A NEWS BULLETIN published quarterly by the NEW ZEALAND ANTARCTIC SOCIETY

IS MY DAY DONE? Scott Base is one of the few Antarctic st,ations where the husky still has his part to play.

Vol. 4. No. 8 DECEMBER. 1966 ~.Iao·w. AUSTRALIA Wintif and Summlr blses Scott 1((/'i~rON Summer ba...se anly T H~llett {]NEW ZEALANO' 1ran,ferrea base Wilke~ U.S.frJAust • Tempora.rily nan -aperatienal.....'5yow&

.e Marion I. (lA)

f o·w. .1.M.S.til OkAWN IY D£PARiM£NT OF LANDS" SURVEY WllllNGTON, NEW ZEALAN.D, MAR. 19b4­ J.".oEDITION Vol. 4, No. 8 DECEMBER, 1966

Editor: L. B. Quartermain, M.A., 1 Ariki Road, Wellington, E.2, ew Zealand. Assistant Editor: Mrs R. H. Wheeler. Business Communications, Subscriptions, etc., to: Secretary, ew Zealand Antarctic Society, P.D. Box 2110, Wellington, .Z.

CONTENTS EXPEDITIONS Page New Zealand 374 New Zealand Bird Banding in Antarctic Regions: C. J. R. Ro'bert- son 380 France 382 U.S.A. 384 A New Zealand Ornithologist on 'Eltanin ': Peter C. Harper 389 Australia 391 Ice Cap Study, Wilkes, Antarctica: A. McLaren ...... 393 Belgium-Holland 396 Japan 398 Chile 400 United Kingdom 402 U.S.S.R. 406 Argentina 409 South Africa 411 Sub-Antarctic Islands 422 Bouvet Island Weather Station Considered Practicable ...... 424 Veterans Meet 395 The Veterans Pass 408 50 Years Ago 413 Meeting in Santiago. 4'14 Antarctic Bases - 8 - Syowa 417 Whaling 419 Bookshelf 426 374 ANTARCTI'C December. 1966 EW ZEALAND FIE DPARTI ET OUT FRO, CO' TB S After a two-month lie-up period during midwinter the dog­ teams were given a training run on July 22, and despite cold August temperatures (as low as - 40° to - 50° C) several men made short sledge journeys.

The final August sortie with the SEASON BEGINS dogs was on the 27th, when Bartlett, The 1966-67 season began on Octo­ Porter, Temahan and Greeks crossed ber 1, when Mr. R. B. Thomson the sea-ice to Cape Royds. T'ravelling (Superintendent Antarctic Division) was good as far as Cape Evans, but and Colin Clark, the new Leader at the final six miles took nearly two Scott Base, flew from Christchurch hours owing to the rough nature of to McMurdo by V.S. Hercules air­ the fresh sea-ice, which was rafted craft. Last year's Leader, Mike into stacks and crossed by open Prebble, returned to New Zealand leads of water. Two days later the with Mr. Thomson on the 8th, and party returned to Scott Base, in the other members of the 1966 win­ bleak, windy weather, in six hours. tering team returned at intervals, The dogs were fitter, the gear and the last member, Bartlett, coming equipment had been tested and the out on November 10. old huts at Cape Evans and Cape The next members of the new Royds, restored by a New Zealand team to fly in, on October 11, were team in 1960-61, were checked for the new postmaster, D. H. Brown, damage, all at the cost of a few and the Public Relations Officer, frost-bitten noses and fingers. John Murphy, who also filled the position last summer. The remaining BASE BATTERED members were flown down at inter­ vals up to mid-November. On September 19, after a long spell Field operations from Scott Base, of fine weather, Scott Base was sub­ like the extensive American projects, jected to hurricane force winds. The were considerably delayed because weather during the day had been of ski-trouble on the V.S. Hercules mainly overcast with snow falling aircraft used to put down parties at and intermittent winds of up to 2u their operational bases. Schedules knots. But in the evening the wind were perforce greatly modified. swung swiftly to the south and speeds of over 100 knots were recorded, with a maximum of 112 CHANGE OVER knots or 130 miles per hour. This is On October 6 Colin M. Clark probably the highest wind ever (Christchurch) officially became recorded at the base. leader of Scott Base. At one o'clock Throughout the night little sleep the Leader for the p'ast year, Michael was possible, with the howling of Prebble (Eastbourne), lowered the the wind, the rattling of stones and New Zealand flag and Mr. Clark pieces of ice on the roofs, and the replaced it with another. There was shaking of the huts. But examination no wind and in the temperature of of the base in the morning revealed - 35°C. the twelve men who have nothing worse than the filtering of wintered-over stood about the flag snow through cracks and the blow­ pole. Also at the ceremony was the ing over of various pieces of equip­ Antarctic Division, DSIR, Superin­ ment. The sturdy construction of the tendent, Mr. R. B. Thomson, and base withstood wind which would two members of this summer sea­ have caused considerable destruc­ son's suppo t part. tion in New Zealand. A Leader at Scott Base Mr. Clark Decem ber, 1966 ANTARCTI'C 375 i an Officer of th Ross Dependenc . at Scott Base in October than during He is Stipendiary Magistrate, a Jus­ the same month in any of the past tice of the Peace, a Coroner, and for three years. However, the a erage the winter eason a Po tmaster. temperature had remai~ed. normal. These powers are vested in Mr. 9,160 units of solar radIatIon were Clark by the Govenor-General of recorded, about a hundred more New Zealand who is during his term than for the past three Octobers. of office Governor of the Ro Depen­ The average temperature for the dency. month, - 19.8°C., was only 0.5° armer than last October. The mini­ mum temperature, - 39.6°C., and the EREBUS SCALED AGAIN maximum - 6.6° were al 0 about the An ascent of Mt. Erebus was made ame as October 1965. on Septemter 29 b a e Zealand On October 28 a 61-knot wind wa party. Erebus, the active olcano recorded and on the morning of which dom·nates the landscape in ovember 1 gusts were reaching 60 the McMw-do Sound area, was knots. These winds abated during climbed by Scott Base Field Assis­ the afternoon to a steady 40 knots, tant Roger Bartlett of Dunedin and but blowing snow limited visibility Science Technician Ray Vickers of to about 20 feet. Wellington. On October 25 the sun ceased set­ Using a motor toboggan, the partv ting and so began the four months of travelled twenty-five miles north continuous sunlight. from Scott Base across the sea ice Twenty men from Scott Base went to Cape Royds on September 27. "over the hill" to McMurdo on Nov­ When a break in the overcast ember 25 to attend a Thanksgiving weather conditions occurred, the Day dinner as guests of the V.S. motor toboggan was driven to 7,000 Navy. The dinner, which included feet on the \ estern slopes of Erebus such items as roast Young Tom and a high camp pitched. From this Turkey and Hawaiian Baked Ham, camp the pair took six hours to began at 10 a.m. and continued till tramp to the summit of the active two in the afternoon. crater, thus becoming the seventh R.N.Z.A.F. FLIGHTS party to ascend the peak since it was Three flights to the Antarctic will first climbed in 1908 by men from be made by the Royal New Zealand Shackleton's expedition. Air Force in January. Hercules air­ The return to the hut at Cape craft of No. 40 Squadron will be used Royds was made the same day, and in conjunction with the V.S. Support radio contact established with Scott Force, and they will carry both men Base. and equipment from Christchurch to McMurdo Sound. BUSY SPRING Three similar flights were made last ear. This ascent of Mt. Er bus, the No dates for the flights ha e been third b a Ne Zealand party, decided et but it i expected that brought to a clo e hat has probably they will take place in mid-January, been the busiest spring sledging sea­ phased into the Americans' summer son since Scott Base was opened ten air lift operation. years ago. Since August 12 dog teams have covered over 130 miles, and "ENDEAVOUR" reached White Island, Station 81 on The New Zealand supply ship the McMurdo Ice Shelf, Cape Evans H.M.N.Z.S. "Endeavour" is scheduled and Cape Royds, while vehicles to leave Lyttelton on her first 1966-67 covering over 300 miles ha e visited voyage to McMurdo on December 6. the Emperor Penguin colony at Cape Among those t avelling on the vessel Crozier, the snow-free valleys of the are the three Scouts, Goulden, Mort Koettlitz Glacier on the western side and Hunt. Th bulk of the cargo i of McMu do Sound and finall Mt. fuel for McMurdo, but among the Erebus. gen ral cargo ar two new genera­ Scott Ba e reported on November tors and a new "International" that more unshine was r corded track d ehicl for Scott Base. 376 ANTARCTI'C December. 1966

BREAK OUT transport immensely. Wheeled trac­ tors can be used instead of sledges. As previously reported, the ice Last summer some 30 tons of sup­ break-out south-west of Scott Base plies were unloaded plus ten tons of in February and March was the most back-loading, in a period of 24 hours. extensive reported since 1956, and at least equal in extent to those recorded earlier in the century. Apart from the interference with traffic mentioned above, another adverse effect was the coating of Scott Base with spray, leading to corrosion of wires and insulators, \Vllile wave action caused disturb­ ance to the seismic records. There is a bright side. Ice corings have shown that there is deep water in front of the base, and if the break­ outs continue, it is possible that "Endeavour" could be tied up in future directly in front of the base. AJready, the fact that "Endeavour" can moor at Winter Quarters Bay instead of at a distant ice-edge, and the use of the road, has speeded up

Because of the large ice break-out in February 1965 and again in Febru­ ary this year, and the consequent temporary destruction of the old sea-ice route from the southern end of the Gap to Williams Field, the scoria road constructed by the Americans from the Gap to Cosmic Ray and Transmitter sites was ex­ tended as far as Scott Base. The last section descends directly above the Scatt Base hangar and through the Base aerial farm. With the installa­ tion of more sensitive equipment and projected regular mid-winter flights, it is feared that this may raise considerable interference with the ew Zealand auroral pro­ gramme. It is therefore planned to ICE SCAPES divert the route from Scott Base's The exceptional ice break-out of last year "back-yard" to join the compacted­ destroyed some of the ice-sculpture which snow road by a traverse across snow has been a feature of the McMurdo Sound to the north-ea t. The solutions landscape. Will the pressure ridges build reached on the e and other problems up again? ha e clea I shown the great alue December, 1966 ANTARCTI'C 377

of regular consultations between ON THE SPOT Scott Base and McMurdo. At these regular monthly inter­ Photographer Guy Mannering had changes of ideas, during which his camera ready at Cape Royds future policy is considered one when the first Adelie penguin of the matter which may well be dis~ussed summer strutted up over the ice to is the suggested use of Arrival the rookery at 4 p.m. on October 20. Heights as a rocket-launching site. Guy had been waiting for days to As the New Zealand Quiet Site is in get this shot. At the height of the this area, it is being pointed out mating season in late November that if this comes to pass it will be about a thousand pairs of birds will a quiet site no longer! be terraced around the hilly coastal rookery. At the time, the ice edge HANDS OFF may be some 15 miles from Cape Royds. Considerable objections were raised to the erection on the top of Observation Hill of a flashing bea­ PROJECT CHANGES con, not only on the ground that it detracted from the reverence which Owing to the inability of the party­ has always been paid to this historic leader designate, Dr. A. Ewart to spot, wh.ere the return of field travel south this summer, the plan parties from the south was looked for a three-man scientific party to out for and where the cross in camp at 8,000 feet on Mt. Erebus to memory of Scott's party stands, but examine the basalt eruptions around also because it was a possible source the crater zone has been cancelled. of interference with the auroral The project previously undertaken physics programme. by the Dominion Museum has now As a result of winter conferences been shouldered by the Zoology De­ between the Leaders at Scott Base partment of the University of Otago and McMurdo, the beacon was and will be spear-headed by Dr: removed. Choate. Bruce Willis, who was to The pressure ridge system in front have accompanied Dr. Ewart will of ~cott Bas~, one of the "big" now assist Dr. Choate. ' tounst attractIons of the Antarctic but practically demolished in the NEW GENERATORS big break-out last year, is now build­ ing up again and has already cut off Two generating sets which will access from Scott Ba~e to the sea give Scott Base a greatly improved ice except in one place. supply of electricity - twice the capacity of the existing unit - are to FIRST TIME? be shipped to the Antarctic on A strange, new, but distinctly H.M.N.Z.S. "Endeavour" in early pleasant sound broke upon the ears December. The sets were given pre­ of the native inhabitants of the Ross delivery tests at Christchurch by the Dependency soon after Graham Han­ M.E.D. for the Ministry of Works. cox arrived as senior geologist of the Two single-phase alternators from northern field party. Graham is a Scotland have been coupled to two versatile young man; not only is he diesel engines from the United an able scientist, he is a more than States. The units are mounted on able swimmer (his brother was the strong steel bases so that they can conque or of Cook Strait) and also easily be moved. Ducts from each an accomplished musician, an generator produce hot air for heat­ A:T.C:L. Packed away somewhere in ing purposes. hIS kItbag was his violin and if the Adel!es an<:l. the skuas 'enjoy Gra­ COMMEMORATION ham s rendItIons of favourite violin compositions as much as the staff A special date-stamp is. to be used of Antarctic Division when he was at the Scott Base Post Office on prevailed upon to show his musical January 20 to mark the 10th anni­ pace , they are in for a most unusu­ versary of the first raising of the ally happy time. flag at the base on January 20, 1957. 378 ANTARCTI'C December. 1966

location before the arrival of the NEW STATION AT new season's personnel and the con­ sequent heavy call on air transport. CAPE BIRD Already, with one hut, that at Cape This summer New Zealand is open­ Royds, outgrowing !ts .usefulness, ing a new summer,stati0!1 in ~ntC1:rc­ New Zealand is conSidering the ad­ tica. This country s maIn sCIentIfic visability of setting up a satellite station, Scott Base, is on the base either in the Dry Valley area southenl coast of Ross Island. There (where the previously planned com­ is now a summer station 25 miles bined U.S.-Japan~New Zealand re­ north at Cape Bird. search project has been shelved) or The new station can accommodate at some such site as Cape Chocolate, . six men. It was designed and pre­ where a small team could spend the fabricated at Scott Base during the winter to undertake research work winter months by Carpenter Raynor not previously practicable. Greeks (Lower.Hutt) who asserp.bled it with the aId of field AssIstant 1966-7 PROGRAM-ME Roger Bartlett (~arrin.g~on). The At the new station the natural buildillg was ffi8.de In sections small balance of bird life in a simple enough to fit jnto ~h~ cabin of a h~li­ situation is being studied by zoolo­ copter and was alrbJted to the site gists from the University of Canter- by a United States- craft from nearby bury. . McMurdo station. Penguins and Skua gulls lIve suc­ The new station is to be named cessfully together in a delicate bal­ the Harrison Laboratory after John ance of nature. The Skua is the Harrison, killed in a rescue attempt predator and the p~ng~n, t~e prey.. on Mt. Rolleston in June. It will be Such a simple sItuatlon IS duplI­ used by Scientific Field parties of cated only in the Arctic .or by a the New Zealand Antarctic Research controlled laboratory experIment. Programme during the summer Leading the party is Dr. E. 9. months. Biologists will settle in to Young. He first b.egan a st~dy of tpis study bird and marine life until the bird life balance In AntarctIca dunng summer season ends in February. the summer of 1959-60. Last summer, Since Cape Bird is at the northeJ?n Dr. Young established this project tip of Ross Island the party 'YIll at Cape Bird. probably be evacuated by a passing Dr. Young went by helicopter.to ship. Two biologists who w9r~ed ~t ·Cape Bird on November 14 With Cape Bird, last summer, hVlng In field assistant photographer John a tent found the bird life abundant ~ell Darby. and suited to their studies be­ HAt Cape Bird there are about two cause few people visit the area and hundred pairs of Skua gulls preying disturb the rookeries. It is intended on two main Adelie penguin in future years that the station shall rookeries, each with 20,000 pairs of be used by geologists and any ot~er penguins," said Dr. Young. scientists who may find the sIte HThere is considerable disturbance suited to their purposes. within the penguin rookeries and lost eggs or chicks are taken. by the FOR THE FUTURE? Skuas. Actually the Skua scrounges this food rather than outright prey­ The uhome made" Cape Bird hut ing. may be a more significant innovation HIn mid to late summer, when the than it at first appears. For one surviving chicks are big enough to thing it cost about a sixth of what fend for and defend themselves, the a N~w Zealand-made building of Skuas feed from the sea. It is comparative dimensions would have intended to determine the amount of cost. For another, it provided an food easp Skua pair takes from the interesting and worth-while activity rookery. for the skilled tradesmen at Scott Base during the winter months. Then, on the spot in early spring, it STUDENTS was easily transferred to its planned Two zoology students later joined Decemb~r, 1966 ANTARCTI'C 379

Dr. youn.g at Cape Bird. Dennis Proc­ GOSSIP SESSION tor IS gOIng to study Skua gull mor­ tality and Jim Peterson will investi­ During the winter at Scott Base, gate hormone circulation in the one afternoon contact was made by penguin bloodstream. Ian Johnson's ham radio set with It is known that two Skua eggs two high-latitude stations, one a sub­ normally hatch and, like the pen­ antarctic station, and the other an guins, only one bird is reared. How­ Arctic station. ever, the underlying mechanism of After being on the air for an hour ~his ZLSAA picked up the South Pole fact is still unknown. In study­ station and then a few minutes later Ing the hormone circulation, it IS contacted' the French at Dumont hoped to correlate this with repro­ D'Urville. For a quarter of an hour ductive behaviour. a three-way conversation took place This work will involve taking between the French, the Americans blood samples from selected pen­ and the New Zealanders. guins at weekly intervals. Cell counts After closing down with the Pole will be made and further laboratory Station and Dumont D'Urville, Scott study done at the University after then made contact with the Austra­ summer ends~ lians on Macquarie Island and then FACILITIES later with the D.S. air base Thule in N.W. Greenland which is as far from Last summer Dr. Young and a field the North Pole as Scott Base is from assistant lived at Cape Bird for a the South Pole. five-month season in a tent. How­ ever, this spring members of the Other polar contacts made by wintering-over party at Scott Base ZLSAA during the winter were: built a small summer station at Cape Plateau Station (U.S.A.). Bird. This base will give improved Byrd Station (D.S.A.). comfort of living, but, more impor­ Mawson (Australia). tant, it means that the Canterbury Vostok (U.S.S.R.). University party can be larger and Syowa (Japan). the scientific programme extended. Campbell Island (N.Z.). BURSARY HOLDERS The Scott Base station also spoke Rodney East, who will be studying to many DEW line stations in Nor­ moulting, disease, injury and healing thern Alaska, Canada and Greenland. in the Weddell Seal as a member of the Canterbury unit, is the holder GERMAN TV FILM for this summer of the bursary pro­ vided by the Canterbury Branch of A three-man team of West Ger­ the New Zealand Antarctic Society. mans headed by Dr. W. Buesgen was Aged 22, Mr. East was selected from at McMurdo and Scott Base during five applicants. November shooting a film for Chan­ Dermis Proctor, who will be study­ nel 2 based at Mainz..The 4S-minute ing the mortality rate of Skua gull colour television documentary will chicks, has been awarded a Christ­ be among the first films to be church Lions Club bursary for Ant­ screened when West Germany arctic research. changes to colour TV next summer. While living for several days at GUESTS AT SCOTT BASE Scott the team filmed a cross-section Visitors to Scott Base this summer of life at the base: dog sledging, have included Prof. R. H. Clark scientific work, ice-scapes, snow­ (Victoria University of Wellington), collection, even men voting in the Prof. M. Gage (University of Canter­ New Zealand General Election. They bury), Dr. J. Gabites (Director, N.Z. planned to visit Byrd Station, the Mete?rological Service), Mr. K. Seal Pole and the historic huts of the (~atlonal Research Advisory Coun­ pioneer expeditions. cIl), ,Mr. J. Beagley (retiring Super­ As Channel 2 is a national channel, intendent Geophysics Observatory) said Dr. Buesgen, almost every and Mr. J..Ward (Director, Physics viewer in West Germany will see the and Engineering Laboratory). film. 380 ANTARCTIC December. 1966 New Zealand Bird Banding in Antarctic Regions by C. J. R. Robertson*

