NEW ZEALAND'S FIELD WORK IN THE ANTARCTIC

NEW ZEALAND'S FIELD WORK IN THE ANTARCTICAuthor(s): MALCOLM FORDSource: Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, Vol. 116, No. 5146 (SEPTEMBER 1968), pp. 847-863Published by: Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and CommerceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41371952 .

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NEW ZEALAND'S FIELD WORK IN

THE ANTARCTIC

A paper by MALCOLM FORD

formerly of the New Zealand Antarctic Research

Programme, read to the Commonwealth Section of the

Society on Thursday 'th April 1968, with Sir Gilbert Rennie , G.B.E. , K.C.M.G. , M.C.y Chairman , Com-

monwealth Section Committee , in the Chair

the chairman: We are very fortunate in having as our speaker this afternoon not only a New Zealander but one who has first-hand knowledge of field work in the Antarctic. Mr. Ford was born and educated in New Zealand, and after qualifying as a land surveyor he moved to Australia, where he worked on the Snowy Mountain Scheme for a time. Later he returned to his own country and served for four years in the New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme.

The following paper y which was illustrated with lantern slides , was then read.

THE PAPER

I propose to begin by outlining New Zealand's view of her Antarctic involve- ment, and after covering this in more detail, I shall draw from my own experiences. In the latter respect, I feel that as I have nothing remarkable to tell you, I should try to justify talking about myself at all. My aim is to speak on behalf of the many New Zealanders who have been going south over the past twelve years. In this way, I hope to convey something of the sense of personal discovery. Firstly, of the individual himself, because so many of those going south are young and keen and freshly qualified at their jobs. And also, of Antarctica, which despite modern technology, still holds for the newcomer many of the fears and fascinations that it did for the early explorers.

Not surprisingly, New Zealand has a long association with forays towards Antarctica. It stands perhaps as a salutary reminder to Westerners, that in the Middle Ages the Polynesian navigators who settled much of the Pacific probably ventured as far as the southern pack ice. Their descendants in New Zealand and elsewhere speak in their legends of one Ui-te-Rangiora who returned by open canoe from, as they say, 'a sea covered with arrowroot'.

That being so, we must now take up the thread of scientific quest that runs through the history of the opening up of Antarctica. The sailors come first. That incomparable pioneer, James Cook, with the charting of much of the southern seas, including New Zealand, behind him, finally settled the centuries of speculation about Terra Australis. By 1775, he had made several crossings of the Antarctic Circle and was able to define the broad limits of the south polar regions. He was followed by a number of enterprising men from many countries, who succeeded

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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY ÖF ARTS SEPTEMBER 1 968

Antarctica , showing national claims and main areas of exposed rock

in probing sections of coastline and in landing on the tip of the continent. The climax occurred with James Clark Ross who, in 1841, sailed as far south as ships can go. At the active volcano, Mount Erebus in McMurdo Sound, his way was barred by the cliffs of the great ice shelf, and in this sector which now bears his name he first sighted and named Victoria Land, and charted its coastline and a number of the high peaks behind. Only Weddell's penetration from the south Atlantic matches this remarkable voyage for daring opportunism, and the fateful stage was now set for ventures into the interior. Yet for nearly sixty years interest remained at a minimum until the coming of the land expeditions.

These, under Borchgrevink, Scott, Shackleton, and Amundsen all saw the Ross Sea sector as their gateway to the continent. Both Scott and Shackleton set their winter quarters on Ross Island under Mount Erebus, and from here their field parties ranged through the Victoria Land mountains as far apart as the South Magnetic Pole and the South Geographic Pole. Scott, especially, laid down the model of scientific research and exploration which later expeditions have amplified. Their exploits now are almost legendary, and all of them underwent the trials of discovery in the commandments and penalties of a strict environment. To some extent enlightened by the imaginative genius of Nansen, they set out upon their

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SEPTEMBER 1968 NEW ZEALAND^ FIELD WORK IN THE ANTARCTIC

The Ross Dependency , showing the mam areas of progress in New Zealand s field work

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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS SEPTEMBER 1 968

great ambitions equipped with little more than a faith in the force of heart and muscle. And the tragic death of Scott's polar party in 19 12 epitomizes the resolution with which they were prepared to live at the limits of human endurance.

