London, Oct. 18.
Mr. Lincoln Ellsworth, the well-known American polar explorer, today received the patron's gold medal Of the Royal Geographical Society ior his aerial navigation research in the Polar regions, especially his pioneer trans-Antarctic Sight in 1935. The medal is the King's gift. Mr. Ellsworth nearly lost his life in his daring trans-Antarctic flight.
He took off in the early morning of November 20 from Dundee Island, intending to fly to Admiral Byrd's base at Little America à distance 2000 miles. His roùte lay over the Weddell Sea, across the Antarctic continent, passing about 350 miles west of the South Pole and then over the Ross Sea. Yet, barely eight hours after he started, he had to turn back. His fuel flow gauge was broken.
The next day, he started off again. Ten and a half hours later, he turned back once more. This time he had encountered a barrier of mountain peaks ranging from 7,000 to 11,000 feet high and could not pass them owing to low clouds.
Third Attempt Succeeds He nally started on November 23, 1935. With his London-born pilot, Herbert Hollick-Kenyon, he took off just after 8 a.m.
A few wireless messages were received from them—then silence, a silence which lasted 55 days until they were found marooned in the ice almost within sight of their objective, It was afterwards learned that they had made a forced landing owing to lack of petrol Their wireless had gone dead and they had no means of communicating their plight to the outside world.
In the meantime, rescue expeditions had been organized. Australia offered the services of the Royal Research Ship Discovery LI and it was a "plane from this, flying over the Bay of Whales, that eventually sighted Hollick-Kenyon and the stranded aeroplane on January 15. Two days later, they were rescued and taken to the Discovery LI in which they travelled back to Australia,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.