DISCOVERY

[Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music] la [Applause] [Music] la la [Applause] to the cameraman who made this picture I want to give full credit they did not hesitate to risk their lives at their job and now first I want to tell you briefly the difference between the top and the bottom of the world now the North Pole is the center of a deep ocean whereas the South Pole is the center of a high Plateau which averages 7 or 8,000 ft in altitude many species of flowers can be found at eah whereas around the South Pole except for some very primitive plants there's no life whatever Beyond the Edge of the continent it is cold and silent and there are no Eskimo it is too cold for human beings uh to live there permanently in fact the only permanent resident is the emperor penguin and he doesn't go beyond the edge of the country this great difference is due to the fact that the Antarctic continent is in the clutches of an Ice Age such that existed many thousands of years ago at the top of the world because of this Ice Age the Antarctic averages at least 30 or 40° colder than the Arctic and also because of the ice age anarctica is by far the most fedal field for science left in the world and thanks to the good work of my Splendid men we managed to serve many branches of science and that of course was the main object of the Expedition when we left on this Expedition we were to put it very mildly extremely anxious to find out what had happened to Little America since the previous Expedition if it still existed would we be able to find ended and that was a great question this was my fourth polar undertaking we left on this Expedition from the Navy Yard at Boston here is our supply ship the RIT just a big unprotected iron ship of 8,000 tons and here is our ice breaker the bear which we took as a protection for the Personnel of the RIT and also to use exploring in dangerous ice areas we took with us this time 150 Eskimo dogs and more than 14,000 different kinds of items for two years away from civilization where there were no Supply Depots around the corner morning adal hello Tom S ific gears All Aboard good morning sir M gu gasoline aboard yet all the gasoline aboard sir number two hold stored and secured good [Music] practice it was good to hit the Long Trail again the feel of the deck under your feet the sails belled to the wind a hit always is a lure of the Southern Horizon leading somewhere to the unknown at the bottom of the well we had a long long way to go to get to the bottom of the world and I want to get you there quickly because our story lies there we passed through the Panama Canal into the Pacific on the way down we tried out the harness on the sled dogs they didn't like the ship now were howling to hit the trail these huskies are wonderful creatures trying his hand at sewing Sachs is Charles Murphy personal friend of Admiral bird who was entrusted with the important responsibility of radio communication between Little America and the Homeland get a load of this D Char you got your sea legs yet no just dirty however I've learned one remarkable thing about a polar Expedition you certainly look as on you had this is the greatest Triumph of democracy since 1776 how come I never thought I'd live to see the day when I'd find scientists engineers naval officers not to imagine a couple of millionair on shoveling cool in the same back talk about your melting po don't worry F you'll be properly dusted off tomorrow is that a [Music] threat and so he was just old custom when crossing the [Music] equipment day followed day week followed week as we penetrated the Great Pacific towards the bottom of the world [Music] and now the storm blast came and he was tyrannous and strong he struck with his or taking wings and chased us South along finally we reached the last outpost of civilization deden new Ze the jumping off place for the South Pole I flew my flag from the RIT we were early in this season and had several weeks to spare it would probably be a month before the ice of the Ross sea would open up enough to get through to Little America so when we left New Zealand we did not go straight South to Little America but to the southeastward for an enormous unexplored area that I had been wanting to get into for many years and here was the chance at last to get to that area we had to cross the squeaking roaring latitude of 60° soon we hit the bad [Music] belt with sloping mass and dipping power as who pursued with yell and blow the ship drove fast lad roared the blast and Southward I we fled and now there came both mist and snow and it grew wondrous cold an ice Mass High came floating by these bugs were the first Sentinels of the unknown for a 100 years the Explorers had when we reached the center of the devil's graveyard a happy event occurred this little bull was born on the ship and we named him Iceberg sometime later the Dr in the tops of the bags gave storm wind's taking an awful feeding sir we've got to head into the wind that'll give us a lead what you C 285° trer bring her into the wind just change course to 294 up you must get those dogs below when we got them down there one poor fell got [Applause] [Music] [Music] ceasing in the west of the storm Commander noil came up on the bridge deck to tell me that the steam pressure in the boilers had dropped from 150 to 90 lb water had got into the fuel o in all my experience I have never known such a struggle to keep Airship with its low steam pressure from being dashed into one of these bugs we couldn't keep the head of the ship up into the wind and we missed some of these burgs by a matter of just a few feet even to touch one of them but send the ship to the bottom [Music] finally the storm abated and we knew we were lucky not to be at the bottom of the sea Providence must have been with us that day and thus ended the battle of the devil's graveyard there lay ahead of us a field of ice we headed straight South and here we have an ordinary unprotected iron ship sailing in Seas no ship had ever been in before