ENPages
page_0006
2. Main Party: consisting of:
Organiser and Leader. Pilots (4). Assistant Pilots and Mechanics (4). Geologists (3). Surveyors (3). Wireless Operator (1). Photographer (1). Doctor-Biologist (1). Possibly, Archaeologist or Ornithologist.
Total: 19.
Total Expedition to consist of 23 members.
Programme for Advance Party.
The Advance Party will leave LONDON on June 20th, 1937, in a ship of 300 gross tonnage, carrying the following stores for the Main Expedition:
Petrol Oil ••••••••••••••••••••••• 100 tons. Food supplies, (2 years for 25 men) 48 " [tons] Equipment: Timber for huts, aeroplane hanger, camp equipment, wireless, aeroplane spare parts, motor boat, etc. 50 " [tons] Coal • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 35 " [tons] Margin •••••••• 17 " [tons]
Total: 250 tons.
The ship will call at the following ports:
INVIGTUT, Latitude 61 approx. GODHAVN " 70 " UPERNIVIK " 73 "
on the West Coast of GREENLAND to establish petrol and food depots. Winter quarters will finally be established in the neighbourhood of ROBERTSON BAY, Latitude 78, where suitable landing grounds have already been reconnoitred, for use at all seasons of the year. It is hoped that it will be possible to obtain permission to employ Eskimos during the Spring sledge journeys. As soon therefore as the unloading is finished, the ship will proceed to the edge of the pack-ice to hunt enough Walrus to maintain the Eskimos' dog-teams. A total of
2.
page_0007
60 Walrus, hunted outside territorial waters, should be adequate for this purpose, as well as providing a reserve against possible shortage the following winter. The Expedition will possess not more than 25 dogs of its own. There are several suitable places in the ROBERTSON BAY district for winter quarters. Its chief advantages are:
1. With a suitable ship it is possible to reach it every year.
2. It is comparatively free from wind.
3. All the Eskimo Settlements of the SMITH SOUND Tribe, are easily accessible by the end of December, and there will therefore be available ample Eskimo labour for assisting the Expedition, particularly in the Base area. The Advance Party will spend the Autumn building:
1. A house for their own use, with enough additional accommodation for all members of the Expedition.
2. Several warehouses; of these there will be at least two to guard against total loss through destruction by fire.
3. Several separate Petrol Stores.
4. An aeroplane Hangar and Workshop.
5. A Blubber Shed.
Soon after the arrival of the party, Marine, Biological and Physical observations will be undertaken; wireless communication (on a short wave-length), will, if possible, be established direct with England or with Canada; Walrus caches will be made, and meat will be cut up by machine saws, and sacked ready for trail. If possible, it will be partially dried. The rations will be on a basis of approximately 3 lbs. of meat per dog per day. Sledges will be built, clothing and equipment prepared, and all preparations made for the arrival of the main party.
The employment of Natives will depend on the co-operation of the Danish Government. The Eskimos at ROBERTSON BAY who served on the recent Expedition have stated their readiness to take part in the journeys here planned. Since it is not proposed to begin sledging before the 1st April, there is no danger of interfering with the Fox-trapping season, which ends
3.
page_0008
in March.
Programme for the Main Party.
The Main Party will leave ENGLAND by ship for IVIGTUT, early in 1938. They will take with them two large Aeroplanes, each with a payload of 4,000 lbs, 2 or 3 engined, and capable of being equipped with skis, floats or wheels; and two smaller Aeroplanes, 3-seaters, twin-engined. Emphasis is placed on the safety factor of two engines, in preventing forced landings in inaccessible or dangerous localities. It might be more satisfactory for the majority of the party to fly out with the two big machines via FAROES, ICELAND and EAST GREENLAND to IVIGTUT. IVIGTUT, which is the Headquarters of the Danish Cryolite Mining Company, possesses a land-locked harbour, open all the year round, and is an entirely suitable point from which to fly to the Main Base at ROBERTSON BAY. The four machines, carrying the nineteen members of the Main Party, two to each small machine, and seven or eight to each big machine, should be ready to leave IVIGTUT by the third week in March. As soon as weather reports from GODHAVN and the Expedition Station at ROBERTSON BAY showed that the time was suitable, the journey would be completed to the Base, with, if necessary, a stop at GODHAVN and UPERNIVIK.