The New Zealand Bird Banding and detailed observations on habits Scheme, formed in 1951 under the and breeding. It is generally assumed Ornithological Society of New Zea­ at present that this bird does not land, and now centred at the Domi­ breed until it is at least eight years nion Museum, is responsible for the old and then usually breeds every banding of all birds other than game second year, because of the 12 birds within the New Zealand region. months needed to incubate the egg Up to 1966 a total of 190,000 birds of and rear the chick. The oldest known 130 species have been banded. Ant­ bird is at least 33 years old, having arctic banding accounts for 8 per been banded as a breeding adult in cent. of this total. 1943. Recoveries of banded Royal The first Subantarctic banding in Albatross along the coasts of Chile the New Zealand region was under­ and Argentina have given some guide taken by J. H. Sorensen on Campbell to their movements away from the Island during World War 11 to sup­ breeding colony. plement a study of ttie birds of that Information about the distribution island. Banding there was not patterns of many birds is unknown resumed until 1956 and since then and banding is an essential tool has been carried out for the Domi­ towards a greater understanding of nion Museum by members of the the habits of many birds. Anyone Meteorological staff resident on the finding a DEAD banded bird should island. Emphasis has been on the immediately notify the Dominion albatrosses and especially the South­ Museum, Wellington, New Zealand, ern Royal Albatross (Diomedea e. of the Number (or preferably send exulans). the band); the Locality where it was On the Antarctic continent, band­ found, Date of discovery, and any ing activities have been centred on known cause of death. the Antarctic Skua (Stercorarius skua maccormicki) at Capes Hallett, SCOTT BASE> LEADER NOW Royds and Bird by Dominion Museum and Canterbury University CAMBRIDGE STUDENT personnel. Some penguin banding M. M. Prebble, L,eader at Scott has been undertaken with U.S.A.R.P. Base, has left for England. He holds bands and in conjunction with their a Rotary Foundation Fellowship ten­ programme. . able at Cambridge University for the . Stt:tdie~ in all areas ar:e mainly on 1966-67 academic year. He will be a dIstnbutIon and breedIng biology. Member of Darwin College and will ~he An~ar~tic Skua studies have pro­ be doing research work at the Scott VIded SIgnIficant data on life history Polar Research Institute, whose while movements within the Ross Director is Dr. Gordon de Q. Robin. Sea and one to the Northern Hemi­ Mr. Prebble's main research work sphere are recorded. will concentrate on comparing New Zealand Field Work in the Ross On Campbell Island some 10000 Dependency with that of the British Royal Albatross are now banded in Graham Land now that the initial with about 7,000 being added in the reconnaissance work has been com­ past three years. This has been pleted. He will also write up work entirely due to the enthusiasm and done during the winter at Scott Base hard work of the Meteorological on ice breakout in McMurdo Sound staff who have produced valuable the mapping of the ocean bottorr{ around Pram Point, and the growth * Dominion Museum, Wellington. of sea ice in McMurdo Sound. December, 1966 ANTARCTI'C 381 80UND FOR THE SOUTH DEXTER N. WEBB The staff of Antarctic Division and A Woman's Impressions the members of New Zealand's 1966­ 67 Antarctic team were among the by Ethel Cross many who were shocked and sad­ I have just returned to my home dened by the tragic death on Sep­ to do those uninte esting, but very tember 25 of Dexter Norman Webb. necessary jobs of washing, ironing, Dexter was to have flown to the cooking and cleaning, after seeing Antarctic two or three days later to the wintering-over party for Scott be Public Relations Officer at Scott Base, and other friends, leave Christ­ Base, and he spent the last fortnight church International Airport for the of his life at the Antarctic Division Great White South. offices preparing for his task. He had As I stood there in that overseas earlier participated with characteris­ lounge, I wondered what these men, tic enthusiasm in the training course clad in modern Antarctic clothing, at Mount Ruapehu. were thinking. Did they have the His obvious keenness, energy and same thoughts as the early ex­ ability soon won the esteem of us plorers; was the same sense of ad­ all. New Zealand's Antarctic Pro­ venture there; was there any feeling gramme has been well served by a of regret; any feeling of fear of fine series of Public Relations Offi­ facing the unknown - that is, un­ cers, but Dexter Webb gave promise known to them? of being the most dedicated P.R.O. I decided that in spite of the very Scott Base has ever had. As we came comfortable surroundings, the amaz­ to know him better our regard for ing clothing worn by the men; his work increased, and his winning 11 super" cameras slung over their personality earned him our personal shoulders; modern equipment of affection as well. every possible type, and a huge We are sure that readers of ItAnt­ modern aircraft sitting on the tar­ arctic" will join in deep regret at mac ready to transport the men to this untimely ending of a promising a new world in just on ten hours, career and in sincere sympathy the sense of adventure was still very with his sorrowing relatives and much alive in our young men of friends. today. L.B.Q. I felt a great sense of pride for the contribution this small country of New Zealand was making in the Ralph Waite, Chief Clinical Ps ch­ scientific and other fields of Antarc­ ologist in the Mental Health Division tica, and I also felt that some day, of the Health Department, who ren­ when the time was right, women dered considerable assistance in the would also make their contribution selection of personnel for New Zea­ to this Itgreat adventure". land Antarctic teams over a number As the huge transport, filled with of years, and himself visited the its very valuable "cargo", thundered Antarctic each sumn1er from 1962-63, down the runway, I could only say died suddenly of a heart attack in ItVaya Con Dios" - Go with God. October.

DEEP FREEZE GUESTS WITH USARP Early season (November-Decem­ A. Anderson, head teacher of the ~er) New Zealand guests of Opera­ Oaklands School, has accepted an tIon D'eep Freeze were Sir Ian invitation from John Hopkins Uni­ Maclennan (British High Commis­ versity of Baltimore, Maryland, to si.oner), Mr. H. G· .R. Mason, M.P., take part as a field assistant in a LIeut. W. D. S. Kay-Smith (aide to penguin-study programme at Cape the Governor-General), Mr. Justice Crozier. Mr. Anderson is a well­ McCarthy, and Mr. Julian Temm known alpinist, and is a member of (President, New Zealand-Ame.rican the Canterbury branch of the New Association). Zealand Antarctic Society. 382 ANTARCTI'C December. 1966 7th rench Antarc ic xpedition in Adelie and The members of the 1966-67 summer party for Terre Adelie and some of the next wintering team for Dumont d'Urville Base left le Bourget Airport for Australia on November 28. At Hobart they, were to' board the "Thala Dan" for the Antarctic.

(This information ha come to hand just work was carried out during the as we go to pres I and we apologise for the 1965-66 season, while other pre-firing necessary condensation and for any transla­ tasks such as the electrical installa­ tion or other errors caused by the hurried tions and the heating s stem have preparation. Ed.) just been completed by the winter­ ing team of 1966. This summer "Thala Dan" will E.P.F. and C.N.E.S. men will be make four trips between Australia jointly responsible for the unload­ and Dumont d'Urville base in Adelie ing and setting up of the Space Pro­ Land. ject material. The trials and any (1) dep'. Hobart Dec. 3, at Adelie necessary adjustments will be the Land 'Dec. 10-24, arr. Mel­ responsibility of the C.N.E.S. team. bourne Dec. 31. The actual rocket firing is sched­ (2) deep. 'Melbourne Jan. 3, 1967, uled to be carried out in the course arr. Adelie Land Jan. 10, dep. of a single day, some time between same day for Australian Ant­ the 10th and the 31st of January arctic bases. 1967, when the meteorological and (3) dep. Melbourne Feb. 4, at magnetic conditions are favourable. Adelie Land Feb. 11-17, arr. Immediately after the firings the Hobart Feb. 23. installations will be dismantled, re­ (4) dep. Hobart Feb. 24, at Adelie packed and loaded on to "Thala 'Land 'March 2-5, arr. Hobart Dan" about mid-February, during March 11. the vessel's third voyage of the For the summer operations. the season. The C.N.E·.S. personnel will first task will be the unloading of be repatriated at the same time. the 570 tons (1,620 cubic metres) of These will be the first firings of cargo on "Thala Dan." This should space..Jprobing rockets on the Ant­ take only about a week if ice oondi­ arctic Continent. The "fusees-sondes" tions off the Adelie Land coast are are designed 'to measure two char­ favourable. From this point on, acteristic parameters of the iono­ absolute first priority will be given spheric regions traversed, the elec­ to the programme of rocket firings. tronic density and the electronic Some of the planned base~recon­ temperature. struction projects will be carrieq The IDragon rockets to be fired out, but reduced in numb r and are two..stage rockets, made by la importance compared with the pro­ Societe Sud-A iation. The second grammes of previous seasons: fewer stage and its effective charge will men can be carried for construction reach a height of about 350 k.m. teams because of the 26 men NEW LIVING QUARTERS of C.N.E.S. (le Centre ational To cope with the enlarged sum­ d'Etudes Spatiales)-the Space Pro\­ mer-party, a 25 m. x 8 m. building to ject team. accommodate 46 men has been erected by the 1966 winter team. SPACE ROCKETS The kitchen-dining room building Expeditions Polaires Francaises (18 m. x 18 m.) which was erected has the responsibility of preparing last summer (1965-66), and fitted up the ground installations required for inside during the winter, will be in the rocket firings and an assembly­ working order from the beginning building for the four rockets. Some of the new summer party's term. It of the preliminary con truction ill allow for the e in of ill al December, 1966 ANTARCTI'C 383 to 100-120 men, 60 at a sitting. 'This FRIEND OF BYRD AND work should be completed before MAWSON the ship leaves for the return to Australia on her first voyage (Decem­ The founder of the New Zealand ber 24). Antarctic Society - and of many A new supply system for drinking other flourishing organisations -Mr. water will also be completed this A. Leigh Hunt, of Wellington, was ummer. honoured at a party at the White Heron Lodge on Saturday afternoon, November 12. The occasion was Mr. Hunt's 90th birthday. Chairman of It i anticipated that the winte ­ the gathering was Mr. B. R. Law, ing-over team for 1967 will number who wa ice-chairman of the Ross 27. The Leader will be Andre Hou­ Sea Committee which organised the gron (34). New Zealand-Ross Sea section of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Ex­ SUMMER PARTY pedition. Other speakers with special interests in the Antarctic were Mr Paul-Emile Victor (59) will again Eric R. Gibbs of Taihape and Mr. tra el outh and another eteran, L. B. Quartermain of Wellington, Robert GuiUard (47) will be in President and an ex-President respec­ charge of the summer operations. tively of the New Zealand Antarctic Marcel Renard (40) will 'be respon­ Society. In the course of his already sible for the unloading operations, long and very acti e life, Mr. Hunt and Lieut. A. Bousseau (31) will formed close friendships with Sir head the helicopter group of four Douglas Mawson and with Admiral men. Byrd, whose widow and son both T 0 women will travel on liThala sent .eulogistic messages for the Dan" during the third voyage: Mlle occasion. G. Pillet (ionosphere) and MIle C. Gillet (Head of the Technical Mr. Hunt is writing a book on Bureau, E.P.F.). Byrd's many close associations with New Zealand, which the Admiral regarded as his lisecond home". NEW ZEl\LAND'S ANTARCTICA ON TELEVISION WOLF WHISTLE A full-scale documentary depicting Scott Base and the Ross Dependency Scientists are not such cold­ and the life and work of the New blooded creatures after all. Dr. Andy Zealanders living there, should reach Porter, chief scientist at Scott Base New Zealand television screens next last year, describes an important year. Mike Minehan, the able and facet of the wo"rk there in this enlivening fashion: enture om J IITown and Around" reporter) is going south on the first liElectrical storms generate ery R.N.Z.A.F. flight of th season in the low frequency radio signals which, first week of January, and is to traverse the ionosphere and can be pend about ten days with two tech­ detected all around the world. At nicians at Scott Base. He plans to Scott Base we use a large triangular cover such angle as a historical loop antenna to detect the signals, sur ey of the area, tran port (includ­ and audio frequency amplifiers to ing dog sledging), the unique wild­ record them on magnetic tape. When life, the spectacular scenery, the one listens to a tape recording of the international friendship and mutual incoming transmissions, what a sur­ help, and, above all, how men live in prise is in store! Sounds resembling the Antarctic and how they are bird chirping, frogs croaking, and affected by the climatic and other even long drawn-out wolf whistles conditions which they must experi­ are heard. It's almost as if a mini­ ence. skirted Miss New Zealand suddenly One thing is certain: in making put in an appearance at Scott Base. this hour-long programme liMike" Naturally w,~ call this our Whistler ill hav the time of his life. Pro ramme. 384 ANTARCTI'C Decem ber. 1966 NEW SEASO BEGINS AT AMERICA TATIO S Deep Freeze 67 set in, initially, in September, when the first four ski-equipped Hercules of the United States Navy VX6 Squadron arrived at Christchurch to prepare for the scheduled opening of the season on October 1.

The aircraft, four ski-equipped aircraft of VX6 flew from Quonset Hercules, left Harewood at 90-mInute Point to Christchurch, via Hawaii intervals carrying men, mail and and Fiji, while in the Antarctic men fresh provisions. VX6 Squadron worked round the clock to prepare Commander, Commander D. Balish, the skiways, this time at Byrd as piloted the first Hercules, with Rear­ well as McMurdo. Strong head winds Admiral F. E. Bakutis, commander put the September Hercules an Antarctic Support Force, key officers hour back on schedule, but, even and U.S.A.R.P. representatives. without the proffered aid of a New Severe snow storms had lashed Zealand Navy frigate as a weather McMurdo after the mercy flight ship, the Hercules touched down at earlier that month and the skiway McMurdo in daylight, which lasts had to be cleared again for the for some 12 hours daily at this time official opening. of year. After nine hours' wait at McMurdo, MERCY FLIGHT with Byrd suffering from llD-yard visibility, blowing snow, a cloud For the fourth time in Deep Freeze ceiling of 700 ft., and - 30-40° tem­ history, an aircraft of VX6 Squadron perature, Commander Balish decided made an /loff-season". mercy flight to to risk the weather and within three Antarctica to bring back a sick or and a half hours was landing his injured man for medical attention. Hercules at Byrd, where Mr. Spitz's This September 12-14 flight was for condition had shown deterioration. the sake of aurora scientist Armand At Byrd darkness ruled by the L. Spitz of Fairfax, Virginia, victim time the mercy flight arrived, but oil of acute appendicitis at Byrd flares, high-intensity lights and the Station. combined effect of gathered vehicles' Only one other mercy flight had headlights made the landing easily been made to Byrd, when in April, possible. Commander Balish com­ 1961, Russian exchange scientist mended the station's efforts, report­ Leonid Kuperov, was suffering from ing that he had been able to see the a suspected stomach ulcer. The other skiway from 50 miles off. two earlier flights had been to McMurdo, one in June, 1964, for After 29 minutes of loading the injured Seabee Bethel Lee McMullen sick man and unloading the remain­ and one in June this year for seaman der of the fresh produce and mail Robert L. Mayfield who had been not unloaded at McMurdo, the Her­ injured in a fall. Unlike its predeces­ cules left Byrd and three hours later sors, September's flight was not paused briefly at McMurdo. for an effected in total darkness but in the hour before heading for Christ­ words of the aircraft's pilot, Com­ church,. New Zealand, again. It was mander D. Balish, merely Hopened back there at 7.53 a.m. on September the season a wee bit prematurely". 14, about 34 hours after it had left, Commander Balish was also on the and Mr. Spitz ~as immediately June flight to bring Mr. McMullen transferred to Chrlstchurch hospital back to New Zealand. He is VX6 where his condition was reported as Squadron Commander. steady. This last flight was similar to the Four other men were also flown June bid. In both cases a Hercules back to New Zealand from the Ant- December. 1966 ANTARCTIC 385 arctic. They were Second-class metal­ a rolling motion adding to the pilot's smith J. D. Heist who had broken difficulty in maintaining a heading his foot, and three men brought out on the runway. an emergency compassionate leave However, patience was rewarded after having rece·ved news of deaths on November 14 when, despite a in their imm diate families. ero swind of 12 knots blowing at Williams Field, pilot Captain H. H. Geddes, made a rapid descent of SUPPORT ACTIVITIES some 5,000 ft. a minute and brought The inaugural flights from Christ­ the jet down in copybook fashion­ church to McMurdo were only part to his relief and that of his 28 pas­ of the Navy's support work. sengers, one of whom was Rear­ On October 14 one of the Hercules Admiral Bakutis. aircraft made what was probably the Opinion now is that Starlifters coldest-ever landing in Antarctic, could successfully be used in Ant­ when it touched down at Plateau arctic support work. The five-hour Station to unload men, mail and pro­ flight is a reduction of three hours visions in a temperature of -70°, on the average Hercules' time of some ten degrees lower than the eight hours to McMurdo, and five on usual minimum for Hercules flights. the Super Constellation's ten hours; Outgoing cargo from the Antarctic and the Starlifter has a six and a has already included 47 penguins, 44 half thousand cubic foot cargo capa­ Adelie and 3 Emperor, which were city. This cargo can be unloaded and headed for New York. The 12,000'­ reloaded in approximately 30 min­ mile trip was accomplished in three utes. It can carry a 50,000 lb. payload days, with the cargo portion of the more than 4,000 miles -154 men, Hercules maintained at below 50°F., 123 fully-equipped paratroopers or using air conditioning plants on tap some 68,500 lb. of cargo. at each of the stops. Between August 20, 1966, and Picket ships D.S.S. IIMills" and February 10, 1967, some 15,000 tons D.S.S. IIThomas J. Gary" kept mid­ of surface cargo is expected to be ocean watch for the flights, V.S.S. transDorted to the Antarctic, includ­ HMills" having been delayed with ing 6 million gallons of bulk fuel for generator trouble in Newport Roads. MeMurdo and Palmer Stations. The Naval Air Transport Wing Pacific was to fly 15 turnaround ANOTHER FIRST flights between Christchurch and Yet another llfirst" was achieved McMurdo during November and in November, when for the first time early December. This group is re­ a pure jet aircraft, a Lockheed Star­ sponsible for the transportation of lifter attached to the V.S. Air Force, high priority cargo and personnel was not only the first pure jet to from New Zealand. land in Antarctica but also the first of its type to land on an ice runway. The Starlifter's first attempt was not Dr. Wernher von Braun, Germany's successfu1., as crosswinds five knots World War 11 rocket expert, is above the safe landing maximum expected to visit the Antarctic in prevented it from actually landing, January. Dr. on Braun, now con­ though it had reached MeMurdo in cerned with the development of a record 5 hour 25 minute flight. It Saturn space rockets for the V.S. turned round at MeMurdo and re­ Apollo lunar landing, is believed to turned to Christchureh. This flight be heading south to seek suitable took 30 minutes less than had the testing grounds for equipment de­ outward trip. Average speed was signed for the Apollo project. He is 490 m.p.h., altitude 35000 ft. the director of the George C. Mar­ Three times in the 'next two days, shall Space Flight Centre of Alaba­ November 12 and 13 further at­ ma and of the National Aeronautics tempts were frustrated by adverse and Space Administration. It is also weather reports, predicting further believed that N.A.S.A. officials favour crosswinds which could cause Ull­ the Antarctic Continent as an emer­ ~ven ~tress o~ the Starlifter's droop­ gency landing area for D.S. and Ing WIng which in turn ould create Soviet astronauts. 386 ANTARCTI'C December, 1966

STATION OTES tarted last year for a two-storey personnel centre is. schedule~,..as PLATEAU well as the installatIon of utIlItIes for the mechanical, subsistence and Determined to prove its reputation laundry sections. Seven ~i}es of ~uel as the coldest station in Antarctica, lines over the snow to WI1hams FIeld Plateau recently recorded a - 125.8° are to be laid, a sewer system and temperature, 1.2° colder than the two warehouses in taIled and the previous mostest recorded at Vostok. water distribution ystem from dis­ Nevertheless, the research pro­ tillation plant to tation facilitie gramme at Plateau is scheduled to enlarged. continue for two years, perhaps as a result of the quickly-following SOUTH POLE swing of the temperature pendulum Here too a skiway, 10,000 ft. b to a balmy - 39°. 200 ft. will be readied, and Pole Statio~'s The wisdom and forethought of increased fuel capacity will Plateau's designers proved their allow it to accommodate ai craft en worth during July when the substi­ route to Plateau. tute generator, supposed to take the BYRD place of its brother which had been Wire aerials up to 21 miles in secured for repair, blew a gasket. length have been installed at Byrd, The outlook would have been bleak, and here as well a skiway, expected but for the emergency camp, some to have been ready before October 1, 1 000 feet away and specially was to be bui!1. A thermal deep-drill equipped for this sort of ~merge~c . facility is scheduled also. Another generator came Into actIon and the eight men stationed at Plateau moved their quarters. With Veteran mountaineer, and grand­ the advice of the Caterpillar Com­ son of President Woodrow Wilson pany, manufacturer of the genera­ 47-year-old Dr. Woodrow Wilson tors, gaskets were concocted from Sayre, left Boston in .N

BIG TRAVERSES PLANNED Mapping, too, features largely in the project. Four V.S. Geological Magnum opus of this season's U.S. Survey topographic engineers, using Antarctic Research Programme will electronic equipment, plan to be the IS-week, 1,500-mile, ai -sup­ measure the di tances between rock ported traver e of the Marie Byrd outcrops to provide accurate ground Land coast. Four ba camps will be control for the preparation of aerial made by the cientist invol ed, pIu maps after each indi idual feature's their helicopter support personnel, absolute position has been fixed by each camp supporting the party for astronomic observations. Turbine approximately 20 to 25 da s. 'copters will take the men from peak to peak. Some 425,288 statute square Dr. F. Alton Wade, who e first trip miles of terrain are, it is planned by to the Antarctic was made 33 year the Navy, to be aerially photo­ ago, will lead a party of four texa graphed to round out the mapping Technological College geologists to field operation . A turbo-prop Navy conduct a geological reconnaissance C-130 Hercules will fly the mi sion of western Marie B rd Land. Thi needed. party should already be in the field, its scheduled dates being from earl in the season till mid-December. Its purpose, apart from studying moun­ SCIENCE NOTES tain structure and rock layers, is to see if it can relate the Marie Byrd The 1966-67 Antarctic research pro­ Land mountains to the long chain of gramme will cost nearly seven mil­ Transantarctic Mountains and to the lion dollar and covers a wide range Ellsworth Mountains bordering the of activities, including a l,500-mile Antarctic Peninsula. air-supported traverse of the Marie Byrd Land coast (see above). Following immediately in the foot­ steps of this party will be another Study of scientists who wintered Antarctic-veteran-Ied group from the o er at the South Pole will, it is Universit of Minnesota, under the hoped, lead to help in planning ex­ leadership of Dr. J. Campbell Crad­ plorations on and off the earth, in dock. This group will study eastern predicting impending breakdowns in Marie Byrd Land, establishinp­ men under stress and in selecting gravity stations on accessible rock men for hazardous missions. o~tcrops and doing geological map­ Deep core drilling to penetrate the pIng. ice cap at Byrd, studies of fungi, Paleomagnetism will be investi­ algae and lichens in the Dry Valleys, gated by a Washington University investigations into the earth's (St. Louis) party which will seek gravity and magnetic fields, into evidence for different magnetic meteorology, the thermal acclima­ orientations in earlier geologic times, tion of Antarctic fishes and the hile a three-man biological sur e orientation proce se of the Adelie party rom Ohio State Universit Penguin will all be effected, as well will study the primitive vegetation as geological and biological studies, in the ice-fre highlands and nuna­ with about 150 V.S. scientists travel­ taks of the Marie Byrd Land coast, ling to Antarctica to undertake some collecting lich ns, mosses, fre hwater 50 field projects from October to algae and any of the relatively rare March. Antarctic insects and mites they ma find. The penguin flown out b U.S. avy Hercules are to be u ed in Three University of Wiscon in geo­ specialised studies by the New York ph sicists, under the leadership of Zoological Society and the Rocke­ Dr. C. R. Bentley, will undertake feller University, N.Y., working to­ electromagnetic and seismic sound­ gether under the direction of Dr. ings of ice thickne s, obtain gravity Richard L. Penny. Dr. Penny has and elevation measurements, and done considerable work on the mesaure the e rth's magnetic fi Id in Adelie penguin' l/time-clock" naviga­ an airborne urvey. tion and un-orientation and for fur- 388 ANTARCTI'C December, 1966 ther research needs, ideally, labora­ Discrimination of light intensity, tory conditions. Two specialised light quality and time, and the move­ facilities have been constructed in ment of the artificial sun will also the non-public part of the New York be gauged. zoo for testing these penguins' be­ Photo-mapping of the Bellings­ havioral and physiological abilities, hausen Sea coast will be accelerated where the penguins will be trained this year with the help of Hercules to express angles from an artificial aircraft operating from Byrd, and 0 sun, and their responses to pro­ the Palmer Peninsula from C-12Is grammed photoperiods observed. flown south from Chile.

