Show novel expedition to south sea islands probes secret of pacific oceans Oriff iri coast guard university geographic society to sponsor journey by LESLIE R NELSON gaff to the island studded wi ja south pacific this month mont 1 is going a searching party searching for facts about how and when that mighty ocean was born conducted by the national geographic society and the university of virginia with operation cooperation co of the united states coast guard a band of intrepid adventurers will f follow 01 the trail of captain bligh to desolate pitcairn island the party will visit haunts gatins of herman melville and robert louis stevenson but not for romance or lovely south sea maidens instead they will reach down into davy jones locker with depth soundings bring up samples ot of sea bottom deposits map magnetic conditions and slight differences in the pull of gravity and fly overhead to make photographs from the air theres romance to this journey but nt not the bligh stevenson variety why does docs compass veer from this least known of all ocean cean 0 regions they expect to wrest amazing secrets for example there is a mysterious magnetic influence among these islands which makes the mariners marinero ma compass veer far from the true north information gathered by the expedition tion which will be the first ever to make coordinated co studies of this sort is expected to result in safer 1 7 0 i i I 1 lis si b 1 las ai 24 aan M ran an eaf keef pa M myra ra 1 howlind Howl 11 island baker ecuador 0 phe choen 0 n ir 17 canton r dy 7 x A C I 1 r F I 1 C IS 0 00 H E 4 P to kelau or union i oi pa group y r v flint n i moan t L ast 1st arit 0 13 i j is aai 7 1 a flue ue c book c 0 da 0 ti nd 1 or 20 0 W shands I 1 D dute U ke 0 of 0 o barot 0 ou U cea cester Is v on q man 0 saia r Is 10 o C cop 0 PY p right rig t 1939 69 bi the national L geographic lis G L y pitcairn IT 01 rr 1 80 s1 sa oi n 1 s 0 r rr r 0 1 navigation for the increasing steamer and aircraft traffic in this region this important aspect is responsible for the close operation cooperation co of the coast guard and tor for the interest 1 I 1 n of governmental officials from fro m president roosevelt down the region to be surveyed covers an area of approximately square miles once and a half the size of the united states As shown on the map it extends from kingman reef on the north to the tonga and cook islands on the south and from ducle ducie island on the east to nauru lauru island and the gilbert group on the west to establish 20 bases base S all these islands are owned by or are under mandate to the united states great britain france and N new e w bealand zealand they include the we well known canton island recently dedicated to joint use as an american and british air base Pit pitcairn caim home of descendants of the mutineers muti of the bounty tahiti and the samoan group the expedition plans to establish major bases on 20 or more islands from each of which 10 to 50 islands will be examined leading the expedition will be wilbur A nelson professor of geology at the university of virginia the national geographic society will provide geophysicists a geographer and a cartographer and a photographer experts on magnetism of the earth will be from the carnegie institution ution while the united states coast and geodetic survey will provide experts on gravity and geodesy the national broadcasting company ny will send radio engineers to investigate radio phenomena and arrange broadcasts from the remote islands make miniature earthquakes A large coast guard vessel equipped with a seaplane and apparatus for taking sonic depth soundings will provide transportation i scientists have novel ways of dig above map shows the vast island sprinkled area of the pacific where the expedition will seek information important to navigation both by air and water scientists hope to solve the problem of the origin and age of the ocean by studying magnetism differences feren ces in gravity ocean depths structure of islands and undersea earthquake centers below A seaplane of this type will be used in making aerial surveys 1 isa T P L 0 k ging out their information delicate and complicated instruments to be carried to these exotic islands for the first time will make the pacific yield up long kept secrets the way a pendulum swings may give an inkling as to when the vast basin was born cores of mud bagged from the ocean bottom by odd guns will add to the story echoes will tell of water depth an and d tiny man inan made earthquakes produced by explosions plo on the ocean floor will indicate the type of rock lying under the deposits that have been sifting down grain by grain for millena ams since the expedition will necessarily explore many out of the way islands and seldom visited waters it is expected to make valuable con to geography by checking old maps charts and surveys re determining locations of islands and gathering additional facts on soundings channels tides and currents ocean deeps and high ridges among the islands will be explored in an effort to determine whether they have a connection with earthquakes which have centered in the region in the past regions of earthquake activity often are located near great sea depths two types of island all of the islands are of the pure pacific type with the exception of the fiji and tonga groups which are of the continental type the pacific type of island is either volcanic of relatively recent formation or coral topping recent underwater volcanic outpourings the continental type on an the other hand has a foundation of very old granite rocks as do the continents the expedition expects to sail from san francisco about september 15 and will make one of its early stops at canton island the tiny oasis on the ocean is a potential way station for an air service between the united states and canada at one end and new zealand and australia at the other canton was also the base of operations for another national geographic society expedition which with the united states navy observed a total eclipse of the sun in june 1937 this island and nearby enderbury were singled out by president roosevelt in a toast to king george VI at the white house dinner on june 8 as an example of the agreements reached by methods of peace by the two nations during its 12 month stay in the field the ship will put in at intervals at honolulu and auckly auckland iid ne new W zealand for supplies and mail released by western newspaper union |