Innocents on the Ice
Innocents on the Ice: A Memoir of Antarctic Exploration, 1957
John C. Behrendt
Copyright Date: 1998
Published by: University Press of Colorado
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5hjz3z
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Innocents on the Ice
Book Description:

"Adventures in the Antarctic only happen when someone makes a mistake."-From the Preface

In 1956, John C. Behrendt had just earned his master's degree in geophysics and obtained a position as an assistant seismologist in the International Geophysical Year glaciological program. He sailed from Davisville, Rhode Island to spend eighteen months in Antarctica with the IGY expedition as part of a U.S. Navy-supported scientific expedition to establish Ellsworth Station on the Filchner Ice Shelf.Innocents on the Iceis a memoir based on Behrendt's handwritten journals, looking back on his daily entries describing his life and activities on the most isolated of the seven U.S. Antarctic stations.

Nine civilians and thirty Navy men lived beneath the snow together, and intense personal conflicts arose during the dark Antarctic winter of 1957. Little outside contact was available to ease the tension, with no mail delivery and only occasional radio contact with families back home. The author describes the emotional stress of the living situation, along with details of his parties' explorations of the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf system during the summers of 1957 and 1958. Along the hazardous 1,300-mile traverse in two Sno-Cats, the field party measured ice thickness and snow accumulation as part of an international effort to determine the balance of the Antarctic ice sheet, and made the first geological observations of the spectacular Dufek Massif in the then-unexplored Pensacola Mountains. Behrendt also draws upon his forty years of continual participation in Antarctic research to explain the changes in scientific activities and environmental awareness in Antarctica today.

Including photos, maps, and a glossary identifying various forms of ice,Innocents on the Iceis a fascinating combination of the diary of a young graduate student and the reflections of the accomplished scientist he became.

eISBN: 978-1-60732-323-5
Subjects: History
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  1. Front Matter
    Front Matter (pp. i-vi)
  2. Table of Contents
    Table of Contents (pp. vii-viii)
  3. Preface
    Preface (pp. ix-xii)
  4. Acknowledgments
    Acknowledgments (pp. xiii-xiv)
  5. Editorial Note
    Editorial Note (pp. xv-xvi)
  6. Roster of Men at Ellsworth Station, 1957
    Roster of Men at Ellsworth Station, 1957 (pp. xvii-xx)
  7. [Illustrations]
    [Illustrations] (pp. xxi-xxviii)
  8. 1 Introduction
    1 Introduction (pp. 1-8)

    With the exception of ice-covered Berkner Island, which we had crossed a few days before, we had been on a ship or on the 700–4000-ft-thick floating Filchner Ice Shelf since we left Punta Arenas, Chile, one year earlier.

    [Several days later …] No one else was up yet, so I climbed the ridge where we were parked, to get some pictures of the peaks in back. I found a nice warm slab of rock upon which I rested and enjoyed the scenery. There was a small circular depression in the rock that was filled with meltwater. After I had...

  9. 2 Voyage to the Weddell Sea
    2 Voyage to the Weddell Sea (pp. 9-48)

    On a cold rainy Wednesday, 7 November 1956, I joined the 8 others of our scientific party, and 29 U.S. Navy men with whom we would “winter over” on our ship, theWyandot, at the Navy base at Davisville, Rhode Island. Our station scientific leader and Navy officer in charge, Capt. Finn Ronne (USNR), would board later in South America. There were 450 men aboard including 9 scientists, 15 ship’s officers, and other officers. The ship’s company was about 240. The rest included the men who would construct Ellsworth Station, aircrews, observers, and a few reporters.

    TheWyandot(AKA 92)...

  10. 3 Fall
    3 Fall (pp. 49-96)

    For the next two weeks everything moved in a chaotic but deterministic way until the ship’s departure on 10 February. In spite of all the plans for a systematic construction of Ellsworth Station by the Seabees taking 40 days, theWyandotwas completely unloaded of 11.2 million pounds of cargo, including 5000 drums of fuel, in 11 days. In three more days, Ellsworth Station was either 90% completed (Navy estimate) or 70% completed (Finn Ronne’s estimate).

    The cargo was hauled to the base site, which was two miles south of the ice front where theWyandotwas being unloaded. The...

  11. 4 Winter Begins
    4 Winter Begins (pp. 97-152)

    We were settling in to our home beneath the snow at Ellsworth. I recall becoming quite comfortable in the station and as the food was great, felt completely at home. As the Antarctic winter approached, it was quite interesting outdoors to see the rapid changes. Much scientific work followed, but for the sake of brevity, I present only parts of it here.

