COMPLEX RITUALS

livelymorgue:

March 9, 1955: A photo essay published in The Times shared the exploits of the Atka, a 6,500-ton Navy icebreaker that surveyed parts of Antarctica in preparation of a larger survey of the “terra incognita,” as the continent was dubbed by The Times. “It is a land utterly foreign to most men’s experience. It is inhospitable, unpredictable, a region of unknown dangers.” The expedition was spent making more precise measurements of Antarctica’s contours, shown here, as well as encountering seals, fighting off angry penguins and keeping Penny — a puppy, and the ship’s mascot — warm in the cold. Photo: Walter Sullivan/The New York Times