meanwhile, the City of New
York continued to battle the ice conditions. Forced from
her moorings time and time again, Byrd finally cruised her
eastward to the vicinity of Edward VII Land but was again
stopped by the pack ice. Abandoning any further attempts to
tie up, the City of New York departed on February 22
for New Zealand. Captain Nilsen of the Larsen met the
expedition ship on February 28 and transferred 90 tons of
coal to her. Meanwhile, the ice conditions were so poor that
Byrd radioed orders to the Eleanor Bolling, which was
returning to the Bay of Whales with a third load of cargo,
to wait at the edge of the ice pack for the City of New
York and return with her to New Zealand. The
Fairchild airplane had been unloaded on January 14 and
assembled the following day after which seven short flights
took place. Byrd, with Bernt Balchen as pilot and Harold
June as radioman, left on January 27 for a longer flight
eastward to the Alexandra Mountains, which had been
discovered in 1902 by Robert
F. Scott. They flew in fine
weather and soon spotted the two inlets east of the Bay of
Whales, Kainan Bay and Okuma Bay, that had been named after
Nobu
Shirase's Japanese expedition
in 1911-12. They flew to the Scott Nunataks and Alexandra
Mountains and then were forced south due to intermittent
snow showers. Suddenly, at an altitude of 4,000 feet, a new
mountain range came into view which Byrd named the
Rockefeller Mountains. Running short on fuel, the men turned
back for Little America and arrived having completed a
five-hour flight. On February 18, Byrd and Balchen took off
in the Fokker while June and Harold Parker left in the
Fairchild on another flight to the east. Byrd's course took
him east to the Rockefeller Mountains and then south for 100
miles further than his previous mission. High land appeared
in the distance but once again they were forced to turn back
to Little America. When they had landed, permission was
given to McKinley to make a photographic flight to the
Rockefeller Mountains. He too saw the other mountains east
of the Rockefellers. In the afternoon of March 7 Gould,
Balchen and June flew out of Little America aboard the
Fokker for the Rockefeller Mountains. Two hours and ten
minutes later they arrived and landed at the southern
extremity of the range. Over the next few days extensive
survey work was accomplished. By March 13 they were able to
finish a triangulation survey and collect a few geological
specimens but the following day turned tragic as high winds
overwhelmed them. They struggled to save the plane but a
huge gust of wind in the evening ripped the plane from its
moorings blowing it airborne for half a mile before smashing
it to pieces on the ice. Once the
geological party had been rescued from the base of the
Rockefeller Mountains, the planes were hangered in blocks of
ice for the winter. While the geological party had been out
at the Rockefeller Mountains, four dog teams layed depots of
supplies, gaining valuable trail experience. Between March 7
and 13 some 1,350 pounds of supplies, in three depots marked
with flags and snow cairns, had been successfully stowed for
the winter. This would only be the start to a more
aggressive campaign the following spring. On April 19 the
sun set and 42 men settled in at Little America for the
winter. The little city was buzzing with activity as
equipment was prepared for the summer flights and sledging.
Frank Davis took daily magnetic observations, William Haines
and Henry Harrison took daily meteorological observations
and the radio operators kept regular schedules with the
outside world. Between January 16, 1929 and February 5,
1930, a total of 414 balloon observations were taken. The
lowest temperature recorded at Little America was
-72.2°F on July 28. However, according to Harrison,
"...a far more severe condition than this prevailed in July
when a combination of a 25-mile wind and a temperature of
-64° was experienced", creating a wind-chilled
equivalent -2800°F. Subzero temperatures were recorded
every month throughout the winter at Little America with the
highest temperature being 17°F on August 19. The sun
came up on the horizon for the first time on August
23. Geological
investigation of the Queen Maud Mountains would be a primary
effort as spring arrived. This would require significant
depots layed across the Ross Ice Shelf. Five teams started
out from Little America on Sunday, October 13, with 1,600
pounds of supplies. The dogs soon tired from pulling in
soft, dry snow so the loaded sledges were abandoned at this
point and the entire team jumped on an empty sled and
returned to Little America to wait for more favorable
conditions. On October 15 a supporting party of four, led by
Arthur Walden, started on a southern journey. Joining them
were the geological party and Peterson, who went along to
test the radio equipment. They picked up the loaded sledges
that had been left a few days before and proceeded on to
20-mile depot. Upon arrival the geological party cached
their supplies and along with Peterson returned to Little
America. Meanwhile, the supporting party headed south with
two sledges carrying a total of 800 pounds. Depots were
built and supplied every 50 miles. On November 1 the last
depot (Depot #4) was laid at 81° 45'S, 220 miles from
Little America. At this point the men turned for Little
America and arrived back at base camp on November 8.
