370 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 
I also planned to carry on an extensive scientific program of at least 
a year’s duration with a small group of competent men. To eliminate 
the necessity of sending the expedition ship back to civilization, I de- 
cided to let it freeze in at a small cove close to the base; the expedition 
members themselves would man it. Through Congressional action 
I was able to obtain from the Navy Department, on a loan basis, a 
sturdily constructed ocean-going wooden tug (pl. 1, fig. 1). From 
the Army Air Forces, Office of Research and Development, many 
articles of equipment were obtained for testing, including three air- 
planes, two snowmobiles (‘‘weasels’’), camping equipment, and numer- 
ous types of clothing. 
Only those who have had the experience of planning and organizing 
an expedition can fully appreciate the enormous amount of work in- 
volved, especially in the matter of financial backing. I contacted 
many scientific organizations and foundations interested in Antarctic 
research, but with few concrete results. Under the auspices extended 
by the American Geographical Society of New York, and by selling 
the exclusive news rights of the expedition to the North American 
Newspaper Alliance, Inc., and with a few subscriptions from interested 
friends and a contract with the Office of Naval Research for the 
scientific results to be obtained, I was finally able to get the expedition 
under way. It was not before December 8, 1946, however, that I 
was definitely assured of the minimum required financial support. 
Through continuous hard work day and night, and spurred on by a 
strong determination to sail, we were ultimately able to assemble the 
thousands of needed articles of equipment essential for a polar 
expedition. 
UNDER WAY 
On the afternoon of January 25, 1947, we threw the mooring lines 
off our ship, christened The Port of Beaumont, Texas. 'The road had 
been long and rough, and many obstacles lay ahead, but we were on 
our way at last. Brief stop-overs were made at Balboa, C. Z., and 
Valparaiso and Punta Arenas, Chile. To avoid the dangerous roaring 
forties with our topside weight, which included 8 airplanes, 112 drums 
of gasoline and lubricating oil, and 43 northern sledge dogs, we sailed 
in the sheltered waters of southern Chile’s inland passage. On board 
ship much work was done to the three airplanes, particularly the 
Beechcraft C—45 exploratory plane, in which a complete electrically 
operated trimetrogon camera unit was installed, and also a radio 
altimeter and extra transmitters and receivers for long-range commun- 
ication. Two additional gas tanks were placed in the fuselage, so 
that the plane now had a maximum cruising time of 9 hours. 
Our passage between Cape Horn and Marguerite Bay was fortu- 
nately very smooth, and we encountered only a relatively small amount 
