South Pole Station 1960-61
Old Antarcticans Database Project
Philip K Swartz - 1960-61 - South
Pole Station - thumbnails 1
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Background: As a Lieutenant, Medical Corps, U.S. Navy, I served as Officer in Charge, South Pole Station, during the U.S Navy's Operation Deepfreeze 1960-1961. These slide duplicates are selected from a larger group. I took the majority of these slides, with a few taken during that same time provided by others (as noted below).
The order of slides roughly follows the year, but is ordered as I use them for talks before groups, and is not meant to be ordered in a strict historical chronology.
While a variety of personnel are shown, and names included when available, these slides do not show the entire crew for the year.
The wintering over party consisted of 20 men, 10 U.S. Navy, 10 civilians (the majority from the U.S. Weather Bureau) conducting the various scientific programs.
During the summer months (late 1960, early 1961) there were a variety of additional personnel at the station. There was a several-man contingent from IndMan 14 (civilians from an industrial arm of the Navy, based in Hawaii) to erect a new communications building and install a large number and variety of radio receivers and transmitters. Additionally, Dr. Carl Hamner (UCLA) and a small crew brought hamsters, cockroaches, and bean plants to the station to investigate the possibility that these organisms timed their diurnal activities by sensing the rotation of the earth. By placing cages etc. on rotating platforms, the spin of the earth could be exactly countered or doubled. This explains the hamsters seen in slides [102]-[104].
Other on-going scientific disciplines included weather monitoring, seismology, magnetology, aurora and ionospheric physics.
Most of the photographs were taken with a Canon single lens reflex, 50mm lens, on 35mm Ektachrome film and many were processed by me on the station. Two slides ([118], [119]) are copies of black and white prints, pictures taken by one of the other members of the wintering over crew.
Slides are numbered such that when in the lower left corner the slide is oriented for projection.
You can also download the pictures (smaller) and captions in a book-form Word document.
Map of Antarctica
Close-up view of map 1
Statue of Robert Falcon Scott
From the air, flight from Christchurch to McMurdo
Mt. Erebus.
Edge of Ross ice shelf from Observation Hill (adjacent to McMurdo Station)
Tidal crack
] Air strip of NAS McMurdo (Williams Field) from the air
Looking across McMurdo Sound with sea ice present
Looking across McMurdo Sound
McMurdo Station with Observation Hill in the backgroundextending to the right.) This picture was taken from about Hut Point.
Main street, McMurdo, November 1960
Scott's hut at Hut Point
Scott's hut at Cape Evans 1910-1913, restored
George Meyer with portion of fish retrieved from a seal at one of the ice holes used for oceanographic research at McMurdo
Fossil leaf indicating Antarctica once had tropical forest
Oceanographic lab area at McMurdo
Emperor penguins
Adelie penguins in rookery at Hallet Station
Rookery at Hallet Station
Penguin couple with nest of pebbles.
Adelie penguins near McMurdo
Weddell seals sunning themselves near tidal cracks near McMurdo
Wright Dry Valley
Ski equipped C130 on air strip at McMurdo prior to flight to pole
View from the cockpit on flight from McMurdo to Pole Station
Skelton glacier
Crevasses seen from the air
Beardmore Glacier
View of Pole Station from the air strip looking grid East
View from the air strip past antennas and fuel drums
Supplies lying about
Entry to Byrd Station showing snow accumulation
Bowers Pole at SPS
Passageway inside of station
Passageway between buildings
Passageway
Tunnel leading to seismology, magnetology, and glaciology lab areas
Tunnel again showing breaking of structures
Photos; courtesy Philip K Swartz