It was to be some time before techniques caught up. Above all, the development of aircraft and the knowledge of vitamins have eased the hardships and multiplied the activities of those who followed. A number of efforts were made to apply modern methods but not until after the Second World War could mechanization be widely and confidently applied. This coincided with the rising concern of several countries with the importance of Antarctica. Britain was already actively engaged in Graham Land. The Australians, inspired by their great explorer Mawson, were soon to launch an intensive programme in their sector. For the United States, Byrd returned on a more massive scale, operating with a fleet of ships and aircraft, and perhaps the Americans' finest success was in introducing systematic high altitude photography.

By the 1950s, much of the general character of Antarctica was clear. The basic scientific phenomena had been established, and the main geographic features had been seen or visited, although the vast interior of the ice cap remained largely unknown. Each expedition learnt from its predecessors and in making its contribu- tion to scientific discovery further illuminated the problems posed by Antarctica. How did the ice cap affect the world's weather? Would ionospheric studies aid forecasts of radio propagation? Could research lead to a better knowledge of the Earth's magnetic field? Were there minerals in commercial quantities? Was the ice cap receding and melting like the glaciers of the temperate regions? Had Antarctica once been joined with the other continents in the single land mass of Gondwanaland?

At last, with widely renewed interest and greatly improved methods, a concerted international effort could gather a valuable harvest of knowledge. The impetus to the present intensity of research came from two important events. For the Inter- national Geophysical Year (I.G.Y.) of 1957-8 special attention was to be devoted to Antarctica. With remarkable harmony and goodwill some twelve nations agreed to suspend any territorial claims and to set about a coordinated scientific programme to be conducted in Antarctica on an entirely peaceful basis. Secondly, Sir Vivian Fuchs had put forward the Commonwealth Trans -Antarctic Expedition, whose main aim was of course to cross the continent for the first time and to measure the depth of a complete section of the ice cap. The successes of this modern epic are too familiar to bear recapitulation. The main point that I wish to make here, is that as the result of these two events New Zealand entered upon a full-scale participation in Antarctic research.

Hitherto, New Zealand's international outlook had been guided largely by the need to develop her own interior and the desire to maintain links with the old world. The shift to an idealistic vision of her rôle as a Pacific nation is relatively new. Although there had long been pressure from scientific and adventure -loving sources for a major Antarctic expedition, official pragmatism and a generally pastoral outlook had always prevailed. So that up to this time, New Zealand's Antarctic rôle had largely been as host and springboard for the earlier expeditions.

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Some of her people had travelled on them in minor capacities, and the government had contributed quite generously to the expeditions of Shackleton and Scott. With Britain and Australia, she had joined in Mawson's BANZARE expedition, of 1922-31, which charted a remaining area of coastline south of Australia. In 1941 a permanent station was set up at Campbell Island in sub -Antarctic waters.

New Zealand had nominally administered the Ross Dependency following the transfer of claim from Britain in 1923. And when Sir Vivian Fuchs proposed that his crossing party be supported by a New Zealand expedition based in the Ross Sea area, his ideas were received with considerable public enthusiasm. Eventually it was decided to combine these activities with those of the government I.G.Y, party at the intended Scott Base, and Sir Edmund Hillary was appointed leader. Intense interest involved all levels of New Zealand society, and those of us who were at school at the time have vivid memories of the 'adopted' huskies of the fund-raising campaign.

For this, the first major New Zealand Antarctic expedition, the prospects were immensely exciting, and its scope was soon extended beyond a purely supporting rôle. Sledge parties supplied by two light aircraft of the Royal New Zealand Air Force explored large areas of new country in Victoria Land. A biologist assessed the local seal and penguin life for the first time since the days of Shackleton and Scott. Two geology graduates of the University of Wellington initiated a detailed study of the 'dry valleys' west of Ross Island and a team of government geologists explored the Cape Hallett region in north Victoria Land.

These successes were enormously encouraging and led to the establishment of a permanent New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme. It is centred on an enlarged Scott Base and is administered by an Antarctic Division responsible to the Minister for Scientific and Industrial Research. With the United States also operating permanently from New Zealand, and in the close neighbourhood of Scott Base, resources are pooled on a more rational basis to the mutual benefit of both countries. Following an agreement by treaty in 1961, United States ships and aircraft are provided with airport and harbour facilities free of charge. In return for this, Scott Base men have access to American medical facilities and New Zealand field parties are supported by United States aircraft. Summer flights to Antarctica from Christchurch have been a regular feature of American 'Deep Freeze' operations, and since 1966 these have been joined by Hercules aircraft of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Similarly, the Royal New Zealand Navy shares mid-ocean picket duties with the United States Navy, and her Antarctic ship, H.M.N.Z.S. Endeavour , shares supply duties to Scott Base and the United States base at McMurdo with the American ships.

