DAP AVENTURA 2016 - 2017

Aventura al fin del mundo 2016 - 2017
structures test previously in warehouses
at the Vega Central, located in Santiago,
and capable of withstanding the strong
Antarctic winds. After 29 hard days of work,
“Soberanía” was ready to be populated. By
that time, “Angamos” ship had arrived as
well, and the base would be inaugurated
on February 6th of 1947.
Oscar Pinochet de la Barra wrote about these
efforts: “I have seen sons of Chile raise a
base almost without elements, working 15
hours a day, until dropping down exhausted.
Showing off those virile Chilean virtues
that are not legend but instead are real.
Intense struggle with a hostile and rough
environment that will not surrender but to
a truly heroic and perseverant effort. There
were no differences by uniform, rank, age
or social background. Men went back to
primitive times, forgot about the quarrels with
which civilization has poisoned their lives,
and joined each other to face the advances
of their traditional enemies: wind and cold.
And amongst them all, Julio Ripamonti, the
architect –apostle of the Antarctic faith,
speaking with his silence upon the land of
silence, rocking the storms with his creative
passion in the continent of storms itself”.
But other milestones were reached in
those days. On February 15th, Squadron
Commander Enrique Byer and Lieutenant
Arturo Parodi of the Chilean Air Force carried
out the first Chilean or Southamerican flight
in such territories, on board a Vought-Sikorski
308 hydroplane. And a group from the Army,
sent by the Military Geographic Institute of
Chile and commanded by Mayor Pablo Ihl,
entered the areas of the island that had not
yet been mapped. In the process, they lost
one expedition member in the middle of a
dense fog, but luckily the man found his
way back to the camp by his own means.
But this expedition was also very important
for the newly born Chilean Antarctic Science.
Its Geology team, led by Naturalist Carlos
Oliver Schneider from the University of
Concepción, found evidence that the
Antarctic mountains are actually a part of
the Andes Mountain Range, giving them
the name of Antartandes. On the other
hand, the Marine Biology team, led by Dr.
Parmenio Yáñez Andrade from the University
of Chile, took upon studies of the seaweeds
of Greenwich Island, Desolation Island and
Margarita Bay, discovering new species. Dr.
Guillermo Mann, from the Department of
Parasitology from the Agriculture Ministry of
Chile, developed studies on different species
of the Antarctic fauna. The information he
collected was the base for his book “Biología
de la Antártica Sudamericana” (1948), one
of the first works in Spanish about ecology
in the white continent.
Finally, on March 15th 1947, frigate
“Angamos” leaves “Soberanía” base to a
group of 6 marines commanded by First
Lieutenant Boris Kopaitic. The last words this
man said to his colleagues leaving towards
the continent was: “If you don’t pick me up
in the summer of 1948, I will gladly stay for
two years”. These men, only communicated
with the continent by radio, were the first
Chileans to withstand the harshness of the
Antarctic winter. A storm with 150km/h wind
gusts destroyed their only boat, as well as
the dock. The latter had to be built again by
moving several tons of stones in freezing
temperatures to the site. They would be
relieved safely a year later.
But this First Chilean Antarctic Expedition
produced more than the building of a base.
The event itself awakened a powerful spirit
of national pride in the public, as it was such
an impressive logistic endeavor, in which
Chileans of different skills, origins and even
political backgrounds had collaborated within
a common goal. Commodore Guesalaga was
elevated to the rank of a true popular hero,
was later was Lieutenant Kopaitic. Today
both are remembered with place names in
Antarctica. The abundant material filmed on
8mm by Hans Helfritz was put together in
a movie exhibited in Santiago’s theaters at
the time. Recently, this material has been
recovered, as well as registers from later
expeditions, and put together in the movie “El
Continente de la Luz” (2012), a production
supported by the Chilean Antarctic Institute
(INACH), with the edition and musicalization
by Magellan electronic duo LLUVIA ÁCIDA.
A new era was opened for Chilean Antarctic
History. One that has carried on to this day,
giving Chile a horizon, not only in scientific
and geopolitical themes, but also as the
affirmation of an identity as people from the
South of the South. But the best summary
of this event and the mark that it left on its
participants is found in Oscar Pinochet de
la Barra’s words: “Continent of extremes,
Antarctica left us, upon our return, with
the melancholy of someone who has seen
something wonderful, and is certain nothing
else will satisfy him in the future”.
Sources:
- “Base Soberanía y otros recuerdos
antárticos (1947 – 1949)”, Oscar
Pinochet de la Barra, Editorial Francisco
de Aguirre, Buenos Aires – Santiago
de Chile, 1977.
- “Antártica Chilena”, Oscar Pinochet de
la Barra, Editorial Zigzag, Santiago de
Chile, Editorial Andrés Bello, 1976.
Adventure at the End of the World
5