since the world began it wasn't that we were any better than our predecessors we simply had a more open Ice here we Buck the ice until we were finally stopped by an impossible pack impossible at least for the rupin but we wanted to see what was Beyond the Horizon that's what we came for and for that purpose we had another string to our bow Aviation we retreated a few miles and managed to find an open Lake in the ice field so we proceeded to put the plane overboard we had to execute this maneuver as rapidly as possible because we knew that under the influence of the wind and the tide the fields would soon close in around the ship again in fact the ice is already beginning to close in our plan was to go south of our steamer until we were stopped by Ice and to take up the attack on the unknown with Aviation and now you will see how icebergs look from the air [Music] [Applause] [Music] let's leave this flight and look at the map for a moment we were a long way as you can see from Little America within that line is a half a million square miles no human being had ever looked upon on that first flight we managed to penetrate more than 200 miles into the unknown before we turn back then we headed the rer new East the zigzag course was caused by impassible ice fields that we had to steam around we had to go far to the east before we could get good weather for another flight and here we again made a successful flight into the unknown but after 150 Mi we were turned back by storm we were dodging ice bags in thick weather on the way back one of them must have been more than 20 M long we had discovered what we now know was evidence of Coastline that meant that we were practically right on the edge of a new land which was a Discovery at the first good break in the weather we made another flight and extended our penetration to about 400 mil into the unknown in the vicinity of the 51st Meridian discovery of this area from the north was finished we would have to attack it from the south to finish the job of finding out what what was there I therefore transferred my flag to the bear after she arrived from New Zealand to use her to make this attack from the south on my first South po Expedition I had attempted to get into this area several times but had been turned back by bad weather the great question was would we get through this time here we are a few miles within that area and true to its reputation the sea is rough and now at last we're going to find out what was in the southern part of this mysterious part of the world for after battling the bad weather here we are 240 Mi within it we came to this strange phenomenon ice Islands [Music] this was a strange and weird sea steaming through these ice Islands was an eerie sensation here was the Twilight of the Gods and we were curious to know what these somber Giants were guarding [Music] when we finally got through we came to a most dangerous area where wind and Tide working together can make bad irresistible pressu I for days we steam through this area searching for a new land and making a map of the bottom of the sea with our electric depth [Music] finder on the sixth day of our voyage that happened which had been hanging over our heads under the pressure of the wind and the tide the great ice Fields began to close in around the ship [Music] this open lead closed in on us ice Fields extended as far as the Horizon it looked bad for us if the winter night should catch us Bes set in the ice we would be crushed Shackleton ship was one of those that got caught by the ice just as we were I'm going to show you a photograph of what happened to his ship taking just a little while before it went to the Bottom of the Sea and here is that [Music] photograph old bear had the Battle of her long life hour after hour after hour we bucked this ice Full Speed Ahead the Bear's old oak Timbers cracked and bent but did not break showing that in spite of her age she was a strong seaworthy ship but she did spring leaks and we had to man the pumps time and again we were stopped and we tried every course on the compass trying to get out and again as in the devil's graveyard there was very great [Applause] anxiety it was a throw of the dice of fi All or Nothing [Music] at long last the dice fell our way for the elements acted in our favor the wind and the tide which had closed the ice in around us finally open the pack so that we could break our way into more Open Sea we had just gotten out in time before the fall freeze up and and thus ended the second battle the battle of the great ice pack we had added nearly half a million square miles to the Pacific Ocean the job was finished and now for the story of the rediscovery of Little America on our way to Little America we had found a new Passage through the ice of the Ross sea at length we cited that great natural phenomenon the ice barrier an enormous sheet of ice about 500 M long long and 400 m wide projecting out into the sea and strictly a product of this ice age and averaging in thickness three or 4 or 500 ft carrying what's under the water barrier is the great Iceberg Factory Little America itself was built on the Great Barrier and here is our Journey's End the bale of whales we found big changes in the ice and in the shape of the barrier walls of the [Music] bay we went ashore to select the landing place as well as to look for a little America in the distance we saw some of our old friends the fend several hundred yds up the beach from the place we were going to land when they recognized us they came running to welcome us there was great excitement [Music] Little Johnny penguin was a sprinter so he left the others far behind Johnny never did like dogs Jimmy seal also does a Sprint to join the reception committee this was a great moment for us we were about to find out what four years of an Ice Age had done to Little America on account of casses you have to watch your step at the bottom of the world so we went rope together at first this crass a small one is visible such as you will see in the next scene all