As a result, New Zealand's field work is of course greatly extended in range and efficiency, and I must comment on the rather special nature of these activities. Almost fortuitously, the geographical character of the Ross Sea Sector suits New Zealand's limited resources and the particular skills and interests of her men. The great chain of the Trans -Antarctic Mountains which stretch from Graham Land to Cape Adare, culminate in Victoria Land. They are unrivalled in the world for sheer size and complexity, covering as they do some 120,000 square miles, or about

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A surveyor among the Victoria Land mountains

2 per cent of the whole continent. Many peaks rise to over 12,000 feet, often straight from sea level, and here, where the immense glaciers from the Polar Plateau have breached the Victoria Land mountains throughout their length, we have the most important area of rock exposures for unravelling the geology of Antarctica. New Zealand's first responsibility, then, was to reconnoitre this mountain complex and to map its topographic and geological structure upon which the detailed problems of interpretation could be based. This task, about which I shall have more to say, was substantially completed in 1964.

Elsewhere in Antarctica, nations are to a large extent concerned with geophysical traverses across the ice cap. These require tractor trains and considerable air support. They incur costs quite beyond New Zealand's capacity, and luckily such methods of transport are unsuited to the mountain areas. Being heavily glaciated and extensively crevassed, the mountain systems compel lightly laden, flexible means of travel with the emphasis on self- sufficiency and safety. Ideally in the Space Age one would opt for helicopters, but the use of these on any significant scale requires an outlay and a logistic backing available only to super powers. Even the mere glimpse of the great technological resources of the United States is quite awe-inspiring to people like ourselves in terms of sheer massive power. So New Zealanders, who have a natural affinity with rough mountain country anyway, turn to more personal methods of living within this environment. Owing

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SEPTEMBER 1968 NEW ZEALAND'S FIELD WORK IN THE ANTARCTIC

Main sledge journeys of the 1963-4 Northern party

a considerable debt to the experience and generosity of British and Australian expeditions, the New Zealand field reconnaissance has been conducted almost entirely by small parties driving teams of huskies. We make no apology for this recourse to ancient ways, even in this age. Given periodic resupply by aircraft, a four -man party driving two dog teams is capable of a high degree of effective mobility. Typical summer seasons have achieved journeys of some 500 to 1,500 miles in length, mapping areas of 10,000 to 30,000 square miles at a time.

The general aim has been to produce accurate topographic maps at a scale of 1 in 250,000. Ground control is established by means of rapid triangulation from measured baselines and positioned by astronomical fixes from the sun and daylight stars. Detail is then filled in from aerial and ground photographs, and upon this base the geological record can be superimposed. The earlier maps are used for identifying named features, and where possible the original intentions of naming are respected. Where new names are warranted, the current taste, among New Zealanders at least, is for a minimum of personal ones. Instead those with a descriptive character are preferred: as in Bystander Nunatak, Widowmaker Glacier or Mount Overlord. Alternatively, an event might be commemorated : as in Starshot

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Glacier, Vigil Peak or Crash Nunatak. By custom, and subject to official approval, the responsibility for suggesting names is left to the field party concerned.

Inevitably some of the routes of the early explorers have been retraced by the reconnaissance parties, who have been able to confirm emphatically the tributes paid to the courage and enterprise of these men. One dog-team party redescended the forbidding icefalls of the Axel Heiberg glacier just fifty years after Amundsen had forced a route through them to the South Pole. Another visited the site of the ice cave on Inexpressible Island where Scott's Terra Nova Bay party had been forced to winter in appalling conditions in 19 12.

Now that the preliminary reconnaissance has been closed, and with the final maps being published by the Departments of Lands and Survey and Geological Survey, attention has been turned to more specialized studies. As expected, a wide variety of anomalies and special problems of interpretation have been thrown up, and these should occupy the bulk of New Zealand's field programme for some time to come. They express the shift in emphasis by being confined to particular localities and require only short journeys, usually by small motor sledge, occasionally by man-hauling, and in the ice-free areas by simply trudging with packs.

