ATKA ATTEMPTING LANDING ON COAST OF WEDDELL SEA

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27586, 17 February 1955, Page 15

ATKA ATTEMPTING LANDING ON COAST OF WEDDELL SEA

(NJZ. Press Association—Copyright)

(Rec. 7 p.m.) Aboard U.S.S. Atka, Antarctica, February 11. Hammering her way through the ever-present pack ice, the Navy icebreaker Atka today made an assault °P Weddell Sea’s south-eastern shore line, the 700-mile coastal strip of Coats Land. This is the South Polar expedition’s last target. Fewer than 30 days remain in the Antarctic summer exploring season. Steaming south-easterly, the Atka steers a zig-zag course to dodge treacherous ice floes which could do serious damage ® ven to such a powerful ship. The skipper (Commander Jacobsen) said he would bring the expedition vessel to Coats Land somewhere between the twentieth and tenth meri- ; dians west. This, of course, would depend on the conditions of the pack : barring the way. The Coats Land region was discovered by the British in 1904. Subsequent British, American and German expeditions penetrated the coastal areas somewhat.

-Prevailing winds and currents in the Weddell Sea generally tend to move large Portions of the pack west and n °rth to the Palmer Peninsula end of the sea, according to available reI Ports. This expedition is banking on i that m the attempt to achieve a landfall.

Should penetration of the pack be successful, the Atka will survey the coast and possibly land parties at a suitable mooring. Coats Land may provide the site for an international geo-

physical base. It is also felt that an airstrip could be laid out. At her present position near the thirtieth meridian west, the Atka is in waters about 1400 miles due north of the South Pole. Yesterday as the expedition cruised the fringe of the Weddell Pack, the water was alive with greenish growlers and massive icebergs. One berg on the horizon was nearly seven miles long. Some of the Antarctic’s most dramatic sagas were written in the Weddell Sea. In 1912, an expedition led by Dr. Wilhelm Filchner, of Germany, was trapped when the ship Deutschland was beset in ice. The party was at the mercy of a huge drifting ice floe for nine months. But the ice trasported the expedition to unexplored regions which Filchner studied to advantage. A similar but more tragic fate fell to the British expedition in the Endurance under Sir Ernest Shackleton in 1915; The ship was located in the pack some 60 miles from Filchner’s Vessel Bay. It took 10 months for the ice to crush the Endurance, marooning a party which had salvaged three whale boats.

As the pack itself began to disintegrate the boats put to sea, heading for Elephant Island. Shackleton made a camp, then went to sea in a small boat with five men, heading for a whaling station at South Georgia, 800 miles away. The island was reached in 34 days. He sent aid to the castaways on Elephant Island and the entire expedition returned to Britain safely.