The Boats of Cherbourg Book

All classical heroes should have at least one clay foot. Richard Byrd had his share of faults, lying being one of them. But he was, after all, as he said, in the "hero business." He was forced to raise most of the funds for his expeditions himself and money was not always easy to come by for his famous expedition to the South Pole. Eugene Rodgers, in Beyond the Barrier: The Story of Byrd's First Expedition, to Antarctica does not gloss over the man's flaws. In fact, many surviving participants were very reluctant to be interviewed. All were very fond of Byrd, but evidence has accumulated that Byrd may well have lied about having successfully reached the North Pole, an event which brought him much of the fame he relied on to gather funds for the South Pole trip. He was always conscious of his image. Russell Owen, The New York Times reporter who accompanied the trip, was constantly infuriated by having to submit his dispatches to Byrd before they were sent. Often, Byrd would insist they be changed to make him look better in the eyes of the world. Byrd was paranoid, yet he had reason to be worried about being upstaged or beaten to the pole. Others were anxious to be first and nobody remembers who flew over the South Pole second. He had enormous debts to repay and to cash in he had to be first.
     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.