This book contains the official account, by its leader, of the Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition to Queen Maud Land. The success of the expedition depended to a large extent on the way its members, drawn from three nations, got on with one another. Captain Giaever writes with enthusiasm of the ease with which this international co-operation was attained, and attributes it to the efforts of each and every member. The reader is left to guess the immense part that Giaever himself must have played in cementing the expedition together. His understanding and tolerance are soon apparent, and his modesty is well illustrated by his qualms as to his ability as a “non-scientist” to lead a mixed bunch of scientists in a two years’ exile.
The object of the expedition was to carry out research on the coastline and inland ice of Queen Maud Land with particular reference to a mountain range some 200 miles from the ice front.
In February 1950 the expedition ship Norsel deposited the party on the ice shelf at Maudheim where the main base was established. Meteorological and glaciological observations were started immediately and, in addition, the first winter was spent in planning and preparing for the spring and summer sledging trips. When daylight returned Giaever saw the various parties off and the reader soon feels the loneliness and wanderlust experienced by those left at Maudheim. This was intensified in 1951 by the tragic drowning of three of the party. The second winter was spent in much the same way as the first with the added drama of a brilliant eye operation performed by the expedition doctor. The weasels and sledges were again prepared and the second summer saw the continuation of the field work. In December 1951 the Norsel returned and brought the expedition home.
Appendices deal with the air operations and the journeys of the glaciological, survey, geological and seismic parties, each written by the respective specialists. In the main they are descriptive accounts of the journeys and the work done, and they do not profess to give much in the way of scientific results. The glaciological party made measurements of snow accumulation and ice movement, determined the limits of the local ice shelf, and searched the nunataks for evidence of glacial advance or recession. They found evidence of considerably greater ice masses in earlier times but no evidence of recent recession comparable with that in the Northern Hemisphere. The geologists, by visiting the countless nunataks, performed their usual trick of returning with heavier loads than they set out with. The seismic party penetrated 375 miles inland from Maudheim, passing beyond the mountain range onto the inland ice; the book contains a profile based on their soundings which indicates a fjord-indented coastline beneath the ice.
Captain Giaever brings out well the difficulties of working under exacting conditions of blizzard, extreme cold and isolation. His book cannot be too highly recommended as an account of all the facets of a successful and well-organized expedition.
