Set of 4: 1988 Explorers 25c

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POLAR STAR ELLBWORTH TRANSANTARCTIC FLIGHT USA25 ASHINGTO SEP 14 1988 20066 Lincoln Ellsworth Foed BYRD ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION USA25 ISTRINGTON SEP 14 1988 Richard E. ByTrd 20066 DC WASHI NGTON USA25 HASHINGA SEP 14 1988 20066 Lt. Charles Wilkes DC HINGION USA25 ASTHINGTON SEP 14 1988 20066 Nathaniel Palmer

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LINCOLN ELLSWORTH First Day of Issue: September 14, 1988 First Issue Location: Washington, D.C. Airplanes opened Antarctica for more detailed explora- tion. Soaring above the barren lands of ice and snow, an airman could see vistas which had been barred to men for centuries. Within the ice-bound borders of Antarctica, great glaciers rise into snow-covered mountain ranges as rivers of pale, green ice flow slowly towards the sea. In certain spots — called “oases" – there are ice-free clearings, lakes of open waters, and simple plants of algae, lichens, mosses and fungi. The 1930's brought more reliable air transportation, and men who had here- tofore only dreamed of the mysteries of the unexplored continent could now exalt in the promise of the future. Among them was Lincoln Ellsworth. Between 1933 and 1939, Ellsworth explored Antarctica from the air. He saw things that no man before him had ever seen. In 1936, Ellsworth set off in his plane, The Polar Star, on a thirteen- day flight across the “Unknown Southland." He also dis- covered the Ellsworth Highland and American Highland in the cold Antarctic region. No. 88-55 ©1988 The Maximum Card Collection A Division of Unicover Corporation • Cheyenne, WY 82008-0007 Original painting by Tom McNeely ADMIRAL RICHARD BYRD First Day of Issue: September 14, 1988 First Issue Location: Washington, D.C. Commander Richard Evelyn Byrd made his first trip to Antarctica in 1928. A commander in the U.S. Navy, Byrd would become the most famous of all the Antarctic explorers. Braving the hardships of the frozen tundra, Byrd and his men landed and set up base on the Ross Barrier at the Bay of Whales. They named it Little Amer- ica. The base included a photography lab, an observatory, a machine shop and a library. By radio, the crew kept in touch with the rest of the world during the fourteen months they were there. From Little America, Byrd and three others took off in a tri-motored airplane — the Floyd Bennett — on an historic flight which carried them over the South Pole. On that flight of November, 1929, Admi- ral Byrd carried the American flag some one thousand miles farther south than it had ever been before. On other trips, Byrd continued the study of this fascinating land, commanding the photographic and scientific study of some 450,000 square miles of Antarctica, much of it never before seen by man. No. 88-56 ©1988 The Maximum Card Collection A Division of Unicover Corporation Cheyenne, WY 82008-0007 Original painting by Tom McNeely CHARLES WILKES First Day of Issue: September 14, 1988 First Issue Location: Washington, D.C. In the 1830's the United States Government sent an expedition to Antarctica. Commanded by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes of the U.S. Navy, the South Sea Exploring Expedition was led by the flagship Vincennes. Wilkes took his fleet on a 1500-mile cruise along a vast and unfamiliar coast. The expedition was by no means a calm one as gale-force winds whipped the ships across icy seas. Each day winds and icebergs threatened to destroy the ships and send their crews to icy death. Wilkes described passage through the Antarctic sea as much like traveling through “an immense city of ruined alabaster palaces ... with long lanes or streets wandering through them.” The extent of this treacherous journey not only convinced Wilkes of the grave dangers of this snow-covered, deso- late land, it also convinced him of the land's massive size, pointing to the existence of a continent. Wilkes' journey opened a new and uniquely hostile frontier — a frontier which presented a fabulous challenge to the adventurous spirit of man. No. 88-57 ©1988 The Maximum Card Collection A Division of Unicover Corporation Cheyenne, WY 82008-0007 Original painting by Tom McNeely NATHANIEL PALMER First Day of Issue: September 14, 1988 First Issue Location: Washington, D.C. In the July of 1820, Captain Nathaniel Palmer was just twenty years old, but he had dreams of experiencing the world far beyond the boundaries of his home in Stoning- ton, Connecticut. That summer, as captain of a tiny sloop called Hero, Palmer set sail for South Atlantic sealing grounds. Months later, the sloop anchored at the South Shetland Islands off the tip of South America. Climbing a hill, the curious young captain gazed across the broad horizon. The air was clear, and Palmer sighted mountains in the distance, perhaps fifty miles away. On November 18,1820, Palmer maneuvered his boat as close to this un- charted coast as he dared, though ice prevented any land- ing. After following the mysterious coast for several days, Palmer sailed away, unable to do anything more. The land he spied came to be known as Palmer Peninsula, but Palmer had no idea of the vast, cruel continent of Antarc- tica to which the peninsula led. And it would be yet another century before explorers would unlock Antarctica's secrets. No. 88-58 ©1988 The Maximum Card Collection A Division of Unicover Corporation • Cheyenne, WY 82008-0007 Original painting byTom McNeely