File:Truck falling through the ice pier in 1983.jpg

Truck_falling_through_the_ice_pier_in_1983.jpg (325 × 471 pixels, file size: 124 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Summary

Description
English: Date: 1983

Location: en:McMurdo Station, Antarctica

Photographer: Randy C. Bunney

CARGO OOPS! en:McMurdo Station, Antarctica, February 1983. U.S. Navy and New Zealand Army dock workers (above) scramble to secure a cargo truck that has just broken through an en:ice pier while off-loading cargo from the freighter USNS Southern Cross. The driver of the truck standing atop the container leapt to safety, receiving minor injuries.

Longshoremen temporarily stabilized the errant truck and its cargo by using cables to secure the truck to the ship's cargo boom. However, this was a dicey move. The safe working load of the ship's boom and its rigging would be severely exceeded if the truck and its cargo sank.

Meanwhile, shore workers rushed to develop a rescue plan. They made the decision to deploy a powerful bulldozer to winch the tractor-trailer from the water. The danger in the plan was the potential for the bulldozer to fall through the ice too. Subsequently, workers placed larger timbers atop the ice to build a temporary roadway to disperse the bulldozer's weight. Workers successfully retrieved truck and cargo.

The ice pier had been in use four seasons. Workers made the ice pier by repeatedly flooding an area with water which quickly turned to ice. Steel cables are crosscrossed to strengthen the structure. However, by the time of 1983 cargo operations the pier was rapidly deteriorating. Severe cracks appeared in the surface as tidewaters undercut the pier's edge causing large chunks of ice to break off.

Yet workers pressed on in a race against time. Authorities held the pier in service for such an extended period in order for the freighter Southern Cross to make an unprecedented two voyages in one season from Port Lylttleton, New Zealand, to McMurdo. The late Capt. Bjorn Werring, a U.S. merchant mariner, commanded the voyages.

Personnel first constructed an ice pier at McMurdo in 1973. Since then, six piers have been built, including the featured ice pier above. Previously, ships moored to sea ice in en:McMurdo Sound and moved cargo ashore by sleds. Alternatively, cargo vessels docked alongside permanent ice also known as fast ice. However, the warm water discharge from ships melted nearly three square kilometers of ice annually, according to the Antarctic Sun.

Français : Effondrement d'un quai construit en glace renforcée de cables (le camion et son contenu ont été récupérés par un buldozer, et avec l'aide du mat de charge d'un bateau. Le chauffeur n'a eu que des contusions. Plusieurs quais de ce type ont été construites en Antarctique

Sources:

  • "Race to reach McMurdo Station," The Press, March 23, 1983; Christ Church, New Zealand.
  • "Unique ice pier provides harbor for ships," Antarctic Sun, January 8, 2006; McMurdo Station, Antarctica.
  • Eye-witness account as captured on film.
Fishdecoy 13:28, 29 October 2006 (UTC)
Date 28 October 2006 (original upload date)
Source Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.
Author The original uploader was Fishdecoy at English Wikipedia.

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Attribution: Randy C. Bunney, Great Circle Photography. Photo credit required.
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The original description page was here. All following user names refer to en.wikipedia.
  • 2006-10-28 16:01 Fishdecoy 325×471×8 (127316 bytes) CARGO OOPS! McMurdo Station, Antarctica, February 1983. U.S. Navy and New Zealand Army dock workers scramble to secure a cargo truck that has just broken through an ice pier while off-loading cargo from the freighter USNS Southern Cross. The ice pier is m

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current16:36, 28 March 2008Thumbnail for version as of 16:36, 28 March 2008325 × 471 (124 KB)Arria Belli{{Information |Description={{en|'''Date''': 1983<br> '''Location''': en:McMurdo Station, Antarctica<br> '''Photographer''': Randy C. Bunney<br><br> left|USNS Southern CrossCARGO OOPS! [[:en:McMurdo Station]

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