New Year Celebrations In The Antarctic

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27856, 3 January 1956, Page 9

New Year Celebrations In The Antarctic

■(Rec. 9 p.m.) NEW YORK, January 1. Members of the United States Antarctic expedition held a party on the ice at Kainan Bay, Mo miles from the South Pole, to usher in the New Y'ear, a report in the “New Y’ork Times” ®id today. ■ A correspondent with the expedition reported that preliminary unloadof the expedition’s 7000 tons of titpplies was completed earlier on Satf<iay before the New Year celebrations began. America V, to be the major united States Antarctic base during ■ , l je_ International Geophysical Year, ' tiS7-58. was left deserted. So far only two tents had been '’’ected at Little America V and, algough it was probably the United states bleakest outpost as 1956 dawned, would soon become a five-acre community. ■ugfcht hundred men from the iceyeaker Glacier and the cargo ships and Greenville Victory, spent day unloading cargo for the base,

then ushered in 1956 in a variety of U Some joined in a beer party on the thick ice some spent the year s last few hours writing home, and some took nictures through the hazy overcast of the cliff-like edge of the Ross Shelf lC The ships were unloading their cargo on to the Kainan Bay ice, seven miles from the Little America V site. The four earlier Little America bases, set by Rear-Admiral Richard Byrd during his previous expeditions, were about 30 miles to the west, in the vicinity,of the Bay of Whales. A visit to the earlier sites last week showed that all four were almost completely entombed in ice. Only a fewobjects, such as the tops of tall radio towers and antenna poles could stilt be seen. A United Press correspondent with the expedition said the rest of the unloading would not be completed until the icebreaker Glacier had cut a milewide path through three miles of ice in Kainan Bay. This would allow the cargo ships to come alongside a ready-

made wharf, with a natural snow ramp for hauling supplies upward. From the snow ramp the supplies would be hauled to the Little America V base.

The correspondent said Kainan Bay was a U-shaped indentation in the towering Ross Shelf ice. It was chosen as the main base over several other bays, including the Bay of Whales, after a study by ice experts aboard the Glacier. The final decision on Kainan Bay was made by Rear-Admiral George Dufek, commander of Task Force 43. the Navy arm in the United States “Operation Deep Freeze.” The selection meant that Kainan Bay, which this season was 4500 yards deep and entirely frozen over, would be turned at once into a bustling ice port. The Glacier scent all of Thursday slamming her 8625 tons into the seven-feet thick bay ice and whittled out a 1000 square yard harbour. The Arneb and Greenville Victory, both standing by in the open water of the Ross Sea, would soon sail into the new port and begin unloading. The ships’ cargo, representing everything required to build a small American village on the shelf ice, would be transported about six or seven miles to the Little America V site. The exact position of the site still was uncertain.