“Sea Power for Security: Portrait of Antarctica” (1960s) is a color, informational film produced by the U.S. Naval Photographic Center in collaboration with the National Geographic Society. The film touches on American arctic exploration in the 1960s after it had signed the Antarctic Treaty. The film highlights the various vehicles and people that made exploration possible from US Navy Seabees to sno-cats and icebreaker ships, and shows the work to install a nuclear reactor at McMurdo.
Various oil paintings, illustrations scenes of Antarctic (0:10). POV footage from deck of ship traversing rough seas (0:41). USS Edisto (AGB-2) (1:05). View from Lockheed C-130 Hercules cloud/snow-covered mountain range (1:21). Sikorsky LH-35D Seahorse helicopter in sky (1:41). Aerial view Mount Erebus crater (1:55). Montage landscape: snow-covered mountain range, coastal rocky crag, powder snow blows in wind, ice cave (2:09). Penguins waddle towards water, jump from ice sheet (2:46). Portraits of men living, working in Antarctica – stern faces squint in harsh winds, beards frosted with ice (3:24). Admiral Richard E. Byrd (3:36). Man receives dental work at base (3:57). Two servicemen raise American flag (4:09). Blue-eyed shag/ Imperial shag bird stands next to explorer (4:30). POV ship breaks through ice sheet (5:00). USS Edisto (AGB-2) breaks through ice belt, close-up spoon-shaped bow (5:24). Interior mechanics, spinning hogs of ship as it works to split open ice belt (6:03). Cargo ship follows in wake of icebreaker AGB ship (6:38). Men work to secure USNS Greenville Victory (T-AK-237) cargo ship to offloading pier, McMurdo Sound (6:44). U.S. Navy Seabees supervise cargo crates as they are unloaded from ship (6:59). Food, diesel oil transported over land on perhaps D-8 bulldozer, cargos organized and readied to ship to other inland bases (7:09). Hand cracks eggs into cast-iron skillet (7:48). Camera pans view of icebergs, penguins waddling (8:00). USS Burton Island AGB-1 (8:07). Servicemen hunched over maps, chart new coastlines (8:20). Men aboard icebreaker sit in communications room, type telegrams to report new findings (8:29). Montage nature, landscape scenes: ice belt breaks apart, orca jumps above water, icebergs, penguins run in shadow of icebreaker ship (8:35). Perhaps BAS (British Antarctic Survey) ship, other polar exploration ships (9:32). Lockheed C-130 Hercules prepares to drop supplies at inland scientific outposts, ski landing, supplies unloaded (9:57). Interior of Douglas C-124 Globemaster II for airdrop of supplies (11:41). JATO bottle attached t underbelly of aircraft (12:20). Douglas R4D-8 takes off, cloud of snow trails behind (12:46). Landing gear lowers, special skis to accommodate terrain (12:59). Repairs to aircraft outdoors at South Pole, replacing engine (13:26). Peter Snow Miller outfitted at New Byrd Station, carving trench in snow (13:47). Sides of newly forged trench touched up by men with rakes (15:04). Prefabricated arch, construction supplies delivered on C-130 Hercules (15:21). Arch installed into trench to create roof for tunnel New Byrd Station under-snow station (15:58). Explosion, breaking ground at McMurdo Sound for Antarctica’s first nuclear power station (16:50). Aerial view of plant under construction, Seabees put together prefabricated units (17:06). Sikorsky LH-35D Seahorse helicopter helps raise 110-ft rhombic antenna (17:21). Exploration vehicle with electronic crevasse detector (17:50). Scientists ride Sno-cat, map uncharted areas, gather data (18:11). Scientists unearth dropped fuel, food supplies under snow at predetermined site (19:21). Sno-cat breaks through snow bridge, scientist hoisted down into crevasse while others work to repair vehicle (19:49). South Pole Station: RAWIN (radar weather balloon tracking) dome at the south end above the met office, men collect various geophysical subject samples (21:50). Radiosonde balloon launched into air (22:46). Maps, diagrams of topography meticulously drawn based on data collected (22:59). Servicemen pastimes: reading, cooking, saunas, (23:48). Radio decorated with license plates, men talk to loved ones (24:49). Communion at base church (25:16).
From 1962-72, McMurdo Station was home to a medium-sized, portable PM-3A nuclear reactor. It produced over 78 million kilowatt hours of electricity and 13 million gallons of fresh water before being retired.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
