Part III: Antarctica and Academe - Scott Polar Research Institute

ack along the shore. Back at the hotel they said Ian Strange had been trying to
contact me, and I walked up to his home. We had a long talk about the difficulties he
has been having over New Island, of which he was part-owner. Then back for
dinner; a couple of Germans from the Weser were also staying at the Goose.
After dinner I met George Dunnet again, with Campbell Kerr (FI Pasture
Research Officer); Campbell and I had a drink at the bar, while George had his
dinner. I also met Jim Macadam and his wife; he was the agronomist in the team led
by Campbell, which was completed by the "Goose Officer" – George’s biologist called
Harradine. Then George rejoined us and we chatted some more; I went to bed
feeling quite tired from the wind and sun.
I was due to fly out next day, 23 February, and George came with me to the BAS
establishment, which we looked over, including the carpenter's shop that still had 12-
15 months of our lease to run. It really was quite impressive what Clem had
achieved. At 10.30 am I had an appointment with the Governor. We had a fairly
general chat, he doing ,most of the talking again - for about 3/4 hr - and then I went
for a walk up the hill behind GH; there was a splendid view of the country around.
I lunched and Clem picked me up and drove out to the airstrip. Danny Borland
was there, a friend (Weather Forecaster) going back to South Georgia days in l95l.
The plane was late in coming and took off promptly, with about 26 passengers and I
had managed to get a window seat. We had good views of the Falklands landscape
and coast: beaches of silver sand and emerald green water with brown patches of
fringing kelp; it looked quite like a tropical island. We landed at Comodoro Rivadavia
at about 5.30 pm and had a tedious wait, in a very bare terminal building, until 7.15
pm for the plane to Buenos Aires which was an hour late. It was a straightforward
flight arriving at BA about 10 o’clock, where Ian Stocks, our Agent, was waiting with
a car and took me to the City Hotel - central, old but comfortable. It felt very warm
in BA, where it was high summer.
Next day, 24 February, I was collected at 9.45 am and taken to the Embassy,
where I had a talk with John Shakespeare (First Secretary) and Howard Pierce. Then
to the Instituto Antartico Argentino for talks with Rodriguez (Deputy Director),
Muller and Dallinger, all very amiable. I learned that they had just signed a contract
for a new icebreaker to be built in Finland, also that they had no plans to evacuate
Belgrano Base, although they were very worried about the shelf breaking up. I
gathered also that they planned to re-open San Martin Base (Marguerite Bay) and
had put a small group in to Three Slice Nunatak. I mentioned Theo Stadler's
approach to me on the Weser and they indicated that they would be interested in
such collaboration. But the only real value of the talks to me was to maintain
friendly relations.
At 1.20 pm I was driven out to John Shakespeare's home at great speed; it's about
twelve miles from the Embassy and we did it in 15 mins in the armoured embassy
car. There I changed and had a swim in their pool - the water just right. They were
very hospitable. We had a couple of G & T s with empanadas and I met John's wife
Lalage. Both of them and Howard Pierce were very pleasant. Their son was at
Magdalene, Cambridge, though John went to Oxford; Howard was at Pembroke,
Cambridge. There followed a pleasant lunch on the patio, with wine and good talk,
another swim, then tea and was dropped off by Howard at Florida at 6 o’clock, the
afternoon having passed very quickly. I spent the rest of the day strolling around BA
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