"ELTANIN"

The u.s. research ship at Tierra del Fuego during a recent cruise.

The HEltanin" left Wellington on and Engineering Laboratory. He will November 29 on an I8-day cruise in be operating radio equipment to the Tasman Sea to the vicinity of record atellite signals. Recording at Tasmania. On her return to Welling­ sea ensures a better correlation of ton she is scheduled to go south on shore-station results as well as filling a Ross Sea cruise of two months, in the large gap between Campbell visiting the Bellamy Islands and Island and Scott Base. Macquarie Island areas en route be­ On the Tasman Sea cruise in fore making up to Melbourne. December, oceanographic work will KIWIS ABOARD be carried out by Trevor B,arnes, a Four NewZealanders will be work­ technician with the Oceanographic ing on HEltanin" during all or part Institute. of the next few months. With Peter Robin H. Falconer of the Victoria Harper for both the Tasman and University of Wellington will carry Ross Sea cruises will be P. A. Hughes, out a magnetic survey during the of the radio-physics section, Physics Ross Sea cruise later. December, 1966 ANTARCTI'C 389 A New Zealand Ornithologist on 'Eltanin" by Peter c. Harper*

On first appearances, the UEltanin" sub-Antarctic and Antarctic zones of looks as though her designers were surface water. Coupled with this was enjo~ing an expensive joke in ship­ the important study into definitive buIldIng. Closer scrutiny, however, field characteristics of the lesser ,vill dispel any misgivings, for be­ known species of petrel. This re­ neath her forest of antenna, radars search was approached in three and miscellaneous scientific equip­ ways: firstly by field observations in ment, the UEltanin" is a rugged ship the strictest sense, with the usual well suited to a rigorous working daily watch periods and logbooks; life in the Antarctic. secondly, by the photographing of Because an outline of the "Elta­ birds on the wing, using high­ nin's" operating procedures and his­ powered telephoto lenses; and tory have already been given in the finally, by the prudent collection of September "Antarctic", further com­ specimens. Being aboard a research ment here would be repetitious. Suf­ ship provided ready access to the fice it so say that the writer was gathered environmental data, which not only impressed with the labora­ was either obtained through direct tory facilities and the way in which contact with the personnel con­ the various scientific programmes cerned with oceanography and were so smoothly run, but also with meteorology, or by making use of the full and unreserved co-operation the very useful data sheets, printed received from all he met aboard the out at the end of each day. UEltanin". This happy environment in which to work is one I feel sure Using these methods, a diverse the United Nations would give much approach to the ornithological pro­ to emulate. gramme was achieved. Apart from The ornithological programme is a the written work, some 1,900 photo­ comparative newcomer to the graphs of forty-five species of sea­ HEltanin" research project. It was bird were obtained. Among the begun by the Dominion Museum of facilities aboard the "Eltanin" is a \Vellin~ton in January, 1965, when fully equipped darkroom where both ~he wnter I:ad the pri.vileq:e of j oin­ colour and black and white nega­ Ing the ShIp as ornIthologist for tives could be processed immedi­ Cruise 16, a four-week research pro­ ately on completion of the film. As gramme in New Zealand sub­ the ship may have to be on station antarctic waters. for up to thirty-six hours, it is often possible to photograph birds in the Follow~ng this successful explora­ vicinity and develop the film while tory CruIS~, a. further three eight­ the UEltanin" is still on station. weekly CruIses Into the South Pacific Although all these negatives have between New Zealand and South not yet been examined in detail, the America, and one excursion into the 413 photographs of prions taken at South Atlantic, have been made. sea throughout the study period These we.re Cruises 20, 21, 22 and 23. ha e already assisted in positively The pnmary objective of the pro­ identifying and separating mixed gramme ~as. been to study the sea­ flocks of prion into their separate sonal dlstnbution and relative species for the first time. From this abundance of seabirds within the iliformation, a detailed Pacific sum­ mer distribution chart of the Thin­ billed Prion (Pachyphila belcheri) * Associate ornithologist, DOlninion Museum, and the Dove Prion (Pachyphila Wellington. desolata) i now being prepared. 390 ANTARCTI'C Decem ber, 1966

Although weather conditions often on Bay, South Thule Island, one of prevented the lowering of the ships' three inhospitable islands compris­ twenty-two foot dory in order to ing the southernmost link in the collect specimens, this was done South Sandwich Islands. On this whenever possible. These forays extremely interesting island, a large proved very successful for although colony of predominantly Chinstrap scattered over a wide area, they Penguins, with a small number of resulted in over a hundred birds of Gentoo and Macaroni penguins, and some twenty species being collected. one yearling Adelie Penguin, was ex­ amined and photographed, occupying A number of birds were also col­ sites on a flat basalt plateau lying to lected through strays striking the the east of Ferguson Bay. ship at night, having been attracted Snow Petrels (Pagodroma nivea by the strong lights used in facili­ nivea) were found to be nesting high tating station work on deck. Using up in the broken cliff faces overlook­ the bridge 1,SOO-watt signalling light, ing Douglas Strait lying between I managed to attract several addi­ South Thule and Cook Island. Other tional birds aboard. This is not petrels suspected of breeding at always ea~y, for I well remember South Thule include the Silver-grey climbing up the outside of the Fulmar, Cape Pigeon, and the Wilson UEltanin's" 'funnel in heavy rain to Storm Petrel. retrieve a Thin-billed Prion which Perhaps the most extraordinary had landed between two of the four sight observed during the writer's exhausts emitting hot, foul smoke. time on HEltanin" was an immense rookery of some ten million Chin­ During the few months at sea, the strap Penguins found at Zavodovski UEltanin" isited five islands, three Island, the north-west island of the of which lie ithin Antarctic waters. South Sandwich group. Investiga­ These are South Georgia, and South tions made on the 6th of March on Thule and Zavodovski in the South this active volcano resulted in only Sandwich Island group. two species of resident penguin be­ During Cruise 22 amidst myriads ing found, but comparisons between of Dove Prions, the HEltanin" made this community and the more landfall at South Georgia on the diverse but smaller population at 7th of February this year. A small South Thule will prove most inter­ party of scientific personnel landed esting, particularly in matters of in Rosita Harbour, one of the small ecology and mortality. bays inside the Bay of Isles, where By comparison, Cruise 23 from despite a time limit of three hours, Punta Arenas in the Magellan Straits a good aggregation of birds was to Auckland, New Zealand, proved recorded.. Behind the pebbly beach remarkable for the paucity of birds In an alpIne valley, the writer exam­ during the first few weeks of April, ined and photographed a colony of when the IIEltanin" was still within Gentoo Penguins comprised of the South American sector of the moulting adults and well-fledged Pacific. By late April, however, some young. A pair of South Georgian extremely interesting movements of Terns feeding a well-developed chick adult and immature birds of s eral were located in the rock scree to the species were taking place. Most obvi­ right of the bay, while two Georgian ous of these were mixed flocks of Teal feeding in the valley stream Thin-billed Priorns travelling west­ proved very photogenic. The South wards and fledgling Giant Petrels Georgian Shag, Brown Skua and crossing the Pacific eastwards. Black-backed Gull were found to be From an ornithological point of well represented, while within the view these cruises aboard the IIElta­ Bay of Isles nine species of petrel, nin" proved very successful and including a' stray Greater Shear­ much new information has been water, were recorded. gained. Th writer is deeply apprec­ ciative of the help afforded by Dr. Eleven days and nine stations R. A. Falla and the Dominion later, the 11 Eltanin" once more Mu eUffi, and by Mr. R. B. Thornson dropped anchor, this time in Fergu- and the Antarctic Di i ion, D.S.I.R. December, 1966 ANTARCTI'C 391 News From Australian StatIons No doubt owing to the reorganisation of Australian Antarctic activities following the resignation after a long period of dynamic leadership of Dr. Phillip Law, news of Australian activities is again rather "thin". after a short stay at Wilke where STATION NOTES they ere needed fo camp mainten­ ance. During Augu t, Wilkes had a WILKES blizza d with an a erage ',\find peed Augu t a a bu y month ith the of 92 m.p.h., the highe t a erage this preparation of vehicles and equip­ y are Fortunately, the onl. damage ment for the pring traverse work. suffered as to the cosmic ray bal­ The Site 2 field party, consisting of loon-tracking aerial. Pfitzner, Groom, Neil on, Bray and The maximum tenlperature for Kaloczy, returned on August 19 after August was 20°F. and the minimum a month on the plateau. On that minus 20.5°. The maximum wind gu t morning the mercury thermometer was 106 m.p.h. \vas frozen: indicating minus 40°F. At Wilkes September started with Later in the month, Roff, Monks, a fizzer and er:ded with a bang. On Groom and Elliott made a short trip September 1 most of the camp with the dogs and sledge on the sea watched asci nce section release of ice for the purpose of taking photo­ one of their balloons with creditable graphs. While two of them were efficiency. It rose to 100 ft. then, with crossing a thin patch of ice, roped a rip in one side, it slowl settled together for safet , a large Weddell back to earth. Fleet-footed Hum­ Seal came crashing through the ice phreys dashed across the buildings underneath Monks' feet. Roff, ith and caught 1,400 dollars worth of great presence of mind, for which instruments before they hit the deck. all men of Wilkes are noted, dropped A second release with a new balloon the rope and grabbed his camera in resulted in tLe most useful flight yet. order to record the event. A 6-man party, led by Base Leader Blyth, spent 3~'2 weeks of September ELUSIVE on a levelling survey along the 70­ mile leg of the triangle up to the A reward was offered for the cap­ Dome. Progress continued at the new ture of Col and Tina, two very shy station Repstat, 10 miles from even-month-old Hu ky pups. Beck Wilkes stati 11. and Neilson were the fir t on the scene at nine o'clock that night. The fickle sea ice has been stable Their plan a to dazzle th pups long nough to allow a isit to ellie with a fla blight, then grab th ID! Island. Blund II and Huddy were the Thi was not uccessful so Hum­ fir t to make the 18-mile return trip phreys tried his luck next morning over ery rough ice and, the follow­ during a blizzard when he tackled ing eekend, Elliott, Humphrey and a dog lying huddled on the now, Groom went out. Nellie Island is the only to find he had captured a very home of Giant Petrels. bewildered Husky that wa already tied up. Taylor crawled under one COMMO'NPLACE? of the huts to grab Tina and had to be dragged out by the ankles. White First fire for the year broke out caught Colin, the male pup, but re­ in the carpenter I hop one night and fused to divulge the method. Tina pro ided two hours of excitement for is still at large. all hands. It wa restricted to one The R p tat Construction Com­ building and put out \'vithout too pany, con ..-.ting of .chol on, S'Hick much damage. and Taylor, \v re bac' in busines Maximum t mperature during Sep- 392 ANTARCTIC December. 1966 tember was 27.5°P.; minimum, WHERE THE DAN SHIPS minus 25.6°; maximum wind was 61 ARE GOING knots. It was mainly a fine month. Proposed itineraries of the ships for the 1966-67 season are as fol­ MAWSO'N lows: August went out and September M.V. uNELLA DAN" forced its way into Mawson lives Melbourne 29-30 November \vith a raging blizzard in which winds Melbourne-Macquarie Island of 110 m.p.h. were recorded before 1-4 December the anemograph jammed. Macquarie Island 5-10 December Base Lead .r Morrison, after much Macquarie Island-Melbourne labour and effort, watched the 70 ft. 11-15 December tower crash down amid the whir of Melbourne 16-21 December movie cameras as a section buckled. Melbourne-Wilkes Duke was most upset, for his pre­ 22 December-1 January cisely-made antenna wa perched on Wilkes _ _ 2-7 January top and reduced to scrap. Taylor Wilkes-Mawson 8-15 January had the same luck. His smaller Mawson 16-26 January "ham" mast rose at the second Mawson-Wilkes attempt after being strengthened by 27 January-26 February welding by BBI Edgar, only to have Wilkes 27-28 February the antenna demolished by winds. Wilkes-Hobart 1-9 March A trip to Casey Range was the only Hobart 10 March official journey last month, all trips Hobart-Macquarie Island over the sea ice being cancelled, 11-14 March owing to the possible unsafe nature Macquarie Island 15-16 March of the ice following breakouts during Macquarie Island-Melbourne higb winds. Lee, Buttervvorth (radio), 17-21 March Dyer, and Kizaki (scientist) went off Melbourne 22-23 March to study ice crystals. They had a good trip to the Range and the work was M.V. "THALA DAN" quickly done, but unfortunately the Melbourne 2-3 January snowtrac refused to start for the Melbourne-Durnont d'Urville return journey, despite all efforts. 4-10 January Eventually Butterworth radioed the Dumont d'Urville-Wilkes rescue party and another snowtrac 11-15 January hurried off to give a tow. All returned Wilkes 16-23 January safely. Wilkes-Melbourne Jones, in between overhauling a 24 January-4 February Caterpillar tractor and acting as a Melbourne 5 February kitchen slushy, has been Itburning it Melbourne-Dumont d'Urville up" on the ice on his motorbike, and 6-11 February now has another addict in Murray who ranges far and wide. Ellyard NEW STAMPS has been busy checking the effects A new series of Decimal Currency of atmospheric pressures on his cos­ Postage Stamps, depicting Australian mic counting devices vvhich may be Antarctic scenes, has been issued. distorting the results. The set of 10 stamps, each of a Activity increased around the field different design, range from 1 cent store as the big spring trip ap­ to $1.00, may be purchased from the proached. Cutcliffe comp1iled lists of Philatelic Sales Section of the P'ost­ food and equipment, Cook built master General's office in each state. beacons and Quinert is deep in maps Typical Antarctic multicolour and charts. Three of the seven-man scenes are depicted on each of the traverse party set out on a short one­ stamps, such as the ice-bound ship week trip to McNair Nunatak on on the 4c stamp, helicopter support September 8 and returned safely. By on the 20c stamp, and a meteoro­ the end of September preparations logical study on the 10c. The $1 were comp'lete for the spring trav­ multicolour scene sho\vs a dog team erse. backed by a parhelion phenomenon. December, 1966 ANTARCTI'C 393 ICE CAP STUDY, WILKES, ANTARCTICA by A. McLaren*

Wilkes is situated at the western around the triangle, and with a more edge of a medium-sized ice cap accurate determination of the sur­ whose bedrock is separatpd from the face and bedrock profiles. A com­ major Antarctic mass by the Van­ parison of the measured strain rates derford-Totten Glacier trough. The with the calculated stresses would area covered by the ice cap is give the flow parameters of the ice. roughly square (see Fig. 1), about Coupled with detailed accumulation 160 km. across. its north-south and measurements over the region, these east-west diagonals, with bedrock will enable a study of the mass rising to over 250 metres above sea budget and chancre of form of the level. The ice flow from the major ice cap to be made. Continental Plateau is diverted from In the autumn a party with two the area by the Vanderford and D4s and two Sno Tracs placed a Totten Glaciers allowing the ice cap, second set of stakes along the route known locally as lithe dome", to at distances of maximum intervisi­ exist unaffected by external pres­ bility, i.e., between 1.5 and 9 km. sures. but averaging about 4.5 km. All dis­ From an elevation of 800 m at the tances between stakes were meas­ trough in the south, the dome sur­ ured to an accuracy of better than face rises to 1,389 m. at its summit, one part in twenty-five thou~and then falls off to the sea in the north. using MRA2 tellurometers. HorIzon­ Due to its surface regularity, the tal and vertical angles between the sector between Capes Folger and stakes were measured from Wilkes Poinsett has been selected for a Station to the dome summit via Cape detailed long-term study of the laws Folger using a Wild T-2 theodolite. governing movement in an Antarctic Decreasing daylight and excessive ice cap. This has been the subject of shimmer caused by the sun's low the Australian National Antarctic altitude precluded theodolite work Research Expeditions' glaciological on the other two legs. programmes at Wilkes since 1964. 1964 FIELD WORK Three-arm rosette strain grids with In that year the location of the radii of 100 m. were established at dome summit was determined and the corners and third points of each a triangular route staked out con­ side of the triangle to detect the necting it with Capes Folger and components of strain in directions Poinsett. Crevassing along the coast other than along the route. A six-arm prevented the route approaching rosette with radii of over 1.5 km. was closer than 6 km. to the sea. Approxi­ established at the summit to obtain mate surface and bedrock profiles a more accurate picture of strain were calculated from barometric conditions at that point. and gravity measurements, taken The depth from ice surface to every mile along the route (ref. Mor­ bedrock was measured by seismic gan, P., 1966, unpubli hed). methods every 16 km. and, during a 1965 FIELD WORK later traverse, at the corners of The 1965 programme was con­ 16-km. squares within the triangle. cerned with the measurement, by This provided an accurate control repeated surveys, of the strain and for the bedrock profiles drawn from flow rates taken at short intervals gravity measurements of this and the preceding year. Snow accumulation measurements * Antarctic Division, Dept. of E~ternal Affairs, ~61~ourne, ANARE Glaciologlst at Wllkes, were taken every 1.6 km. along the route. 394 ANTARCTIC December, 1966

