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TRAGEDY AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD

Second Polar Disaster Shock

Excitement has turned to anxiety for people worldwide who have breathlessly followed the progress of the Starkweather-Moore Antarctica Expedition. All communications have been lost with the expedition members on land as well as with the expedition’s ship, the SS Delaware. While there has been no official announcement as to the fate of the 75 personnel and 25 crew, the worst is feared. There are many questions and few answers. But clearly, something has gone terribly wrong.

Among the missing are the expedition’s leaders, the celebrated climatologist Sarah Starkweather and Conrad Moore, the geologist who has made it a point of pride to go further and discover more on the Antarctic continent than his mentor, Professor William Dyer of the Miskatonic Expedition.

Said Moore prior to departure: “The Miskatonic Expedition represented a truly heroic effort. Yet it was an effort that, admittedly, ended in failure. Our goal is to push past where that effort ended. With new means at our disposal, I have no doubt that we will advance our knowledge of the Antarctic continent to unprecedented levels.”

Asked to comment about the crisis, Professor Dyer said, “I pray with all my heart for the Starkweather-Moore expedition’s safe return. I have been doing all I can since my own failed expedition to sound a warning against any such further attempts because on that icy terrain I learned a costly lesson. There are places humanity is not meant to go. I feel only sorrow to see my worst fears realized.”

High Hopes

The tragedy is even more startling for its sudden occurrence, given how well efforts had proceeded since the expedition reached the Ross Ice Shelf on September 16th. Such excellent progress was facilitated by the expedition’s advanced equipment. Not only did the expedition utilize dogsleds crucial to past journeys of explorations, the Delaware transported four de Havilland DH.66 Hercules aircraft whose enclosed cockpits and skis provided the means of going further and faster into the continent than ever before.

Much excitement had been generated by the explorers’ discoveries Only three days ago, on October 10th, the expedition had arrived at the mountain range seen previously only by the ill-fated Miskatonic Expedition. Detailed studies of the unusual geologic formations in the mountains were promised to a fascinated public.

Loss of Contact

The first sign of the developing tragedy occurred two days later, on October 12th. The radio-telegraph reports, which have been the subject of worldwide excitement, came to a sudden stop. The SS Delaware reported that it had lost all contact with the base camps. All attempts to reestablish communication failed.

The hope was that the expedition had entered a region where it was no longer possible, due to atmospheric or geologic conditions, to send signals to the ship. In the day that followed, an apprehensive public became painfully familiar with the phrase “No report,” transmitted every hour by the Delaware.

Cryptic Warning

Then came the distressing final transmissions from the ship. The miracle of modern radio-telegraph technology, wherein signals from Antarctica bounce off the ionosphere to reach as far as the United States, now relayed the kind of message one hopes never to receive from a ship at sea — an SOS. Apart from the ship’s name and coordinates, the desperate message contained no other information.

The SOS transmission lasted thirty seconds. Then, followed two minutes of silence, after which came one more message, the one that has the whole world buzzing with anxious curiosity: “Stay away.”

Nothing has been heard since, despite repeated efforts. There are no other ships in the vicinity of the Delaware to investigate, a fact that its crew must certainly have known even as they sent out their last, desperate pleas.

Rescue Debated

The question now arises as to what steps, if any, are to be taken in the wake of this tragedy. Does any hope remain of saving one of the hundred adventurers that have fallen into silence? Should a rescue expedition be sent, given the length of time it will take to reach Antarctica, and the fact that the Delaware’s final message urges against any such attempt?

Asked for his thoughts, Professor Dyer had this to say: “Despite my warnings against the Starkweather-Moore expedition departing in the first place, we cannot abandon its members to the terrors they have encountered. If there is even the slightest chance of saving a single soul, it would be inhuman not to mount a rescue.”

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