Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1947-03-19

SEARCH EXPEDITION, MAIN
BASE, Port of Beaumont" Mar.
I19.-The buildings and supplies
left here by the United States
Antarctic Service Expedition when
1t withdrew in 1941 have been
sacked, looted and needlessly dam
aged. 1t is difficult to establish pre-
cisely who were the culprits, since
Argentine and Chilean expeditions
have called here and British group
has been here for over year.
Immediately upon landing here,
March IL, we visited the three large
and two small American buildings,
in company with Maj. K. S. Pierce
Butler, commander of the British
base, and found that an estimated
80 per cent of the valuable mate
rial left here had been taken or
rendered inusable; the entire place
was Uttered with rubbish.
Greetings to Visitors.
On one wall of the science build
ing was written the following mes
sage in large letters:
ITO the first visitors, greetings:
1.-THE materials abandoned in this
base are the property of the United
States Government or of individual
expedition members. Please report
tn tine United States Department
of the Interior any articles used.
If possible to remove part Of the
valuable items, the above agency
should be notified and instructions
will be given for shipment to Wash
ington, D. c., U. S. A.
Good luck!
Signed
RICHARD B. BLACK, East Base,
Antarctic Service Expedition,
March %, 1941."
Here are some examples of what
we found:
The drawers of one very complete
cabinet of excellent surgical instru-
ments had been thrown to the seven
winds and only two needles and
part of one bone instrument were
left.
Valuable books of Cooks eXplora-
tons, lent to the earlier expedition
by the Library of Congress, and
others are missing and many VOL
umes of the Harvard Classics were
thrown all over the room, mouldy
and ruined.
Instruments Torn Out.
In the radio shack, every instru-
ment had been pulled from its place
and, except for what was stolen, all
wiring and tubes had been torn
out, broken and Uttered about the
floor.
The machine shop had been
wrecked and all movable tools taken.
The Photographic room had been
torn apart, sensitized paper and
film pulled out of boxes and strewn
around and much of it stolen.
The galley was Uttered with cook
ing utensils, but everything of value
had been taken, including an cleo
trio mixer.
Some of the buildings had been
partly acknowledgements coverings
had been removed.
Antenna Poles Removed.
Radio antenna poles which made
up a rhombic antenna system
beamed on the United States and
the west base station on the Ross
Ice Shelf to the west of her had
been removed.
The living quarters had been
smashed and all but one OF the
boxes of personal gear left by the
earlier expedition members had been
stolen or broken into.
Much of the aviation gasoline has
gone, though Diesel oil and Goa!
supplies have not been touched.
The expedition photographer has
taken pictures of the destruction
and Uttered condition of the Ameri-
can base, which we will submit later.
The nearly derelict state of the
buildings will delay our occupa-
ton Of them for at least 30 days.
200 Come Ashore.
On our arrival here, Maj. Butler
told us that one Argentine and two
Chilean ships had visited the island
this summer: that one of the Chill
can vessels, the Angamous, had been
here just four days before we ar
rived. From this ship, he said, 200
men had come ashore and ran
sacked the buildings, also all the
American material the British had
packed for return to the United
States aboard their ship, the Trep-
assy, this year. Certainly, British
labeled cartons and boxes were
everywhere in the rubble.
Maj. Butler added that it had been
impossible for his 10 men to prevent
this.
The British group has submitted
a list of tho American enI,ipnoert