During the summer of 1956 W. W. Phipps flew a Piper Super-Cub aircraft solo from Pelley Lake to Eureka, and there carried out a series of local flights in Ellesmere Island on behalf of the National Film Board of Canada. The aircraft was equipped with standard tandem wheel undercarriage. Carrying one passenger, Phipps landed at Fort Conger, Alert and Cape Columbia. The round trip from Pelley Lake took 11 days covering a distance of 4500 miles in fifty flying hours.

On 25 July 1958 the writer left Ottawa with a float-equipped Piper Super-Cub to fly to Eureka. Overnight stops were made at Moose Factory, Severn, Churchill (two nights on account of low cloud), an unnamed lake 50 miles short of Baker Lake, Baker Lake itself (because of strong N.W. winds), an unnamed pond 10 miles south-west of Bellot Strait, and at Resolute.

Although the principles of water supply and sewage disposal in the north of Canada are the same as those for more temperate regions, the physical features of the installations often vary with the influence of low temperature and permafrost. These not only create technical problems of design but, when coupled with the relative isolation of most northern sites, they also introduce serious economic considerations. Operating costs as well as initial construction costs are higher, making facilities of the kind normally provided too expensive for many people.

For some years members of the Underwater Demolition Teams of the United States Navy have been carrying out experiments in skin-diving in Arctic and Antarctic waters, with the object of determining the limits of man's endurance in these conditions. The main military purposes of swimming in polar waters are to assist the escape of ships beset in ice by blasting channels out to open water, and to reconnoitre landing beaches which are protected by ice. Secondary operations include inspection and repair of under-water damage to ships and the recovery of submerged equipment.

The principal field activity of the A.N.A.R.E. party at Mawson during the 1957–58 summer was the determination of ice thickness along a section of the Antarctic plateau. In previous years the summer expeditions inland had concentrated on the survey and geology of the Prince Charles Mountains, south-east of Mawson. While this programme was continued in 1957–58 as opportunity presented, and in fact air photography of the ranges almost completed, the main I.G.Y. field effort was directed towards seismic ice-depth determinations. These were the responsibility of the Bureau of Mineral Resources, and a seismologist was seconded to the Antarctic Division, together with equipment for the purpose.

The traverse made lay southwards from Mawson, following approximately the meridian 62° 08′ E. It was known from prior air reconnaissance that a south-westerly spur of the Prince Charles Mountains system cut across the route in the vicinity of lat. 73° to 74° S., but the exact location was unknown. The intention was to map this spur, then skirt it to the west and resume the seismic traverse southwards.

During the Antarctic summer seasons of 1956–57 and 1957–58, a British Royal Naval Hydrographic Survey Unit operated off the coast of west Graham Land. Working sometimes from stations of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, and sometimes from camp sites, an area of coastline from Port Lockroy southwards to Ferin Head was systematically examined, triangulated and charted.

The mobility of this small unit depended on one all-important factor, the constant availability of a specially converted 29 ft. motor boat, which acted as both transport and home.

As a result of these operations 1000 miles of a deep-water North West Passage were charted. In addition, five hundred square miles of detailed hydrographic survey were made in the most dangerous areas. About 285 miles of coastline were covered by triangulation and 28 radar reflector towers were built as navigational aids. The results of the surveys were published in a series of 33 charts and in greatly improved sailing directions.