“It is my opinion that no surface ship, no matter how strong, could have punched through it [pack ice] to a point south of Latitude 71° between the Antarctic archipelago and Longitude 100° West.” So stated Sir Hubert Wilkins. This opinion was not an isolated one.
On 15 February 1960 Task Unit 43.1.3 of Operation Deepfreeze 60 consisting of two icebreakers, USS Glacier (AGB-4) and USS Burton Island (AGB-1), met off Peter I Island and set a southerly course in an attempt to reach the coast of Bellingshausen Sea. Russia had repeatedly expressed plans about sending icebreakers into this region. No one wanted to be second in a race to this only remaining coastal sector still unclaimed by any country.
Each of the two icebreakers carried scientists in the fields of entomology, geology, oceanography, ornithology, and topography for the purpose of learning everything possible about this region.
The eastern progress of the task unit was halted at the northeast corner of Thurston Peninsula. Helicopter reconnaissance at this point indicated that further eastward advance by the ships would be dangerous.
It was found that the shore contours, bays, and inlets bore little resemblance to those depicted on existing charts of Bellingshausen Sea. Land masses purporting to be islands were found to be fingers of Thurston Peninsula, which, incidentally, is not really a peninsula but a large island separated from the mainland by an ice-filled strait. Distant islands to the east observed from helicopters further indicated the insularity of this region of Antarctica. Seals and penguins were seen, but in fewer numbers than in other parts of Antarctica.