 These are portraits of a vast rugged treacherous continent. They portray ships and man, machines and ice. A composite portrait of a continent which has challenged man since first he could sail beyond the limits of his horizon. Antarctica. For the seas are as much a part of Antarctica as her highest mountains. The first obstacles to exploration are products of the sea. Surrounded by three mighty oceans, the continent's only approaches are over the sea. And finally, many of our greatest scientific rewards are coming from these seas. Not only the sea, but the air too plays a vital part in understanding the Antarctic. For here in this cold, unresisting medium, a modern explorer can transport himself over the continent efficiently and economically. The helicopter uses the Antarctic airspace in its role as a modern-day pathfinder, transporting scientists into the field, as well as searching out leads in the ice, the sea, the air, and of course, the land. Erebus, according to Greek mythology, was the gateway to the underworld. A fitting name for this still-active volcano. Landmark in the rugged splendor of Antarctica's vast reaches. From the majesty of mighty mountain ranges to these rocky crags guarding its coastline. Antarctica's landmass sprawls over more than five million square miles. Beautiful. Hostile. Yet the very elements that deny existence to man provide a comfortable background for a handful of the local general. But the portrait of the land is also a portrait of its people who are the men of Antarctica. They are a composite of many races, many nations. From Admiral Byrd and other well-known faces from the past to the unfamiliar faces of the present. In Antarctica today, the name is not the important thing. What is important is what a man is able to contribute to the enormous job at hand. Each job is small, sometimes almost insignificant. But the total of all their efforts spells conquest, a conquest that never ends, that goes on year after year adding new victories to the successes of the past. How does this conquest take shape? Is it a quest for science? Or is it a battle of men against the weather and the elements? A quest continually pursued on all three fronts of the continent, land, sea and air. Thus mastery of the land alone is not enough. All three environments must be considered and their respective obstacles overcome. This then is the first obstacle. Billions of tons of ice girdle the continent in a belt 100 miles in width. Here this belt must be broken for the annual return of the scientific support ships. Navy and Coast Guard icebreakers undertake the job of carving these annual sea lanes into the continent. Their spoon-shaped bow is designed to ride up on the ice pack and crushed down with thousands of tons of force, opening the channels for the cargo ships. These thin-skinned cargo ships bring in the thousands of tons of supplies needed each year to support man's continuing conquest of Antarctica. This is the offloading pier, eight feet of coastal ice at McMurdo Sound. From this thin strip of ice, the CBs transfer the annual supply of groceries and diesel oil to an inland staging point. Specific cargoes will be earmarked for distribution to the Antarctic station's far inland. Some will be hauled in, some airdropped, but whatever the method, it's a long way from the farm to the breakfast table. While this section of the coast has been charted and is a familiar landfall to the support ships, there are other coasts, other waters that remain unknown. And it is here that the icebreakers perform their second role, that of a gargantuan tool of exploration. After a year, the sea-going men of Antarctica chart new coastlines, sound out new waters, and report to the world their day-by-day findings. Many nations send their scientists to explore these unknown waters. The effort to unveil Antarctica has become an international challenge. As these men gaze upon these virgin lands for the first time, another sound of conquest is being heard. Scientific outposts on the interior of the continent, hundreds of miles from any coastline, must be resupplied by air. The C-130 Hercules, newest and most personal addition to the Navy's air fleet, provides an efficient lifeline between the isolated stations and the coastal support base. Her turboprop engines and especially configured ski landing gear permit for the first time giant loads of up to 10 tons to be ski-landed on the natural snow surface of the polar plateau. At the same time that the C-130 Hercules delivers bulk loads to the inland stations and camps. Additional supplies are airdropped by the Air Force's C-124 Globemaster. Before the advent of the Navy's Hercules, virtually all supply of inland stations was accomplished in this manner. A precision mission is one thing, but getting your plane off the ground is another. These are J-HO bottles, often necessary as a shot in the arm during takeoffs from the snow surface. Four of these, firing at once, equal an extra engine, wide open. One drawback, however, cutting loose with a full J-HO firing cycle is almost like using your tail assembly for a rocket launching pad. Taking off is the R-4D, one of the original Antarctic workhorses of the air. Adapting to the use of skis, this type aircraft was the first to land at the South Pole. Although South Pole landings are now commonplace, it wasn't long ago that this operation presented a highly