the meeting with Schweitzer as the greatest moment of the entire expedition. Later, the hospital received 500 kg of Norwegian klippfisk (dried and salted cod), a particular favourite with the hospital's patients. The medicines were handed over, and the container was opened. Even though the drainage had been monitored throughout the expedition, there was still great excitement associated with seeing the result firsthand. The block of ice turned out to be almost entirely intact. The expedition arrived at its final destination of Libreville on 21 March, after twenty-seven days. The block of ice was found to weigh 2,714 kg; it had lost only 336 kg along the way. Though it was unclear how much time the expedition would take, Klevan had initially estimated a loss of 10%; the end result was approximately 11%. A French representative of the company met the crew in Libreville. A personal friend of President Charles de Gaulle, he presented an offer to drive the ice back to Paris. If the crew accepted, the President himself would have received the crew under the Arc de Triomphe. The men, however, were too exhausted at that point to contemplate such an offer. Instead, arrangement were made for the vehicles to be brought back by freight, while the crew would fly home. The ice was cut up and divided between the citizens of Libreville, for whom this was a rare commodity. Klevan, always conscious of promotional opportunities, brought a portion of the ice back home with him. This ice was subsequently used in drinks served to journalists at the première of the expedition documentary back home in Oslo. The expedition had been an enormous success, both in accomplishing the goal it had set out to accomplish, and by generating worldwide press coverage for the company and its product. The venture was reported on as far away as India. In 1979, Oslo Marketing Association commemorated the ice block expedition with a special event titled "The world's greatest publicity stunt". To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the event in 2009, Glava AS made the original documentary of the expedition available online. They also released a newly recorded interview with Sivert Klevan, who by that time was 84 years old. References Further reading External links The original documentary from the expedition 2009 interview with Sivert Klevan Public relations 1959 in Norway Water ice Expeditions from Norway History of the Sahara Publicity stunts