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During the summer of 1965-66 a be resurveyed in the summer of full survey of the stakes set out the 1966--67 and in future years. previous autumn was accomplished, again using the tellurometer MRA2s INSTRUMENT PERFORMANCE and T-2 theodolite. Better visibility Little trouble was experienced during this season, resulting from with any of the instruments used the higher sun, produced consider­ on the traverses, despite tempera­ ably faster progress, the traverse tures down to - 45°C. With muffs being carried out in only six weeks. supplied by the manufacturers, the All the strain grids and accumula­ warm-up time of the tellurometers tion markers were remeasured and was nev r greater than ten minutes, further stakes set out at the edge of or five minutes if they had been kept the crevassed area at Cape Poinsett. in a vehicle. However, it was found In the autumn of 1966, the line impossible to measure lines. longer from Cape Folger to the dome sum­ than 5 km. over flat surfaces using mit was again remeasured and an the standard 17-in. circular reflector, additional strain grid installed run­ due to the low signal strength ning 24 km. south-east and south­ received. For grazing shots of greater west of the summit to determine distance, a 48-in. reflector was used conditions on the southern slopes. at one end of the line. Thi was This, and the large triangle, are to found sufficient for all distances en- December, 1966 ANTARCTIC 395

counte ed. Power for the telluro­ E~T met rs was supplied by 12 V Nickel­ Cadmium batteries which gave a good performance in the cold. We are indebted to Mr. H. G. King, Libra­ A 100"m. invar tape, whose length rian, Scott Polar R search Institute, Cam­ bridge, for th~s account of the party on .boar,d was little affected by the tempera­ "Di covery" In Octob r to launch WIlson s ture range experien ed, was used to "Discovery Diary". - Ed. mea ur the arms of the rosette train grids. About 70 people accepted a joint invitation by the Directors of the CONCLUSIO'NS Blandford Press and the Scott Polar Preliminary calculations show that Research Institute to attend a party the strain rate of the ice at the dom on board "Discovery" to celebrate summit is about 2 to 3 X 10-4 m/m/ the publication of Dr. Edward A. yr., compared with 3 to 4X10-4 m/m/ Wilson's HDiscovery" Diary on Octo­ yr. at Cape Folger and up to 22 X ber 3. 4 10- m/m/yr. at Cape Poinsett. The It was a mild clear evening after flow rate 8 km. inland of Cape Folger a day of rain and "Discovery", flood­ is about 15 m/yr. and is over 125 m/ lit for the occasion, stood out like yr. near Cape Poinsett. The complete a sparkling jewel on the ink black . results of the 1964 and 1965 field riband of the Thames. Below decks programmes are undergoing analysis all had been given over to the party at the Department of Meteorology of - the wardroom, the mess and even the University of Melbourne. the tiny cabins which still bear the names of their occupants of over 60 MAWSON LEADER years ago. Most of the guests squeezed into the wardroom and the Mr. John C. Erskine of Griffith, atmosphere was more tropical than N.S.W., has been appointed leader at polar. What a night for an autograph Mawson for 1967. hunter though - the conversation Mr. Erskine has held man was almost drowned by the clang of enior engineering positions in polar medals! Sir Raymond Priest­ various parts of the world~ in­ ley, now the doyen of the Antarctic cluding Mala sia, Africa, and explorers, and "Bunny" Fuchs led England. Since 1953 he has been self­ the vanguard. Representing the past employed mainly in the civil engin­ generation of pioneers were Mrs. eering field and in developing a large Frank Debenharn, Mrs. Richard Eyre irrigation farm in the Riverina. He (Skelton,s daughter), Miss Vera served in the Royal Engineers and Hodgson and Father Jim Wilson, Commando Units of the Britis.h Army E.A.W.'s brother. But stealing most in World War 11 in the Middle East, of the limelight and very much still Sicily and Ital , rising to the rank representing and embodying Scott's of Major. first expedition were Jimmy Dell and Frank Plumley themselves, who REPSTAT emerged from a gruelling ordeal of pre sand B.B.C. interviewing eem­ Wilkes Replacement Station ingl unscathed. Repstat is to have another team of professional tradesmen, who will During the course of the evening erect more building 1 complete the speeches were made by Mr. Richard cov red walk-way, install the generat­ Harman, Director of the Blandford ing sets and \tviring. Piping for hot Press, who spoke of the diary as water heaters will be placed in posi­ tlthe major publishing event of the tion ready for the radiant heaters. year"; b Dr. Gordon Robin, Direc­ tor of S.P.R.I., who congratulated The team will have individual the editor, Mrs. Shirley (Miss Ann sleeping cubicles, and the mess and Savours), and spoke warml of the kitchen were going concerns last friendly and harmonious co-opera­ year. The recreation room will be in tion between the Institute and the use - if ever there is time for re­ publisher; and by Sir Vivian Fuchs, creation. who, comparing expedition tech- 396 ANTARCTI'C December. 1966 SPRING TRAVERSE FROM BASE ROI BAUDOUIN A six-man, three-month traverse party left the Belgian-Dutch base, Roi Baudouin, on September 25, led by T. van Autenboer, geologIst and leader of the wintering team. The tractor train comprised one PROGRESS heavy tractor drawing heavy sledges, three light vehicles (two of them Leaving the base for the Sor Ron­ carried on heavy sledges) and two dane mountains on September 25, dog teams with light sledges. The some of the dogs were harnessed up route followed led directly to the to the sledges \vhile others were left depot established previously in the free. central area of the Sor Rondane During the first three days visibil­ mountains. From here it was sched­ ity was very poor and the train ad­ uled to head first towards the east vanced on compass. The surface was and then, after refuelling at the same bad also, and speed was reduced to depot, towards the west. two or three kilometres per hour. On the fourth day the sun came out TRAVERSE PROGRAMME again and the first landmark was sighted, Romnes Peak. This was Glaciology: Determination of the reached on the 29th, after the train speed of flow of the glaciers from had been compelled to halt for the markers set up and their position vehicle-maintenance, and to repair a determined on the previous traverse. fault in the starter due to cold. Determination of the thickness of the glaciers by gravimetric measure.. On the evening of September 30 ments. Study and collection of sam­ the train reached Smal-egga, the men ples of particular phenomena. well pleased to have covered this Geology: Reconnaissance geology first leg of their journey, 200k.m., in of unexplored areas. Study of certain five days. Here they located the depot key problems in the mountain struc­ in its glorious framework of moun­ ture. tain grandeur. I t was barely snowed in, and the various mem.bers of the General: Surface meteorological team quickly organised their several observations. Collection of biological projects. specimens. Geomorphological obser­ vations. BACK TO THE DOGS ni(lues then and now, welcomed the The sno-cat proved too heavy and publication of this diary as an inspir­ cumbersome and it was decided to ation I/to the up-and-coming genera­ abandon it in favour of dog-teams tion of young explorers and and the light, easily handled snoiW­ scientists". . vehicles while crossing the areas of ice and crevasses. Work will com­ Thus passed a memorable evening mence with surveys and local mea­ in the annals of polar publishing. The following day, in Cambridge, surements. Then the earlier traverse came a delightful postscript. Jimmy route will be followed to the extreme Dell brought his wife and members eastern and western poin.tsof the of the family to the S.P.R.I. and mountains in order to re-position the spent the afternoon looking at the glaciological markers. books and manuscripts and having . The team at thi~ point was enjoy­ a yam with the staff. We recipro­ Ing fine weather wIth blue s.kies. The cated with a presentation copy of temli?era~ures recor~ed were: night, The Book duly signed by all of us. -35 C., day, -20 C. December, 1960 ANTARCTI'C 397

AT BASE Belgian-Dutch expeditions which be­ gan in 1964. For financial reasons the Maurice Doneux acted as Base Dutch Government has found it nec­ Leader in Van Autenboer's absence essary to cease its co"-operation with on the traverse. Belgium. Spring activity at the base began with a trip to the atmospheric-elec­ THE FUTURE? tricity station 8 k.m. from Roi Baudouin. Profile measurements Belgian Antarctic activities will, were made there with a proton mag­ however, continue during the tempor­ netomet r. One of thes profiles ary closure of Base Roi Boudouin, in crosses the junction of the floating the form of collaboration with an­ shelf on which the base is built and other country with which negotia­ the continental ice which rests on a tions are in train. "Magga Dan", after rock base. her return call at Cape Town, will carry out a prolonged oceanographi­ cal cruise in the Indian Ocean in PLANS FOR 1966-67 accordance with a programme drawn up by the Royal Institute of Natural SUMMER Sciences, in which 18 men will take part. 'IlMagga Dan" wil lreturn to The 24 men of he 1966-67 summer Antwerp about mid-April. party will leave Belgium i:r: Decem­ ber. The team comprIses the STAMPS Leader, 10 oceanographers, a zoolo.. gist, six other scientists ( 1 atmo­ The Belgian Post Office issued on October lOa series of three special spheric electricity, 2 photogram­ Antarctic postage stamps: metry, 3 geodesy-topography) and IF Emerald Green. Dog team and six men for logistic support. surveyor. Three oceanographers will embark 3F Violet. Adrien de Gerlache and on IlMagga Dan" on December 2 and the "Belgica". to carry out a programme as far as 6F Red Ochre. Weather balloon Cape Town. The remaining oceano­ and the IlMagga Dan". graphers and the other personnel will There is a surtax of SOc., 1.50 F. lea e Brussels on an Air Force plane and 3 F. respectively for expedition on December 27 and rejoin the ship funds. at Cape Town on December 30. IlMag­ ga Dan" is expected to reach King Leopold III Bay on January 30, 1967, (LATE NEWS) and to leave the Antarctic about February 6. SANAE 8 The summer programme hinges From November 28 to December around oceanography, photogram­ 22 the team for the coming year will metry, geodesy, glaciology and geo­ undergo a rigorous and intensive logy. Member of the 1966 wintering training spell at the South African team will take a full part in imple­ Military College. This course has menting this programme. been devised by the physical training experts of the South Mrican Army and the South African Federation BASE TO CLOSE DOVVN for Youth and Sport to prime the team for the arduous living condi­ After the summer programme, tions in the Antarctic. The course scientific activity at Base Roi Bau­ includes physical training, fire f~ght­ douin will be temporarily suspended ing cooking and lectures on varIOUS and the base will be evacuated. All aspects of antarctic conditions and scientific apparatus and the more living under those conditions. important technical plant will be This course was introduced last taken back to Belgium for servicing. ear and has proved to be most The 1966 Belgian-Dutch expedition valuable in building up an excellent which is completing. its wintering­ team spirit and an allvound im­ over is to be the last of the three provement in performances. 398 ANTARCTI'C December, 1966 Eighth Japanese Expedi ion e Out For Syowa ase JARE 8 was scheduled to leave Tokyo on December 1 on board the icebreaker HFuji" under the command of Captain Mitsutoshi Matsuura, who was second in command during the last expedition. The scientific party of 40 men will netism, meteorology, biology, gIaci­ be led by Dr. Torii, geochemist, who oIogy, oceanography, seismology, will also be the leader of the winter­ geomorphology, and human physi­ ing party consisting of 24 men. Dr. ology. Tetsuya Torii has spent several An oversnow traverse will be made months during the summer season late in 1967 from Syowa to the posi­ in the Dry Valley area since 1953 tion of about 45 0 E. and 75 0 S. and found a new mineral, "Antarc­ ticite". Deputy-leader Kou Kusunoki In terms of logistic support at the will lead the summer party of 16 station, the new vehicles and build­ men. Most of the summer party are ings which will be brought by the oceanographers, marine geophysi­ 8th JARE are: cists and radio scientists. 2 KD60 diesel oversnow ehicles The ailing schedule of the "Fuji" (about 7 tons each). is as follows: 2 KC 20 gasoline oversnow vehicles. 1 2TD20 6X6 cargo truck with Tokyo (Dec. 1, 1966)-Fremantle hydrocrane. (Dec. 16-22) - Syowa Station 1 T'oyota 2FQ15-C (~-ton carrier). (Jan. 6-Feb. 27, 1967) - Cape 1 mess hall (6 X 16 m.). Town (Mar. 8-14)-Colombo 1 aeronomy laboratory (6X23 m.). (Mar. 3D-Apr. 3) - Tokyo (Apr. 1 air traffic control shed (5.3 X 5.3 19). m.). 1 garage (10X10 m.). The aircraft on board the ship are 1 balloon inflation shelter (4 X 6 two Sikorsky S-61A helicopters and m.). a Bell 47GA helicopter. There are 35 officers, including 14 aviation officers, In all, including scientific equip­ and 147 men on board the ship. Be­ ment, 400 tons of cargo will be de­ sides, there are one engineer (civi­ livered by airlift. If the ice and lian, Maritime Self-defence Force), weather conditions are favourable 3 pressmen (2 writers and one TV for the ship's navigation, the ship cameraman), and two observer will tie up alongside the fast ice of scientists (Dr. Kiyoshi Kaneshima, Ongul Island, perhaps one or two professor of geochemistry, Ryukyu miles from the station. In that event, University, and Dr. WakefieId Dort, the t ansportation will be executed Jr., geologist at the University of by surface vehicles and sledges. Kansas, US.A.). During the whole voyage of the "Fuji" upper atmosphere physics, The oldest member of JARE VIII, geomagnetism, seismic profile, ocean­ Dr. Torii, is 48; the youngest (K. ography, gravity, meteorology, and Kanda) is 21; Dr. W. D'Ort (Univ. of hydrography programmes will be Kansas, U.S.A.) and Dr. K. Kane­ carried out. shima (Ryukyu Univ., Okinawa) are observers, and there are thsee press For the coming year, 1967-68, an men. estimate of expenditure is being pre­ pared for the government and the With the increase in the numbers final approval will, it is hoped, be of scientists at Syowa Station, the made by the Diet before the end of programme at the station will be this year. About 700 million en (£1 further expanded, and will continue equals about 1,000 yen) of expendi­ upper atmosph re physic , geomag- ture is required. The main objecti e December, 1966 ANTARCTI'C 399 for the 1967-68 season is the inland on November 14 carrying in addition traverse, if possible from Syowa to to her 36 officers and crew, 34 marine the Pole. Another is the preparation navigation cadets. They were on for the launching of a rocket for their way to the Antarctic for a observing the upper atmosphere. The circumnavigating cruise, sailing number of the wintering party at clockwise round the Antarctic Con­ Syowa will be increased to 30. The tinent. summer party will consist of 10 men. Master of the ship and leader of The mailing address of tiFuji" is the expedition is Captain K. Ozawa, as follows: assisted by Dr. Makato Ishino. The Wigmores Ltd., 7 Collie Street, P.O. tlUmitaka Maru" visited Wellington Box 228, Fremantle, W.A. to load provisions. Ellerman & Bucknall Ltd., P.O. Box 812, Cape Town. Information obtained during the Embassy of Japan, No. 10, Ward survey will be processed by the uni­ Place, Colombo 7, Ceylon. versity. It will be made available to all countries, including Russia, which The Department of Polar Research is Japan's biggest competitor in the is to move to a new home about whaling industry. November 15. The address will be: Kami-saginomiya, 5-27-28, Nakano­ Three \vhaling experts will main­ Ku, Tokyo, Japan. tain a constant daylight watch to count the whales and from their At the 11 th Pacific Science Con­ figures shore scientists will be able gress in September attended by to estimate the whale population. some 2,000 foreign scholars, a sym­ Researches will be made into many posium on Pacific-Antarctic Sciences branches of oceanic studies. There formed part of the geophysics divi­ are about a dozen experienced scien­ sion of the Congress. tists on board. The Tokyo University of Fisheries The Japan Association for the Ad­ has its origin in a Foundation of vancement of Science has awarded Fisheries established in 1889. It is the Prince Chichibu prize (in now a self-contained institute com­ memory of the Emperor's late bro­ prising three faculties and with ther) to the JARE 1 (1957-58) win­ chairs in 29 separate fields on the tering team, led by Dr. E. Nishibori. subject. AT SYOWA Mr. S. G. Brown, of the National Dr. A. Muto reported on October Institute of Oceanography, British 16 that his team at Syowa had been Museum, will assist Japanese speci­ carrying out their scheduled work alists in their oceanographic surveys. successfully. The large snow-car "Little is known about Antarctic KD 60-1 of nine tons with two fish stocks," said Mr. Brown. "Prac­ sledges, eight tons, was given a test tically no commercial fishing has run on October 1.....3 on the inland been done in this part of the world ice, and performed well. This vehicle because of the dIstances involved. has four beds and a big water tank. If we find evidence of good pros­ I t is the type of vehicle which will pects for profitable commercial be used on the projected long inland fishing, many countries will be journeys towards the South Pole by interested." JARE IX or X. "Umitaka Maru" is expected to return to Japan on March 11 next RES'EARCH SHIP IN year after calling at Buenos Aires and Fremantle. WELLINGTON A similar expedition will be under­ The 1,452-ton stem trawler ItUmi­ taken next year by three Japanese taka Maru", distant-water training whaling companies using a whale and research vessel of Tokyo Univer­ transport vessel. The ship, the sity of Fisheries, which left T'okyo ilChiyoda Maru", will call at Welling­ on October 15, arrived at Wellington ton in February. 400 ANTARCTI'C December, 1966 Outline of Chilean Research

[Portion of an article in the Chilean Chile was installed in the "Presidente press commemorating the.second an:­ Aguirre Cerda" Base on Deception niversary of the foundatIon of the Island, consisting of a suitable seis­ Chilean Antarctic Institute.-Ed.] mograph for registering local earth­ quakes of volcanic origin - which are very frequent there, a rare ex­ Chile, as an Antarctic country, has ception in Antarctica - and of ther­ been concerned from the beginning mographs of the sub-soil to measure in the exploration of and scientific the heat released by extinct vol­ knowledge about Antarctica; un­ canoes which at one time formed the doubtedly, the develop'ment of its very special structure of this island. activities has had to remain in rela­ tion to the material and human re­ The results obtained during this sources of the country. expeditio'n have given rise to various scientific publications that the Insti­ The first attempts at scientific re'" tute has had printed and distributed search in our Southern T'erritory widely throughout specialised circles were carried ,out from 19'47 and were both at home and overseas. pursued further during the IGY, when our country constructed its During the season just past (1965­ first Antarctic base for purely scien­ 66 ), once again 10 scientists took tific purposes. Unfortunately, the part under the auspices of the Chil­ HRisopatron" Base was burnt down ean Antarctic Institute, engaged this in its first year, cutting short the time in ecology, in a census of pinni­ hopes of many scientists. pedia, lichenology, vulcanology and seismology. The tasks relating to In 1961 the second stage of scien:­ ecology and lichenology have as their tific research commenced, with the object to study in a qualitative and transfer of the "Presidente Gabriel quantitative manner the fauna of Gonzalez Videla" Base to the Univer­ terrestrial invertebrates and the sity of Chile, to develop a plan of lichen associations which are so scientific activities in meteorology, peculiar to Antarctica, and which geornagnetisrn, glaciology, seismo­ tasks are directed towards compiling logy and polar medicine. This base a complete bio"'geographical sequence operated as a scientific centre until throughout the whole country, in­ 1964, when the Chilean Antarctic In­ cluding its Antarctic Territory. Apart stitute commenced its activities. from the purely academic interest, this research tends to explore the The scientific work carried out by food-producing possibilities of the the organisation during its first two Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic soil and years, whilst relatively modest be­ the possible use of certain lichens cause of insufficient funds, has re­ for medicinal purposes. The census presented a great step forward be­ of p'innipedia, which was started dur­ cause of the organised and central­ ing the tenure of the last Antarctic ised way in which it has been under­ Commission, is endeavouring to ob­ taken. tain a complete record of the fauna of seals, sea-elephants, sea-leopards During the 13th Chilean Antarctic and sea-lions whicp. inhabit O"Higgins Expedition (1964-65), for the first Land (Antarctic Peninsula), the ad­ time 10 scientists under contract to jacent islands and the surrounding the Chilean Antarctic Institute car­ seas, for the purpose of considering ried out an extensive working plan adequate p,rotection measures which in the fields of marine biology, eco­ will ensure their possible future ex­ logy, geomorphology, crystallography ploitation. This is the first time that and seismology. During this season, a census of Antarctic fauna has been the first vulcanological station in initiated on a large scale, and during Decem ber, 1966 ANTARCTI'C 401 the last season the South Shetlands of the upper atmosphere. To achieve Islands were thoroughly examined, this, a joint effort with the universi­ thanks to the excellent support given ties of the country and logistic sup­ by Na y helicopters. port which can be provided in com­ bined form by the three branches of The study of caenozoic volcanism the Armed Forces will be nec ssary. carried out in the South Shetlands Whilst it is certain that this enter­ will clarify in part the geological prise represents an enormou eco­ development of this group of islands, nomic effort from the technic 1 and whilst it is linked to the other petro­ human point of view, it is es ential graphic regions which have been de­ that Chile should have an inland base termined along the length of Chile. on the continent so that she can Conjointly with the geo-morphologi­ carry out truly novel research pro­ cal studies finalised during the j ects at that point, whose results 1964-65 season, the geological re­ will raise our country to the position search which was carried out which it should occupy among Ant­ in the South Shetland Islands will arctic nations. make it possible to present a general scheme of the present structure and of the geological history of this in­ COMMEMORATION teresting chain of sub-Antarctic islands. The newspaper ttEl Mercurio" re­ called on August 30 that it was fifty Finally, the seismological tasks car­ years before, on August 30, 1916, that ried out during the last expedition the Chilean vessel ttYelcho", com­ had as their object to ensure the suc­ manded by Piloto 20 Luis A. Pardo, cess of seismological studies in the rescued the members of Sir Ernest ttO'Higgins" and ttpedro Aguirre Shackleton's exp dition on Elephant Cerda" locations which are designed Island. to study regional and local seismi­ city, as well as planning future ex­ In order to commemorate the jubi­ tensions. In passlllg, it is interesting lee of this rescue exploit, the Chilean to point out that in spite of the National Library organised a cere­ aseismic character of the Antarctic mony in the auditorium of the Lib­ Continent, the seismological studies rary on September 6, when Admiral which have been carried out there (R) Senor Rafael Santibanez deliv­ are of special importance, both be­ ered a historical and geographical cause of it being surrounded by oration. This was followed by the active seismic arcs, as well as be­ opening of a commemorative xhibi­ cause of the observations regarding tion, in which besides an eno mous the Earth's crust which can be de­ scale model of O'Higgins Lan and duced from these records. numerous maps, there was a display of books, diaries, document, por­ On attaining its second anniver­ traits and relics associated with sary following its official inaugura­ Piloto Pardo and his expeditio . tion, the Chilean Antarctic Institute is in a state of full preparation for the scientific activities to be carried out during the next Antarctic Ex­ THOSE RARE ISSUES pedition, but at the same time, future We would be greatly indebted to plans are being prepared for ambi­ any reader who could let u have tious penetration n10ves towards the copies of the issues which are lmost South Po1e. or completely out of print. See inside In effect, one of the goals of the back cover. Chilean Antarctic Institute consists A very few copies of Vol. 3 no. 5 of the installation of a scientific base (March 1963) have come to hand. located to the south of latitud 72° Any reader whose set is complete in O'Higgins Land, and which would except for that issue may have a fundamentally be concerned with copy until the extremely limit d up­ geophysical re earch and the physic ply is exhau ted: price 5/-. 402 ANTARCTI'C December, 1966 NEW BRITISH BASE TO BE BUILT AT HALLEY BAY After ten years of occupancy, the British Antarctic Survey base on the lc Shelf of Coats Land, east of the Weddell Sea, is to be replaced by a new station.

