ining a photographic record of the terrain for study and mapping purposes and carrying instruments for scientific data, the planes themselves were used to determine the topography of the barren continent of Antarctica. Contour lines were obtained by bringing the planes down every twenty miles until their skids touched the snow and surface altitude checked by reading the altimeter.
Peterson had his closest escape from death during a trip through Marie Byrd land en ‘ route to the Edsel Ford range by tractor. With three men he had set out to record pictures of the journey. Suddenly, after several days journey, a blizzard sprang up. The wind was suffocating in intensity.
As the blizzard grew worse the men pitched a tent next to the tractor, one of them staying in the cab of the latter. The storm grew worse and lasted for a week. The wind blew so hard that it was impossible to venture outside and the man in the tractor cab had to remain in the cab for a week, while the other three took turns holding up the tent. After it was all over, the difficult task then began of digging out from the snow drifts.
Herrmann had his one dangerous experience when he broke the camp rules and ventured off alone in the spring twilight. The haze obliterates everything and without a horizon it is very easy to become lost. Herrmann went down to view the seals, and thought he was returning in the right direction. He wore a wool shirt and a windproof —a very light but warm bit of clothing which largely replaced furs for warmth. It was 22 below zero. For nine hours he tried to find his way back. Finally he began back tracking and reached camp utterly exhausted with one foot partly frozen.
“Both of us were on the scene when the big Fokker high wing monoplane crashed shortly after taking off,” Herrmann said. “I had to pick up my camera and run for fear of being hit, but the shots we got were both close up and distant. The big ship wobbled as it took off. We had our cameras set to take scenes of general activity. When the Fokker began wobbling, we swung our cameras into position. For a moment it disappeared from sight, then re-appeared very close. We were both grinding away as it crashed.
“Speaking of shots, we brought back one scene that is a knockout. One of the boys was given a whip and a chair and made to enter a snow arena. He was told that he would be facing a wild animal. We started grinding the cameras. He came in warily and waited for the animal to be released at another-entrance. Suddenly a Penguin came wobbling out. The result was a scream. You should have seen our valiant expeditioner battling the ferocious beast.”
The penguins in the Antarctic are of two general types, the adelie or smaller penguins and the emperors. Some emperors grow to the size of eight-year-old children. Penguins weighing as much as 80 pounds were encountered.
Granite-sloped mountains 20,000 feet high separated Little America from the South Pole. On one trip Peterson experienced one of his most thrilling moments when the big Condor’s second motor quit at 16,000 feet while they were heading for the Edsel Ford range. Fortunately, the motor picked up again before a crash occurred.
Found Exposed Coal Deposits One party exploring more distant territory found coal deposits lying exposed on the surface. The expedition returned to the United States with conclusive proof that the Antarctic has extremely heavy coal beds beneath its deep cap of snow. Another group reported discovery of three volcanoes which were blowing smoke and fire out of snow and ice.
The bitter cold, even in the underground buildings in Little America, made handling cameras difficult. Moisture freezing in some of the instruments made it necessary to keep some of them near a heater until ready for use.
One of the curiosities of travel in the Antarctic was the frequent changes of time necessary while traveling east or west from Little America. Every fifteen minutes the men would change their watches by one hour because of the converging latitudes.
Peterson Made 21 Flights The cameras were taken on tractor expedi