Northwest History. Aviation 8. Wilkins' Expedition, United States.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1926
• Subjects: Point Barrow; A. M. Smith; North American Newspaper Alliance; United States; Great Britain; George Wilkins; Ben Eielson; arctic exploration; engine trouble; transmission; civilization; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Aviation; Arctic; Eielson; Lanes; Pacific; Wilkins; Barrow; Alaska
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/86106

Wilkins Is Still Locked In Arctic: Believe At Point Barrow Gale Delayed Attempt To Return./Little Anxiety Felt./Have Means To Fend For Selves For Years – May Walk Back To Base. WILKINS IS STILL LOCKED IN ARCTIC Believe at Point Barrow Gale Delayed Attempt to Return. Little Anxiety Felt. Have Means to Fend for Selves for Years—May Walk Back to Base. By A. M. Smith. (Special to The Spokesman-Review and North American Newspaper Alliance. Copyrighted in United States, Great Britain and all other countries. POINT BARROW, Alaska, April 1. --Captain George Wilkins and Pilot Ben Eielson have not been heard from since our message of Thursday night stating that they were alive and well but marooned on the ice with a disabled airplane, 100 miles northeast of here at the edge of the arctic explored area. Gale Delayed Return. The assumption here is that the Tuesday gale delayed their return flight, that they were forced to land by darkness, and the following morning were unable to get the oil and engine hot enough to start their motor. Although the two men are in a position unique in the history of arctic exploration, no considerable fears are entertained for their safety. We feel assured that they will return in a few days, if by walking over the ice, and it is possible they may return at any moment if they are able to start the motor. Wilkins' messages, sent from the first wireless installation ever set up on the arctic ice, repeated only code words for "engine trouble,"after a short key message telling of their position and plight. The fact that the key was used in transmitting indicates neither man was injured, for key transmission requires one man at the key and another at the generator crank. Are Empty Equipped. This message sent by two men marooned in the arctic darkness 100 miles from the farthest outpost of humanity, was relayed to great centers of civilization north and south of the equator within a few hours of the time it was tapped out on the ice. Although there is a slow ice drift here to the north from all of the arctic seas in these regions, and despite difficulties of open lanes of freezing brine and beetling ridges of treacherous ice ground up by the currents, Wilkins and Eielson should be able to reach Barrow by walking in a few days, or a few weeks at the most. They were amply provisioned for this emergency and carried rifles and other equipment with which Wilkins believed he could win his living from the ice for years.