    1 April, Mon.We commenced Winter Routine: Breakfast (for us officers) 0830–0850, noon chow 1300, supper, 1745, movie, 1915. This is a real “loaf and smoke” routine, as the Navy men call it.

    2 April, Tues.We...

  12. 5 The Long Night Goes On and On and On…
    5 The Long Night Goes On and On and On… (pp. 153-188)

    As the winter continued, our collective state of mind deteriorated. Fortunately the quality of the food did not.

    Mac told Jack that apparently Ed and Ronne’s ham radio conversation with Crary regarding mess duties was heard in Washington, D.C., and other places. Mac had talked to a physician in Louisiana and a ham in Washington D.C., the very next day or two who said that he had either heard the conversation himself or had heard about it. The doctor wanted to know if we needed his help. Apparently, he thought that Ronne had some mental problems. For that matter, he...

  13. 6 The Sun Returns
    6 The Sun Returns (pp. 189-234)

    Finally the major work of the glaciologists was completed. Now we could move on to other activities.

    1 Aug., Thurs.We finished digging the pit today. The final depth is 100 ft, or 31 m. We had very pleasant working conditions, no wind, and quite warm (about –33°F) all day. I am readingThe Rain Cave, and I like it. Paul talked on the tape recorder for Ronne’s CBS interview series and even sang a song accompanied by his uke. We have been kidding him about this. Paul relaxed from the strain of the pit digging tonight and drank a...

  14. 7 Final Traverse Preparations
    7 Final Traverse Preparations (pp. 235-274)

    The worldwide Asian flu epidemic was on. We received a message from the Bureau of Medicine, ordering the vaccination of all wintering personnel and civilians as soon as possible. After a year of isolation from all diseases, those of us wintering in Antarctica were possibly particularly susceptible. The rest of the U.S. Antarctic Program was preparing for contact with the outside world. In the meantime, we at Ellsworth continued in our isolation.

    2 Oct., Wed.It was pretty windy today and, as we didn’t want to take any chances with our large 1000-lb explosive charge of noise obscuring the seismic...

  15. 8 Ellsworth Station to Berkner Island
    8 Ellsworth Station to Berkner Island (pp. 275-332)

    Finally after three months at sea, the Antarctic winter at Ellsworth, and an intense few weeks of preparation, we left on an oversnow geophysical-glaciological traverse across the essentially unexplored area south of the Weddell Sea coast. Now we would find out whether the establishment of Ellsworth on the sloping ice front of the Filchner Ice Shelf the previous February had left us a reasonable route into the interior of Antarctica or isolated us north of the Grand Chasm.

    Our primary scientific objective was the measurement of the snow-surface configuration, the ice thickness, and the depth to underlying bedrock, using the...

  16. 9 Dufek Massif to Korff Island
    9 Dufek Massif to Korff Island (pp. 333-388)

    After getting through the crevasses, the Sno-Cats climbed Berkner Island, which we called Hubley Land at the time.

    On 29 November they put in a station and recorded a very good reflection from about sea level or a little above; their elevation was about 2100 ft. Continuing on a bearing of 190°, another station was put in on 30 November–1 December, where I rejoined them. We started about 2100 and drove all night.

    2 Dec., Mon.309 mi. After 50 miles we stopped, had supper, and went to bed about 1000. We got up about 2300 and started a...

  17. 10 Heading for Home
    10 Heading for Home (pp. 389-402)

    After nearly three months on the traverse, we began our slow return to civilization. Fortunately it was slow because there was plenty of cultural shock (displacement anxiety) awaiting us, which was quite unexpected. As mentioned in the previous chapter we quickly disconnected our heads from the traverse.

    17 Jan., Fri.(continued) Our pilot circled theWyandotand theWest Windso we could take pictures.

    TheWest Windwas an Arctic veteran Coast Guard icebreaker, essentially the same as the NavyStaten Island, which had accompanied theWyandotthe previous season. This season theWyandotwas commanded by Capt. F....

  18. Epilogue
    Epilogue (pp. 403-404)

    Over the course of my scientific career since the International Geophysical Year 40 years ago, I have come to realize how much the research methods I learned back then established the pattern I have followed ever since. What we geophysicists and glaciologists set out to do in IGY had only the very general objective of determining the three-dimensional configuration of the Antarctic ice sheet and, ultimately, of discovering whether it was increasing or decreasing. As broad as our research seems by today’s standards, we found many scientifically significant and interesting results through inductive reasoning. That is, we looked around Antarctica...

  19. Glossary
    Glossary (pp. 405-406)
  20. Bibliography
    Bibliography (pp. 407-408)
  21. Index
    Index (pp. 409-426)