Difference between revisions of "Template:Westarctica.wiki:Today's featured article"

Jump to navigation Jump to search
no edit summary
(96 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
[[File:Nuclearicebreakeryamal.jpg|300px|left]]
[[File:Blowtorch-Drink.jpg|250px|left]]
An '''[[icebreaker]]''' is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through [[ice]]-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels, such as the icebreaking boats that were once used on the canals of the United Kingdom.
A '''[[blowtorch (drink)|blowtorch]]''' is an alcoholic cocktail invented by members of the 1928 Byrd [[Antarctic]] Expedition. The recipe calls for mixing lemon powder with grain alcohol and diluting the mixture with ice until it's drinkable.


For a ship to be considered an icebreaker, it requires three traits most normal ships lack: a strengthened hull, an ice-clearing shape, and the power to push through [[sea ice]]. Icebreakers clear paths by pushing straight into ice pockets. The bending strength of sea ice is so low that usually the ice breaks without noticeable change in the vessel's trim. In cases of very thick ice, an icebreaker can drive its bow onto the ice to break it under the weight of the ship. Because a buildup of broken ice in front of a ship can slow it down much more than the breaking of the ice itself, icebreakers have a specially designed hull to direct the broken ice around or under the vessel.
Dr. F. Dana Coman, the expedition's physician, and the man with the keys to the liquor supply, took some of the grain alcohol and mixed it with the lemon powder and the crushed orange juice concentrate. The men dubbed this extremely potent drink a "blowtorch." [[Richard Byrd]] himself participated in the festivities and every couple of weeks, he would authorize a tub of blowtorches to be made up and a party held to help the men relax and unwind during the long winter.


Drinking contests broke out between the men, most notoriously between Danny Davies and [[Gould Coast|Larry Gould]], who got carried away and ordered everyone to "get cock-eyed drunk."


'''([[Icebreaker|Full Article...]])'''
'''([[blowtorch (drink)|Full Article...]])'''

Navigation menu