Life magazine did a feature article about our trans-polar trip in their September 1, 1958 issue. Here is a picture of Captain Anderson that appeared on the cover of that issue.
In 1958 the skipper was 37 years old and a full commander.
Captain Anderson passed away February 25, 2007 at the age of 85.
Karen Florin wrote the following article about our Captain:
William Robert Anderson, who skippered the Nautilus on its historic under-the-ice trips at the North Pole nearly 50 years ago and went on to become a U.S. congressman, corporate chairman and author, has died in Leesburg, Va.
Capt. Anderson, who was 85, was "an officer and a gentleman extraordinaire," said Al Charette of Mystic, a crewman on the Nautilus who stayed in touch with Anderson through the years. Charette said he plans to attend Anderson's funeral services and burial in Arlington National Cemetery on March 16.
The survivors of the transit to the North Pole will gather in Connecticut on Aug. 3, 2008, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the trip, and a biannual reunion of the shipmates, centered on the boat's commission date of Sept. 30, 1954, is also being planned.
"It's too bad he didn't make it," Charette said. Anderson died on Feb. 25 following a brief illness.
Thinking back on the North Pole journey, Charette said, the crew had to have a lot of confidence in its commanding officer on such a risky voyage.
"He was the kind of guy you would follow anywhere," he said.
Scientists say Nautilus gathered more oceanographic information about the Arctic in its brief trip to the North Pole than had been compiled by all previous expeditions in history.
His wife, Patricia Anderson, said her husband was "a modest, handsome hero that unfailingly gave others the credit."
Condolences have been pouring in since Anderson died on Feb. 25 following a brief illness, she said.
"Many say, 'He was my hero,''' Mrs. Anderson said. One young sailor wrote that he was too young to have met her husband but had a plastic model of the Nautilus and admired him for years, she said.
Anderson, was a native of Bakerville, Tenn. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1942 and advanced to the rank of captain, at age 39, in 1962. He served next on the USS Tarpon and USS Sarda, making several war patrols, and receiving several commendations.
He took command of the Nautilus in 1957, and the submarine cruised to within 180 miles of the North Pole that year. A year later, Anderson and his crew of 115 made the first voyage from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean by way of the North Pole, passing under the ice on Aug. 3, 1958.
Anderson wrote an article about the trip for the Saturday Evening Post and used the proceeds to buy an engraved, sterling-silver mint-julep cup for every crewmember, Charette remembered.
"He's kept in touch with most of the crew all these years and has always looked out for us," Charette said.
After retiring from the Navy, he served as a consultant to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson in the creation of the Peace Corps. He was elected to represent the sixth district of Tennessee in Congress in 1964 and served four terms.
In 1973, he became chairman of the Board of Directors of Digital Management Corp. He also served as a director for Atlantic Union and later founded Public Management Corp., a data management firm, with his wife.
k.florin@theday.com