The Halley Bay base was estab­ grillage beams are then laid on this lished in January 1956 on the Brunt carpet. The hut construction is of Ice Shelf 0 Antarctica (lat. 75° 31' S., welded steel portal arches linked b~7 long. 26° 36' W.). As the nearest rock timber rails and purlins. This struc­ outcrops a e 200 miles inland it was ture is clad 0 erall with p efabr-~­ necessary to build it on the snow cated insulated panels to form the surface of the ice shelf. The original roof, walls and floor. Each pane. huts are now 50 ft. below the sur­ measures 8 ft. wide by 10ft. high by face, and as the ice has moved 3 Y2 3 in. thick and is filled with glass miles seaward since 1956, they have wool. been subjected to pressure from all Since the buildino-s will rapidly directions, have become deformed, become buried no windows are in­ and in some places have been cluded in the design. A ceiling is pro­ crushed. Moreover, a crack now vided at 7 ft. 6 in. high, with storage extends from the ice edge to the space in the loft above. The roof is base-site, so there is the possibility pitched to ensure good drainage of that the whole area, base and all, melt water and is waterproofed bv will eventually calve off as one large a complete covering of Isobutyle berg. The base has been added to sheeting. piecemeal over the last ten years, Access to each building will be ]-­ and the buildings are consequently extendible shafts at each end. These on different levels, linked by a net­ shafts will also be the points work of tunnels and ladders. The entry for all services, including chim­ difficulty of maintaining such a base neys, ventilation, snow chutes for and the att ndant hazards of fire and water tanks, aerial feeders and elec­ poor ventilation, as well as the pre­ trical supplies. Heating will be bv cariousnes of the present site, has electrical fan heaters which will made it n cessary to build an en­ ensure a good circulation of warm tirely new base three miles further air. Fresh cool air will be introduced inland. All the main buildings will be in controlled doses through the erected in 1967, thus they will start access shafts and tunnels. life on the same level. THE BUILDINGS The new base will consist of seven Of the seven buildings two will be building spaced 20 ft. apart in pairs dormitories for a total of 40 men. down a entral tunnel, and the Each dormitory will be divided into accumulation of snow between them two-man cubicles containing two-tier will provide a natural fir -break. bunks, and will have its own wash­ Each building is 72 ft. by 19 ft. by room and drying room. The third 13 ft. high. The construction and size building; will be allocated to the of each is identical throughout, to lounge/recreation room, base office ensure swift simple erection. This and radio room, and the fourth also simplified the manufacture and building will house the kitch nand enabled the maxinlum use to be dining room, an anthracite stove made of prefabricated techniques. being used for cooking. The found tion are formed by a The fifth building will house two carpet of xpanded and corrugated 100 kw. Morrison diesel generators, metal on the sno surface. The main but the engine radiators will be re- December, 1966 ANTARCTI'C 403 motely mounted in the tractor gar­ triangulation scheme to that of the age in an effort to prevent over­ Loubet Coast. (The Loubet Coast heating. Bulk fuel will be supplied base was occupied from February, from a 5,000-gallon inflatable rubber 1956, to April, 1959.) pillow tank which will lie inside a In the Tottan Mountains, angular corrugated steel tunnel alongside the observations and tellurometer trav­ generator shed. The sixth buildinp.: erses were carried out in the central will be the tractor garage and base and eastern ranges of the Heime.. workshop. The seventh will be the frontfjella. One peak of the Milorg­ scientific block containing the labor­ knausane in Dronning Maud Land atories and general working space. was occupied in order to link the completed Heimefrontfjella survey BIG WORK FORCE to that of the Norwegian-British­ Even in a good ice year it is only Swedish Expedition (1949:...52) in possible for ships other than ice­ Dronning Maud Land. Nunataks in breakers to stay at Halley Bay for Cl the Milorgknausane were surveyed. maximum of three weeks} so two The projected programme for survey shins - the R.R.S. uJohn Biscoe" and in the Vestfjella was abandoned after M.V. liPerla Dan" - will go there this year (1966-67) to provide the maxi­ the crevasse accident in 1965 (see mum number of workers over the December, 1965, IIAntarctic"), when critical relief period. Twelve three men were lost together with builders. with a work force of 80 some of the results of survey work in men, will erect as many buildings as the eastern Heimefrontfjella. It was possible before the ships depart, and necessary to repeat some of the miss­ eight builders will then continue ing observations and these were com­ work throughout the winter with the pleted by the end of the season. help of the base personnel. It should In the Cape Kater area, the Royal be possible to continue the scientific Naval Antarctic Survey Party from programmes without interruption. H.M.S. ttprotector" carried out a re· The base will be completed in 1967­ connaissance in preparation for link­ 68 with the construction of various ing the existing triangulation in, the outbuildings, such as the non-mag­ Gerlache Strait to that of the Trinity netic huts, ionospheric hut and Peninsula (northern Antarctic Penin­ balloon shed. The men will transfer sula) and Joinville Island. to the new base when convenient, but changeover will not be com­ GEOLOGY pleted until mid-1968. The old base will then be abandoned. Geologists from Stonington Island worked in the north of Marguer~te FIELD WORK 1965-66 Bay and mapped most of Horseshoe SUMMARY OF OPERATIONS Island in detail. Geological recon­ Topographical survey was carried naissance was also continued on the out in the Cape Kater area in the east coast of Alexander Island south northern part of the Antarctic Penin­ of 71°S., extending the work carried sula, on Adelaide Island, in the vicin­ out in previous years. On the east ity of Stonington Island, Marguerite coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Bay and in the Tottan Mountains southern part of Mobiloil Inlet was east of Halley Bay. On Adelaide mapped and important fossil collec­ Island, measurenlent of heights by tions made. barometer on the Piedmont Plateau In the Heimfrontfjella, the north­ was continued, but was hindered by eastern block was mapped and found bad weather and loss of the Lansing to be formed of highly metamor­ Snowplane. In the Stonington area, phosed Basement Complex rocks, ex­ a local triangulation scheme incor­ cept for the north-eastern end where porating an existing survey for sediments and volcanic rocks occur. 1:50,000 mapping was reconnoitred In the 1965-66 summer, geologists and partially observed. A reconnais­ also worked on raised beaches and sance traverse was made over the associated features in the South Shet­ Heim and Antevs Glaciers (67°20'S., lands, and carried out a reconnais­ 66°48'W.), to link the Marguerite Bay sance of Marguerite Bay and other 404 ANTARCTI'C December, 1966

localities on the west side of the bottom surfaces of a glacier and ice peninsula. sheet. Trial flights in the Arctic have proved extremely successful, and a great advance over the old slow and OTHER SCIENCES laborious method of seismic shooting At Halley Bay, an ice~deformation which only gave a discontinuous was begun on the Brunt Ice Shelf. series of measurements. A continuous line of markers and strain-stake networks was set up be­ RESCUE MiSSION tween Halley Bay and the inland ice sheet, and the line was surveyed and When R.R.S. HShackleton" was at levelled by theodolite. Surface ac­ Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands cumulation studies were continued. in October on her first southern voy­ C'omprehensive programmes of age of the season, an emergency call geophysics were continued at Halley was received from Deception Island. Bay and the Argentine Islands. At A diesel mechanic of the wintering Halley Bay, installation of a new all­ party at the British Argentine Islands sky camera has allowed the old one base had been taken ill and flown by to be used for experimental colour B.A.S. Otter to Deception Island, records. Biological work has con­ where he was most of his time at the tinued at Signy Island in the South Argentine Base Primero de Mayo in Orkneys and medical research at Hal­ the care of an Argentine civilian doc­ ley Bay. tor. HShackleton" spent a mere two Six stations were again manned hours at Port Stanley instead of the throughout the 1966 winter: Adelaide usual several days. On the way to Island, the Argentine Islands, Decep­ Deception more ice than expected tion Island, Halley Bay, Signy Island was encountered. The sick man was and Stonington Island. The wintering improving wnen she arrived, but he party totalled 81 men. was taken to Punta Arenas in the Magellan Strait for hospital treat­ ment. He is reported as Hmaking THE COMING SEASON good progress".

The new season commenced with UNUSUAL SIGHTING the sailing from Southampton of R.R.S. HShackleton" on October 4 On November 5, when 60 miles and R.R.S. HJohn Biscoe" on October north of King George Island, the 25. HShackleton" proceeded south to HShackleton" sighted a leopard seal Deception Island to take off a man. and pup on a floe. The pup's weight Fortunately, ice conditions were fav­ was estimated as 120 to 150 pounds. ourable and the ship managed to get in on November 7, and then sailed immediately for Punta Arenas. THE STONINGTON ISLAND Among the passengers on boa d the TRAGEDY HBiscoe" is the glaciologist, Dr. We now have some more details Charles Swithinbank.1 who was a about the tragic loss of Tom Allan member of the Norwegian-British­ and John Noel, from Stonington Swedish Expedition and later worked Island, which was reported in the with the Americans on the Ross Ice September issue. Sir Vivian Fuchs., Shelf, wintering at McMurdo and Director of the British Antarctic also with the Russians at Mirny. He Survey, writes: will be working with an assistant in HThe camp site was examined in t~e sou~h-westernpart of the Antarc­ detail and it was revealed that they tIC. Pemnsula, and will carry out a had been living in an excavated cave serIes of survey flights in the Survey's 8 ft. in diameter. Neither the main Otter aircraft, using a new radio­ tent nor the emergency tent had been echo sounder developed at the Scott erected. The sledges had been un­ Polar Research Institute. With this loaded and the boxes stacked to form apparatus it is possible to obtain a a windbreak. The cave had been dug continuous profile from th top and near to, and partly beneath one December. 1966 ANTARCTI'C 405 sledge, the top being 1Y2 ft. beneath NOT VANDALISM -the original surface. When found, ~nother 5 ft. of snow had formed [A New Zealander who is in touch above the sledge and this was. so with events in the Antarctic P'enin­ hard packed by the wind that it took sula area has suggested that a wrong four men two days to dig it out. impression might be given by the report in our March issue of ttvan­ lilnside the cave were their sleep­ dalism" at the Admiralty Bay hut ing bags, primus stove, fuel and of the British Antarcti(: Survey. We rations, besides personal equipment. have therefore made enquiries and I t is therefore clear that being unable have received a first-hand report to erect a tent in the blizzard which which throws a different light on the had arisen, the men, quite correctly, events to which the original Press found protection beneath the surface. report referred.-Ed.] liOn the surface the dogs will have been continually buried by snow, and The Admiralty Bay base was closed being attached to their traces will in a hurry in the ~961-62 summer by have needed to be dug out an.d the 11 John Biscoe". A few days later brought to the surface every few lIShackleton" was sent to make sure hours. This is the normal practice in. the hut was properly closed. such conditions and the men will lIShackleton returned the following have taken turns at dOling this. One year and found that the hut was team was found dead on the surface, already in poor condition, with bed­ while the second team lay buried, ding, etc., very damp. In this area which indicates that this work was there is rain in summer, and the hut going on. Allan was found fully is on low-lying swampy groun,d. Fol­ dressed, with a shovel beside him, lowing alarming reports, "Shackle­ 100 yards from the camp site, and ton" again visited the hut in 1965-66 it seems probable that in going to dig and found that it was "in a mess" up the second team he missed his through dampness and the ravages of way in the dark and the driving wind. A generator was got going, the snow. He would then have wandered hut was cleaned up and more roofing searching for the entrance to the put on. A small Argentine party had cave. evidently used the hut during one "Meanwhile Noel, alarmed at the summer but, says our informant, failure of Allan to return, must have "probably left it far better than they gone to the entrance and stood shout­ found it". There was no evidence of ing in an effort to guide him back. any vandalism by anybody, and no Noel was found with his head and windows, doors or ventilators were shoulders above the surface and his open or damaged. legs in the tunnel entrance to the cave: he must have remained at his post for a long time - until becom­ RICHARD BROOKE ing exhausted with his effort, and with the constant noise and buffeting Richard Brooke, who as a young Royal Navy Lieutenant was 0 Je of of the high winds blowing around the two Englishmen who wintered him, he fell into a sleep from which at Scott Base in Hillary's team in he did not wake. 1957, has been appointed Head of liThe rescue party sent out from the Administration of the Moun­ base brought the bodies back to taineering Association, one of the Stonington Island, where they have most responsible mountaineering been buried on a promontory over­ appointments in Britain. looking Marguerite Bay." He will be remembered as a lead­ Have you B·QUND your ing participant in the preliminary trail-finding sledge journeys in Janu­ Volume 3 ary 1957, and for his leadership of with the INDEX available? the northern party which wor ed in (See !Dec. 1965 issue, p. 215) the mountains west of McMurdo Sound in early 1958. 406 ANTARCTI"C Decem ber. 1966 SOVIET PLANS FOR TWELFTH NTARCTIC EXPEDITION "Spring is coming to the ice-clad continent. The sun is shining and the temperature rising ... only -50°C. at Vostok Station."

That wa how Yu. A. Habarov, The Soviet technical and scientific Director of the Soviet Arctic and base in Enderby Land continues to Antarctic Institute, explained to a grow steadily with its centre in "Pravda" correspondent on October Molodezhnaya, which looks more 20 why the 11 th Soviet expedition like a "capital" every day. would shortly be returning to Rus­ sia, and the 12th expedition would The scientists will keep in mind be setting out for the Antarctic. the needs of Soviet whalers oper­ ating in Antarctic waters. The latter will be kept informed by radio from WINTERING Mirny of hydro-meteorological con­ ditions. Wintering at Mirny have been 67 men, comprising in addition to the leader 27 scientists, 10 radio opera­ LONG TREK PLANNED tors, 3 pilots, 13 mechanical en­ gineers, 8 employees in the mechani­ During this coming summer an cal engineering shop, 1 quarter­ expedition will be undertaken from master, 3 cooks and 1 accountant. Molodezhnaya into the interior of the continent towards the Hwhite At Novolazarevskaya have been 14 spot", which extends southwards men, 9 scientists, 1 radio operator, from the coast of Queen ~.1aud Land. 3 mechanical engineers and a cook. Two sledges and a tractor will be employed on this 3,000-km. trip, The Molodezhnaya team of 42 com­ which will take a course from Ala­ prised 20 scientists, 15 carpenters, sheev Bay towards the Pole of Rela­ 2 radio operators, 2 cooks and 3 tive Inaccessibility. From here the mechanical engineers. party will proceed to Novolazarev­ The 12th Expedition will carry on skaya Station in the Schirmacher with the ork initiated by previous Oasis. Glaciological, geophysical, expedition along the coast of the seismic and gravimetric studies will Southern Ocean and in the inland be undertaken during the trip and regions of the continent. The follow­ measurements will be taken for the ing fields will be covered: aero­ first time of the thickness of the ice meteorolo y, geophysic , glaciology, cover in this area. geology, hydrology, biology, trans­ mission of radio waves and a.cclima­ A party of geologists will set out tisation of man to polar conditions. from Alasheev Bay for the inland areas of Antarctica to study geo­ Important work will be carried logical and geographical phenomena out in Enderby Land and Queen in the central mountains of Queen Maud Land. About 80 members will Maud Land, which cover several tens winter ov r at Molodezhnaya and of thousands of square kilometres. Novolazarevskaya stations. Hydro­ The party of geologists under the graphic research will continue in and direction of Professors M. Ravic and around Alasheev Bay under the D. Solovyev, will be assisted by direction of V. Maltsev, a scientist several aircraft belonging to I( Aero­ and memb r of six previous expedi­ flot", which will enable them to tions. The esulting data will be used carry out hundreds of landings to improv existing oceanographic which would be impossible other­ maps and compile new ones. wise. They will vi it the Sor Rondane December, 1966 ANTARCTIC 407

Mountains, Yamato, Voltat, etc. The does not pile up against the houses, expedition will end in No olazare ­ they liave been built on piles risin skaya. 1.5 m. above the ground. The unusual More than 300 scientists, seamen, 11 filling" of each individual panel pilots, tractor drivers and builders (there is a layer of foam plastic will take part in the new expedition. between two sheets of aluminium) The head of the expedition will be keeps the heat in. a polar eteran, V. Gerbovic. In charge of the air party will be an A RADIO REPORT experienced pilot, L. Kluyev. A geog­ L. Dubrovin, Deputy Leader of the rapher, P. Senko, who has spent 11 th Expedition, reported by radio three winters in Antarctic will take on October 6: charge of all seasonal work of the "V. Tripolnikov has a very interest­ 12th expedition. ing job. By means of seismic equip­ The "Ob" will be the first vessel to ment he studies the oscillations of reach the Antarctic coast. It will fast ice in the Davis Sea. Despite the have over 100 members on board, width of the ice belt which reaches together with several thousand tons out 600 km. from the Pravda Coast, of cargo and goods. These include the fast ice in the Mirny region ex­ tractors and snow-cats, aircraft, the periences constantly noticeable oscil­ first aluminium house for Molodezh­ lations. These are caused by the naya Station, scientific equipment, swell and the waves originating pro isions and arious other things. around some 0 erturned iceberg or The remainder of the expedition will a crumbling ice barrier. be flown in January from Moscow to "Soviet scientists continue to col­ Australia. From Fremantle they ill laborate with members of other be taken to Antarctica on board the foreign Antarctic expeditions. Closest "Ob". collaboration exists between our scientists and our Australian neigh­ As in previous expeditions, a num­ bours at Mawson and Wilkes, the ber of foreign scientists will take members of the Belgian-Dutch Ex­ part in the new expedition. pedition and the Japanese polar workers. NEW MODEL HOUSES tlTaking part in our expedition are scientists from Poland, Hungary and This year Antarctic scientists will the D.S.A., while our geologist, L. be moving into new aluminimum Klimov, is working at McMurdo houses. The construction of these Station." has been undertaken by the Strel­ ninsk shipyards. This is the first time polar houses have been constructed STOCK IN HAND not of bakelised plywood, but ot During the 1965-66 summer the aluminium panels. Eleventh Soviet expedition estab­ Aluminium, the experts say, can lished stocks for two to three years tand up to ice pressures. The most at the Soviet Antarctic stations. At important thing about it though, is Mirny four reservoirs with a total that !t is much lighter than materials capacity of about 4,000 cubic metres prt::vIously used. A panel of Arbolite were constructed and filled with die­ weIghs 3.5 tons, but an aluminium sel oil, aviation petrol and kerosene. panel of the same size weighs in all At Molodezhnaya eight reservoirs 215 kg. Aluminium houses are also with a total capacity of more than more easily assembled. 6,000 cubic metres were constructed and stocked. This summer the first two alumi­ The tanker "Frederic Engels" dis­ nium houses will come into use. charged approximately 10,000 tons of Polar workers will be comfortable petroleum products at the two bases. in the large light rooms. The size of The tanker sailed from Batum on one of these new buildings,is fairly January 31, was in the Antarctic lar:ge : length - 25 m., width - 9 m., from February 27 to March 23 and heIght - 5 m. Twenty men can easH returned to Tuapse in the Black Sea be accommodated. So that snow on April 19. 408 ANTARCTI'C December. 1966

