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American Antarctic Expedition.
A series of unedited recordings made by an unidentified radio broadcaster 'Tony' [?] onboard the United States ship "Burton Island", an icebreaker vessel. The ship is now berthed with the "Mt Olympus" after both arrived from Antarctica last week. [This was probably Admiral Byrd's "Operation High Jump" expedition 1946-1947 which berthed in Wellington in March 1947.]
Cut 1. The' Burton Island' has just been built for the United States Navy. An interview with correspondent Jack Lee from Buffalo, New York who gives technical details of the ship and describes some of its equipment used on the ice in Little America.
While in Antarctica they explored Captain Robert Falcon Scott's 1902 camp in McMurdo Sound and brought back one of his sleds. He describes Scott's camp as being in remarkably good condition. They also brought back a snowshoe that was used on one of Scott's ponies and some magazines found in the hut, left behind by the Scott expeditions.
He also has a solidified piece of volcanic ash from Mt Erebus, found at Cape Royds.
Cut 2. An interview with Mr Dickens [? name unclear] an American specialist in penguins. Calls of the rock hopper penguins are heard - these were picked up on the Antipodes Islands. Emperor penguins are also on board and are heard. The American penguin specialist talks about the different penguins and how they were captured and cared for. The penguins are to be transported back to the Washington National Zoo.
Cut 3. A short interview with an unidentified American man from the mess room, which is described. It includes a projector and can act as a cinema with films shown every night.
Short interview in the recreation space with Ernest Lomas [?] who runs the ship's shop. He sells about 30 gallons of ice-cream a day to the crew of 900 men, but when they are in Antarctica they sell only about half as much. He also sells Coca-Cola.