hazardous challenge to the Antarctic airmen. Nothing is routine in sub-zero temperature, not even normal maintenance. This engine decided to call it quits at the South Pole, 800 miles from the nearest air facility. But all the crew asks for is a new engine, with something to lift it up. Even if the work isn't routine, the can-do spirit certainly is. Tying in closely with the conquest of the air is the taming of the land itself. This is a section of the snowmiller, a Swiss-built milling machine being flown into the construction site of the new bird station. These are the giant claws of the 20-ton mechanical mold, a strange-looking craft with an insatiable appetite for hard-backed snow. Swinging its dinner two stories high, the snowmiller carves a four-by-eight-foot trench, paving the way for an entirely new type of Antarctic construction. After the snowmiller completes its rough cut, the sides of the trench receive a final surfacing. The new bird station, typical of the Trantort permanency, sees its first prefabricated arch swung into place. As fast as the assemblies are installed, new material is flown in on a fast-paced schedule by the versatile C-130s. This airborne fleet presents a far cry from the sluggish tractor trains that supplied the original bird station construction five years earlier. These giant arches will house the final buildings and protect them from the crushing weight of the compact snow. Tunnels finished, construction of the buildings and storage areas is completed. New bird, the under-snow station of the future, home of scientific effort in Murray Birdland, occupied today. And at the same time, Navy men burrow under the snow, ground is broken at McMurdo Sound for the construction of Antarctica's first nuclear power station. Pre-fabricated units arriving by ship were assembled by Navy CVs in less than 75 days, providing 1,500 kilowatts of power. Permanency 2 and communications, as this 110-foot rhombic antenna joins the complex communication and weather network across the land. No longer dependent upon inadequate radio facilities, Antarctica's barflung outposts are now tied together with the latest of today's electronic systems. But conquest of the land is much more than a permanent foothold on the ice. Its sound can be heard far inland, as men of Antarctica take to their vehicles, such as this one equipped with an electronic crevasse detector. Always on the move, they search for the uncharted mountain or the safe trails with the crevasse fields. Navigating 1,000 miles of uncharted icecap is no mean task, but such is the goal set for the eight to ten man parties of the scientific traverses. Such treks keep the men isolated in the loneliness of bleak windswept hinterlands for three to four months. But this privation has its own rewards, and to the scientist, it is the chance to pursue studies in his own field. Compile first-hand records of geophysical phenomenon, but the compulsion to find answers is not always the paramount order of business. Sometimes academic progress is overshadowed by the simple need for survival. When the initial fuel supply is nearly exhausted, 700 miles from the base, the advanced fuel cache, parachuted or airlifted weeks before to a preselected site, is a welcome discovery. The less welcome is this food cache, Antarctica's version of a turnpike drive-in. Trouble can strike just as fast on land as it can on sea or in the air. A quick survey proves out the worst of their fears. The snowcat has broken through a snow bridge concealing a dangerous crevasse. As far as the Traverse Party is concerned, this giant crack in the continent's icecap might as well be bottomless. A sportitude and can-do spirit of the old breed of Antarctic explorer are by no means forgotten assets. This is just as capable of substituting steel cable for his slide wheel when the situation demands. Another round one, and the expedition moves on. The challenge is still present, still strong, still treacherous, but man's patience is infinite. Not all the men of Antarctica conduct their search for science on the move. Some remain buried in the far flung outposts throughout the long Antarctic winter, such as South Pole Station. Here they gather data on a wide variety of geophysical subjects, obtaining knowledge of our Earth from an analysis of ice cores revealing hundreds of years of Antarctica's history or the drift of a radiosonde balloon. Antarctica, too, has its moments of relaxation. Although they are altogether too few, they still afford some relief in the heavy schedule. Two ham radio stations at each one of the outposts. Navy men and scientists are able to talk to their families at home throughout the lonely months of isolation. The sleeping continent is awakening, slowly at first, but with ever-gathering momentum. With each new fact learned, with each new mile of coastline charted, Antarctica comes more and more into focus. A continent of untapped scientific secrets concealing a vast food supply in her waters, holding the key to the source of much of the world's weather and for great circularial navigation. This is the portrait of Antarctica, the ever-changing portrait. And as she gives up the secrets held in her waters, in her skies, and in her land mass, man's stockpile of knowledge grows larger. For the sum of Antarctica's secrets is but one piece in the greater puzzle that challenges man on all corners of the universe.