RECENT EXPEDITIONS TO THE ANTARCTIC 



feller Range. Fourteen peaks of about two thousand 

 feet elevation were distinguished. On February 19th a 

 second flight was made to the east, and the Rockefeller 

 Range was reached. From here more mountains, per- 

 haps ten thousand feet high, could be seen to the east 

 beyond the British area (which extends to 150° W. 

 longitude) in a region which Byrd claimed for the 

 United States and called Marie Byrd Land. To the 

 south the land sighted by Amundsen in 81° 30' was 

 seen in the distance. 



The exploits of these last two expeditions show 

 clearly how valuable is the aeroplane in polar recon- 

 naissance. But there are limits to its uses, for a rapid 

 aeroplane survey, without landing, will do little to ex- 

 tend the detailed knowledge of the polar environment 

 of a kind which I have tried to summarize in the 

 present book. Moreover, as I stated in an article 

 published in August, 1928, in the London Times, it is 

 difficult to see how the aeroplane can be anchored to 

 withstand the blizzards, whose chief feature is their 

 sudden development and extreme force. Byrd's expe- 

 dition is facing these difficulties. Already one of his 

 planes has been destroyed in a blizzard, luckily without 

 loss of life. Early in March, 1929, Gould, the geolo- 

 gist, with a pilot and radio man, flew to the Rockefeller 

 Range to commence a local survey. They had barelv 

 arrived when a blizzard developed, reaching an esti- 

 mated velocity of 120 miles per hour. This tore away 

 all the anchors of the plane, and it was dashed to match- 

 w^ood. After ten days' bad weather Byrd managed to 



77 



