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When this book originally appeared in 1990, it was hailed as an important new work because of the author's access to Adm. Richard E. Byrd's just-released private papers. Previous books on the legendary polar explorer had to rely on sources subject to the admiral's vigilant censorship or the control of his heirs and friends. With this study Eugene Rodgers provides a scrupulously honest and objective account of Byrd's 1929 expedition to Antarctica. Without discrediting the expedition's success or Byrd's leadership, Rodgers shows that the admiral was not the saintly hero he and the press depicted. Nor was the expedition without its problems. Interviews with surviving members of the expedition together with a wealth of other new material indicate that Byrd, contrary to his claims, was not a good navigator--his pilots usually had to find their way by dead reckoning--and that he was not on the actual flight that discovered Marie Byrd Land. The book further reveals a crisis over drunkenness among the men (including Byrd), the admiral's fear of mutiny, and his rewriting of news stories from the pole to embellish his own image.… (more)
User reviews
His deficiency aside, the feat of organizing and preparing for such an expedition required a great deal of skill and management. The entire camp was forced to winter in Antarctica, a land where antifreeze froze and nails shattered when struck. Candles could not be lit and touching metal had the same effect on flesh as if it were red-hot.
Temperature swings were enormous. One 3-day variation was from 72 degrees below zero to fifteen degrees above - a larger variation than the annual temperature range of most of the eastern United States. The winter quarters were pre-fab buildings virtually buried in snow. Inside, at head level it was a comfortable 700 while at the feet it measured a cold 280. Keeping the men from going crazy while being cooped up during the long winter of darkness required much skill and Byrd occasionally was not too successful. Practical jokes became common and barrels of "medicinal" alcohol were tapped more often than was beneficial. Little America, as his base was dubbed, proved to be quite durable. It was built right on the Great Barrier Reef, however, and theirs was the constant fear that the ice shelf would break off. This finally did happen in 1987 and Little America now rests on the bottom of the ocean. In 1955 when Byrd returned to visit his original base only tips of the 65-foot radio tower were still visible. All of Little America had been completely buried by snow and ice. Science often took a backseat to the more popular flying exploits. Byrd himself was deathly and it must have taken an extraordinary amount of courage to climb into a frail aircraft for the long flight to the South Pole.)
Byrd's expedition made numerous contributions to various fields. It was a shame they were overshadowed by the more sensational exploits. There was no death or any serious injury the entire time. Perhaps the worst thing to be said about Byrd was that he failed to measure up to the heroic superman image he created (sometimes mendaciously) for himself.