Second Delay Ends

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31586, 25 January 1968, Page 1

Second Delay Ends

While tourists aboard the Antarctic cruise ship Magga Dan went sightseeing at McMurdo Station and Scott Base yesterday, engineers aboard the vessel rectified an engine fault that had left the ship powerless to berth. The Magga Dan sailed early this morning from its anchorage for Cape Hallett, a distance of 325 miles, the Press Association says. Captain R. Jackson, marine superintendent of Holm and Company, which chartered the ship, made radio contact with the ship for several minutes before she sailed. The engine trouble, said Captain Jackson, was corrected during the morning in a matter of hours. This was the second major embarrassment that had occurred since the ship reached McMurdo Sound.

While engineers were trying to get the Magga Dan’s diesel engine restored to full power the 25 tourists were ferried from ship to shore by lifeboat. Some of the tourists were shown over the nuclear power plant on Observation Hill, overlooking McMurdo Station, while others walked the three miles and a half over the hill to Scott Base, where their limited tour included visits to' the base post office and the husky lines in front of the base. A message was received at the Christchurch headquarters of the United States Navy’s Antarctic support force from the Magga Dan’s captain (Captain F. Bang) expressing thanks to the command and the men of the United States Coast Guard ice-breaker Westwind for freeing the Magga Dan on Tuesday