After returning from the 20-mile
depot, the geological party on Sunday, October 20, started
hauling supplies again to the depots out on the Ross Ice
Shelf. By October 25 they had reached the 100-mile depot
where they cached their supplies and prepared for the return
journey. The return was uneventful with the crew arriving at
Little America on October 29. Meanwhile, on October 25
Strom, Black and Feury set off in the Ford snowmobile,
pulling three sledges loaded with supplies. The men had to
abandon the vehicle when it broke down 75 miles south of
base camp. Walking back to Little America, the men arrived
on November 5. Finally, on the same day, the geological
party departed for the Queen Maud Mountains. The party
consisted of Gould, who was the leader, Vaughan, Crockett,
Thorne, Goodale and O'Brien. While
the sledge parties were busy with depot-laying, the aviation
crew were likewise busy digging out the planes and preparing
them for exploratory flights. On November 18 with Dean Smith
as pilot, Commander Byrd, Harold June and Captain McKinley
took off in the Ford tri-motor, the Floyd Bennett, on
a base-laying flight to the edge of the Queen Maud
Mountains, 440 miles distant. About 200 miles out the men
spotted the geological party struggling along so they
swooped low and dropped mail and additional equipment to
them before heading off for the mountain range. They landed
at the foot of the Liv Glacier where, leaving the engines
running, they deposited gasoline, oil and 350 pounds of food
along with a pressure cooker and trail equipment. They were
soon back in the air heading for Little America. About 100 miles south of Little
America, on the edge of the worst crevassed area, the plane
was forced to land as a leak had developed and they'd run
out of fuel. The emergency radio failed to work but
fortunately Balchen and Petersen flew out in the Fairchild,
suspecting they had run out of fuel, and quickly located
them on the ice below. They landed and fuel was loaded
aboard but, unfortunately, the engines were too cold to
start. Besides, 100 gallons of fuel was not enough to get
the plane back to Little America. The Fairchild returned to
Little America, loaded additional fuel and brought it out
the following day. With help from the booster on the
Fairchild, the engines on the Ford tri-motor were started
and together both planes arrived back at Little America
about midnight. At 3:29
p.m., on November 28,1929, the Floyd Bennett took off
from Little America on its historic first-flight over the
South Pole. With Byrd as navigator, Harold June as co-pilot
and radio operator and McKinley as aerial photographer, the
heavily loaded plane proceeded to climb towards the Queen
Maud Mountains. For purposes of navigation, magnetic
compasses were useless so close to the South Magnetic Pole.
Thus, reliance was solely on the sun compass. Balchen flew
south on the meridian of 163°45'W and when they reached
85°S they scanned the horizon, in vain, for
Amundsen's
Carmen Land. At 8:15 p.m. the geological party was spotted
below, 100 miles from the base of the Queen Maud Mountains.
A bag containing messages and photographs taken during the
base-laying flight were dropped by parachute. The geological
party radioed their position from which Byrd checked his
navigation. From this point the plane began to gain altitude
as it neared the glacier-filled passes of the Queen Maude
Mountains. By 9:15 p.m. they had climbed to 9,000
feet but were still 2,000 feet too low to attain the Polar
Plateau. As the plane ascended the Liv Glacier, empty tin
containers of gasoline and 300 pounds of food were dumped
out in order to reduce weight. For the next 30 minutes the
Floyd Bennett struggled to gain the necessary
altitude to clear the 11,000-foot pass between Mount
Fridtjof Nansen and Mount Fisher at the head of the Liv
Glacier. With only a few hundred yards to spare, the plane
gained enough altitude to attain the Polar Plateau. As they
flew over the Polar Plateau, a new mountain range, the
Grosvenor Mountains, was viewed to the west and southwest.
Looking back, they could identify the Mount Thorvald Nilsen
massif, now called Nilsen Plateau. On the Polar Plateau the
plane passed over a heavily crevassed area, the Devil's
Ballroom, named by Amundsen. Observations at 12:30 a.m.
showed them to be 50 miles from the Pole. Shortly after midnight on November 29,
1929, the Floyd Bennett flew over the South Pole.
They flew a few miles beyond the Pole and then to the right
and left to compensate for any possible navigational errors.
