U.S. Expedition Explores Little-Known Polar Inlet

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27569, 28 January 1955, Page 12

U.S. Expedition Explores Little-Known Polar Inlet

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, January 27. Exploration of a new region on th° Ross ice barrier, about 40 miles northAmerica, at Kainan Bay, by the United States Navy’s Antarctic expedition has revealed an openwater access to the ice-cap, says a dispatch received from the American icebreaker Atka by the United State* Embassy in Wellington. The dispatch is dated January 24. Kainan Bay was discovered in 1912 by a Japanese expedition in the Kainan Maru, headed by Lieutenant Shirase Records aboard the Atka indicate that the Kainan Maru scouted the bay, but did not land men. The present Navy expedition is probably first to explore the area afoot. The Atka left Kainan Bay, where she was moored for the previous three days, at 1.30 a.m. on Monday. The ship made for the eastern end of Sulztierger Bay to seek a landing and unloading area closer to continental land. Sulzberger Bay was the new target lor exploration when the feasibility Ox using the present Little America sites was ruled out. While skirting the Ross ice barrier near midnight on January 17, the expedition’s leader. Commander Glen Jacobsen, and his executive officer, Lieutenant-Commander Francis E. Law, sighted a low-level opening in the ice. The Atka moved in for a closer look while the navigator ascerJ^ ne< LJ hat the opening was Kainan Bay. The ice edge was low, and strong enough to permit landing operations. A decision was made to continue on to Sulzberger Bay, but to return to Kainan Bay if the pack ice in the former proved too heavy. Ice Chips Propeller As she smashed her way through the Sulzberger Bay pack, which contained ice-floes 10 to 25 feet thick, one of the Atka’s screw blades was chipped by granite-hard ice. The nicked blade causes some negligible vibrations, but will not halt operations. The heavy ice was in the western section of the bay. Back at Kainan Bay, trail parties blazed avenues to the 75-foot high, flattopped ice barrier, which the scientists with the expedition wish to study as a possible site for an International Geophysical Year base. The bay is now probably the only suitable site in the Ross Sea for the purpose. The expedition’s two weasels, hardy little polar jeeps, followed a brightlycoloured trail of flags two miles to the base of a snow ramp from w’hich men could climb to the top of the barrier. Between the moored Atka and the barrier, several yawning ice crevasses had to be bridged with steel mats. Helicopters flew a four-man party, including a representative of the United States Weather Bureau (Mr Paul A. Humphrey? to another point on the barrier, about three miles from the ship. The expedition’s first tragedy occurred about 300 yards from this camp on Saturday morning, when a helicopter piloted by Lieutenant John P. Moore crashed into the snow. Lieutenant Moore, who was 26, died of his injuries that afternoon. Mr Humphrey said the table-top ice barrier offered hope for aircraft runwav construction. Fluffy snow possibly could be processed to form a surface hard enough to support aircraft. This process was- still in the experimental stage, however. Mr Humphrey’s reports will be analysed by technicians now studying the problem in the United States. If Kainan Bay is chosen as the site of one of the three planned International Geophysical Year Antarctic observation stations, road-building and anew-moving equipment would be needed to construct avenues and ramps . m bay mooring to the barrier top. There are already some points where snow has drifted into slopes.

[I avy drivers consider that their weasels could negotiate these slopes now. The Ross Sea region could provide a key South Polar observation post and supply dump for International Geophysical Year workers. It could be the apex to an Antarctic triangle linking a weather station atop the geographic South Pole with another station on the 80th parallel at 120 degrees longitude. Sulzberger Bay’s eastern approaches, however, may yet provide an even more desirable base for operations. Helicopter Crash Mr Humphrey’s party on the ice barrier was replaced by another five-man party. It was during this shuttle by helicopter that Lieutenant Moore crashed. He had just brought the Rev. Father Daniel Linehan, a seismologist, to the camp, and was returning alone to the Atka. Another helicopter, piloted by Lieutenant Albert P. Metrolis, was ferrying the last member of the group, a demolition specialist, Mr Joseph J. Tavares. Seeing the crash, Lieutenant Metrolis landed nearby, and rushed to the aid of Lieutenant Moore. Mr Tavares had to keep the helicopter engine running, and became—momentarily—the plane’s co-pilot. Mr Metrolis, assisted by the advance party already on the barrier, slashed the safety straps holding the semiconscious man, placed him in a small sled, hauled him to the waiting helicopter, and flew back to the ship. Mr Metrolis said later that the accident, might have been the result of a 1 South Polar “white-out.” This weird Antarctic phenomenon, caused by low cloud layers and intense reflection, makes the sky and ground identical. It is impossible to make out details or judge distances. Men standing 15 feet away sometimes appear suspended in ] mid-air during “white-outs.” The five-man advance party re- , mained on the .ice-cap during Saturday night. Ead visibility prevented air transport back to the ship. Gunner’s Mate Tavares, assistant to Father Linehan, said the party had a tent and emergency rations. Father Linehan is studying the possibilities of existing land under the ice. His delicate seismographic instruments would ; record any tremors in the earth as a ! result of T.N.T. blasts set off by Gunner’s Mate Tavares. Before leaving the Kainan Bay area. Dr. Willis L. Tressler, a Navy oceanographer, took ocean floor samples, and recorded a depth of 2100 feet at the bay ice edge. Aerial photographs were taken of the coastal icecap, and maps will later be made from them. Weather observers noted a maximum temperature of 38 degrees one day. This spread the feeling among crew members that the Antarctic is at pre- ; sent balmier than the Atka’s home port Boston. Birthday Party Walter Sullivan. “New York Times” correspondent with the expedition, had a taste of Atka tradition on Sunday evening, as he cut a birthday cake specially baked for him in the ship. The icebreaker customarily holds a bunday night party for men celebratSullivan’s cake was labelled, “ ‘New York Times’ extra newsman is 37.” Antarctic animal life is no longer a novelty for the expedition. 'The comical antics of four-foot Emperor penguins and their smaller cousins have caused many laughs. Dangerous killer whales occasionally spout foamy salutes to the Atka, but seals are generally unmoved by invasion of their privacy. One trail party walked through a herd of 28 Weddell seals—the largest was a 10-foot 7001 b bull—without causing more than a curious glance A sailor described them as kangaroofaced, with big, soft eyes set above cat whiskers. “They made little hissing noises as we stepped past them,” ne said.