IN ANTARCTICA TODAY The 16 men now at South Africa's base in Queen Maud land. Expected back in the Republic towards the end of February 1968 they nould haYe been in Antarctica for 13 months. They are back row (left to right): Roelf van Heerde, Gerrit Coetzee, Hannes Steyn, Kobus Retief, Charles Kings- ley, Phil Steyn, Freddie Mocke, Andre Nel, !\'eels Bezuidenhout and Ron Kirkland. Front row:
Wilf Hodson, Hans Loots, Eddie Rossouw, Dr. lartin Kruger, Brand van l~hyn and Allon Poole.
Photo: John Pitts
ANCHORS AWAY FOR SANAE
JOHN PIITS,
The Star, Johannesburg
Cape Town swelters in the December heat. The temperature is about 90°F in the big warehouse where the 16 men of SA AE VIII are issued with the Antarctic kit. Two huge kitbags, each crammed with string vests, jersies, fur-lined parkas, balaclavas, red and yellow, big white boots called mukluks which fit over four pairs of woollen socks, and gloves and sun goggles. Opening them up is like digging into a suffocating Christmas stocking. Trying on the clothes is like stepping into a furnace. Faces shine with perspiration and excitement.
o one believes they can wear all this . . . .
Down at the docks the RSA, with her bright red hull and white superstructure, is almost ready. Several tons of stores and drums of fuel are aboard. Nothing is spared, nothing is overlooked. A man in the ice could die for want of a pressure stove pricker.
The stores include fan belts for the muskeg tractors and typewriter ribbons, medical equipment and electrical spares for all the scientific instruments, dog sledges and tools. And food of course. Food is the most important thing of all and there is three years' supply at SANAE- just in case the RSA fails to get through now or the following year. The food must be good and it mnst have variety. Most of it is tinned, but it includes 17 frozen turkeys, one for each man's birthday, and one for the
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banquet on Midwinter's Night. Then there are cheeses and chutneys and bottles of essences for cakes. Tins of sweets and I ,440 slabs of chocolate are packed with instant puddings and jellies. Four hundred pounds of coffee is a big single item but not so great as the 885 cans of tomatoes or the 700 tins of luncheon roll.
Beers and wines and cigarettes are rationed, each man choosing his quota. Roelfvan Heerde, the big burly radio technician, does not drink, so there is no beer for him.
But he likes tomato sauce so there is a crate of extra bottles, just for his delight.
Then anchor aweigh. Reluctantly the visitors leave the ship.
Cape Town drops behind and suddenly the ship is a living thing. It shudders and trembles to the first of the Atlantic rollers and spray breaks over the bows. Several men are seasick in the first half-hour. They tagger to their bunks. There are only a few at the stern rail to watch the mountains of Sea Point fade in the evening mist. They were the lucky ones.
Eddie Rossouw. 41-year-old leader of the team, an analytical chemist at C.S.l.R., was one of the first to go to his cabin. Before that he invited three other for a game of bridge saying: "If I can concentrate on something 1
won't get sick." But before the first hand was played he dropped his cards, excused himself and dashed away.
With him it was more a release from tension after weeks of waiting and inten ive organisation for the big adven- ture to start.
Others felt the seasickness much more acutely. Van Heerde was seen only once or twice, briefly, during the fir t week at sea, and Neels Bezuidenhout, the diesel technician from Randfontein, and Andre Nel, the radio operator from Jamestown, Cape, were ofT-colour most of the time. Worse hit was little Wilf Hodson, the 38- year-old diesel technician from Vryheid who was making his econd trip to Antarctica. No one saw him until the ship was in the pack ice and incapable of rolling. Hodson was at SANAE the whole of 1965 and told me that the only thing that worried him about going back this time was the sea voyage. "I am sick all the time," he ex- plained. "It took me a year to get over the last trip."
Captain K. T. Me i h was on the bridge as the RSA left harbour. For him it was just another "routine voyage" for he had done the relief trip to SANAE five times and made innumerable trips to South Africa's meteorological stations on Marion and Gough Islands and to Tristan da Cunha.