The first flight from the Main Base will be made, if possible, before the beginning of April, by the two large machines. An Advance Base will be established on LAKE HAZEN, where suitable landing grounds have been reconnoitred by the recent Expedition. With average weather conditions, it should be possible to complete by the middle of April, a series of five flights between LAKE HAZEN and the Base, a distance of about 200 miles. Thus the flight should take little more than a couple of hours each way.
The following personnel and material will be transported in this way:-
1. Lake Hazen Base Party: Expedition Leader, Wireless Operator, Doctor Biologist, 2 Eskimos, together with 20 dogs, tents, sledges, a small hut and wireless equipment powerful enough to establish communication with ROBERTSON BAY.
4.
page_0009
2.
Three Sledge Parties: each consisting of:-
1 Geologist. 1 Surveyor. 2 Eskimos, together with about 20 dogs , 2 sledges and other equipment .
These Sledge Parties will proceed along the following routes:
A. Sledge party:
F'rom LAKE HAZEN up GREELY FIORD , North-West round the coast of GRANT LAND, East along the North coast of GRANT LAND, and if a suitable route had been reconnoitred by air, back across GRANT LAND .
B. Sledge Party:
Across the GRANT LAND ice-cap, North via GILMAN or HENRIETTA NASMITH GLACIERS, carrying out detailed Geological work in the BRITISH EMPIRE RANGE, and fixing definite points on the coast .
c. Sledge Party: North-East from LAKE HAZEN by a route known to Peary , then down along the East Coast of ELLESMERE LAND, if possible Geologising in ARCHER FIORD , as far South as SCORESBY BAY. They would then return direct to the Base at ROBERTSON BAY .
Where possible , these routes will first of all be reconnoitred by air. Supplies brought up by the big machines to LAKE HAZEN will be dropped at fixed intervals by the two smaller machines to each Sledge Party. Each Sledge Party will carry out Geological work, and fix points astronomically along their routes. All sledging operations will be over by the middle of June, and the majority of the Eskimos will return to their homes.
During the months of June, July and early August, it should be possible to carry out some extremely interesting Ornithological work in the LAKE HAZEN district, which is probably an important breeding centre. Some Eskimo remains which have been discovered in the same neighbourhood will be excavated. In addition, a base line will be measured, and a large series of astronomical observations taken, which will provide control points for all other survey work. Aerial survey will be carried out by the two small machines over the country traversed by the Sledge Parties, detailed Geological work will also be carried out, and for the purposes of
5.
page_0010
transport, kayaks and canoes, possibly also, outboard engines, will be brought North. When the weather appears to be most favourable, flights will be made by the two big machines over the Polar Sea, with a view to discovering new land. It is unlikely that a flight longer than a thousand miles in all would have to be made, and it should be an entirely safe operation for a couple of big, multiengined machines, during the warm season of the year.
Evacuation will begin in August, but in the meanwhile, a large store of food will have been accumulated in the LAKE HAZEN district, and enough dogs left there, so that in the event of stranding, it would be possible for members of the Expedition to pass the winter in safety, even if they failed to return by sledge in the Autumn. Operations in ELLSEMERE LAND should be completed by September lst , and the Expedition will return by ship, which will have arrived at the Base in August. If necessary, the two big machines could join the ship at GODHAVN, or alternatively, they could make the return journey entirely by air .
Points to be noted.
1. Flying operations will only take place in NORTH GREENLAND and ELLESMERE LAND between April 1st and September 1st. During this time there is continuous daylight.
2. All flights will be undertaken by not less than two machines for safety purposes.
3. All machines will be fitted with the Direction Homing wireless equipment, and constant communication will be kept up with the base at ROBERTSON BAY, and the Advance Base at LAKE HAZEN.
4. The Main Party will be in the field for five months only , during which time they will be working continuously. The Expedition therefore should be 100% efficient, as compared with the recent ELLESMERE LAND Expedition, which was only able to spend a comparatively short time in the field.
5. All plans will be framed with the widest possible margin of safety, and adequate precautions will be taken for carrying out the relief of any sledging party or aeroplane which met with a mishap.
6.
