Two Operation Deep Freeze covers, while we are at it

Since the last post was on Operation Deep Freeze (ODF), I'll stay with that theme and focus today on two covers related to ODF that I have recently purchased .

The first is another cover postmarked at the Amundsen-Scott Pole Station, Antarctica (see this post for the other such cover, and a little blurb on the station).

First ODF cover for today; living addressee obscured

Unlike that other cover, this one is postmarked during the IGY, on May 31, 1958. To me, that date within the IGY is already a plus for my collection. But there is an extra bonus! The stamp is not the IGY stamp, but Scott #1086 from 1957, commemorating the bicentennial of Alexander Hamilton's birth. And interestingly, the cancellation is on the date of issue of the IGY stamp. Wonder if that was intentional? Hmm, I think so. The addressee is apparently still around in his 80s, so I think I'll write him and ask.  But for now, let's celebrate with a Hamiltonian song by Lancaster County's very own Jonathan Groff:

Those ungrateful colonists! I did have the pleasure of seeing the musical Hamilton in San Francisco almost two years ago.

Oh, I almost forgot about the cover! The cachet is similar to the image on my mug from the last post, and the same that was on the back of the cover in this post, with Task Force 43 and a discussion of that. The cancellation includes the slogan U.S. Navy Operation Deep Freeze. 

The second cover has a new cachet for my collection, Operation Deep Freeze IV (1958-59), International Geophysical Year, Oceanographic Survey Group. The stamp is Scott  #1094 4¢ “Old Glory,” issued on July 4, 1957 (when first class postage for a letter was still only 3¢). This was the first stamp with the U.S. flag as the central design. It was also the first stamp printed using the Giori press (as was later used for the IGY stamp), which allowed the multicolored design to be printed in one step. Too bad it is obscured by the ugly 4-line killer bars.

Second ODF cover for today

The postmark is dated Nov. 8, 1958 (during the IGY), from the USS Glacier AGB-4. I can't find much on the Oceanographic Survey Group cited on the cachet, but I did dredge up (pun intended) the Technical Report report from Operation Deep Freeze II, 1956-1957, Oceanographic Survey Results. The Purpose paragraph states that the primary goal of this Group was providing support services for IGY activities in Antarctica, but that oceanographic and hydrographic information was collected when possible.

The USS Glacier AGB-4 was a U.S. Navy, then later U.S. Coast Guard, icebreaker which served in the first through fifteenth ODF expeditions. AGB stands for "Auxiliary, General, Icebreaker." Burton Island, Edisto, and Atka were AGB-1,2,3, respectively. Glacier was capable of breaking ice up to 20 feet thick, and of continuous breaking of 4-foot thick ice while progressing at 3 knots. These naval covers unfortunately don't say where the ship was on the date of cancellation, but apparently Glacier was near the South Pole at McMurdo Sound in November of 1958.

How do icebreakers work, anyway? Check out this video

and this one: