II. FIELD METHODS 



A. Equipment 



Once the hut was enclosed, the job of applying two coats of 

 paint on the masonite deck, wiring the hut for lights and outlets, 

 installing the winch, "A" frame, generator, building work tables, 

 Nansen bottle racks, and other fixtures consumed more time. Many 

 of the interior furnishings were not completed until mid-winter or 

 later. (Plates XIV through XXIV). Two BuAir Aerial Target Towing 

 Winches were modified to run on 110 volts instead of 28 volts and 

 were used with 3/32-inch stainless steel cable which was run over 

 a small meter wheel to determine depth. The winches were hydraul- 

 ically controlled. Although excellent results were obtained from 

 the little Onan 2§" KW. generator on the sled in the cold air, it 

 was found that indoors it produced just a little under the power 

 required by the heavy winch motor. Accordingly, a large 10 KW. 

 Hobart generator with a 4-cylinder gasoline motor was borrowed 

 from the Navy. This gave excellent service with plenty of power 

 and also was a splendid source of heat for the hut. In fact, when 

 working at the icehole, the small Coleman space heater, which was 

 kept going at all other times, was turned off. The temperature 

 would quickly reach to 90° or 100° inside and work was performed 

 in T-shirts with the outside door open at all times when there was 

 not a strong wind blowing. This was really antarctic oceanography 

 de luxe, and how different from the conditions under which the 

 earlier investigators worked! 



The icehole hut was located 2 miles south of the southern end 

 of the Gap through which the main road from NAF McMurdo to Scott 

 Base at Pram Point runs. The eleven sounding holes along the route 

 to the icehole already had been marked with small snow cairns and 

 bamboo poles with flags. Before winter darkness set in, a large 

 number of split bamboo poles with flags, some of which had a 4-Inch 

 band of Scotchlite luminous tape on them, were interspersed with the 

 cairns. These showed up in the headlights very nicely but not nearly 

 as brilliantly as the 40 or so traffic reflectors which were set up 

 at regular intervals. (Plate XII). At close range, these markers 

 showed up like a flaming torch in the rays of the Polecat's spot- 

 light. On a clear winter's night one could see over a mile of 

 reflectors running down the /trail to the hut. These reflectors, 

 flags, and Scotchlite taped poles were all a big help on numerous 

 occasions when it was necessary to blindly grope one's way shore- 

 ward in the midst of a raging blizzard. On one abortive trip to 

 the icehole, it was deemed wise to turn around at the pressure 

 ridges, since it was simply impossible to see any flags at all and 

 the tracks were blown over. Returning to the base of the Gap, it 

 was necessary for the second author to go ahead at the end of a 100- 

 foot rope attached to the Polecat to locate the trail. When they 



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