NEW POLAR SHIP T:DIE ETE~R\ The designing of a big re earch ship fit for navigation in austere P1\.'SJ . polar conditions has begun in Lenin­ grad. The new ship will be able to A. K. JACK make long trips to the southern ocean. Its solid hull and big power plant will enable the vessel to break An Australian physicist who was through ice on the approaches to stranded in Antarctica for almost the shores of Antarctica. It can also two years during Shackleton's 1914­ be used in the Arctic regions. 17 trans-Antarctic expedition died in Twenty laboratories, to be set up Melbourne on September 26, aged 8I. on board the ship, will ensure the He was Andrew Keith Jack, of fulfilment of a complex of research Caulfield, who later became head of in oceanology, geophysics and aero­ the munitions establishment in the meteorology. The ship will be able Department of Supply. to take a helicopter on board and a After taking his B.Sc. in 1912 and special 11 shaft" in the hull will enable his master's degree two years later scientists to use oceanographic in­ while science master at Dookie Agri­ struments. cultural College, Mr. Jack sailed in the "Aurora", one of the expedition's MINERALS? ships, to McMurdo Sound. Antarctica has promising mineral In May, 1915, the ship, on which resources, including gold and dia­ the party intended to winter at Cape monds, according to Yevgeny Tol­ Evans, was blown out to sea before stikov, a prominent Soviet Polar it could land stores or equipment. research scientist. Ten men, including Jack, left be­ Writing in "Pravda" on the newly­ hind, had to exist on the equipment completed Soviet Atlas of Antarctica, a.nd stores left by previous expedi­ he said the frozen continent's other tIons. Three of the party were to die main mineral resources were beryl­ before help came. lium, mica rock crystal, graphite and radioactive materials, the Soviet During the long wait, Keith Jack news agency, Tass, reported on Sep­ acted as meteorologist. He was ex­ tember 25. tremely painstaking and conscien­ tious, neat and precise in all he did, and popular with his companions. FIRE Again a fire is reported at one of In March, 1916, the 11 Aurora", the South African bases, this time which had become ice-bound, at SANAE. The fire broke out in escaped from the ice far to the north the night of November 9, in the of Dates Land. The Aurora Antarctic sub-station near the main base. For­ relief expedition was organised and tunately it was nothing serious and picked up the seven survivors from no injuries were sustained. Cape Evans in January, 1917. On his return to Melbourne, Mr. .z. ANTARCTIC VETERA Jack volunteered for the AIF} but ENGAGE'D was seconded to the munition estab­ Congratulations to Arnold Heine, lishment at Maribyrnong. whose engagement to Jan Hard­ Mr. Jack was a fellow of the Insti­ wicke of Soil Bureau, D.S.I.R.. has tute of Chemistry and a fellow of the just been announced. Arnold was at Royal Australasian Chemical Insti­ Scott Base in 1956, and the latest tute. of his ten sojourns in the Ant~ctic -all working ones including a win­ He is survived by his wife and a tering over-was this spring, shorter daughter. than usual because of an operation only a few weeks earlier. Our At the time of his death he was readers will join us in hearty con­ still usin~ the watch which Shackle­ gratulations to the happy pair. ton gave him after the expedition. Decem ber. 1966 ANTARCTI'C 409 Argentine Antarctic Programme for 1966-1967 The Argentine Antarctic Institute has forwarded us the tentative programme for scientific and logistic operations at the Argentine bases during the 1966-67 summer and the 1967 winter. A summary follows: The organisations involved, in graphic Service will inspect all the addition to the Institute itself, are lighthouses, beacons and signal the Naval Hydrographic Service, the lights installed by Argentina in the Naval Antarctic Group, and the Antarctic. O'ceanographic work will Argentine Army and Air Force. be continued in Drake Strait and the Weddell Sea. At the Naval base Orcadas (Ork­ ANTARCTIC INSTITUTE ney Islands) an extensive pro­ The summer party, CAVIAA (Cam­ gramme in meteorology, aurora, pana Antarctica de Verano del Insti­ geomagnetism, glaciology, biology tuto Antarctico Argentino), will com­ (birds and mammals) and snow prise Institute personnel and others studies will be undertaken. At Decp­ who will be engaged on maintenance tion Island the Service will carry out work at Almirante Brown Base and research in meteorology, aurora, on completing the erection of a new ionosphere, glaciology, biology and auroral tower at General Belgrano. snow research. At Hope Bay (Esper­ The winter team (CINIAA) will be anza) the main work will be in composed of Institute personnel. marine biology (paleo-botany and In addition to the stations men­ paleo-zoology) and the collection of tioned above, the Institute will be fossils for later classification and responsible for the scientific pro­ study. grammes at Deception Island and Puerto Paraiso, as well as on the NEW STATION icebreaker "General San Martin" A new base is to be established on and the transport "Bahia Aguirre". Dundee Island, the aero-naval station The programmes include auroral "Petrel". Here, work will be under­ photography at General Belgrano, a taken to determine the practicability continuous record of the nuclear of constructing a landing strip on component of cosmic rays on a solid ground on the island. north-south profile on board the "General San Martin", ichthyologi­ ANTARCTIC NAVAL cal studies and the collection of bio­ logical specimens at Puerto Paraiso, GROUP the collection of samples for analysis Prior to the commencement of the of radioactivity at Deception Island, summer season, in the second fort­ limological, geological and geo­ night of November, with the object chemical studies on the lakes of of gaining information on th state Deception I land, and sea-ice studies of the ice as an aid to ship move­ from ships and aircraft. ments, the aero-naval group was to At Almirante Brown a ramp is to carry out exploratory flights in the be constructed for the launch Mar de la Flota area. The sea-going "Kolenten". tug A.R.A. "Comandante General Irigoyen" from Ushuaia was to un­ dertake surface observations in the NAVAL HYDROGRAPHIC same area. When the hips rendez­ SERVICE vous in the operational area, recon­ naissance flights were to be made as In addition to the relief of the circumstances requir d, and prepar­ personnel at Deception Island and ations made to evacuate the base the Orkney Islands, the Na al H dro- by air if this hould prove neces ar . 410 ANTARCTIC December, 1966

A.R.A. uBahia Aguirre" ill relieve tically every issue has had some and re-provision the bases In the helpful advice to cover collectors on Antarctic Peninsula area and take in obtaining philatelic covers from Ant­ material for building the new arctic ships and bases and collectors UPetrel" station. will miss Herr Dill's encyclopaedic A.R.A. tlGeneral San Martin" will knowledge of the tlstamp" world. relieve Orcados Base and then pro­ We reprint from a recent issue ceed to the Weddell Sea to relieve (without any alteration of the Eng­ the General Belgrano and Jose M. lish) some general ad ice to novice Sobral Bas s before returning to collectors, including those who wish Ushuaia. She will then attempt a to obtain stamped envelope from record penetration of the Weddell the Antarctic. Sea before completing the work of relief, re-provisioning and inspection, "Printed Matters Postal Rates are and the transport home of the work­ allowed only, if a printed clipping is ing parties. in a non-sealed cover; blank car­ Operations will conclude with the toons do not be a IPrinted matter', return to Buenos Aires in the first nor a cover within nothing. If you fortnight of March, 1967. have to forward covers for post­ marks, ship mail, airmail, which are to be mailed as lprinted matters', ARMY OPERATIONS please enclose in each any piece of The Army will be responsible for printed maper. Please do not axpect, re-provisioning Esperanza, General that your correspondents or the ship' Belgrano and Sobral Bases. pursers or airlines' clerks will do that for you. If no printed paper in AIR FORCE an envelope, you risk the loose of The Air Force will relieve and re­ your covers: According to the rules provision Teniente Matienzo Base. of the Universal Postal Union, covers Air photography and reconnaissance which cannot be considered as investigations will be carried out of lprinted matters', may not be for­ new areas for landing strips for warded to the addressee and, if there Bea er, Otter and newer-type air­ would not be on them the sender's craft. addre s, they could not be ret­ RESTORATION urned". The stone hut at Hope Bay on the Antarctic Peninsula built and occu­ ANTARCTIC ASSOCIATION pied throughout the 1903 winter by The fourth Annual Dinner of the three men, Gunnar Andersson, Duse South African Antarctic Associatio and Grund n, of the Nordensk.iold was held in Pretoria on June 4. To expedition of 1901-3, marooned when honour the request by SCAR that the U Antarctic" ank, has been al­ 1966 be regarded as Antarctic Year most compl tely rebuilt by an Argen­ to commemorate ten years of inter­ tine party. national co-operation In the Antarc­ The large hut on Paulet Island tic, representatives were pre ent in which an ,ther marooned party of from the United State, the United six men from the same expedition Kingdom, Belgium, Australia, Japan also winter d in 1903 is still there and France. Highlights of the even­ but minus a roof. Some relics of the ing were the lively and stimulating ill-fated Swedish expedition still peech by Professor J. A. Gledhill remain. referred to below, and the presenta­ tion to Mr. Marten du Preez of the Antarctic Medal. ADVICE FO'R COVER Also to commemorate the decade, COLLECTORS a large-scale exhibition under the We regret to report that "Dill auspices of the Association was Reports the News", the informative arranged for October 11-14 in Pre­ weekly news-sheet which has been toria. Lectures were given and a issued for several years by Joachim dinner held in Johannesburg. Trans­ Dill of West Germany, ceased publi­ port was arranged for school chil­ cation at the end of No ember. Prac- dren from neighbouring town . December, 1966 ANTARCTI'C 411

He he 0 th frican An arcfc Base [Reprinted from an article by s. Kavanagh, Leader of SANAE VII, in ltAntarktiese Bulletin", March-May, 1966]

The position of SANAE base is 70 0 meteorological significance. 18' south latitude, and 20 21' west longitude. It is situated on an ice To each machine and piece of shelf, which is 900 to 1,000 feet thick, apparatus an apt nickname, some­ and 15 kilometres (10 mile ) from times not very flattering, has been the ice cliffs. The ice cliff form the given, the name implying the amount seaward edge of the ice shelf which of trouble we initially had with the is so characteristic of Antarctica. All particular item. Beast and Jezebel around is only ice. The nearest rock are some of the mildest. outcrops are over a hundred kilo­ By April the sun hardly appears metres to the south in the direction above the horizon, and within the of the geographical south pole. next month it will disappear alto­ gether for two months. But this The present base was built in 1962 inter night is compensated for by by the third expedition led by Mar­ two months' continuous sunshine ten du Preez. Though it was then in summer. The temperature has constructed on the surface of the already reached low levels of near snow, it has sunk and been covered 50°C. by snow from the frequent blizzards, so that access to the quarters is now The monotony of the icy plains is relieved by mirages of icebergs gained b r vertical shafts over twenty feet in depth. which slowly float past beyond the horizon. These mirages appear, of Although we have had problems course, upside down. To the south with uneven settling of buildings, occasionally on a bright day we see the base is still in a good condition. the upside down mirages of the The present expedition is South rocky outcrops. The sun is often Africa's biggest expedition to the ringed by the most complete halos. Antarctic so far and has fifteen Refraction distorts the shape and members: a leader, a medical doctor, size of the moon into grotesque two diesel mechanics, radio techni­ shapes and sizes, sometimes quite cian, radio operator, three meterolo­ alarming when it seems to be right gists, three upper air physicists, a on top of you. geomagnetist and two geologi ts. Enough store are in the base to By April the re earch programme enable us to live for months without as in full wing, after the whims going outside. But still we regularly and fancies of the various apparatus go outside to do meterological obser­ have been mastered. Although not vations and to watch the impressive functioning perfectly yet, their pecu­ stars, moon and auroras. liarities are known and we know All are busy. Besides being busy where to allow for errors. The men with the research programmes, every have settled to a solid programme member of the expedition has to do of work. Scientific data are collected his share of the house work, help to daily (and nightly), most of hich fill the snow smelter to keep us ill ultimately be processed in regularly in fresh water supply. South Africa and thereafter find Floors are scrubbed regularly to get their ay to many part of the rid of the dirt hich fall down orld. Already in our sho t sta here through the haft. Diesoline drums cientific data tran mitt d amount ar to be e ca at d from und r the to 0 r 50,000 groups, mo tl of no . 412 ANTARCTI'C December, 1966

Mostly life runs sm~othly, only interrupted.. and that the results upset at the most InOpportune were speedily made available. moments by the unpredictable be­ haviour of apparatus. Some items Professor Stoker of South Africa just cannot get accustorned to the attended a cosmic ray conference in low temperatures. Kyoto, Japan, in 1961, at which he heard a paper read by a group of Russian scientists who predicted SANAE NEWS that the outer radiation belt came In September the South African right down into the ionosphere onl T Department of Transport reported a few hundred miles north of as follows: SANAE. Prof. Gledhill then learned from the satellite observations of a Research at Sanae is progressing Californian professor that in one of satisfactorily. Unfortunately, the his maps the so-called South Radia­ photometer used in conjunction with tion Anomaly was directly overhead the Airglow programme has failed at SANAE, so that the South Afri­ completely with the result that it has cans were in a unique position to had to be abandoned. study the effects produced by the penetration by the particles in the Owing to the disappearance of the radiation belts. sun, work was restricted to the base. With the advent of the summer, the geologists are preparing to continue The next partner in this inter­ their work in the mountains. The national detection game was a men are enjoying excellent health Canadian, one of many research and are in high spirits. They are workers who had particle counters looking forward, even at this early in satellites during 1962 and 1963. Dr. stage, to their return to South Africa. McDiarmid's observations were at the conjugate area to SANAE, the In the meantime in South Africa other end of the line of force of the we are busy nominating the next earth's magnetic field that runs expedition to be known as Sanae 8. through SANAE. There was a re­ Adam Fleetwood Gilfillan Rossouw markable correlation between the has been appointed as leader. Mr. occasions when the satellite passing Rossouw is 40 years old. He is mar­ through the conjugate area regis­ ried and is the father of two young tered a high count of electrons. and sons. Mr. Roussouw holds a Master's periods of disturbance of the iono­ degree in chemistry and is at present spheric layers at SANAE, disturb­ a senior research officer attached to ances of a nature hich Prof. the National Building. Research Insti­ Gledhill had predicted. His paper on tute of the South African Council for the subject read at the International Scientific and Industrial Research. Space Research Symposium in Mr. Roussouw will be detailed to Argentina last year aroused great investigate the behaviour of the interest. building structures at Sanae. The study of ionospheric disturb­ ances at other places beneath the SANAE HELD THE KEY TO A radiation belt, including New Zea­ SPACE RESEARCH PUZZLE land's CampbeIl Island, now helped Addressing members of the South to fit the pieces of the puzzle to­ African Antarctic Association on gether and thus to make possible a June 4, Professor J. A. Gledhill of great step forward in man's know­ Rhodes University, Grahamstown, ledge of the ionosphere - which gave an example of the upractical" makes long distance radio communi­ value of international research in cation possible. the Antarctic. South Africa began ionospheric studies at its base, And as Professor Gledhill points SANAE, in 1962 and a series of out, "Had we not gone to SANAE, Rhodes University men saw to it we would never have found the key that the stud was close and un- to the puzzle." December, 1966 ANTARCTI'C 413

not allow us the liberty of staying 50 E; R out too long. We started off with In December, 1916, the seven sur­ excellent weather. Our dog team vivors of the ten men marooned consisted of 8 dogs, this included when "Aurora" was blown out to the puppies. The specimen.s were sea in May 1915, were facing the about 48 miles from Hut POInt.... prosp~ct One of the objects was to erect a bleak of a third winter in cross over Smith's grave. This cross the Antarctic. "Aurora", they was made out of some wood which thought, must have been sunk with was found around the hut. Gaze and all aboard her. Jack made a good job of it. On the Richards remembers.*- cross the following was carved: "For the rest of 1916 our time was 'Sacred to the memory of Rev. well filled one way and another. and Spencer Smith who died on March 9, the task of getting seals for meat and 1916. A Brave Man.' On the fourth fuel was a never-ending one. Our day out this cross was erect~d C:'"p a effective numbers had by now been cairn over the grave 12 feet high. reduced to five men, for in August I Back at Cape Evans: became ill presumably as an after­ math of the severe physical stress "After a rest we started to prepare during the earlier sledging season, for another year's isolation. Killing and remained more or less useless and bringing in all. seals. qur on~ con­ for the rest of our stay. In addition, versation was: WIll a relIef ShIp be another member of the party dis­ sent down to us, and the probable played some aberrations in behavi­ fate of Shackleton and party. Most our and ceased to become an effec­ of us thought the 'Aurora' had been tive working unit. squeezed by the ice and probably "Personal relationships between all gone down. of those who wintered in 1915 and liOn January 10 after breakfast 1916 were very good. There was no Richards went out of the hut and ill-feeling and no grudges were nur­ sang out 'Ship O!' We mad~ one tured. We had fierce arguments from wild rush out of the door and SIghted time to time, but they were quite the ship and gave three hearty good humoured. The long polar cheers and shook each other by the night did not appear to adversely hand. I then harnessed the dog team affect our spirits, nor create any up' and packed the sledge with as particular psychological problems. much gear as possible and started Possibly we were too busy.... How­ out on the sea ice. We had to be very ever we did look forward with some careful as the sea ice was breaking anxiety to see what January would up and the ship was about 8 miles bring forth." away.... When about 5 miles I saw Joyce in his diary describes the 3 men coming out to mee~ us events of late December 1916 and on coming closer I recognIsed the early January 1917.** walk of Shackleton ...I gave him "l then prepared for another jour­ the old Nimrod cry and he answered. ney to the South, picking out Wild On coming up to him he said 'Joyce, and Gaze to accompany me. My old man! More than pleased to see object was to pick up the geological you. How many of the party are specimens which I left behind on alive?' I told him we had lost 3, my journey back from South. OUT then the 3 of them laid down flat on clothing was inadequate and would the ice. I thou~ht they had gone dilly * "The Ros Sea Shore PartY1 1916-17", 1962 but I found It was a prearranged SPRI. plan with the Captain of the shi~ to let him know how many were alIve. After this he gave me a cigarette (Prof. Gledhill's address is pub­ which was nectar after being' with­ lished in "Antarktiese Bulletin" No. out tobacco for such a long time." 16 July 1966: copy in the library of th~ Antarctic Division, D.S.I.R., Well­ **From his own transcript of his log in ington.) Turnbull Library. 414 ANTARCTI'C December. 1966 MEETI GI SANTIAGO Santiago, Chile, was this year the enue of three important gatherings at which representatives of the nations engaged in Antarctic research conferred on matters of common interest. We are indebted to Dr. R. K. Dell, Director of the Dominion Museum, for this outline of the Oceanography Symposium and of the 9th meeting of S.C.A.R.

