Burton Island (AGB 1) - Naval Cruise Book

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3318: up-.T l 15 , ,V X Q it iii' . 1 ,. f Above: McMurdo Station is built on one ofthe few bare patches in the Antarctic. This is not due entirely to the warming effect of the lava ash that covers the area around Mt. Erebus, since only a part of the tip ofthe peninsula is ice-free. More likely it is an accident of the wind, which removes the winter snows and leaves an area of barren ground in summer. A helicopter is visible on the flight deck of Atka, spending her sixth season in the Antarctic. The maiority of equip- ment and supplies still arrives by ship. Left, Ltig Jim Woods peers from his horse -the name given to Glacier's helicopters because of their former designa- tion: HOAS, The choppers are pointed a bright interna- tional oronge for maximum visibility.

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Below is a stunning view of the Royal Society Range, which is actually 70 miles away. Glacier and Buffon Island have iust brought Alatna into Winter Quarters Bay, although a giant ice floe blocked the entrance to the channel. The ice floe was first estimated to be nine times the area of Manhattan Island. Alatna, escorted by the icebreaker Atka, arrived at the entrance on December l2, carrying l,l62,766 gallons of JP4, desperately needed by the Hercs. The three icebreakerstriedto push the floe out of the way, but it jammed against the fast ice. Glacier finally managed to split the floe, and Alatna reached McMurdo - a distance of some 20 miles -one week late, on December l9. . At the left in the photo, halfway up Glacier's mast, can be seen her Loft-Conn where she is controlledwhen breaking ice. lt is l00 feet above the water and provides a peaceful place from which to survey the penguins and killer whales that appear when the ship first reaches the fast ice. Glacier is America's largest icebreaker, with 280 officers and men. - -. , C Ar 'de rf?-.' Lcrkg-. ,A X ,A .A at ,-,r'..--1.1.5. - N l15 Af! ' '4 ,, x,,-plfvvik V, . -flax, EA -.-.HN A '.1, i 1 1 ' get-L.. .. ..

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H Y, Y --,.-. W. ,,....W,., C. Approximately 40 percent of all tonnage flown to the inland stations consists of fuel. The Navy is constantly trying to find ways of cutting down on this requirement: by reducing consumption on the spot, by preventing leaks, by tightening inventory, and by planning flights carefully to consume fewer flying hours in support of scientific programs. Yet to supply the new .Plateau Sta- tion, for instance, three 25,000-gallon fuel bladders had to be placed near the skiway at the South Pole. For the latest program in the Pensacola Mountains, the largest summer scientific party ever put into thefield in Antarc- tica, fuel had to be flown 1,200 miles from McMurdo. Sometimes it is so cold that the hoses break when they are coiled, like dry spaghetti. The bladders themselves are ordinarily used, in a normal climate, less than a year. On the ice, through necessity, they often serve for several years. They have a way of developing leaks, unseen, beneath the snow. Nevertheless, the bladders were, and are, a brilliant improvisation in a place where ordinary means of fuel storage did not exist. Above: The 55-gallon drums are part of the emergency cache at McMurdo. There are 73,410 of them. The tank holds 250,000 gallons, and a number of these huge wu- fers surround the station, high on the hillsides. They are readily convertible from Diesel Fuel Arctic, which is used for heating, to JP4, which powers the turbo-prop Her- cules. At rightare some of the Diesel-electric generators that provide power for the station.