Having reasonably regular summer transport between New Zealand and McMurdo Sound enables us to put in a greater number of field parties for short periods than the normal capacities of a wintering team would allow. This in turn encourages highly qualified specialists to take part. A recent party led by an ex- Andean mountaineer has studied the relationship between the McMurdo volcanics and those of the Pacific perimeter. Another, in the bleak conditions at the edge of the Polar Plateau, has concentrated upon the fossilized tropical remains of a Jurassic river delta. Quite often, allied government departments hope to cast light on their domestic researches. The New Zealand Soil Bureau, for instance, has taken advantage of the unusual opportunity of studying the variations in soil- forming processes along an arc of a meridian from an area near the South Pole, at one extreme, to those on the Equator at the other. The Oceanographic Institute has furthered its understanding of submarine relief and marine biology around New Zealand by extending its range on joint expeditions with United States scientists to Antarctic and sub -Antarctic waters.

Unpaid volunteers play their part too. The respect due to the early explorers was given priority when parties from the New Zealand Antarctic Society went out to restore the huts of Scott and Shackleton. These are now in something like their original condition, and are regarded as museums, being a continual source of inspiration to modern visitors. From the outset the universities have maintained a close interest in Antarctic research, and two of them run their own programmes under government auspices. The Canterbury University at Christchurch concen- trates on the biological side, with detailed studies of the seal population in the McMurdo Sound area and also of the penguin and skua colonies at Cape Royds and Cape Crozier. The Victoria University of Wellington has specialized in the study of the area of the so-called 'Dry Valleys'. In effect, this area is an oasis of ice-free mountain country covering nearly 3,000 square miles due west of Ross Island. To visit, it is a most fascinating region with high cliffs exhibiting colourful

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G. Mannering. N. Z • Antarctic Division A biologist at the Adelie penguin rookery on Beaufort Island

strata of basalt, sandstone and coal seams. In the summer, temperatures are almost mild, small streams flow and the lakes thaw. For scientists the area is a most valuable window into geological history, and every year since I.G.Y, senior students and graduates have worked in the relatively safe and pleasant conditions to make a significant penetration into understanding the structure of the Antarctic continent.

The field parties operate from Scott Base, which is in many ways typical of the smaller Antarctic bases. It is built in a number of small units to minimize the serious possible consequences of a fire. The buildings are made of insulated panels with heavy double doors, and it is rather like living in the reverse of a giant refrigerator - keeping the cold air out. Oil burners provide heating for the base and for the snow melters. Power and lighting are supplied from two diesel electric generators.

The winter complement is usually about fourteen, with four or five base scientists, a leader, cook, radio operator, mechanic, electrician and carpenter. In addition two or three field men stay on to prepare equipment and supplies for the next field season. In this way a continuity of field experience is maintained. During the summer another half dozen are sent down as support for the increased volume of work, including the twenty or so Visitors' for the field programme.

Leaders were formerly chosen from among older men with distinguished military or mountaineering backgrounds. Now, as the programme has settled into a routine, the tendency is to find younger leaders from the growing body of experienced Antarctic men. Applications are invited in April and the resulting flood of replies is always a problem to sort out. Eventually, after a nation-wide series of interviews,

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G. Mannering. N.Z- Antarctic Division Scott Base , with part of the Ross Ice Shelf and the slopes of Mt. Erebus behind

those finally selected are sent to the ski fields at Mount Ruapehu for lectures and training and to begin the process of uniting into a team. Later, specific people are given further training, at for example the auroral research station in Otago or the fire-fighting school in Wellington.

The first flights begin in early October, and the winter relief and first field parties are got away as quickly as possible. Summer always sees a hectic time of comings and goings at Scott Base, especially when the resupply ships arrive towards the New Year and the base team works around the clock to unload them.

The flights usually cease in February, and in early March the last ship must leave with the remaining summer men before the sea begins to freeze over. The farewells made, there is at this time an invariable air of relief as the wintering men return to snug down the base for the coming three months of darkness and the long isolation until their replacements arrive in the following October.

May I turn now to my own experiences, because I should like to try to evoke something of the personal memories that we all bring back.