Professor G. A. Knox and I arrived tion of ice cover, the movement of in Santiago several days before the waves throungh the pack and the commencement of the Symposium. associated life, especially on the sea A large exhibition on national activi­ floor below and in the ea it elf just ties in the Antarctic had been or­ beneath the pack. ganised and was displayed in the University of Chile. We spent Mon­ 2. Disturbance of the Antarctic Eco­ day, September 12, setting up the system. The removal of a high per­ New Zealand exhibit. This had been centage of the Baleen Whale popula­ organised by the Antarctic Division tion from Antarctic waters is the of D.S.I.R., and the small explana­ only major change which man has tory pamphlet in Spanish which had , made to the Antarctic ecosystem. been supplied proved very popular. Pelagic sealing and the exploitation All the SCAR nations had furnished of krill is likely to be undertaken exhibits and the exhibition was during the next few years. Every freely open to the public. possible step should be taken to examine this relatively untouched ecosystem before it is further dis­ OCEANOGRAPHY turbed so that we may have tan­ From 13th to 16th the Symposium dards for the future. on Antarctic Oceanography was held in the main building of the very modem State Technical University. INTERLUDES All the SCAR nations were repre­ sented by some 120 participants in On Saturday, September 17, an all and a very full programme of official trip to the coast of Valparaiso sicentific papers ,vas delivered. The was planned by our Chilean hosts. papers were divided into the follow­ We passed through the coastal hills, ing section . skirted Valparaiso and visited the Marine Biological Station at Vinar (i) Surface and upper layers. Del Mar. This station, built in part (ii) Deep waters. over the sea, has a qaulified staff. (iii) Ocean floor. very good laboratories and a good (iv) Coastal waters. library. Most of the work in progress (v) Pac ic egime. is concenerated on the local marine (vi) Productivity. resources. After a magnificent lunch The aim of the Sympo ium was Uto we went back to Valparaiso and review the p resent status of research were able to visit the IIEltanin" and to point out areas and problems which had just berthed. requiring attention in the future". Amongst the important general con­ Sunday was the Chilean ational clusions which resulted from the Day and the following Monda wa Symposium were the following: the da of the Army. These were both national holidays. On Monday 1. Pack Ic Regime. It became very afternoon the SCAR delegates and obvious that one of the least observers were invited to a grand known of the Antactic areas was parade of the Armed Forces of Chile that of the floating pack ice. Impor­ before the President of the Republic. tant lines of research ad ocated On Tuesday morning, September 20, were studi on ice formation and delegate and observer assembled disintegrati n, its extent, the predic- for the 9th meeting of SCAR. December, 1966 ANTARCTIC 415

S.C.A.R. MEETING in tead of three ear. Dr. Gould was re-elected President and Profes or Knox was the official Admiral Panzarini Vice-Presi­ New Zealand delegate and I was an dent. observer. All the SCAR countries (b) That full SCAR meetings of were present with such repre enta­ national delegates and two to tives as Sir Vivian Fuchs and Sir four Working Groups should be Alister Hardy (United Kingdom), held e ery two years. Admiral R. Panzarini (Argentina), (c) That the Executive would meet Dr. P. Law (Australia), Professor in alternate years, together with d'Etigny (Chile), General R. Lacla- some Working Groups and Sub ere (France), Professor agata Group. (Japan), Dr. Gjelsvik (Norway), Dr. (d) The 10th Meeting will be held in Naude (South Africa), Professor G. Japan in 1968. Avsiuk (U.S.S.R.), and Dr. M. Steyaert (Belgium), under the presi­ (e) A Symposium on Antarctic glaci­ dency of Dr. L. M. Gould (United olo2:v will be held at Dartmonth States) and with Dr. G. Robin College, Hanover, U.S.A., in 1968. (United Kingdom) as secretary. The (f) A Symposium on Antarctic first plenary session considered Biology will be held in 1968, reports from the Working Groups, probably in the United States or noted major SCAR activities since Europe, the subject to be the the last meeting, the relationships Antarctic Ecosystem. with other international bodies and the publication of the SCAR Manual. (g) Many of the Working Groups Certain major considerations relating need to be vitalised to make to the future activitie and objec­ them more effective. The need tives of SCAR, and the structure and for the establishment of sub­ effectiveness of the Working Groups groups was recognised and SOIne were referred to meetings of the re-organisation of Working delegates. Groups was planned. The organisation of the arrange­ WORKING GROUPS ments for the Symposium and the SCAR nleeting by the Chilean The Working Groups on Oceano­ National Committee was superb. graphy and Biology also met during Many social functions were organ­ the course of the meeting. That on ised and it was arranged for dele­ Oceanograph elected a Convener gates and observers to meet the (Dr. D. Leipper, U.S.A.), held a joint President of Chile at a special recep­ meeting with that on Biology to try tion. to define more precisely their over­ lapping spheres of interest, and lay down a programme for investigation, FOURTH ANTARCTIC TREATY particularly of the pack ice and Ant­ CONSULTATIVE MEETING arctic benthos. The Fourth Consultative Meeting The Biology Working Group had a of the Signatories of the Antarctic very full series of meetings under Treaty took place in Santiago, Chile, the Convenership of Dr. M. Holdgate. from November 3 to 18. Previous Many of its deliberations concerned meetings wer held at Canberra in recommendation to be made to the 1961, Bueno Aires in 1962 and Brus­ meeting of Antarctic T'reaty Nations sels in 1964. The New Zealand dele­ in November. These concerned par­ gation for this meeting comprised ticularly protected species, pro­ Mr. J. Shepherd, Coun ellor at the tected areas and pelagic sealing. New Zealand Embass in Washing­ ton, and Dr. E. I. Robertson, Assis­ S.C.A.R. DECISIONS tant Director-General of the Depart­ The final plenary ession of the ment of Scientific and Indu trial 9th SCAR held on September 23 Research. agreed on the following points: There were eleven items on the (a) The term of President and Vice­ agenda, four of which dealt ith President were to be four ear a pect co ering the implementation 416 ANTARCTI'C Decemberl 1966 of the Agreed Measures for the Con­ Among the 15 areas recommended servation of Antarctic Fauna and as HSpecially Protected Areas" by the Flora recommended at the Brussels recent SCAR meetin~ are the follow­ meeting but not yet in formal effect. ing situated in New Zealand's Ross (The Recommendations of Consulta­ Dependency: tive Meetings do not become binding At Cape Hallett (79 0 19' S., 1700 until ratified by all the Treaty 13' E.), a rectangular area - a slope Powers.) In the case of the Agreed rising from the beach - near Seabee Measures, however, the Treaty Hook and east of Willett Cove 450 m. Powers have accepted the provisions from west to east and 300 m. from as "interim guidelines" for their north to south. It includes a patch expeditions. of particularly rich and diverse vege­ New Zealand put forward two tation supporting a considerable draft proposals for better co-ordina­ terrestrial fauna. It also includes tion and exchange of information on part of an Adelie penguin colony and of a skua breeding area. activities under the scope of the 0 Agreed Measures. At Cape Crozier (77 0 31' S., 169 19' E.), the easternmost point of Some of the topics to be discussed Ross Island. A strip extending 3 km. were sealing, tourism, telecommuni­ inland from the coast between Bomb cations, meteorology and logistics. Peak and a point 4 km. west of Wil­ Other Hhouse-keeping" items related liamson Rock, the Rock itself and all to the formal status of meetings of ice shelf and fast ice within 4 km. of experts under the Treaty, and the the coastline. The site of the first question whether states acceding to Emperor penguin colony ever found the Treaty are automatically bound and also of Adelie penguin and skua by previous Consultative Meeting colonies. Recommendations. Beaufort Island in the western In his speech at the opening ses­ Ross Sea (76 0 55' S., 1670 05' E.), sion, the leader of the New Zealand which supports an interesting and delegation expressed the hope that representative avifauna, including a although some of the issues which large population of Adelie penguins were to be discussed involved very and probably a small colony of real problems, these would not Emperors. The island (some 6 km. obscure the need for co-operative by 4 km.) is very vulnerable to and effective action. New Zealand human pressures, the only helicopter hoped also that good relations be­ landing ground being within the tween the Antarctic Treaty Powers Adelie colony. would serve as a starting point for Sabrina Islet and the a.dj oining friendly co-operation in other rocks (66 0 S., 163 0 E.) in the Balleny spheres. Islands. It has important bird colonies including the recently dis­ covered colony of Chinstrap pen­ FAUNA AND FLORA guins, the only one known on this side of Antarctica. SPECIALLY PROTECTED In the Taylor Valley, close to the AREAS termination of the TayIor Glacier Among the Agreed Measures laid (670 26' S., 1600 50' E.). One of the down at the eighth meeting of SCAR few large colonies of the Emperor in 1964 for the conservation of Ant­ penguin located wholly on land. arctic Fauna and Flora, certain cri­ teria were included for the establish­ SCARLOG ment of specially protected areas. These criteria included such points The Working Group on logistics, as the existence in an area of unusual SCARLOG, with Paul-Emile Victor of communities of plants and inverte­ France as Chairman and Fra k E. brates, or rare species of birds or Bastin of Belgium as Secr tary, mammals and the need to protect plans the completion of an "Accident long-term scientific studies on Prevention Manual" which 't is species or communities vulnerable hoped to have completed by Novem­ to disturbances. ber 1967. The manual will cover such Decem ber, 1966 ANTARCTI'C 417

Syowa Base on Ongul Island. Heliport in foreground.

point 67 0 15' S., 390 35' E., which ANTARCTIC STATIONS Captain James Cook reached on 8 January 17, 1773, in history's first SYOWA recorded crossing of the Antarctic Syowa is the sole base of the circle. Japanese Antarctic Research Expedi­ tion. The locality is 69 0 0' 24" S. Lat., 39 0 35' 24" E. Long. Sy6wa was estab­ During the search for an IGY lished as an Antarctic station site in station site, the Japanese Antarctic 1956-57 for the International Geo­ Research Eypedition succeeded in physical Year. It is located on the penetrating Llitow-Holm Bay in 1957 north-east corner of East Ongul for the first time after the attempt Island, which is three miles distant made by the V.S. Operation High from the Antarctic Continent, off Jump in 1947. Because of the light Prince Olav Coast. The first recorded ice cDnditions prevailing at the time, sight of this island was by the Nor­ the expedition ship "Soya" was able wegian expedition under Lars Chris­ to approach close to East Ongul tensen in his flight in 1937. It is an Island, where a station was built and interesting fact that Syowa lies called Syowa after the name of the approximately 100 miles south of the present Syowa era of Japan. Sub­ sequent expeditions, however, en­ countered increasingly heavy pack topics as safety measures called for ice. As a result, the expedition of at base, on the trail and during air 1958 failed to complete the resupply, and sea ope ations, inter-base rescue and the station was vacated for that operations and survival. winter. After the failure in 1958 to The Group also proposes to issue break through the pack ice off Prince a yearly Information Booklet on Olav Coast, the Japanese Antarctic actual Antarctic operation . Research Expedition adopted a ne 418 ANTARCTI'C December. 1966

Above. the elements may rage. but . method of supply operation to Ongul Island is a series of Syowa. Relief operations are now weathered and eroded ridges of characterised minly by air lifts, metamorphic sediments and valleys using large size helicopters to ferry filled with sand and gravel. The high personnel and material from the points of the ridges are cleared of hip moored 40 to 100 miles north snow by the wind, while the valley of the station at the edge of the fast troughs and hollows are filled with ice. snow which melts to form lakes in the summer months. Here, the However, activity at the station climate is rather mild, unlike inland had to be temporarily discontinued Antarctic stations, and clear summer and Syowa was closed in February, weather is not exceptional. Syowa i 1962, because of the superannuation in the vicinity of the Antarctic con­ of the relief ship "Soya" and the lack tinent across Ongul Straits and the of aircrews necessary for transporta­ ice of the continent rises smoothly tion. On the other hand, the neces- to the Hmitless ne e of the interior. ity for a long-range and continuous The coast in this area, named Soya study of the Antarctic was keenly coast after the relief ship, ext nds to felt and the reopening of Antarctic the south and there are many rock activity was strongly voiced in exposures in the vicinity. There is Japan. In response to this demand, evidence that, in the past, the ice the Japanese Government decided to extended much further seaward. reopen the Antarctic research pro­ gramme with the target year set at Since 1966 Syowa has been greatly 1965 upon the completion of a new improved and enlarged as a per­ ice-breaker, "Puji". The seventh win­ manent scientific station. The princi­ tering team consisting of 18 men pal scientific work at the base is in arrived in 1966. the fields of upper atmo phere, December, 1966 ANTARCTI'C 419 middle and 10 atmosphere, mag­ and hot and cold water is piped into netism, glaciology and biology. the galley. Sewage disposal is accom­ plished by means of a Mercedes The structures are placed on expo- Unimog truck and a 600-litre tank. ures of rock. When Syowa wa established in 1957, three standard About one half of the old passage wooden panel houses and one power was replaced by 2-m tre diameter room were erected. In the sub­ corrugated culvert. Several antennas sequent years additional buildings were installed, including a rhombic have been constructed. On the occa­ antenna for the communications sion of the reopening of Syowa in transmitter, an ionospheric-soundina 1966, eight ere added to the old antenna, four riometer antennas and station. First, a warehouse was built a VLF antenna. A new surface for the summer support party, meteorological data recorder vvas sleeping quarters and winter storage. installed. This equipment, in addi­ Then, a new generator hut and a tion to recording the standard sur­ lavatory were built. These were fol­ face weather elements, shows visu­ lowed by a combined radio com­ ally and simultaneously the mean munications building and a ne alue of wind speed and direction as ionospheric laboratory. Several well as relative humidity. Through smaller buildings were also erected, the analog computer, all of the stan­ including a reefer, a transmitter dard surface data are automatically building and a new geomagnetic typed 011t in coded form every three observatory. hours. In the power hut, the installation of two 240 h.p. 35 kva diesel genera­ Japanese Antarctic activit will tors and a snow melting apparatus now be carried out on a permanent came as part of the construction. basis and JARE 1966/68 is scheduled The helicopters were used as flying to put in the next wintering team booms to lift the generators into of 24 men. This figure will be in­ place. The snow melter/water heater creased to 30 the following year. utilises both the exhaust and the Aside from the traverse to the South radiator coolant from the genera­ Pole from Syowa, the Japanese Ant­ tors. The system is capable of melt­ arctic Research Expedition is con­ ing 1,800 litres of water from 10°C. templating the construction of a new to 40°C. in three hours. The station inland station and also the launching is now equipped with flush toilets of observation rockets from S owa. IS ANT RCTIC WHALING DOOMED? Further evidence of the catastrophic decline in whale stocks in Antarctic waters is afforded by the final statistics of the 1965-66 catch, presented to the 18th meeting of the International Whaling Commission in London, which concluded on July 1.

To quote the official press release: the Antarctic. In the previous season "Ten expeditions (5 Japanese, 3 there were 15 expeditions (7 Japan­ Soviet and 2 Norwegian) operated in ese, 4 Soviet and 4 Norwegian) which the Antarctic in the 1965-66 season caught a total of 20 blue whales, 7,308 and caught a total of 1 blue whale, fin whales and 19,874 sei whales 2,318 fin whales, 1 humpback whale, amounting to 6,986 blue whale units in and 17,583 sei whales, a total of all and also 4,211 perm whales. The 4,091 blue whale units (1 blue whale total production of baleen and sperm equals 2 fin, 2~ humpback or 6 sei oil from the 1965-66 pelagic season whale ). In addition these expedi­ amounted to 678,708 barrels (1 barrel tion caught 4,538 sperm hale in = approximatel one- ixth of a ton); 420 ANTARCTI'C December. 1966 this compared with 1,017,611 barrels STRONG MEASURES from the 1964-65 catch." PROPOSED Land stations at South Georgia showed an even greater drop in out­ To lay plans for checking the put: slaughter which threatens to extin­ 1964-65 2 stations 1,150 whales guish whole species of wild life, a 1965-66 1 station 239 whales meeting was called in London re­ (The killing of blue whales was cently by the International Union for totally prohibited following the with­ the Conservation of Nature, together drawal of objections earlier lodged with the World Wildlife Fund, the against the complete ban imposed by Fauna Preservation Society anG the the 16th meeting of the Commission. International Council for Bird Pre­ The one blue \vhale listed as caught servation. was killed for scientific purposes.) It was decided to try for an inter­ governmental conference to be held DISTRIBUTION in 1967. A plan has already been for­ The area round the South Pole Cap mulated which presupposes action is divided into six area, I (1200W.-60° on the governmental level. W), 11 600W-O), III (0- 70 0E), John Gulland a British fisheries IV (700-130 0 E), V (130 E-170 W), scientist, proposes that the United IV (70 E-130 E), V (130 0 E-1700W), Nations take formal control of the VI (1700W-1200W). The waters south remaining stocks of whales, under a of New Zealand form part of areas V treaty, and regulate the harvesting and VI. The 1965-66 catch was dis­ so as to restore their numbers. tributed as follows: Area Blue Whale Units %L GOLDE ERA OVER 1 14 0.4 11 2439 59.7 For the great majority of Norway's III 963 23.6 whaling men the golden age of the IV 106 2.6 Antarctic is over, says the Oslo cor­ V 361 8.8 respondent of A.A.P.-Reuter. VI 202 4.9 Whaling is no longer profitable and The bulk of the whaling was there­ most of the husky Norwegians who fore carried out in the waters south spent half the year earning big of the Atlantic Ocean. money in stinking factory ships in the frozen south have become shore­ AGREEMENT based workers or are serving in Nor­ The three main whaling nations way's merchant navy, now of 15 mil­ have at last agreed on a global limit lion tons and still growing. to their catches of the fast-disappear­ Since World War 11 Norway has ing mammals in the coming season. earned about $550 million in foreign A total quota of 3500 "blue whale currency from the sale of products of units" a year has been set, with Antarctic whaling. Japan receiving 46.7 percent, Russia At one time, more than 10,500 Nor­ 30.5 percent, and Norway 22.8 per­ wegians were whalers. In 1930-31, cent. Norway had 21 floating expeditions The overall quota considerably ex­ and maintained six land-based sta­ ceeds the 2000 unit level advised by tions in the Antarctic. scientists last June as being the high­ Other nations joined in, and 10 est to ensure preservation of the years ago six other nations sent ex­ whale. But for some time there was peditions to the Antarctic - the danger t.hat the quota scheme would Soviet Union, Japan, Britain, the break down - the whaling industry Netherlands, South Africa and Argen­ has traditionally been a scene of in­ tina. ternational disagreement. Twenty expeditions set out to Japan and Norway have agreed to catch a fixed quota of 14,500 blue cuts in their quotas - from 52 to 46.7 whale units. percent and from 28 to 22.8 percent Last year only Norway, Japan and respectively - to allow Russia to in­ the Soviet sent expeditions to catch crease her from 20 to 30.5 percent. a quota of 4500 units. December, 1966 ANTARCTIC 421

Only two Norwegian expeditions 1800s. They ere considered the went to the Antarctic last season. "right' whale to catch, hence the Next season, there may be only one. name. They were slaughtered by the When the financial yields from thou and. whaling started to decline, Norwe­ "In the Antarctic, 200,000 of them gians pin-pointed the trouble: too were killed by the American whalers many expeditions chasing too fevJ alone. whales. Despite the international conven­ "By 1900, the herds had been deci­ tion, regulating the seasonal catch, mated and Australian whalers had scientists continued to issue warn­ to turn to the sperm whale in east­ ings that the blue whale would be­ erns States and the hump back in come extinct. Western Australia." That has not yet happened, but In 1929, with sightings of the South­ the sight of a big blue whale in the ern Right almost non-existent, the Antarctic today create~ something Australian State Governments put of a sensation. the species under total protecion. Finding wh2.~~ng unprofitable, Nor­ This late step to save the species wegian Sfllpowners began years ago was followed by other governments to branch out into new areas of en­ throughout the world. However, pro­ terprise, and tankers are now a big tection did not produce new herds. part of the mercantile fleet. This year, Mr. Jahre is entering the fishing industry by refitting the Kos­ mos IV whaling factory as a fish­ KERGUELEN processing factory with a capacity of (France) 7000 tons of frozen fish. During the July-September quar­ ter, the weather was relatively mild, RIGHT WHALE NOT EXTINCT with only passing snow~falls and the Inean temperature oscillating about­ Two skindivers who drove a 1°C. Despite the usual tempests, out mother and calf whale out of Sydney side work was able to be carried Harbour early in September, may on. The projects Icarried out in­ have saved the last of a rare species cluded the construction of shelters on the N.S.W. coast. for the water tanks and for the Ex-New Zealander Dr. W. H. Daw­ transformer of the hydrogen plant, bin, now a whale expert attached to the setting up of a transformer for the Zoology Department of Sydney the sole use of the scientific labora­ University, has identified the whale tories, and the construction of the as the rare Southern Right variety. exit road from the quay. Demolition Underwater photographer John charges were used to clear away the Harding took pictures of the whales rock. in the Harbour. Dr. Dawbin des­ ·Meanwhile plumbers, masons and cribed the photographs as "incredi­ electricians were kept busy on in­ ble". terior construction work and repairs. "The last confirmed sighting of this A strong hurricane in July dam­ species near Sydney was at Newport aged two "losanges" of the aerial six years ago," Dr. Dawbin said. system: these were replaced on the "They hadn't been seen for years 27th of the same month. before that and many people thought the were close to extinction. You could have knocked me down with SUBSCRIBERS a feather when I saw photographs PLEASE OTE of these whales in Sydney Harbour. As announced in our September "The odd against them blundering issue, the annual subscription to into the Harbour are incalculable. "Antarctic" for non-members of the liThe Southern Right Whale was Society is now 25/-. Prepaid sub­ the fo,undation of the Australian and scription will of course be hon­ Antarctic whaling industry in the oured. 422 ANTARCTI'C December. 1966 UB·AN1TARCT'IC ISLANDS IN THE EWS

CAMPBELL ISLAND H. W. Steuth, Cook. H. J. an Berkum, Mechanic/ (New Zealand) Handyman. C. R. White, Senior Ionosphere Ob­ This year has seen the addition of server. yet another building on Campbell C. G. Surrey, Coo::c, repatriated Island - a seismological hut! Mr. R. Noverber 23, 1966. Martindale of DSIR paid a short visit to install seismological equip­ ment. This eauipment will be main­ SNARES tained by the Senior Ionosphere Observer, Colin White. (New Zealand) Mr. Martindale arrived on the American picket ship "T. J. Gary" The University of Canterbury is and travelled with another ltfirst planning a four- to six-man biologi­ timer" to the island - Mr. P. Roberts cal expedition to the Snares Islands, of the Zoology Department, Victoria south-west of Stewart Island, this University ofWellington. Mr. Roberts summer, as a preliminary to a later will be on the island until mid­ more extensive effort planned to tie December and will be studying in with the International Biological plankton and unique marine life Programme. This year's party hopes around Campbell. to be on the islands for from four to six weeks in late December and Gordon Surrey, who has extended January. The Leader-designate is Mr. his tour to 24 months, continues to John Warham. do sterling work in the field of bird­ The United States Navy will pro­ banding for the Dominion Museum. vide logistic support for the expedi­ Gordon, ably assisted by Dave Paull, tion and the party will probably has made several trips to Courre­ leave New Zealand on December 28 iolles Peninsula and Bull Rock and on the picket ship U.S.S. "Thomas J. 'has banded over 1,200 Mollymawks. Gary" en route to her ocean station. A number of Royal Albatross The men will land next day at the chicks have been coming to Persever·, boat harbour on the north-eastern ance Harbour this year. Four of side of Main Island by small boat. these chicks have been killed by Sea In the event of bad weather preclud­ Lions - a tragedy indeed, as these ing this, the landing may be made chicks are surely one of Nature's from U.S.S. HMills" two or three most delightful creatures. weeks later. The party will be picked (We are indebted for the above up in two sections in late January or notes to Robin Foubister, Officer in early February for return to New Charge, Campbell Island, for 1966­ Zealand. 67.-Ed.) The team's stores will of necessity include a 44-gallon drum of water. The 1966-67 Campbell Island party comprises: R. Foubister, O·fficer-in-Charge. MARION ISLAND D. Paul!, Senior Met. Observer. (South Africa) A. M. Bromley, Met. Observer. W. G. Little, Met. Ob erver. The living quarters at Marion M. L. Hodgson, Met. Observer. Island were completely destroyed by P. J. Shone, Met. Observer. fire on the night of June 25. Radio W. L. Johns, Radio Technician. equipment and m.edical supplies also A. B. Dreaver, Ionosphere Ob­ went up in flames. Fortunately no server. lives were involved and the men G. L. Therkleson, DSIR Technician. escaped with minor injurie . Decemberl 1966 ANTARCTIC 423

