the lead northeast and east of the berg to the shelf east of Gould 

 Bay. On 26 January leads of open water at 77°43'S, 41°07'V;, off the 

 east end of Chica Bay, provided the best offloading point for a base 

 site, and was finally reached after having passed the same site almost 

 one month previously. IVhile the airflow at the offloading point was 

 such as. to maintain an appreciable shore lead (prevailing southerlies), 

 constant below-freezing temperatures caused the water of the shore 

 lead to freeze to a thickness of 5 to 10 inches. This new ice was 

 present in the shore lead on the departure day, 11 February. Leaving 

 this new ice the STATEN ISLAND and WYANDOT traveled northeastward and 

 soon reached areas of the shore lead that were predominantly open 

 (Fig. 17). On 13 February at about 75°28»S, 27°13'W, an attempt was 

 made to cut northward thro\;gh the pack. Although less consolidated 

 than during December the pack was still too difficult for the now 

 crippled WYANDOT, necessitating a retiom to the open water of the 

 shore lead. A northeast coiirse was maintained through open and 

 scattered ice to 71°14'S, 14°21'W, when once again a northerly course 

 was attempted. This time pack ice was negligible and a northwest 

 track v;as maintained. The last of the pack ice was seen on 15 February 

 at 70^00' S, 15°40'W, but bergs were encountered along the course until 

 18 February 1957. 



2. Ross Sea Area and off the Coast of V/ilkes Land 



October - From Valparaiso a general southwesterly course was 

 followed as far as the first pack ice. Icebergs were noted on the 

 glacier's radar on the morning of 11 October 1956, but were not sighted 

 from the ship imtil 2230 that evening and several were in sight on the 

 following day. Some grease ice was noted at 0300 on the morning of 

 13 October, and the edge of the pack ice was entered at 0545 at 62018' S, 

 118°45'W (Fig. 18). During the night the air temperature dropped to 

 10°F, causing extensive icing on the forward part of the ship from 

 heavy seas continuously washing over the decks. All decks were ice 

 covered with two to four inches forming on the welldeck. The pack ice, 

 when first encountered, was predominantly new ice with some fragments 

 of old, winter pack frozen in. Much of it had been pancaked and 

 refrozen, and the concentration was between one and five-tenths. 

 Late in the afternoon of the 13th, heavier ice, four to five feet 

 thick and eight-tenths concentration, was entered. At this point 

 (approximately I240W) the ship headed northwest to avoid the main body 

 of the pack, which had been slowing its progress considerably, and no 

 f-urther attempts were made to break through the pack ice on a direct 

 westerly route. The ship's passage continued on a course which carried 

 her as far north as about 59°S, 136°V/, and then southwest, maintaining 

 a course which roughly paralleled the fringe of the pack ice. The 

 63° was passed at I620W (Fig. 19), and from there on a course was 

 maintained between 63° and 64°30'S, until 174°E was reached. 



33 