The sun had returned to Scott Base on 19th August and we gathered outside to raise the New Zealand flag. Only a few days earlier the temperatures had

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SEPTEMBER 1968 NEW ZEALAND *S FIELD WORK IN THE ANTARCTIC

' The Spring Running' : training a dog team, near Scott Base

dropped to an all-time low of minus 7o°F, and we had taken delight in tossing cups of water into the air to watch the contents freeze instantly into a shower of ice crystals. It had been a happy and satisfying winter, the sixty dogs were in good condition, food boxes were packed, sledges relashed, tents mended and a rough map drawn of the new area from air reconnaissance photographs.

Now it was spring, a great red sun moved along the horizon and it seemed as though the whole of Antarctica belonged to us alone. Like arrivals in a new world, we were impatient to be away, and the dogs cast fifteen -foot blue shadows across the new winter snow as we left on our first training run. We were bound for Cape Royds, thirty miles north, to erect a new biology hut and laboratory. For this is the site of the southernmost penguin rookery in the world, and here too Shackleton had built his expedition hut in 1908. There could have been no more striking symbol of contrast with modern facilities than the old hut, where fifteen men had wintered in what is virtually no more than a large room with packing case shelves, a coal stove and reindeer-hide sleeping bags on the wall bunks.

A rather paradoxical sense of affinity and remoteness coloured our attitudes to the men of the 'Heroic Age'. Certainly our loads were much lighter and our diet much better, but above all, we had the secure knowledge that our basically Edwardian but greatly refined field techniques had been proven, and that the rest depended on ourselves. Lacking the ultimate goals, we were content to do a competent job and enjoy an exciting life. For we were only too well aware that our work was a small part of a closing paragraph in the last chapter of a story of

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Inside Shackleton's hut , half a century later

geographical discovery that began with Pytheas over twenty-two centuries ago. This opportunity itself was enough to be grateful for.

The chief task of the summer was to finish the reconnaissance mapping programme. For New Zealand's part, and probably for Antarctica, it was to be the last of the long exploratory journeys with dog teams. The planned area in northern Victoria Land was that first sighted by Ross in 1841. Since then its perimeters had been visited but the interior remained untravelled. Money being limited at the time, it was decided to telescope the normal practice of independent four-man parties into two loosely associated parties of three men each. The leader, J. H. Miller, had a fine record as deputy to Sir Edmund Hillary's Ross Sea party and was delighted to be returning south. Of the three who had just wintered, Maurice Sheehan, a lawyer, and Frank Graveson, a mining engineer, both expert mountaineers, were to be field assistants and I had been appointed deputy leader. There were two geologists: one, a Canadian, Arnold Sturm, had cut short his honeymoon in New Zealand to come with us; the other, Simon Carryer, had recently graduated and was also an experienced mountaineer.

In October 1963, an American Hercules aircraft transported the party with four dog teams and supplies to the joint United States-New Zealand base at Cape Hallett (since put out of action by fire in 1966). From here, a flight was made by ski-equipped Dakota aircraft to put in a two-ton depot of food and fuel at a spot on the Polar Plateau where we expected to be in a month's time. Then the 'put

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G. Manner ing. JV. Z- Antarctic Division Part of the Bowers Mountains along the eastern edge of the Rennick Glacier

in' was made at the western extremity of the Wilson Hills. After an exhilarating flight we touched down blindly in what had turned out to be a dense local blizzard. Men, dogs and equipment were disgorged in confusion, the aircraft roared off and we hastily prepared to wait out the storm.

The area is a pleasant one, of attractive wedge-shaped rock peaks and easy glaciers : good open country for getting into the swing of things, or so we thought, until a few days later when the leading sledge suddenly disappeared down a hidden crevasse. It was a lucky escape. Fortunately the two drivers had been able to jump clear and the sledge itself had jammed twenty feet down. The dogs were scared but unharmed, and with the aid of a caving ladder, the sledge and its load were safely recovered. Even more circumspectly we made our separate ways eastwards. The then Governor-General of New Zealand, Sir Bernard Fergusson, had been visiting Scott Base at the time and later flew over the party. He very kindly parachuted our mail together with two bottles of old Scotch whisky, and we decided to propose the name Usquebaugh Peak for a very palatable incident.

