MacMillan

"Slap!" A drowsy man rolled on his side, cursing uncomfortably. "Whack!" Another big mosquito escaped, purring out of hearing only to return like a seaplane disappointed over its landing place. Hordes of his fellows bumbled through the night, making it hideous for the otherwise hardy companions of explorer Donald B. MacMillan sleeping aboard the S. S. Bowdoin at anchor in Hopedale harbor, Labrador. Some of the men, their epidermis punctured beyond endurance, clambered to the crows'-nest in vain search of relief.

By day the men of the Bowdoin slaved over their vessel's propeller, smashed by floating ice. Hindered by tides, they ultimately accomplished a substitution by placing empty casks under the stern.

The water, which registered 52DEG, though it had been free of ice only a fortnight (TIME, July 20), was found suitable for hasty plunging, much to the astonishment of gaping Eskimos who, though they gain their living by cruising about in precarious kyaks (canoes), have no skill at natation.

'Meantime Lieut. Commander Richard E. Byrd, in charge of the Naval Air Unit assigned as cooeperators to MacMillan's expedition to chart unknown polar regions for Science and the National Geographic Society (TIME, June 22 et seq.), reported his plans in detail to Washington:

He would establish an air base between Etah, Greenland (the expedition's intended boat base) and Cape Columbia, Grant Land (intended take-off for flights seeking the Pole and fabulous Crocker Land). Here gasoline, food, a radio-operator, smoke-bombs, an Eskimo and dog (for forced retreat), would be left.

He would send his three planes out, two at a time, on reconnaissance flights before essaying anything "spectacular".

He would rely on sun compasses for navigation, seeing' that the Magnetic Pole would be to the south of him and check bearing between planes and ship by radio.

He would further aid his navigators by having them drop, as they fly, minims of potassium permanganete upon the ice-floes. The purple stains moisture would make of these droppings would be readily visible trailblazers from quite a height, providing no snow fell.

He would allow only two persons in each plane on extended flights, at least one person out of the four traveling in a pair of planes being a skilled mechanic.