Using the Blog

I am using this Blog to talk about my Web Site - Scott's Northern Party 1911-1913 - https://sites.google.com/site/scottsnorthernparty/home - and about items of interest relating to it. From time to time, as I find new material, I will update the existing web pages. When this happens, I shall use this Blog to let you know of significant changes.

2.6.11

Photograph Interpretation: Boomerang Glacier SPRI Photo P48-14-94

The following is my interpretation of photograph  p48-14-94 from the SPRI – Freezeframe  collection. 

Figure 1 - Photograph p48-14-94 SPRI Freezeframe.

My description of scene.
This is a view from the moraine at the southern most corner looking west into Boomerang Glacier. The glacier curving to the right appears to disappear below a distant peak.   The three people in the centre are  Campbell and two others.  This group, the first to venture up  the Boomerang Glacier, were  either setting out or returning from checking  the glacier’s suitability as a route for sledges.  The photograph was taken  on 13 January, 1912 probably by Levick.

FreezeFrame Documentation accompanying the photo.
Reference: P48/14/94
Title: Beehive Nunatak at entrance to Boomerang Glacier
Description: glass plate negative
Collection: British Antarctic Expedition 1910-13 (Levick Collection)
Summary text: Three expedition members in the far distance walk over a flat ice field towards a conical shaped hill. Mountains and glacier in the background.
Date: 1911
Keywords: glaciers mountains
Location: Antarctica, Ross Dependency
Photographer: Levick, George Murray P

What was happening.
The night of 12 January 1912 The Northern Party camped on the moraine at the entrance of the Boomerang glacier. The next day was clear and while Priestley and Levick looked at the rocks in the moraine, Campbell headed up the glacier to see if it was a suitable route for sledges.   
Neither Campbell in his diary or Priestley and Lambert in their books mention Campbell being accompanied up the Boomerang Glacier.  However it is safe to assume that he was accompanied by one or more of Abbott, Browning or Dickason.  From the photograph, taken from or close to the site of  their 12 January camp , three people can be seen, I assume Campbell and two others. Campbell  headed  up the glacier on the morning of  13 January, 1912  to verify it suitability as a sledge route to Wood Bay.

Position from where the photo was taken.
The photograph was taken  from the moraine at the south side of the entrance to the Boomerang Glacier.
The following composite is a Google Earth view of the entrance to the Boomerang Glacier showing the coverage of the photograph P48-14-94 (green triangle) and the position of the camera (at the apex of the triangle).   All the hills in the photograph, except the peak on the right marked by the slanting red arrow, are  on the edges of  the Boomerang Glacier. The marked peak is some miles to the west of the glacier.

Figure 2 - Google Earth image with photograph superimposed

 The following photograph shows the moraine, from the foreground of  p48-14-94, and the approximate position of the camp on the night of 12 January.   From this camp, looking up the glacier, the nunatak (small pyramid like object right foreground)  would be in centre view as seen in the photograph p48-14-94.

Figure 3 - Looking down the Browning Pass with the Boomerang Glacier on the right.
(SPRI p48-14-173 with additional text).
 
Date Photo was taken13 January, 1912.  
The night of 12 January 1912 The Northern Party camped on the moraine at the entrance of the Boomerang glacier. The next day was clear and while Priestley and Levick looked at the rocks in the moraine, Campbell headed up the glacier to ascertain if it was a suitable route for sledges.  
The Photographer—Levick or  Priestley. 
Both  were the  searching the moraine while Campbell and two others headed up the glacier.  SPRI state  the photograph was taken on a glass plate negative.  As most of Priestley’s photographs were on plastic file then this photograph was probably taken by Levick. 

Associated photos
The picture p48-14-94 with P56-16-271 forms a panorama. The large vertical rock  with snow appearing to climb up it,  right foreground,  appears in both photos.  The photos first need to be scaled. This can be done by making the height of the bluff above the snow field equal in both photos. Then the  following panorama can be created:

Figure 4 - Panorama from photographs p48-14-94 and P54-16-271 SPRI Freezeframe.