As our route turned south we encountered the western mountains and tributaries of the enormous Rennick glacier system. It was late in the day as we ascended endless snow ridges, when my inconsequential thoughts of fatigue and the phantom taste of oranges were at once banished by the sight of a magnificent panorama. Thrown up by the evening light, the mountains stretched away for nearly 200 miles, and, rather like plunging after an ever -beckoning promise, we set off into steadily deteriorating conditions. We were now labouring across the natural 'grain' of the country. The party on the lower flanks had increased route-finding troubles

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At the ice-hole: a Weddell seal

with crevasses while we on the plateau side ran into the brunt of the worsening weather. Three weeks from the 'put in', with a quick rendezvous to transfer the gravity meter, both parties went on half rations for the last 100 miles to the depot. The final days were a continual worry as we snatched opportunities from lulls in the plateau winds. Both parties arrived at the depot with empty ration boxes, each to vie with the other in lugubrious hyperbole - 'You aren't really cold until the water begins to freeze in your eyes!'

When the weather had cleared we left slowly under heavy loads, one party to explore the upper reaches of the Rennick glacier and Freyberg mountains, while ours was to follow the eastern side of the glacier before attempting to cross the Bowers mountains to a resupply rendezvous in the Lillie glacier. December is usually a good month for fine weather, and we now faced new problems of sticky snow and weakened crevasse bridges. From a peak in the middle of the glacier we could pick out the safest -looking routes around the largest crevasse fields, some of which would in area comfortably contain a city the size of Bristol. Away from the dogs there was an awesome quality about the absolute silence of Antarctica, and the lack of any familiar sound kept our insignificance as a vivid reality. Occasionally, we would be thrilled by the sight of a snow petrel. A graceful bird, almost incredibly white, it would appear as if from nowhere, circle silently and then vanish while we returned to the hours of lingering misery of surveying.

Our battery radios had been useless in freak local conditions, and not until three weeks later did we regain contact with the other party. After a dicy passage through what they justly named the Tenterhooks crevasse field, they too had been pushing the clear weather to its limit and were also averaging about five hours sleep a day. Christmas was a joyless occasion for both parties. We were crossing the Bowers mountains and left shortly after midnight to force a route around a

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steep icefall. From safer approaches we climbed a central peak for survey and returned in the evening to a meal of tinned lamb from the 'goodies box' and a tot of brandy. A few too -brief hours later, we set off to cross the divide, and one member reckoned that on union rates our salaries at the time were worth about two shillings an hour. If only the tobacco had not run out !

At the rendezvous, a happily timed snow-storm allowed us three days rest. Then the resupply aircraft arrived in a graceful landing and we were soon greeting friends from Scott Base and McMurdo who showed curious interest in our typically sunburnt and frost-nipped appearance. This was too good - a willing audience offering cigars and beer; for an hour they were treated unmercifully to clumsy modesty and tall stories. Then, with a backlog of mail, each man settled back to savour his private world, and the dogs slept on theirs, a bonus ration of pemmican.

For the remaining month we were to explore a complex area of dense mountain ranges and tightly walled glaciers. The latter left us little room to manoeuvre, and we spent much anxious time skirting crevasse fields. By now we pretended to be quite hardened to the thump of a collapsing snow bridge behind our skis as the sledge passed over some concealed crevasse. From the lower Lillie glacier we made our best collections of primitive Antarctic life. Considerable colonies of mosses and lichens grew in sheltered crevices, and under sun -warmed rocks there was a flourishing insect life for which we named Springtail mountain. Then a ten -day blizzard left us immobilized and half buried. This was very frustrating and put paid to our secretly cherished hopes of breaking into the high and difficult country around Mount Minto. Instead, we were compelled to carry the traverse through indifferent weather to a rendezvous on the Tucker glacier.

A couple of easy days down this spectacular glacier to read the gravity profile, past the humorously named Chocolate and Pemmican icefalls, brought us to a snow cairn built by the previous season's party. The aircraft were called in, and after 100 days in the field we returned to the luxuries of hot baths and haircuts at Scott Base.

The future of Antarctica has yet to be decided. The nations at present involved are likely to remain there for some time to come. Questions such as those posed earlier are still waiting for their full answers, which will in turn undoubtedly raise many more problems. The political claims currently held in abeyance are due for review within the next ten years. So far, the respect for each other's presence remains intact, and the greater hopes for the inspiration of a wider spirit of international co-operation from this example are undiminished. This view is strongly supported by New Zealand, which takes her international commitments very seriously.

