Evening star., 1960-03-04

ohd logged over oIUOU miles. lt
skipper tells Of the yoyoss in thi
story.
means there are so many more
surfacing opportunities In the
Arctic than we had previously
known.
We found that the ocean fiool
in the Arctic is fiat and muddy
That there are fish. We founc
a shrimp. We found tremendou:
| ice ridges, fast currents anc
extremely uniform area beneath
the ice.
The temperatures under the
ice are fairly uniform, too. Tht
average thickness of Arctic ict
is about 10 feet. The coldest
weather we experienced-minu'
40 degrees - came when w
surfaced of the Canadian ar.
chipelago just off Ellef Ringnei
Island.
There were no psychological
problems with the crew.
We left Pearl Harbor Janu'
airy, 18 and encountered thI
first ice near st. Mathew 1slanc
on January 25.
Pass "Tall Gonzales"
We began the transit through
the Bering' Sea. 1t had a deptf
of about 1913 feet.
Our baptism of ice came
when the ocean floor suddenly
dropped to 160 feet, then begar
rising rapidly until we only hat
about 5 feet clearance between
ice and ocean bottom. We just
managed to ease over an un.
charted peak-or what we ther
thought was a peak. 1t was ir
the Bering Sea just before en-
tering the Bering Strait. The
danger spot became known as
Tall Gonzales"
We maintained a speed of 8
knots, tried to surface several
times but couldn't quite make
it. The ice was 5 to Z feet thick
We finally found an opening
and burst through on January
81.
The temperature was %
degrees. Our scuba (self-
contained underwater breath
ing apparatus) divers put on
their suits and inspected some
Of the pressure ridges. We were
in a polynya-or a rapidly
formed lake in thick ice which
freezes over fast.
We were sitting in ice to 2
feet thick. The ice began to
shift rapidly-at a rate of about
5 feet a minute. This Is prob
ably where our plastic -domed
bow was sheared of. The shift
gave us an insight on how these
polynyas are formed-through
pressure and rafting Of ice.
We left February 3 and chose
a route unexplored before.
Reach Pole February 8
We reached the North Pole
on February o at 9:34 am.
Honolulu time), circled the
North Pole in seven minutes
probably the fastest globe
circling voyage anyone has
made.
We threw a Jacobs ladder
over the sail (superstructure)
and Harold Meier, of Honolulu,
fondly known as Pineapple,
raised the Hawaiian State flag
over the Pole.
There was little wind. The
temperature was minus 36 de.
grees. 1t was clear, although 1t
was night all the time. It
looked more like the Sahara
Desert.
We opened a post Office. The
submarine carried almost TO-
900 pieces of mail. Each letter
was Cancelled by a special stamp
showing a submarine breaking
through the ice and the legend
Sarge 583-North Pole 1861
We left the Pole on Febru-
airy 10 and came up the next
day in a heavy pressure ridge
area. We had our first chance
to look at the superstructure.
There was a little damage,
which we welded.
We proceeded through the
narrow passage between Alaska
and Little Diamedes Island.
We ran into Tall Gonzales"
again at essentially the same
depth. This indicated that
Tall Gonzales" is a ridge and
not a peak. On February Is
we surfaced for the goth time.
We had been under ice 81 days
and four hours.
The tremendous amount Of
data compiled by the scientists
will have to be sifted and ana
lyzed. 1t will undoubtedly give
us a better understanding OF
H. A,akta a,aI fnr ,,aAra aoa,,