In the North

Amundsen. Washed, shaven, rested, rid of his heavy Arctic furs, bareheaded. Explorer Roald Amundsen paced the bridge of the collier Albr. W. Selmer. At the ship's bows, a grinding noise. Up came the anchor, off went a thunderous salute from the Norwegian Government steamer Heimdal near by. Spectators ashore raised their voices in the Norwegian national anthem and the Albr. W. Selmer puffed laboriously out of Kings Bay, Spitsbergen (Norwegian possession), bound for Horten, Norway, about 1,500 miles northeast of there.

Knowing well that his time would be much occupied when he reached home, Mr. Amundsen soon went below to continue answering a multitude of messages congratulating him upon his safe return from the grip of the north polar ice cap (TIME, June 29). Also he slogged at a book describing his experiences.

Amundsen's five companions in daring--Lincoln Ellsworth of Manhattan, and Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen, Leif Dietrichsen and Mechanics Omdahl and Feucht--were also aboard the collier, together with members of the Norwegian Aero Club's relief expedition. When the ship reached the Skagerrak narrows north of Denmark, the party was to be met by seaplanes which would convoy them to Horten and thence to the "honor pier," royalty's landing place.

There, in the nation's capital, a triumph was being prepared. King Haakon, who had followed Amundsen's vicissitudes with avidity, would send royal carriages to meet the heroes at the water. He would await them at the palace, ready to pin upon them the Royal Order of St. Olaf,* exhibit them to his subjects from a balcony, welcome them with the great of Norway at a state banquet. The day after, prominent officials would have their chance to make speeches recalling the Viking days, at ceremonies to be held in old Fortress Akershus. A male chorus numbering thousands would sing. Not till then, would the heroes be free to go home, write at books or go lecturing.

In the U. S., two department stores (Gimbel's and Wanamaker's), who, last year, sold hundreds of thousands of "transpolar" post cards to help Amundsen finance his flight, received word from him that he had indeed taken the post cards with him to within 157 miles of the Pole, and had been able to bring many of them back with him despite the wreck of one of his planes. Fixed with special stamps, these post cards would be forwarded to their purchasers at once.

Donald B. MacMillan, before sailing from Wiscasset, Me., a fortnight ago on his expedition to scout the polar cap with planes, had said that the very first thing he would do upon reaching his base at Etah, Greenland, would be to look for Amundsen. Arriving at Sydney, N. S., Mr. MacMillan heard from Amundsen via U. S. friends of the latter. "PLEASE CONVEY TO COMMANDER MACMILLAN OUR DEEPEST GRATITUDE AND APPRECIATION. WISHING HIM A GLORIOUS JOURNEY/'

(Signed) AMUNDSEN ELLSWORTH

MacMillan's party also heard from Secretary Wilbur of the U. S. Navy. The latter telegraphed to Commander R. E. Byrd of the Navy unit which is cooperating with the explorer, but not under his command, that, unless the three seaplanes taken were equipped with a regulation Navy aero radio set, they were not to take flight from the base ship. If the sets could not be installed, Byrd was to return with his command to the U. S.

The three planes had previously been equipped with Zenith short wave radio sets--the product of a company reported to be headed by E. F. MacDonald, second in command to MacMillan. The Navy type is a long wave set, believed to operate better than the short wave type when a plane is in flight. It is also better for radio compass work.

Byrd had left his Navy sets behind at Boston and again at Wiscasset during the preparations, either persuaded that they were superfluous or that the boats had no room for 2,000 Ib. more freight. Therefore, the destroyer Putnam was despatched to Sydney with the missing sets, MacMillan assured the Navy Department they would be installed. Soon after the expedition was steaming for Battle Harbor, Labrador, with it going Dr. Wilfred T. Grenfell, physician-missionary to the Eskimos, returning to his Battle Harbor Mission for the summer.

At Liverpool, the steamer Iceland sailed out of the Mersey bearing Grettir Algarsson of Victoria, B. C, the rash young man who planned to fly over the North Pole in a small dirigible and only abandoned the plan when his air-ship's construction was delayed. The Iceland was bound for Gilles Land (east of Spitsbergen) where Mr. Algarsson proposed to do geological surveying. He will then attempt to go (by boat, sled and foot) "further north than any expedition this year," not excluding Amundsen's and MacMillan's.

*Upon all but Roald Amundsen. For planting Norway's flag upon the South Pole in 1911, he had already received the highest honor his King had to bestow.