Glacier (WAGB 4) - Naval Cruise Book

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PALMER .. ■ ' 1 STATION 69

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PUNTA ARENAS Punta Arenas, the southernmost city in the world, sits on the western shore of the Strait of IVIagellan. Originally a penal colony, in 1847 the town was founded to establish Chile ' s claim to the Strait of Magellan. This is still its major function. It was a coaling station for ships until the opening of the Panama Canal. It was both the dullest and yet most looked forward to port; being the last outpost of civilization between us and the ice. Shopping was minimal; the major bargains were hand knit wool scarves and hats saying Punta Arenas. Sold from a families living room and made to order. A few of our hardier naturalists and joggers took off for adventure in the rolling scrub hills and stiff refreshing breeze surrounding the town. Meanwhile, most of us headed for the local watering hole Cabo de Hornas where we enjoyed the luxury of real beds, steaks and beer. Punta Arenas was basically bland and uninteresting offering only a chance for us to escape our 310ft. home for a stretch of the legs and soul. The only noteworthy event was the tragic nonarrival of our mail. Many futile hours by our Post Office and Supply personnel were spent waiting at the small airport awaiting the mail which never came. However, all agreed it was one of the friendliest if most spartan airports they ' d ever had a chance to visit. Overall, we were quite glad to bid a final farewell to this port of three visits and head north in search of more luxurious ports and the mail, which was still flying aimlessly about the Americas. 68

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ISLAND Entering Pine Island Bay and continuing all the way to the South end, past the 75th parrallel was perhaps GLACIER ' S greatest achievement of DF 85 ' . No ship had ever made the last 30 NM to the end, though the Burton Island gave it a good try in 1975. The charts we carried in were very rough and incomplete due to lack of information (no depths were shown and the positions of land and glaciers were all estimated, inaccurately as we found out). Both the Bridge and CIC had an excellent, if hectic, time madly plotting corrections to our vague charts. The scientists were ecstatic, having finally gotten all the way in. Helo ops became a daily routine to find paths through the ice. Underneath our jubilation at exploring the unknown, fear lurked. Realistically, we were all alone in uncharted water with the end of the Antarctic shipping season rapidly closing in on us! Secretly all wondered: Would GLACIER be forced to winter over? ' With our usual finesse we left Pine Island Bay to continue home with our morale intact. 70