The immeasurable value of Antarctica as a unique and enormous laboratory for scientific training and research, is something that all the nations concerned wish to preserve. We like to think, too, of Antarctica as an outlet for youth. There is for example some support for the idea of Outward Bound schools in the area, and the mountaineering clubs also are always keenly interested. Perhaps the recent visits of tourist ships are a portent. If so, and if, with the application of good taste

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and good sense, the means are made available, then in the future people may think of Antarctica in a fresh way : not as a source of vicarious excitement, but as a place in which to learn, in the widest sense, participation in physical and intellectual endeavour.

DICUSSION

MR. o. R. w. Sutherland, B.sc. HONS. (Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge): How often do ships go close to the shore of McMurdo Sound Bay?

the lecturer: To my knowledge this has happened about three or four times in the history of the base - in about twelve years. Normally it is not something you can predict. In the last two seasons ships have been able to get right to the base, but for the four or five preceding years they had to stand at least a mile out.

the chairman: Did the team keep in good health during the expedition? the lecturer: Yes; we don't have a doctor. At Scott Base we use the American

medical services whenever we need. I had been trained as a medical orderly and was disappointed to find that virtually the only work I had to do in eighteen months was to sew up dogs which had been hurt in fighting. So far as the men were concerned, a jar of aspirin in the mess sufficed for all their wants.

MR. david goldsmith: I had the impression from his talk that Mr. Ford was a little frustrated at the lack of facilities for scientific work. If that was the case, what facility or tool would help most in furthering scientific research in the field? I am not thinking of money.

the lecturer : Work is generally difficult to carry out because the Antarctic is of course difficult country, and at present conditions are very much in the pioneering stage. One is continually handicapped by cold. So that if one is operating on a small budget, as we were, one necessarily spends a lot of time keeping warm and fed, quite apart from travelling. This does not make the work harder ; it just means that you do less. More money would naturally produce better laboratories, better transport - helicopters for example. In general, I think the answer to your question is improved facilities of transportation, to and from the Antarctic and in the Antarctic.

MR. R. H. wade, M.A. (Acting High Commissioner for New Zealand): Mr. Ford mentioned international co-operation in the Antarctic, and spoke particularly about co-operation between the New Zealanders and the Americans. Can he say anything else about co-operation generally, for example with the Russians, the French or any other expedition operating on the Continent at that time?

the lecturer: I personally had little contact with other people, except those visiting our base. At various stages we had observers from the Russian base, for example, and we got to know one who wintered with the Americans quite well. It is part of the general policy that observers are exchanged between the stations of the different nationalities, just to show there is nothing to hide on the ground; and such is the spirit among Antarctic men that one would not expect that there would be anything to hide anyway.

the chairman: I noticed that the planes used were U.S. Naval aircraft. Are they offered voluntarily or is payment required for their use?

the lecturer: The American effort is supported by her Air Force and her Navy. These operate free of charge from New Zealand airports and ports, and we have an agreement whereby they in return provide us with most of our transport, including transport in the field.

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mrš. j. I. falconer: I should like to know what happens to the dogs, particularly to the puppies, at the end of the expedition?

the lecturer: They are kept on until the end of their working life, which is normally only six to eight years, because that life is a very hard one. Unfortunately they cannot be taken back to New Zealand. The New Zealand Agricultural authori- ties are very strict about this, and so the dogs have to be put down when they get too old or too sick. Now that the large reconnaissance mapping programmes are over New Zealand has been letting her dog population run down. There simply is not the need for them. When I was there we had sixty dogs; now, I think, they only have twelve.

MR. colin perry: Are dogs a more reliable form of transport than Sno-cats? the lecturer: One uses them in different conditions. Dogs are very much slower,

they are used for short journeys, with a lot of air support, in areas too heavily glaciated - and consequently too heavily crevassed - for a vehicle like the Sno-cat. But for long journeys over the ice caps dogs cannot pull the load and you need a vehicle, a large vehicle that can pull heavy loads.

the chairman: I am sure the audience will agree we have had a fascinating talk. We now know very much more of the work in the Antarctic, and something, too, of the trials, tribulations - and sometimes triumphs - of those who take part in that work. I should like to express our appreciation to Mr. Ford for his very clear and informative talk and slides.

The vote of thanks was carried with acclamation , and the meeting ended.

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NEW ZEALAND'S FIELD WORK IN THE ANTARCTIC

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