IDNO

P.86179.PAT

Description

An expedition member holding up Carnichael’s altitude measuring instrument encased in pyramid shaped cellophane on the deck of the Isbjørn. Two Expedition members can be seen conversing in the background.

Place

N America; Arctic; Greenland; ?Godhavn

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

H. Carmichael

Photographer

None

Collector / Expedition

Paterson, Thomas Thompson

Date

13 August 1937

Collection Name

Paterson Collection

Source

Paterson, Erik T.

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Related Image: Same image mounted in James Wordie’s 1937 album with the number and caption:
“August 13.”
“490 - 497. The extraction of the balloon & paraphanalia from the sea: Thule was left at 7:30pm, & the balloons were observed in the sea at 11:5pm. The result was successful.”
See Related Documents File. [Jocelyne Dudding 7/3/2008]

Bibliographical Reference: J. M. Wordie; H. Carmichael; E. G. Dymond; T. C. Lethbridge, ‘An Expedition to North West Greenland and the Canadian Arctic in 1937’ in The Geographical Journal, Vol. 92, No. 5. (Nov., 1938), pp. 385-418.
Text on pp. 385-386 includes:
“The idea originated in suggestions from T. T. Paterson, who had been with me in 1934 and considered that the Melville Bay weather which we had experienced that year was particularly suitable for high altitude balloon flights such as were desired by cosmic ray investigators near the North Magnetic Pole. E. G. Dymond and H. Carmichael became interested, and in October 1936 began constructing light-weight apparatus for measuring cosmic rays at the greatest possible heights. Their investigations had to be made at high altitudes as the rays are strongly absorbed in the lower levels of the atmosphere. The proposed method was to have the apparatus lifted by two freely floating balloons, each 8 feet in diameter, which would reach a height of 15-20 miles before bursting, and as soon as one or the other burst, the second, acting somewhat like a parachute, would then bring the attached instruments gently back to sea-level. ”. [JD 14/2/2007]

Place: In the BFI’s synopses of Wordie’s 1937 film of Greenland, mention is made of footage of “Nugssnag [sic] settlement, eskimoes, a kayak maker, and girls showing off their best boots”. [Reel 1, 96 foot] [Source:
BFI, http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/14564?view=synopsis] [JD 13/2/2007]

P.86084.PAT to P.86583.PAT were found wrapped in the card now numbered C446/1/.

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Jocelyne Dudding 7/2/2007]