Byrd’ second expedition (1933-1935), again settled at the still usable Little America, emphasizing science and technology at considerable expense for a wholly private expedition. The technology included four airplanes, various tractors, and snowmobiles. The trip included Byrd’s near-fatal solitary period at Bolling Advanced Weather Base recounted in Alone.
p. 182-83: What sort of place was this second Little America? And how did it differ from the first?
Well, these questions might be answered in various ways. For one thing, the second Little America was considerably bigger, owing to the increase in the size of the Ice Party. In all, there were ten new buildings, not counting the two small shacks which Bramhall used as magnetic observatories. Certainly it was more comfortable. There was much more elbow room for all hands, which made for more happiness and privacy (they go hand-in hand in a winter camp), and a great many more conveniences:…mattresses of an elegantly advertised make in which charming women are usually shown in attitudes of sweet repose (a masterly acquisition on Czegka’s part, since it is difficult to see what satisfaction the manufacturer could derive from knowing that hardy explorers, in long baggy underwear not too frequently changed, were accommodated on the same luxurious pallets);… a really voluminous library (Admiral Byrd’s own polar library, Encyclopedia Britannica, Modern Library, a wide choice of classics and modern trash which friends of expedition members have been only too glad to send to the Antarctic, Dr. Eliot’s Five-Foot-Shelf, National Geographic Magazine, Atlantic Monthly (1933), Saturday Evening Post (1932-33 inclusive)….
p. 202: Three times a week, commencing at 7o’clock, we’d have movies—as a rule a short and a feature. Like the books in the library, they were an extraordinary mixture of good and bad; but even the worst must have conveyed some pleasure, perhaps an hour or two of escape….
The curfew was 10 o’clock. All electric lights out then, no more coal on the fire. The hour was fixed more by the need of saving coal and power than anything else. Most of the men had had small bunk lights—little lamps run from flashlight batteries or kerosene lamps made from fruit jars, or even lanterns—which made it possible to read for half an hour or so after the main lights went out. But when the fire died the air chilled quickly. The hands would get cold, the breath would begin to freeze, and one by one the bunk lights would wink out.
Opp. p. 212—picture of dentistry, surrounded by books. Verso has picture of dog surgery in the same room.