The Nome Nugget

Giant At Barrow:

BARROW, (AP)—The largest supply fleet in the history of the American Arctic was offshore Point Barrow, the northernmost point of the Continent, today discharging 20,000 tons of cargo.

Ranging from paper clips to giant cranes, the cargo comprises the year's equipment and provisions for the oil exploration force on the navy's 35,000 square mile petroleum reserve No. 4.

The fleet of four freighters and an LST was convoyed by two navy bombers flying ice patrol, and the ice breaker Burton Island as it groped in fog through the narrow channel between the Polar Ice Cap and the Arctic coast line yesterday to arrive off Barrow on the sunniest day of the year.

Assault-type barges started speeding ashore the cargo at a pace of 20 tons an hour. Capt. Byron S. Anderson of Coronado, Calif., commander of the expedition which left Seattle July 31, estimated the unloading would require a week of rush work.

He said he was anxious to complete it earlier if possible to avoid the risk of a shift in the wind which might send shoreward the menacing icebergs, which are visible from the beach. The annual Arctic expedition is regarded as one of the most hazardous shipping runs in existence.

A two-week period is normally the only safe span for running the gauntlet of the treacherous ice cap.

Arrival of the ships is the brightest moment of the year for the region's 375 civilian contractors' employees on the navy reserve and the 600 Eskimos who receive the year's requirements to supplement the natives' whale, walrus and ivory economy.