ATLAS

UnofficialOMEGA-10-21-5Sheet 5 of 6 of the dossier Ancient maps of Antarctica

The Air Force letters and the sliding crust

Letters attributed to a US Air Force squadron, and the crust theory used to date an ice-free Antarctica.

Summary

Two pieces are often added to the map argument to give it weight. The first is a pair of letters attributed to a US Air Force reconnaissance squadron. In a letter dated 6 July 1960, an officer is quoted as saying that the claim that the lower part of the Piri Reis map shows the Princess Martha Coast of Queen Maud Land and the Palmer Peninsula is reasonable. A longer letter of 14 August 1961 is quoted as saying that the maps must come from source maps made before the ice cap covered the coast. These texts circulate on popular websites and in Hapgood's own book, and the sheet reports them as circulating statements; the sources reproduce them without the archival originals. Their reasoning rests on a 1949 seismic profile of the ice, not on a survey of a bare coast. The second piece is Hapgood's theory that the Earth's crust slips over its core and periodically moves the poles. It is meant to explain how Antarctica could have been ice-free in human times. Albert Einstein wrote the foreword to Hapgood's 1958 book on the subject, which supporters often mention. The mainstream view is different: Hapgood himself later conceded that polar ice is too light to move the crust, and measurements show the poles have not moved by more than about 5 degrees in 130 million years.

What the thesis says

The sources show where these claims circulate, not that they are true.

  1. Thesis

    Hapgood's theory holds that the Earth's crust slips over its core and thus periodically changes the positions of the poles, which would allow an ice-free Antarctica within human history.

    • Charles Hapgood, Wikipedia
      Hapgood proposed the hypothesis that the Earth's axis has shifted numerous times during geological history
    • Piri Reis and the Hapgood Hypotheses, Aramco World (Paul F. Hoye, Paul Lunde), January 1980
      thus periodically changing the positions of the poles

Unconfirmed accounts

  1. Unofficial, unconfirmed

    A letter dated 6 July 1960, attributed to a US Air Force reconnaissance squadron and reproduced online, says the claim that the map shows Queen Maud Land and the Palmer Peninsula is reasonable.

    • Piri Reis map of Antarctica, Curiosmos
      The claim that the lower part of the map portrays the Princess Martha Coast of Queen Maud Land Antarctic and the Palmer Peninsula is reasonable
  2. Unofficial, unconfirmed

    The same letter says the geographical detail agrees with a 1949 seismic profile across the ice cap, which indicates that the coast was mapped before the ice cap covered it, and that the ice there is now about a mile thick.

  3. Unofficial, unconfirmed

    The longer letter of 14 August 1961, as reproduced, goes on to say that the evidence places beyond a reasonable doubt the conclusion that the source maps were made before the ice cap covered the Queen Maud Land coasts.

    • Piri Reis map of Antarctica, Curiosmos
      places beyond a reasonable doubt the conclusion that the original source maps must have been made before the present Antarctic ice cap covered the Queen Maud Land coasts

Verified facts

  1. Verified fact

    Albert Einstein wrote the foreword to Hapgood's 1958 book The Earth's Shifting Crust, after reading the manuscript.

Official version

  1. Official version

    Hapgood later conceded Einstein's point that the weight of the polar ice is insufficient to cause polar shift.

    • Pole shift hypothesis, Wikipedia
      Hapgood conceded Einstein's point that the weight of the polar ice is insufficient to cause polar shift
  2. Official version

    Data indicate that the geographical poles have not deviated by more than about 5° over the last 130 million years, which contradicts a cataclysmic polar shift.

    • Fingerprints of the Gods, Wikipedia
      The geological community rejects his model in favour of plate tectonics
    • Pole shift hypothesis, Wikipedia
      Data indicates that the geographical poles have not deviated by more than about 5° over the last 130 million years