Guessing

The North remained inscrutable. No syllable was on its winds, no whisper in its waves, ice, tides or southering blizzards to tell the condition of the Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, his five comrades and two seaplanes, whom it had swallowed up (TIME, June 1) as they soared away from Spitzbergen to seek the Pole.

The party carried no radio. Their news was to be their return in about 36 hours. A fortnight passed. Was silence golden, no news good ? The world guessed, earnestly, and the guesses and predictions were made public by scores.

Captain Gustave Amundsen (brother) expressed no fear, said he would have been disappointed had Roald not stayed several days at the Pole.

Russell W. Porter, of Springfield, Vt. (astronomer and topographer of the Ziegler North Pole Expedition, 1901-5), pointed out that on Prince Rupert Island (Franz Josef Archipelago, northwest of Spitzbergen) were log houses, food stores; that the drift of the ice there was from the Pole. Said he: "Amundsen knows all this. I shall give him a year or two years."

George Binney (leader of the 1924 Oxford arctic flight, holder of the furthest north flying record--N. L. 80 deg., 15 min.) : "He will stroll back to Europe, I have little doubt."

Dr. Wilhelm Filchncr, of Germany, who was prevented from attempting a polar flight with Amundsen in 1914 by the declaration of war: "I have the most complete and utter confidence in Amundsen. For a man of his vast polar experience and knowledge, no hindrances exist. . . . He knows the location of all food depots and it is much too early to begin talking rescue. . . ."

Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian Arctic explorer: "Nobody in Norway is anxious regarding the fate of Amundsen."

Knud Rasmusscn, Danish Arctic explorer: "We all hope for the best. . . . There is especially the possibility of Amundsen going to Fort Conger or Cape Columbia, in which case nothing would be heard from him until the first mail from Thule [Antartica] about this time next year."

Donald B. Macmillan, U. S. Arctic explorer: "There is no reason for Amundsen to hurry back to his base, provided his ships are intact. . . . His fate is dependent entirely on the condition of his ships."

Rescue. Expeditions were considered, planned, offered, but held in abeyance in the U. S., France, Germany. The Norwegian Government prepared planes, but gave no orders for starting. First to act was the Norwegian Aero Club, which ordered a party to start for Spitzbergen with seaplanes for scouting.