Evening star., 1947-09-05
Rome Group Begins
1,2OO-MiIe Trip 10
Map Antarctic Area
By Comdr. Finn Rome
North American Newspaper Allionee

ROME EXPEDITION BASE,
Marguerite Bay, Antarctic, Sept.
1.-Delayed)-Our main southern
trail party left this morning. just
after dawn they headed across the
frozen waters of Marguerite Bay to
start a 1,200-mile journey into un-
known areas which will keep them
on the trail for 100 days.
Four men and two dog teams
comprised the party. 1t was under
the direction of our geologist, DR..
Robert L. Nichols, head of the geol-
ogy department at Tufts College,
Medford, Mass, and also head OF
the Geological Society of America,
The other two Americans in the
party are Robert Dodson, our assis-
tant geologist and surveyor, and
Arthur owen, a Boy Scout from
Texas who will act as dog driver and
radio man.
A British observer, 1t. Kevin
Walton, of the Royal Navy, made
the trip as representative member
of the British group here. ThlS
is part of a joint cooperation plan
agreed on by our expedition and
Base E of the British Falkland
Islands Dependency. Nelson Nc
Clary. a biologist and ex-navy off,
Ger who is a member OF our eX-
pedition, will accompany a British
trail party scheduled to leave in
about three weeks.
To Explore Area.
DR.. Nichols party will go south
and east into uneXplored territory
TO locate and fix definite ground
control points to which we can
later orient the horiZon-to horizon
photographs we will take from the
air. The group will also undertake
scientific studies in geology, mete-
orology, glaciology and Topographic
cal surveying. The party will be
alerted at times of aerial flight and
will stand by as rescue group II
need arises.
Those departing today will be
followed in five days by a tractor
party which will attempt to trace
their tracks. The dog party will 90
south across Marguerite Bay toward
King George vi Sound. At the
Junction where the bay ice meets
the higher shelf ice of the sound,
the men will tary to find an ap-
proach to the higher level. The
tractor group, by now close behind
the dog teams, will use the same
approach to the high level and, once
on top, the two groups will merge.
They will then proceed farther
south in King George vi Sound un-
til, at the southeast corner, they es-
tablish an advanced base. This will
serve as a refueling site for the
twin-engine Beechcraft and the
Norseman plane which will be used
for aerial survey work. Studies OF
terrestrial magnetism and meteorol-
ogy will also be carried out there.
Sledge Trip Planned.
From this base the sledge party
will press out eastward into the un-
known, heading for Mount Tricorn,
200 miles across the rugged un-
mapped terrain of the Palmer
peninsula. Nothing is known of the
land in the area, nor of the heights
to which the men must ascend for
successful crossing. This will be
the hardest struggle OF the whole
1,200-mlle trip.
When the men reach the shore CT
the Weddell Sea, they will head
south along the coastline for 20
days.
While they are in this area, and
while we are in touch with them
by radio, I will make several long
survey flights over their route and
try to explore and map this stretch
of unknown coastline on the An
arctic continent. We will have
trimetrogon cameras in the plane.
One of the main purposes of the
sledge trip and the plane flights
in fact, of our whole trip to Antarc-
tica-is to investigate the interest
ing possibility that Antarctica is
two continents. This will be true
If we can prove there is a water
link-under the ice-between the
Ross and Weddell Seas.
Two Areas Possible
Such a link, by dividing the land
mass of Antarctica virtually through
the middle, would mean that there
are two large land areas here.
This mornings party carried q
200 pounds of supplies. enough for
81 days subsistence on the trail
Further rations will be dropped to
them by plane.
The 13 huskies of the American
dog team pulled two sledges, ar
ranged in single file 1t. Walton,