the dangerous one a thin roof of snow covering perhaps a deep pit and at times an almost bottomless one and four or 5 ft wide you can't tell it's there until you step into it we transferred to the dog team soon and at length cited in the distance the promas land Little [Music] America but to our amazement it wasn't where we had left it it had moved at least half a mile to the north northwestward it looked as if the village were completely snowed under except for the radio towers but when we got up to the base we found this anemometer pole too thin to mag drift and so not snowed under the village is somewhere under the snow and here we are looking for the administration building after hours of digging we finally got down into the building and found this whale meat that had been left 1930 but Murphy one of the greenhorns didn't like whale meat though it was as good as it had been the day it was cooked crystals had formed everywhere some of them were more beautiful than diamonds when we had left Little America on the previous Expedition we had been forced to leave behind the Floyd Bennett the plane in which we had flown to the pole in 1929 this is how we left it and this is how we found it to unload the ship is that would only be about 3 miles from Little America I knew it would be taking a big chance but it seemed the only way as we started alongside the barrier with our ships suddenly The Edge sh w we have seen what the birth of an iceberg is life enough of ice falling to sink a fleet of ships it seemed like a warning from Providence not to go alongside the barrier we therefore had to unload from the bay ice and that put us s miles from Middle America we would have to make a trail through terrific pressure rges it appeared as as if we had an impossible job and here is little Johnny penguin he's talking with some penguin visitors talking us over I think he comes over to see us he seemed to be in a kind of a fighting mood that morning [Music] we don't know what he had on his mind but suddenly he rushes back to the penguin visitors jumps upon a snow block and makes a speech we don't know what he told them but he got them all excited so in a body they raced over to see what kind of creatures we were This Is How They rush and this is what they saw we had to put our tractors overboard with the engines running to safeguard the lives of the drivers as the ice was constantly breaking off we had to get the tractors quickly away from the edge of the crumbling ice we came within an ace of losing overboard our principal plane of exploration the William Holley it was a critical moment there is a kandik icebergs mother poor kandik didn't know what to make of it all she had a bewildered look in her eyes but who could blame [Applause] her watch Johnny penin refuse to stay in the water he jumps back into the ice as quickly as possible that means kill a [Music] whale Tu their ugly heads up the breathing holes they had used to get to this opening from the sea had closed up this opening would close they would drown [Music] they are seen shoving their heads up to try to find some way back to the Open [Music] Sea at times as the Ice broke men our supplies would fall into the water we kept a man on right with a life preserve online as a safeguard for the men working on the edge of the ice [Music] [Music] this ice that broke up where the ship was tied will soon float out to sea and become part of the ice pack snowy petrols summer visitors whiter than the snow and the fairest birded flies [Music] Wars here is our second plane the pilgrim we had 400 tons of material to get to Little America through seven miles of pressure ridges and crevasses of course we had trouble with crevasses and had to build some bridges to take care of them we were working against time to finish unloading before the fall frees up when the ships would have to return to civilization you can see what a tough job we had to transport 400 tons of material through this area the bay ice was constantly shifting and cracking and pressure ridges were being formed as we worked by the irresistible force of the slowly moving ice cap I have never seen men work so hard with 24 hours of daylight they could and often did work the clock around without stopping we call this period the white nightmare any nightmare it was the hardest work of all was this man hauling of sleds which we had to do in order to get unloaded in timeo Huskies still the backbone of polar exporation they can go where no tractor could ever go you can't do without [Music] them because our supply ship the rer must return we had to establish a 200 ton cash of supplies on the treacherous Bay it was taking a big chance on losing it all but there was no choice the rer must go back to civilization because the bay would soon freeze and she couldn't stand the ice now the only person out of 150 men to get sick and who would have to go back on the ret was the doctor at very great risk I had to dispatch the bear Northwood to get another doctor for I pledge myself not to risk men for a year on the ice without medical care there would be anxiety over the bear while the Battle of unloading the white nightmare was being fought the men at Little America were building the eight new houses on the surface of the snow the six old houses were still under the surface as we couldn't dig them out but we used them through snow tunnels thus we had 14 houses all together eight above and six [Music] Below in the center of the picture is a tiny Shack that we were going to transport far to the Southward to use as the advanced meteorological Outpost for the winter night suddenly without warning a storm hit us before before we could get all of our food and other vital supplies stored away and all hands had to work frantically throughout the storm to prevent the loss of food boxes under deep snow grips the storm lasted for many hours [Applause] we found a Chile working in the [Applause] wind and when it was over there was a bit of digging to do [Music] and here is the original Commando [Music] this [Music]