He brought her home to Cape Town from Japan in 1961 and he has been her master ever since.
The RSA is a small ship by modern polar standards.
She is 224 ft. long, 43 ft. wide, weighs I ,550 tons and has a six-cylinder engine of 1,500 horsepower. Built specially for Antarctic work, she has a reinforced steel hull which is designed so that if she is beset she will not be crushed by the ice as Shackleton's Endurance was in 1914. Her bows slope sharply backwards so that she rides up on to the ice pack and, if it is not too thick, crushes it with her weight.
At speed she can ride up to 30 ft. on to the ice before topping. but in the ice pack her speed is reduced by the
The RSA "rolling, slightly a"ash" in the roaring forties.
short length of clear water she has for each running attack.
Because of the almost bowl-shaped construction of her hull, she rolls and pitches at the slightest provocation and we were soon thrown from ide to side. A roll of 80 degrees- 40 degrees each side of vertical-was, two days later in the rolling forties. not exceptional. Sixty degrees was quite common and 30 degrees so normal that we became used to it after a day or two.
RSA stands for Republic of South Africa, but some ay it actually stands for "Rolling, Slightly Awash".
They aver she rolls in dry dock. They joke about her, ay she is underpowered, call her an ugly old tub and think she looks top-heavy. But the men who sail her are proud of her.
The people of Tristan, who rely on her for much of their supplies, are to honour her by having her picture on their new I Os. stamp. No one is more pleased than Captain McNish, for she is one of the mail ships of the outhern oceans and carries post for Tristan, the Islands and even for SANAE. When she docked at the bukla on the iceshelf near SANAE one of the flags she flew proclaimed: "I am carrying mail".
But that was still a long way off.
The first night out was New Year's Eve, 1967, and there was a party in the "smoker". Most of the passen- gers made it, if only for a little while. The strongest sat up till midnight and when the bells of the New Year sounded over the ship's loudspeaker system they stood and linked arms and sang "Auld Lang Syne", some in Afrikaans and some in English.
Then Allan Poole played "The Last Post'' on hi trumpet, and after the noise and music the silence was sudden and deep. Jt was as though they had only now realized that they wouldn't see home and loved ones for a long time. There were a few brief "good nights" and everybody went quickly to bed.
It was hea\'Cn to be ice-bound.
Photos: Andre v. d. Mcrwe
Geological Similarities- continued from page 16
landscape of Antarctica was of normal subaerial type.
but evidence was forthcoming of the earth-movements that had affected that region.
There is one magnificent mountain range, probably the finest on earth, which is called the Trans-Antarctic Mountains. Jt stretches from the most southern corner of Cape Adare, right across Antarctica to the Weddell Sea area. Along this range mountains 15,000 ft. high are by no means uncommon. The whole range is one mighty wall, two thousand miles long. The ice from the polar plateau comes out through the range in mighty glaciers, 20 to 30 miles wide, but the range is geologically unbroken from end to end. The early geologists in Antarctic thought that the Trans-Antarctic Range was a collection of earth blocks, faulted, jumbled and pushed up to various heights. But because we could follow on those mountain tops, level landscapes similar to those which exist in Africa at this present day, we were able to show that the mountains are not separate blocks at all. The range as a whole has been formed by a steady, uniform uplift.
The question arose as to what were the progressive
steps from the summits of these mountains down to the Ross Barrier and the depressed area towards the Weddell Sea. Is there a series of earth steps?
Here again South Africa provided the clue. Natal is known to have been formerly Aat and not very high above the sea. In relatively recent geologic times Natal has been uplifted with a great tilt towards the sea and one particular datum can be traced from about 300 ft above sea level all the way across the province up to 6,000 ft., when it turns over towards the high veld and slowly descends until it goes under the Kalahari. The Trans-Antarctic Mountains have been found to have had a similar mode of origin: they are not block mountains, they were formed by a colossal tilting and arching, an uplifting of one place and depressing at another- uplifting mountains across Antarctica and bending adjacent country down to the Ross Sea Shelf. These ideas, all on a major scale, originated here in Africa.
