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Figure 1.6b. The 139-kg iron found by Shiraishi on Derrick
Peak on 24 December. The iron is inside the helo cabin, with
Shiraishi at the right of it and Clauter behind it.
Figure 1.6a. The enormous 160-kg iron found and photo-
graphed by Cassidy on Derrick Peak.
contaminated! So I carried it with me when I went to join
the others. By then, they had climbed down a steep hillside
where Clauter had found a chunk of a fusion crust but no
meteorites. When we got back to where we would meet our
helo, we searched for more meteorites like the one I had
found. Then, at the last minute, as the helo was descending,
Shiraishi discovered a big stone similar to mine.
On the next afternoon, we found an ice patch on the
Darwin glacier with 23 stones on it (21 of which appeared
to be pieces of the same meteorite). We had to spend the
next day, December 23, in camp because the helo time was
all signed up for. So our next search took place on December
24, on the lower slopes of Derrick Peak. There, Shiraishi
found one more rather small but nicely shaped iron. Then,
just as the helo was landing, he (as was typical) spotted one
more iron, but this one weighed 139 kg and was so heavy
that both of the helo pilots helped Shiraishi and Clauter to
lift it into the helo cabin (Figure 1.6b; see also Plate 78).
Christmas was upon us and all the field parties had
come in and pitched their tents at the camp for the hol-
iday. On Christmas Eve, a gale wind arose, but it subsided
before morning, making way for a heat wave. At Darwin,
the temperature climbed to −5° C and by December 31 it
had broken all records at McMurdo: 9.4° C. Meanwhile,
at 5:00 p.m. on Christmas Day, the cook served up a most
royal feast: trays of cold oysters, shrimp, and lobster tails,
three huge roasted stuffed turkeys with gravy and
cranberry sauce, baked ham with fruit sauce, sweet pota-
toes, white potatoes, succotash, onions, fresh rolls, corn-
bread, and four kinds of pies. Wines were available if
ordered in advance, but for those of us who had not
known about putting in orders, there were plenty of wine
bottles being passed around, and everyone was encour-
aged to sample any wines that appealed to them. It was a
high-spirited celebration with much laughter and singing.
We spent the next day in camp with high winds and
light snow and nothing flying. Bill called us by radio
via  the South Pole station to wish us happy holidays
and  ask how we were doing. He soon was leaving for
the Allan Hills and hoped we would catch up with him
there. We told him we planned to leave for McMurdo,
carrying 26 stony meteorites and 8 irons on the earliest
Hercules we could catch. He congratulated us and signed
off. Then we palletized our samples to carry them off on
a moment's notice.
I then learned that George Denton had arranged for
me to fly over the huge Byrd Glacier on the 27th. He told
me the Byrd is one of the few geological features on the
Earth that can be seen from Mars. I think he was serious,
but much as I would have liked to see the Byrd glacier,
I could not risk being separated from my party when we
were so close to leaving for McMurdo.
On December 30, we were awakened at 4:30 a.m. to
get ready to leave the Darwin Camp on a Hercules. We
had come on a Hercules, so we had no expectations of
excitement. We dressed and had some breakfast before
the plane landed close by with a great roar. It never shut
off its motors while the captain handed over the mail he
was carrying (he brought me two letters from Tom) and
unloaded the cargo, including a much-needed fuel tank
for use at Darwin. As soon as they loaded the new
cargo, the three of us climbed aboard and settled into
canvas seats held in place by netting. The Herc started
forward and then, suddenly, we felt a frightful bumping
and thumping and things falling to the floor. We
stopped abruptly and the fight master ordered every-
body back aft. Four Navy men and three of us USARP
members squeezed past the cargo to the tail, where we
lay on the tilted flap and were tied down with ribbons.
Then we started up again with the same thumping and
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