Admiral Byrd

Richard Byrd was a famous explorer of the nineteen thirties. He had a mission with some other scientists to explore and map out Antarctica for the first time. They built a base called Little America. While the other scientists stayed at the base Byrd stayed in an underground shelter for 6 months to research the area and discover new things. Some of the worst days it was -60 degrees F.  The temperature was low enough that you could see your breath freeze in mid air and icicles grew from your nose. One day Byrd was trudging through the snow and he saw a big crevice in the ice. Later he said that he could not see the bottom even with his light. After months of being tired and cold he finally received a message from Little America saying that they were going to pick him up and return to America. Two days later he received another message saying that they could not find him. The search party had to turn back, but then Admiral Byrd had an idea.  He grabbed some string and covered it in oil and lit it and tied a kite to it and waved it in the air.  Later Admiral Byrd saw head lights of a tractor and some more men came out to take him back to base.    

A video we watched about him:
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/places/regions-places/polar-regions/antarctica_byrdexpedition/



book we read on him...


His photo: