Magga Dan Aground

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31584, 23 January 1968, Page 1

Magga Dan Aground

No new effort to free the Antarctic cruise ship Magga Dan was expected to be made by the United States Coast Guard icebreaker Westwind until early this morning, a United States Navy spokesman at Christchurch Airport said last evening.

Yesterday the Westwind tried for two hours to free the Magga Dan, which went aground on the southern side of Hut Point Peninsula in Winter Quarters Bay on Sunday night. A southerly wind of more than 30 knots hindered the Westwind, and it was decided to wait for the wind to abate and the weather to improve. The Magga Dan is thought to be held by an ice pinnacle amidships. The ship is not holed, and the bow is resting on the ice pack.

The Magga Dan’s 24 passengers were ashore at McMurdo Station yesterday. The Magga Dan ran aground at 9.5 p.m. on Sunday while approaching the berthing area. After three hours of trying to free his ship, the Magga Dan’s master (Captain F. Bang) sought aid from the Westwind, which was escorting the cargo ship Alatna up the channel to McMurdo Station, and at 3.30 a.m. yesterday the Westwind rigged cable lines to the Magga Dan’s stern and tried to pull her free.

The commander of the United States Navy Antarctic support force (Rear-Admiral J. L. Abbot) said in Christchurch yesterday that he did not view the mishap with alarm or attach any significance to it. “When you are as far away as this, you have to leave the matter to the men at the scene. We do not know yet what it is she is aground on. Anyway, the Magga Dan is not in any danger. She is just moored a little more solidly than she would have been had she been tied up alongside,” he said.