Ten feet of her tail removed, the Byrd snow cruiser, which spent the night of November 1 in Bucyrus, was finally loaded aboard the steamer North Star at Boston today and made ready for its long journey to the Antarctic, where it will be used by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd in his new South Pole adventure. The above picture above the "innards" of the giant cruiser. The rear section marked for spare tires is the part that was removed in order to get the cumbersome vehicle aboard the ship.
BOSTON, Nov. 15 - The motor vessel North Star sailed at 6:13 a.m. today to serve as supply ship for the first Antarctic expedition which the U. S. government has sponsored In a century.
About 75 men and women, including the wives of some of the departing officers and crew, stood in frosty weather on the pier to wave farewells, but Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, commander of the expedition, was in bed at home.
Byrd, who had said his farewells yesterday, stayed behind to supervise the sailing of his 68-year-old flagship, the Barkentine Bear, a week hence. He was undecided whether he would join the North Star at Philadelphia or at Panama.
Captain Isak Lystad, the North Star's skipper, was on the bridge as the motorship put out under her own power to begin her 11,000-mile journey.
The North Star has to spend about three hours in Boston's outer harbor, correcting her compass and radio direction finder. She will then sail for Philadelphia to pick up three airplanes before continuing to the Antarctic.
The North Star has a 30-man crew and will take 15 more men at Philadelphia.
Aboard the ship was the Penguin 1, the snowmobile in which some of the party hope to reach the South Pole.
Much of the party's scientific equipment Is aboard the Bear. Some 60 men will comprise the exploration force. They hope to remain in the Arctic wastes until May 1941, under a $300,0000 congressional appropriation.
