Content deleted Content added
→Preparations for the Nautilus Expedition: Fix cite date error |
Rescuing 4 sources and tagging 0 as dead. #IABot (v1.6) |
||
Line 54:
==Preparations for the Nautilus Expedition==
In 1930 Wilkins and his wife, Suzanne, were vacationing with a wealthy friend and colleague [[Lincoln Ellsworth]]. During this outing Wilkins and Ellsworth hammered out plans for a trans-Atlantic expedition involving a [[submarine]]. (However, an article on plans for this expedition appeared in the June, 1929 issue of ''Popular Science Monthly'' on page 29.) Regarding the purpose of this expedition Wilkins said: <blockquote>
In short, the exdtepedition is for the purpose of gathering data in connection with a plan for comprehensive meteorology study, including the polar areas and with the hope that once polar meteorological stations are established it will be possible to forecast for several years in advance, the seasonal conditions, and to collect scientific data of academic and economic interest from an area hitherto unapproached by a scientific staff equipped with a complete scientific laboratory and facility for comfortably carrying out their investigation and provided with adequate means of sustenance and means of safe retreat. Millions of dollars are spent each year by various institutions in oceanographical and geophysical research. A submarine will provide means for similar investigations in an economic and safe manner, in areas as yet untouched by scientists.<ref name="library.osu.edu">{{cite web|url=http://library.osu.edu/sites/exhibits/nautilus/ |title=Under the North Pole: the Voyage of the Nautilus, The Ohio State University Libraries |publisher=Library.osu.edu |date=1931-06-04 |accessdate=2014-07-08}}</ref>
</blockquote> An expedition of this magnitude would not be inexpensive. Wilkins had to be creative in financing this undertaking. Lincoln Ellsworth contributed $70,000, plus a $20,000 loan. Newspaper tycoon [[Randolph Hearst]] added $61,000 for exclusive rights to the story. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute pitched in $35,000. Finally, Wilkins himself doled out $25,000 of his own money.<ref name="library.osu.edu"/> Since Wilkins was not a U.S. citizen he was unable to purchase the 1918 submarine that was scheduled to be decommissioned. However, he was permitted to lease the vessel for a period of five years at a cost of one dollar annually from Lake & Danenhower, Inc. The submarine was the disarmed [[USS O-12 (SS-73)]], designed by [[Simon Lake]]. Wilkins renamed the submarine'' The Nautilus'' after Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea''. ''The ship was 175 feet in length and weighed in at 560 tons. It was capable of diving to a depth of 200 feet and could support a crew of twenty men for five days. The submarine was outfitted with a custom designed drill that would allow it to bore through ice pack overhead for ventilation.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=8ycDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA39&dq=Popular+Science+1931+plane#v=onepage&q=Popular%20Science%201931%20plane&f=true |title="Polar Sub Can Drill Through Ice", April 1931, Popular Science |publisher=Books.google.com |accessdate=2014-07-08|date=April 1931 }}</ref> The crew of eighteen men was chosen with great care. Among their ranks were U.S. Naval Academy graduates as well as navy veterans of WWI.''
Line 60:
==Nautilus Expedition==
The expedition suffered losses before they even left New York Harbor. Willard Grimmer the quartermaster was knocked overboard and drowned in the harbor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.osu.edu/sites/exhibits/nautilus/arcticdive.html |title=The Arctic Dive, Under the North Pole: the Voyage of the Nautilus |publisher=Library.osu.edu |date=1931-08-23 |accessdate=2014-07-08}}</ref>
Wilkins was undaunted and drove on with preparations for a series of test cruises and dives before they were to undertake their trans-Atlantic voyage. Wilkins and his crew made their way up the Hudson River to Yonkers, eventually reaching New London, CT where additional modifications and test dives were performed. Satisfied with the performance of both the machinery and the crew, Wilkins and his men left the relative safety of coastal waterways for the uncertainty of the North Atlantic on June 4, 1931.
Line 68:
On 28 June the ''Nautilus'' was up and running and on her way to Norway to pick up the scientific contingent of their crew. By 23 August they had left Norway and were only 600 miles from the North Pole. It was at this time that Wilkins uncovered another setback. His submarine was missing its diving planes. Without diving planes he would be unable to control the ''Nautilus'' while submerged.
Wilkins secretly felt that his mission was deliberately sabotaged by a crew member.<ref name="ussnautilus.org"/> Wilkins was determined to do what he could without the diving planes. For the most part Wilkins was thwarted from discovery under the ice floes. The crew was however able to take core samples of the ice, as well as testing on the salinity of the water and tests on gravity near the pole.<ref>Insertlibrary.osu.edu http://library.osu.edu/sites/exhibits/nautilus footnote text here</ref>
The ''Nautilus'' expedition had suffered one setback after another, but they continued on bravely. However, even Wilkins had to acknowledge when his adventure into the arctic was becoming too foolhardy. Wilkins received a wireless plea from one of his financiers, Hearst, which said, "I most urgently beg of you to return promptly to safety and to defer any further adventure to a more favorable time, and with a better boat."<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,742231,00.html | work=Time | title=Science: Wilkins Through | date=14 September 1931}}</ref>
Line 111:
{{Commons category|Hubert Wilkins}}
*[http://www.awm.gov.au/fiftyaustralians/50.asp Australian War Memorial] Entry for Sir George Hubert Wilkins
*[http://polarmet.mps.ohio-state.edu/Archival/Wilkins/index.html Register of The Sir George Hubert Wilkins Papers]
*[http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120549b.htm Australian Dictionary of Biography] Entry for GH Wilkins
*[http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/wilkins.htm Sir Hubert Wilkins] biography from Flinders Ranges Research
| |||