The eiTorts which South Africans have put into the Antarctic are not in vain. We should be proud indeed of the contributions that our scientists, and not least the geologists, have made, and are making, to unravelling the mysteries of what is nowadays the International Continent of Antarctica.
SOUTH AFRICA:\' PUBLICATIONS ON ANTARCTICA AND THE ISLANDS
EZEKOWITZ, M. B. and VAN WJJK, A. M. Results of magnetic observations made at SANAE, 1965. Report No. BS, Hermanus Magnetic Observatory.
FULLER, N. R. A preliminary report on the Littoral Ecology of the Marion and Prince Edward Islands. S.Afr. J. Sci., 1967.
GLEDHILL, J. A. SANAE- Key to a Space Research Puzzle. Antarktiese Bulletin No. 16, July 1966.
GLEDHILL, J. A., TORR, D. G. and TORR, M. R. Ionospheric Disturbance and Electron Precipitation from the Outer Radiation Belt.
Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 72, pp. 209, 1967.
HUNTLEY, B. J. A preliminary account of the vegetation of Marion Island. S.Afr. J. Sci., 1967.
KUHN, G. J. and VANDER WALT, A. J. Shipboard riometer observations in the Southern radiation anomaly. Submitted to J. Geophys.
Research for publication.
MULLER, D. B., SCHOEMAN, F. R. and VAN ZINDEREN BAKKER, Sr. E. M. Some notes on a Biological Reconnaissance of Bouvct,Pya (Antarctic). S.Afr. J. Sci. 1967.
NEETH LING, D. C. Suid-Afrikaansc Aardkundige Navorsing in Antarktika- Geologie, G letserkunde, Veldgeofisika, Seismologie en Oseanagrafie. Tegnikon XV, 2, 3, 84-93, Sept. 1966. S.A. Akademie vir Wctenskap en Kuns.
POLLAK. W. H. Geological sampling in the Ahlmannryggen area. Antarktiese Bulletin No . .17, Sept. 1966.
POLLAK, W. H. Tidal efl'ect on a floating ice-shelf. Antarktiese Bulletin No. 16, Julie 1966.
POOLE, H. D. and VAN WIJK, A.M. Seaborne magnetic measurements, Cape Town- SANAE, December 1965- January 1966. Report No. B7, Hermanus Magnetic Observatory.
ROBERSTON, G. T. and VAN WIJK, A. M. Results of magnetic observations at SANAE 1964. Report No. B6, Hermanus Magnetic Observatory.
SCHALKE, H. J. W. G. and VAN ZINDEREN BAKKER, Sr. E. M. A preliminary report on palynological research on Marion Island (Sub-Antarctic). S.Afr. J. Sci., 1967.
VAN ZINDEREN BAKKER, Sr. E. M. The Biological Investigation of Marion and Prince Edward Islands. Antarktiese Bulletin No. 12, pp. 1-2, 1965.
VAN ZINDEREN BAKKER, Sr. E. M. Botanical Problems of the Southern End of the World. S.Afr. J. Sci., 1967.
VAN ZINDEREN BAKKER, Sr. E. M. Die Flora en Fauna van die Subantarktiese Eilandc, Marion en Prince Edward. Tegnikon, 15 (2, 3), pp. 114-120, 1966.
VAN ZINDEREN BAKKER, Sr. E. M. Marion and Prince Edward Islands, Biological Studies. Nature, 213 (5073), pp. 230-231, 1967.
VAN ZINDEREN BAKKER, Jr. E. M. Bird Studies on Marion and Prince Edward Islands. News Bulletin Zoo/. Soc. of S.A., 7 (3), 5th June 1966.
VAN ZINDEREN BAKKER, Jr. E. M. Diere Lewe op Marion-en Prins Edward Eilande. Antarktiese Bulletin No. 18, 4-6, November 1966.