Byrd dropped a small American flag and at 1:25 a.m. directed
the plane for Little America. They descended down the Polar
Plateau and the Axel Heiberg Glacier on the east side of
Mount Fridtjof Nansen. At the foot of the glacier they flew
along the front of the Queen Maud Mountains to the base of
Amundsen Glacier. At this point a short fuel supply forced
them to turn west for the gasoline that had been cached at
the foot of the Liv Glacier on November 18. They landed
beside the gasoline, took aboard 200 gallons and left 350
pounds of food for the geological party. Within an hour,
they took off again and landed at Little America at 10:10
a.m. on November 29...they had been gone 18 hours and 41
minutes. By the
time the polar flight had been completed, the geological
party still had some distance to go to reach the Queen Maud
Mountains. On November 30 they managed 35 miles and that
night camped at the foot of the Liv Glacier. Heavily
crevassed folds in the ice prevented them from reaching the
edge of Mount Fridtjof Nansen via the Liv Glacier. However,
a smaller glacier on the north side of the mountain was
accessible and subsequently allowed them to ascend. During
the climb, Gould determined the low ragged mountains to be
composed of "...an extensive complex of ancient gneisses,
schists, and granites which later investigation have shown
to be pre-Cambrian". Above this, a series of sedimentary
rocks 7,000 feet thick was found. Extensive geological
studies were conducted over the course of the next few
weeks. On December 20 the party reached the
mouth of a glacier which Gould named Leverett Glacier. Their
easternmost camp was located a short time later at the base
of a small mountain, properly named Supporting Party
Mountain, on the north side of the foot of Leverett
Glacier...their bearings were 85°25'17"S,
147°55'W. The next day, December 21, the men built a
cairn on top of the mountain and deposited a record of their
visit and a claim, in the name of Commander Byrd, of all the
land east of 150°W as part of Marie Byrd Land and
territory of the United States. The geological party had now
mapped 175 miles along the front of the Queen Maud Mountains
and had been the first to set foot on Marie Byrd Land. On
December 21 they turned for Little America and on Christmas
Day discovered the cairn built by Roald
Amundsen. Inside, Gould found
a small tin containing a page from Amundsen's notebook on
which he had written a short account of his journey to the
South Pole. They took the page and continued on towards base
camp. From December 26 to 30 they camped at Strom Camp, in
front of Mount Fridtjof Nansen, as they made preparations
for their final push to base camp. They left on December 30,
sledging at night and camping during day, with as light a
load as possible. Despite the heavily crevassed area south
of Little America, base camp was reached without serious
injury on January 19, 1930 after sledging 1500 miles in
two-and-a-half months. Meanwhile,
after the successful polar flight plans were made for a
second major flight of discovery. With favorable weather
conditions, Byrd, Alton Parker, June and McKinley took off
at 10:50 a.m. in the Floyd Bennett on December 5
heading northeast into the area Robert
Scott had explored in 1902
called Edward VII Land. They flew along the edge of the Ross
Ice Shelf to Okuma Bay and subsequently passed over the
Scott Nunataks. Byrd could now see a great expansion of
water extending southeast which he named Sulzberger Bay.
They flew northeast across 35 miles of open water in the bay
and at 1:13 p.m. changed course to a little east of north in
order to follow what they believed to be coastline. At 1:48
p.m. they found themselves opposite the mouth of a large bay
which extended considerably inland. Byrd named this Paul
Block Bay and named the glacier which entered the bay for
Balchen. The associated mountain range, with the glacier in
its valley, was named the Edsel Ford Range. At this point they changed course
again to the northeast and at 2:10 p.m. they turned south to
fly across the mouth of Paul Block Bay. They were now at
150°W which was the extremity to which any prior
explorers could have made discoveries. Byrd named the land,
including the Edsel Ford Range, Marie Byrd Land in honor of
his wife. On the trip back to Little America, they flew to
the north of Sulzberger Bay to investigate the great ice
island that appeared to be aground and surrounded by old sea
ice. At 3:10 p.m. they flew across the open water of
Sulzberger Bay and the large, grounded ice island. From the
air it was obvious to Byrd that Scott's Edward VII Land was
actually a peninsula between Sulzberger Bay and the Ross
Sea. The plane now set a course to the southwest, passing
near La Gorce Mountain at the southern end of the Alexandra
Mountains. At 6:42 p.m., after nearly eight hours of flight,
the Floyd Bennett landed safely at Little America.
The accomplishments were great as many miles of previously
unknown coastline and a new mountain range had been
photographed for the first time. The
final flight was made on January 21 when Byrd, Smith,
Peterson, June and McKinley took off in the Floyd
Bennett and flew 100 miles west to Discovery Inlet, then
south for 140 miles across the middle of the Ross Ice Shelf,
and then returning to Little America. Meanwhile, the
geological party concluded their investigations and ground
survey of the Bay of Whales so that preparations could begin
to close Little America. Radio reports were coming in from
the whalers that the pack ice was unusually thick. The
City of New York left Dunedin for Little America on
January 6, 1930. Fighting a fierce storm along the way, she
made it to the edge of the ice pack on January 20 and
rendezvoused with the whaler Kosmos. The Eleanor
Bolling left Dunedin on January 20 and reached the
City of New York on January 29. The City of New
York had used up so much of her coal while steaming
around the edge of the ice pack waiting for the arrival of
the Eleanor Bolling that Byrd instructed the
Bolling to return to Dunedin for more coal, which she
did on January 31. While this was going on, the men at
Little America were packing up their equipment in three
different classes, each with a lower priority, in the event
there would not be enough room for all the gear. McKinley
was put in charge of transporting the equipment to the edge
of the Bay of Whales where a camp was established in order
to load the gear aboard as quickly as possible once the ship
arrived. Byrd was fairly certain that only one ship would
make it through so the planes were secured nearby where the
wind would keep the snow swept away after they were left
behind. On February 6 the City of New York took on 50
tons of coal from the whaler Southern Princess and
immediately started her journey into the pack for Little
America. Incredibly, it took 12 days to reach the men at the
edge of the Bay of Whales. On February 8 a strong gale
struck and lasted for 24 hours. On February 10 another storm hit with
such ferocity that the ship was in danger of sinking as ice
accumulated faster than the men could chip it off. She was
blown 300 miles off course, to the vicinity of Ross Island,
over the four-day gale. It was 6:45 p.m. on November 18
before the City of New York reached the Bay of
Whales. She was loaded at night and cast off at 9:30 a.m. on
February 19. By February 26 she was clear of the pack ice.