The per onnel ere accommoda­ ing their pup, and then ar watched t d in another building and the over b a three-ton beachmaste bull South African Air Force and Navy who shows a lot of fight towards carried out rescue operations. The other bull seals, and man alike, who research hip, the M.V. HRSA", was may enture nearby. The gauntlet is sent to the island with supplies. run by those whose job it is to Members of the South African De­ obtain blood and milk samples from partment of Public Works enovated cows and pups. Others dp a daily the old living quarters. All are now seal count and search for bull and housed comfortably. cows who were branded in previous years and returned to the island to pup and mate. GOUGH ISLA D (South Africa) An attempt wa made to replenish The shock of the fire at Marion the fowl population by incubating was hardly absorbed when it was chickens but unfortunately a disease reported from Gough Island that killed them off. A lot of interest cen­ high winds, which have been plagu­ tered around the tri-wheeled vehicle, ing the island lately, destroyed a the Gnat, after it had broken down store housing building materials. at Mount Tulloch. It was decided to This was only a small out-of-the,-way bring it down from the 800-ft. high building and has, therefore, no seri­ plateau to the beach, then to base, ous consequences. for modification. The members of the expedition are all well. AUSTRALIAN FRIGATE TO MACQUARIE ISLAND THE RESCUE (Australia) August slipped by fairly quickly. On October 20, as a result of Much of the month engaged all in urgent radio messages from Mac­ cleaning up buildings and the station quarie Island that a radio-man, Colin area, with repainting and minor Lebbon (34), was very ill and in additions. Most of the interiors of considerable pain, H.M.A.S. IlQueens­ the huts ha e taken on a different borough", then exercising in Tas­ hue. Three men trudged to Hurd manian waters, rushed the 1,500 Point, Caroline Cove, Green Gorge miles to the island with a surgeon and Lusitania Bay in deep snow and on board. low temperatures to complete build­ ings. Kraehenbuehl and Edwards in The frigate anchored half a mile the island's only plateau vehicle, the off the island, after battling 50-60­ Gnat, jolted and ploughed their way knot winds and mounting eas in to Caroline Cove. hail and snow, on the morning of Disaster nearly overtook the main October 22. liQueensborough" had source of entertainment when the rolled as much as 35 degrees, a 35-ft. last film projector excitor lamp blew swell repeatedly washed over the out, but this was soon rectified. decks and the barometer f 1I to A large number of bull seals were 28.4 in. The island was covered in returning to the island. snow and looked like a huge i eberg During September, the much­ through the storm. awaited equinoctial gales arrived. During the same period the Elephant A boat was lowered in cha ge of seals started to form into large Lieut. Cdr. M. Aston and th sick harems on many parts of the island. man was transferred at 4.30 p.m. The seal harems of most interest are after a tense half hour for tho on along Hasselborough Bay from the island and those on the hip. Catchme Corner to Hasselborough Mr. Lebbon as attended b Dr. Corner and along Buckles Bay from John Millar, who diagnosed a tone Garden Cove to Halfway Hill. Many below the kidney. The ship reached of these harems have already built Hobart at 8 a.ID. on October 25 and up to 200 lactating COW, after ha - th patient a flown to Melbourne. 424 ANTARCTIC December. 1966 Bouvet Island Weather Station Considered Practicable (Condensed from an article by J. J. Taljaard in "Antarktiese Bulletin", March-May, 1966) Third time lucky! This was cer­ the ice shelf on Bouvet was made tainly true of the third South African by a South African helicopter and Expedition to Bouvet Island during the first men to set foot on top were February and March 1966. The first ,So A. Engelbrecht and T. Winsness, two South African Expeditions were the Norwegian geologist. only partiallv successful owing to lack of air support and inclement During the next few days geologi­ weather. cal samples were taken, the island As a result of the experience gained was volcanologically and glaciologi­ the expedition this year was a well­ cally examined and the fauna and planned and thoroughly executed flora was studied. effort in which the M.V. "RSA" (the ice-strengthened ship of the South African Department of Transport) During the six days the expedition and the S.A.S. "Natal" (the hydro­ was able to determine the following: graphic ship of the South African Navy) took part. The "RSA" carried (a) There are two sites on the two Wesland Wasp helicopters of island, one of 32 morgen on the the South African Air Force. eastern ice plateau at 860 feet The "RSA" sailed from Table Bay above sea level and one on on February 22. On board were ten Rustad Hill, 1,150 feet above sea scientists under the leadership of level, where manned meteoro­ S. A. Engelbrecht, Director of the logical stations could be built. South African Weather Bureau. There were also two photographers (b) A rocky shelf, West Wind, pro­ as well as fifteen Navy and Air Force jects from the foot of the personnel. Captain B. V. Hegarty western lava cliffs. The shelf of the South African Navy was in appeared between January 1955 overall command of the expedition. and January 1958, when the The "N tal" provided comforting American cutter "West Wind" support. Two biologists, three physi­ visited the island and was first cists for onospheric, air glow and to discover its existence. The geomagne ic observations, and a geologists of the recent expedi­ meteorologist for radio~sonde sound­ tion consider it to have been ings wer accommodated on the created by a massive rockslide "Natal". from the adjacent rock masses. After a fairly rough passage the As the rock pile extends 500 tlRSA" ar ived at Bouvet Island on yards seawards and is about 1,000 yards long, it is evident March 3 at 1100 SAST. that the rockslide which might Although Bouvet has always been have caused it must have been regarded as most inhospitable and one of the largest in history and as a spot where fine weather seldom was nrobably caused by an prevails for more than a few hours, earthquake. it was indeed a magnificent sight to see this white snow-covered island (c) The nett accumulation of snow basking in fine weather. Operations and ice on the island varies con­ could be started immediately. Dur­ siderably from year to year, and ing the next six and a half days more the movement of the glaciers than one hundred landings were (eastern ice plateau) is so slow made at numerous localities. that hutments placed more than The firs landing ever on top of 1,000 yards from the shore will December, 1966 ANTARCTIC 425

in no ay be in danger of being difficulty on the eastern extremity of pushed over the edge. the island. Then came the South African landings from ltTransvaal" in (d) Although a certain amount of 1955, on the east coast and at Can risk of fresh olcanic activity de la Circoncision, and th com­ always exists at Bouvet, it ill bined British-South African landings nevertheless be no greater than in 1964. that pertaining to Marion and T'ristan da Cunha. We regret having quoted on p 30? of our June issue a newspaper report The ice plateau i considered to be on Bouvet Island which was incor­ most suitable and safe for the estab­ rect. tiThe first human beings ever to lishment of a manned cientific set foot on Bouvet" were of course station. The area is a shallow alle not the South Africans this year. We about 500 yards wide and probably are indebted to Mr. Charles Lagus, more than 1,000 yards long in the who was on It Protector", for the direction of the slope. Thorough following correction: probing showed that the ltconcave" ltH.M.S. 'Protector' landed a party urface is probably clear of all but there in March 1964 by helicopter, the smallest crevasses, although fur­ during which visit a geological and ther afield they definitel, reach photographic survey was made. A greater dimensions. South African icebreaker was A small polar tent and a ooden present at the time and landed its lthut" (a box measuring about 4 by own Hiller helicopter which had to 6 by 5 feet) with some glaciological be rescued b the Royal Navy when equipment were erected. The tent its batteries failed on the island. was use~ as a shelter and a store for HAt that time it was stated that emergency rations, hile glaciologi­ se eral automatic weather tations cal investigations were in progress. had been built by them, but des­ The hut was left behind with emer­ troyed b the adverse weather. An gency food and fuel supplies inside unidentified lifeboat, in good condi­ and as a marker on the ice for future tion, was found at 50 yards from the expeditions. A safe area was demar­ ea." catedwith sturdy poles, and mapped. These earlier landings were re­ An ice core more than 20 feet long ferred to in tiAntarctic", Vo!. 4, no. 2, was recovered for chemical and ice June 1965. budget studies. We have received from the South African Antarctic division of the BOUVET ISLAND Department of Transport a more ( orway) detailed account of the 1966 land­ ings. The South African Government has gi en provisional approval to the establishment of a weather tation CROZET on Bou et Island. It is believed that satisfactory arrangements can be (France) made. 'September brought unusual humi­ Bouvet is one of the least known dity with fog and snow-fall . I Strong of sub-Antarctic islands. Discovered inds slo ed down the rhythm of by Pierre Bouvet de Lozier in 1739, outsid work without bringing it to the first recorded landing was by a standstill. A hundred metres one of the Enderby's whaling cap­ tretch of roading from shore to­ tains, Norris, in the tiSprightly" on wards the station buildings was con­ December 16, 1825. In 1928 a few structed and the painting of the ex­ rough habitation were erected by terior of th building i on the wa Norwegian whalers, and the island to completion. became a orwegian dependency in Radio transmission has been im­ 1930. It was visited by the It orve­ pro ed by the in tallation of a "Zep­ gia" in 1931. In 1939 a mall party pelin" antenna and the bringing into from llDi covery 11" landed ith er ice of a 1 KVA tran mitter. 426 ANTARCTIC December, 1966

ANTARCTIC BOOKSHELF

THE SEA AND THE SNO-W, by and where she could be anchored Philip T·emp~e. Cassell, AustraVa. safely, a five-man climbing part 186 pp., 23 Ill., map. .Z. prIce successfully climbed to the summit 34/-. of Big Ben, but not without the dis­ play of considerable fortitude and Philio Temple's latest book is such resourcefulness in the face of many that every reader will. turn the last setbacks and physical obstacles. page with regret. It wIll be a shame Ashore or afloat, extreme discomfort if this story like that of so many was always with them, yet obvious other succe~sful expeditions, does satisfaction was experienced in the not become widely read. Unfortun­ overcoming of all difficulties in the ately only tragedy and the lack of execution of many scientific tasks, preparation which invokes tragedy, and in the mutual respect and com­ seem to make the headlines in which radeship which shines through the almost any oversight is excused. tale. The return journey of Heard Temple tells of the experiences of Island-Albany.....Sydney, reached on the 10-man expedition led by War­ March 14, 1965, was, with the aid of wick Deacock which successfully the prevailing westerlies, a quick sailed a small boat from Sydney one, with many daily runs indicating over 10,000 miles of Southern Ocean speeds of eight knots. to Heard Island and return, and The reader is left to ponder on made the first ascent of the dormant the acme of discomfort-whether it volcano Big; Ben, whose Maws~n be in the dry cold of Antarctica, the Peak rises to above 9,000 feet. TheIr damp cold of the sub-Antarctic, or vessel the 63-foot gaff-rigged auxili­ the drenching cold of ocean sailing. ary s~hooner Itpatanela" was skip­ Philip Temple has left us with a pered by veteran mountaineer and well-written book which points the now veteran small boat, blue water finger to the acceptance of challenge sailor H. W. Tilman. With only one and the overcoming of difficulties as other experienced small boat man man's deepest satisfaction. aboard the tale of the transforma­ J.H.M. tion of the whole company into creditable seafarers has all the tang JEW LIFE OF SCOTT and spice of before-the-mast days. Cassells have published an im­ Leaving Sydney in early November portant new biography of Captain 1964, the next two months take them Scott. The writer, Reginald Pound, across the Bight to Albany, thence i well known as a biographer north-westward ith the south-ea t ("Gillie-s, Surgeon Extraordinary", trades almost to Madagascar before ItEvans of the Broke"). His HSCOTT running down across the forties to OF THE ANTARCTIC" is expected Kerguelen and on to Heard Island in ew Zealand before Christma . in the fiftie . The price h re will be 44/6. We ex­ This almost completely snow- and pect to publish a review in our next ice-covered island, which was the issue. site of an ANARE station for many years, affords no safe landing place SOCIETY BADGE and few possible ones. The adven­ The badges referred to in our last ture of landing a five-man climbing issue are now available from Branch party with one month's stores by Secretaries at a cost of 6/6 per badge inflated rubber raft is an exciting plus postage (normally New Zealand one; the problem of quitting the 4d., surface rate overseas 7d.). The island one month later by the same badge is an attractive circular means even more so. one featuring a penguin surrounded While the Itpatanela" r tl rued to by the words ItNew Zealand Antarc­ Kerguelen, 300 miles to the north tic Society". December! 1966 ANTARCTIC 427 HE OUNG WI o

Edward Wilson: DIARY OF THE of these give the only light and air HDISICOVERY" EXPEDITION TO the rylace can boast." THE ANTARCTIC, 1901-1904. Edited by Ann Savours. 416 pp. He is a man with the artist' eye 47 reproductions of Wilson's own for beauty of colour and form, and, watercolour paintings, numerous too with a lively sense of humour: pencil drawings, five maps. Fore­ word by H.R.H. the Duke of HIn the north at noon there was Edinburgh. Blandford Press. New a splendid sunrise with a heavy bank Zealand price £7 Ss. of cloud arranged for all the world like wavy hair and wherever the sunlight caught these waves and It is our policy that lIAntarctic" curls, it was broken into the most reviews shall be candid and informa­ delicate opal or mother of pearl tive, but restrained. It is hard, how­ tints, all colours of the rainbow­ ever, not to become lyrical about pale rose, pure lilac, emerald green, this splendid volume. This is not lemon yellow and fiery red, all blend­ because of any outstanding literary ing one with another, but with no merit : field party diarists in the apparent arrangement. So that a Antarctic are not concerned about wisp of cloud, standing like a stray niceties of style. But here is the day­ curl in the blue sky, would be lit by by-day description, by a leading par­ pink and brilliant lilac and then ticipant, of one of the most signifi­ would begin to shine at one end with cant of all polar expeditions, and a light that can only be compared one which has been relatively with the light you see in a vacuum scantily documented. Here too is, tube with a current sparkling worthily presented, the self-revela­ through it, or perhaps the colour is tion of the young explorer of 30 who more exactly what you get with was to become the legendary lIBill" incandescent barium.... Wilson, of whom the greatest living

Antarctic veteran once said to the II I see all this has gone on to the writer, lIHe was the nearest approach most poetically dirty sheet of paper to a perfect man I have ever met." which will materially assist the reader to imagine the beauty of the It is a deeply moving experience scene." to read what this man wrote lI pri_ marily", as he says, for his young He is withal a modest man: wife, just as he wrote it, with no more editorial fuss and bother than lIThen the skipper told me he had is essential to explain allusions which taken the long journey towards the would otherwise perplex the reader. South Pole for himself and had decided that to get a long way south What sort of man emerges from the party must be a small one. Hp this natural, unforced writing? said that he had decided himself Clearly a sensitive, thoughtful, that it must consist of either two or deeply-religiou man: a man dedi­ three men in all ... in any case, cated to his often arduous, some- would I go with him? My surprise times perilou ork. can be gue sed. It was rather too good a thing to be true." HSkinning birds from breakfast till 7 p.m. in the coal bunker, one of He is a candid self-critic. He had which is now empty and ha been been having a running war with the given to me as my work-room and lIstuffy Arctic explorers" who ob­ store-room for bird skins. ot quite jected to what they regarded a too an ideal palace, floor and walls of much fresh air: sheet iron, half an inch of coal dust everywhere, no entrance or exit but HHad a row over the ventilation a coal shoot through which I have to ... at breakfast ... I got deadly drop down from on deck, and two sick with everyone all round, and 0 428 ANTARCTIC December, 1966 went up to Crater Hill by my elf to is not cheap, but it is abundantI walk it off. Came back with an worth what you will pay for it. angelic temper." About 250 of the 400 pages were written in the Antarctic, much of Here is a man of strong convic­ the emainder in sub-Antarctic tions who could speak his mind waters, and for good measure we when candour was needed, and does have 20 pages of Wilson's diary­ not conceal the fact when he believes description of a journey through the someone has been unfairly treated: North Island of New Zealand. There liThe whole ballooning business are biographical notes on th mem­ seems to me to be an exceedingly bers of the expedition and a bri f dangerous amusement in the hands but useful introduction which out­ of such inexperienced novices as we lines Wilson's life and the story of have on board. There is one man the expedition. The maps are who is supposed to know all about adequate for their particular pur­ it, who has had a week's instruc­ pose, and the index is comprehensive tion in ballooning at Aldershot. He and useful. Miss Savours as editor was not the one to go up." has done her difficult job extremely well. For many readers the most absorb­ L.B.Q. ing part of the whole diary will be Wilson's description of his southern sledging journey with Scott and Shackleton, the first real penetration AUSTRALIAN EXPLORER of the Great White South. Even under the most gruelling conditions HONOURED Wilson is still the artist. On the last day of 1902, at their farthest south off Shackleton Inlet: Victorian explorer Mr. J. M. Bech­ ervaise in Adelaide on November 3 IIA we got deeper and deeper in was presented with the John Lewis among this chaos of ice, the travel­ gold medal- a year after it had been ling became more and more difficult, awarded to him. ... we were faced by crevasses ten, twenty and thirty feet across, with When the avvard, by the SA branch sheer cliff ice sides to a depth of 50 of the Royal Geographical Society of or 80 feet. ...A very beautiful sight Australasia, was agreed last year, indeed, but an element of uncer­ Mr. Bechervaise was in the Antarctic tainty about it.... The prismatic with the American expedition in Mc­ colours of the ice crystals were on­ Murdo Sound. derful too today, forming what Since then he h·as been working looked lit rally like a carpet of snow, abroad. glittering with gems of every con­ ceivable olour, crimson, blue, vio­ The John Lewis medal, awa ded let, yello ,green and orange and of for exceptional feats in exploration, a brillian e that would put an. jewel research or literary works, was pre­ in the sh de. Our upper got upset sented by the pre ident of the SA in the tent sad to sa , and we are branch of the RGSA (Mr. K. Peake­ o short of food that we scraped it Jones) at the branch' annual meet­ all up off the floor cloth and cooked ing. it up again. It was a soup so didn't suffer much. Another dog died today Mr. Peake-Jones described Mr. from she r weakness." Bechervaise as an inspiration to all modern youth with an ad enturous It is all good reading. It is all a spirit. ~ fascinating revelation of a great man's reaction to two stimulating Mr. Becht;l aise, a schoolmaster, and demanding years, and of the has led three Australian expedition man him elf. To see the Antarctic to Antarctica, the last on to M'aw­ t.hrough Wilson's eyes is an experi­ son in 1959-60. During th third ex­ enc no one hould mi . Thi book pedition he wa a arded th M.lB.E. ANTARCTIC" is published quarterly in March, June, September, and December. Subscription for non-members of the Antarctic Society, £1 Ss. Apply to the Secretary, New Zealand Antarctic Society, P.O. Box 2110, Wellington, ew Zealand.

OUT OF PRINT VERY FEW LEFT Volume 1, number 1. Numbers 2, 8, 9. Volume 2, number 2, 8. umbers 3,4.7,9. Volume 3, number 7. Number 5. Some other issues are in very short supply. Copies of available issues may be obtained from the Secretary of the Society, P.O. Box 2110, Wellington, at a cost of 5/- per copy meanwhile. Indexes for volumes 1, 2 and 3 are also available, 3/- each. Copies of our predecessor, the Antarctic News Bulletin, are available at 5/- per copy, except for numbers 9 and 10. The copies of numbers 1,2,3,4,7, 11, 17 and 18 are authorised reprints. The New Zealand Antarctic Society comprises New Zealanders and overseas friends, many of whom have seen Antarctica for themselves, and all of whom are vitally interested in some phase of Antarctic exploration, development, or research. The Society has taken an active part in restoring and main­ taining the historic huts in the Ross Dependency, and plans to co-operate in securing suitable locations as repositories of Polar material of unique interest. There are currently two branches of the Society and functions are arranged throughout the year. You are invited to become a member. South Island residents should contact the Canterbury secretary, North Islanders should contact the Wellington secretary, and overseas residents the secretary of the New Zealand Society. For addresses see below. The membership fee includes subscription to '4Antarctic".

New Zealand Secretary Mr. V. E. Donnelly, P.O. Box 2110, Wellington.

Branch Secretaries Wellington: Mr. W. Prebble, P.O. Box 2110, Wellington. Canterbury: Mrs. E. F. Cross, 34 Cli~sold St., Christchurch 1. Printed by Universal Printers Ltd., 22-26 Blair Street, Wellington.