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VERWOERD, W. J. Geological Evolution of Marion and Prince Edward Islands. S.Afr. J. Sci., 1967.
VERWOERD, W. J. Landvorme op Marioneiland. Amarktiese Bulletin No. 13, January 1966.
VERWOERD, W. J. Waarom navorsing in Antarktika? Tegnikon XV, 2, 3, 102, 1967. S.A. Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns.
• •
VERWOERD, W. J. Geologie en Kartografie van die Suidelike Eilande. Tegnikon XV, 2, 3, 105-113, 1967. S.A. Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns.
VERWOERD, W. J. and LANGENEGGER, 0. Marion and Prince Edward Islands: Geological studies. Nature 213 (5073), 231-232, 1967.
PUBLICATIONS IN PREPARATION
BASTIN, H. A. Glaciological investigations on the Fimbul Ice Shelf and inland icc sheet, western Queen Maud Land, 1966.
BASTIN, H. A. and DE Rl DOER, E. Preliminary report on the Geology of the Borgmassivet. Antarktiese Bulletin.
COETZEE, W. F., MAREE, J. P., STOKER, P. H. and VAN DER WALT, A. J. Latiwde dependence of cosmic rays at balloon altitudes in Cape Town magnetic anomaly.
DE RIDDER, E. Gravimetric determination of tidal effect at SANAE, Fimbullce Shelf.
DE RIDDER, E. From SANAE to Soyla- the 7th South African Antarctic Expedition in the mountains. Antarktiese Bulletin.
FULLER, N. R. The Intertidal Zone.
HUNTLEY, B. J. Plant Ecology.
JOUBERT, D. 1., MAREE, J.P., STOKER, P. H. and VANDER WALT, A. J. Shipboard neutron monitor observations in the South African Magnetic Anomaly.
LAWRENCE, R. F. The Spiders of Marion and Prince Edward Island.
McDOUGALL, 1., VERWOERD, W. J. and SNAPE, C. Age determinations on Marion Island lavas.
NEETHLING, D. C. and DE RIDDER, E. Gravity and Magnecic traverse investigations of the South African National Antarctic Expeditions 1961-1966.
SCHULTZE, B. R. The Climate of Marion Island.
S.A. Hydrographic Office. Bouvet</>ya (New Edition).
STOKER, P. H. and COETZEE, W. F. Directional asymmetry of cosmic rays in southern and northern hemispheres.
VANDER WALT, A. J., STOKER, P. H., SCHOLTZ, G. J., MAREE, J.P. KONIG, P. J. and COETZEE, W. F. Airplane observations of cosmic-ray components in the South African Magnetic Anomaly.
VANZANTEN, B. 0. The Musci of Marion and Prince Edward Islands.
VAN ZINDEREN BAKKER, Sr. E. M., DYER, R. A. and WINTERBOTTOM, J. M. (Editors). Marion and Prince Islands, Biological- Geological Expedition from South Africa J 965/66.
VAN ZINDEREN BAKKER, E. M. Jr. Bird observations at sea from Prince Edward Island to Cape Town.
VAN ZINDEREN BAKKER, E. M. Jr. The Genus Diomedea on Marion and Prince Edward Islands.
VAN ZINDEREN BAKKER, E. M. Jr. Comparative Avian Ecology of Marion and Prince Edward Islands.
VAN Z£NDEREN BAKKER, E. M. Jr. A behaviour analysis of the Gentoo Penguin Pygoscelis papua (Forster).
VAN ZINDEREN BAKKER, E. M. Jr. A behaviour analysis of the Genus Phoebe/ria.
VERWOERD, W. J. and NEETHLING, D. C. Geological and Glaciological investigations on Bouvet Island 1966.
VERWOERD, W. J. Islands on the Mid-ocean Ridge between Africa and Antarctica. Symposium on Continental Drift emphasizing the History of the South Atlantic Area, Montevideo, I 967.
WINTERBOTTOM, J. M. The position of Marion Island in the.Sub-Antarctic Avifauna.
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