She met up with the Kosmos and Eleanor Bolling
and transferred the dogs along with medical officer Dr.
Haldor Barnes, from the Eleanor Bolling, and radio
operator Howard Mason, who had been suffering from
appendicitis. The Eleanor Bolling transferred a new
supply of coal to the City of New York and the two
sailed together for Dunedin, arriving on March 10, 1930. The
expedition reached New York on June 18, 1930.
Richard
Evelyn Byrd was born into a famous Virginia family in 1888.
He entered the United States Naval Academy at the age of 20
and was commissioned in 1912. His passion for the airplane
began during World War I when he learned to fly.
Subsequently Byrd became a flying instructor for the US
Navy. Significant credit must be given Byrd for the present
American interest in the south polar regions. His success as
a naval aviator and transatlantic flier, along with the
North Pole flyover, instilled enough confidence in the
public to make them financially assist in the support of his
first two Antarctic expeditions. From Byrd's first
expedition in 1928-30 until 1955, eleven expeditions,
excluding the Wilkins-Hearst Expedition, left the United
States for Antarctica. Byrd was a conspicuous player in six
of them with four being sponsored by the United States
government.
1928-1930
On
the strength of Roald
Amundsen's recommendation,
Byrd purchased the Samson at Tromsoe, Norway and
ordered her sailed to New York. Built in 1882, the Norwegian
sealer arrived in New York in woeful shape. New sails had to
be made, her entire rigging had to be renewed, a new boiler
installed, rotted planks in her hull replaced, and the whole
ship, from stem to stern, refitted and strengthened.
However, in every sense of the words she was built for the
ice. Her hull was made of thick spruce and oak, of the
finest growth. The ribs, also of oak, were placed very close
together and sheathed with a layer of heavy planking both on
the inside and out. Her sides were 34 inches thick, growing
to 41 inches near the keel. 
The
selection of the Chelsea, later renamed the
Eleanor Bolling, was a choice for which Byrd received
much criticism. She would be the first ship with a metal
hull to risk a full-blown exploration venture into the ice
pack of Antarctica. Despite the criticism, prior experience
of the steel-hulled Norwegian whalers C. A. Larsen
and Sir James Clark Ross, making seasonal passages to
and from the Ross Sea without incident, only reassured Byrd.
Besides, she was cheap, available and suitable for the job
which Byrd had planned for her. Without aviation, need for a
second ship would have been doubtful. She was not much
larger than the City of New York but she was a
freighter capable of hauling 800 tons of cargo. Her top
speed? Nine knots! 
The
purchase of the airplanes came after months of thought and
experimentation. A Ford tri-motor monoplane was selected for
major transport and investigative operations in the
Antarctic. A Cyclone engine was mounted in the nose. Charles
L. Lawrance, president of the Wright Company, had developed
the powerful 525 horsepower engine. The two outboard engines
were the famous Wright J-5 used on the trans-Atlantic
flight. They were nine-cylindered, air cooled and rated at
220 horsepower. This gave the plane a total of nearly 1,000
horsepower which allowed a top speed of 122 mph and an easy
load capacity of 15,000 pounds. Two other airplanes were
purchased as backups to the Ford as well as providing
transportation for the scientists into the field. A Fokker
Universal monoplane, with a 425 horsepower Pratt and Whitney
Wasp engine, and a Fairchild folding-wing monoplane made the
trip south. A fourth plane, manufactured by General
Aircraft, was contemplated but the plane failed to reach the
Antarctic.
By
March 18 the weather had cleared enough for Byrd, Dean Smith
and Malcolm Hanson to fly out in the Fairchild to look for
the lost men. Once the crash site was located, the Fairchild
landed, picked up Balchen and June, and returned to Little
America. Meanwhile, Byrd and Hanson stayed back with Gould
until the following day when a second rescue mission ferried
the remaining men back to Little America.