Douglas Preston - The Ice Limit

Dr. Embledown dismissed speculation that the undersea volcano might have damaged the ship. "There are two miles of water between the erupting volcano and the ship," he said. "There's no way the eruption could have affected the ship."

Dr. Embledown added that the two sets of tidal waves caused no damage to the scientific station at South Georgia, which has been built to weather the heavy seas and strong storms that periodically sweep that part of the South Atlantic. Minor damage was reported at Port Stephens on the south coast of West Falkland. The rest of the exposed coastal areas in the Cape Horn region are uninhabited, and no damage or loss of life was reported.

There is some contention in the scientific community at large, however, as to the fate of the H.M.S. Marylebone . Dr. Elwyn Pandolfi, director of Harvard's Department of Geology, said that a large release of gas by an underwater volcano or "some other" tectonic process could have sent a giant cascade of bubbles to the surface, possibly overturning the ship or suffocating those on board. "It troubles me that this was a spur-of-the-moment expedition, without advance planning, that headed south under the assumption they were to visit an underwater volcanic eruption. No eruption I've ever heard of generates earthquakes of this magnitude. Something else is going on here; something very big." Dr. Pandolfi refused to speculate further.

Tidal waves, scientists say, are often a byproduct of undersea earthquakes. It is believed that the quakes can trigger underwater landslides, which in turn can pull down part of the surface of the overlying ocean, triggering unnaturally large waves that spread out in all directions. Seismic stations around the world have continued to record increasingly strong earthquake activity in the area, with some registering up to 7.9 Mw on the Richter scale—almost as severe as the 8.25 earthquake that leveled San Francisco in 1906. These recent earthquakes have been strong enough to be felt in Punta Arenas, Chile, some 2,000 miles away.

[ New York Times - page A5, International: 4-column story, top half of page]

Furor Erupts over Sinking of Rolvaag in South Atlantic

By Erik Hutchins

NEW YORK, August 23—A scientific furor erupted today when Dr. Samuel McFarlane, a planetary geologist with no academic affiliation, asserted on the Today Show that the earthquake activity in the South Atlantic is being caused by a meteorite of interstellar origin.

Dr. McFarlane claimed that he had been scientific director of a secret expedition to the Cape Horn islands to recover the world's largest meteorite for the collection of industrialist Palmer Lloyd. He maintained that the Rolvaag , which sank on July 25, was chartered by a dummy company set up by Lloyd Holdings, Inc., and that the ship carried not iron ore but a 25,000 ton meteorite that had been misappropriated from Chilean national territory. The Rolvaag , of Liberian registry, sank in a severe storm in the South Atlantic with the loss of 108 lives. The meteorite, he said, went to the bottom with the ship.

Dr. McFarlane advanced the theory that the meteorite was actually a large seed that had been drifting across interstellar space for millions, even billions of years. "This is the Panspermia Theory with a vengeance," he said in his surprise appearance on the Today Show . The Panspermia Theory refers to an idea promoted by the late Carl Sagan, in which life may have first reached earth through vast clouds of microscopic spores drifting through space. "This is a spore, a seed, only it isn't microscopic. It had been waiting for salt water to germinate. And now it's growing into God only knows what." He added that planetary geologists believe the galaxy is populated with planets and that many may have saltwater oceans. "We've already found another planet in our own Solar System with a vast saltwater ocean—Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter. It shouldn't be a surprise that the seed was looking for salt water in which to germinate."

Dr. McFarlane offered as evidence for his theory a CD-ROM computer disk, which he claimed contained data collected on the meteorite before it was lost. He offered copies of the disk to any properly credentialed scientist who asked for it.

His assertions, however, were quickly disputed by scientists across the spectrum, who pointed to Dr. McFarlane's checkered career, which included a controversial stint at the New York Museum of Natural History and a period as a freelance meteorite hunter. "This theory is absurd," said Dr. Saul Blumenthal, director of the SETI project and an expert on extraterrestrial biology. "It's ridiculous. I have a copy of the so-called disk and I can assure you it is a fake, a crude fabrication. Why the press has given this asinine claim the slightest attention at all is the only mystery here that needs investigation. This is just one more chapter in Dr. McFarlane's effort to promote his crackpot theory of interstellar meteorites. There is no such thing."

The planetary geologist Hugo Breitling, a meteorite expert and adjunct professor with the California Institute of Technology, said he was "shocked" by Dr. McFarlane's "haggard" demeanor during his Today Show appearance and said he "was clearly in need of psychiatric treatment." He added: "I've known Sam McFarlane for a long time, and all I can say is, this is the culmination of a long and very sad decline."

Attempts to reach Palmer Lloyd, whom Dr. McFarlane claimed financed the expedition, were unavailing. A Lloyd Museum spokesperson, Cindi Jenkins, dismissed McFarlane's report as "an utter fabrication" and "libelous." She said that McFarlane had applied for, and been refused, a position at the new museum several months ago.

In a related story, repeated attempts to contact the research vessel H.M.S. Marylebone , which disappeared in the South Atlantic two days ago, continue to be unsuccessful. Aerial reconnaissance and satellite photography also failed to turn up any evidence of the ship, or even debris on the surface. Some maritime experts said that it would be unthinkable for a large research vessel such as the Marylebone to have remained incommunicado for such a period unless some disaster had occurred that either sank the ship or left it crippled beyond repair. Worsening weather cut short further air search and also prevented ships from entering the area, notorious for its high seas and violent storms.

[ New York Times - front page: 1-column story, rightmost column]

Palmer Lloyd Asserts Ship Carried Meteorite

Says It Was a Seed from Interstellar Space

By Quentin Scott

NEW YORK, August 24—Palmer Lloyd, the controversial billionaire and director of the Lloyd Museum, emerged from seclusion to make an unexpected appearance on Larry King Live . He said he had been on the Rolvaag when it sank, and he confirmed that the ship was indeed carrying a meteorite recovered from Chilean territory. He also confirmed that Dr. Samuel McFarlane was the scientific director of the expedition. He stated that the controversial CD-ROM was genuine, and that he and Dr. McFarlane were sending copies to leading geology and biology departments across the country in hopes that the data could be studied as soon as possible.

In an interview with the Post following his appearance on Larry King Live , Lloyd told a harrowing story of the loss of the Rolvaag . Last year, he said, a scout for the Lloyd Museum had discovered the presence of the meteorite on Cape Horn Island, the southernmost Island in the Cape Horn group. The meteorite was to be the centerpiece of the new natural history museum he was building in Putnam County, along the upper Hudson River Valley. The expedition went down to Chile under the cover of a mining operation. Lloyd says he satisfied the letter of international law by acquiring mineral leases to the island in question and that the expedition broke no laws.