Part III: Antarctica and Academe - Scott Polar Research Institute

above that. Many icebergs were silhouetted against the ice-blink. We were in open
water all the way and about 10 miles west of Cone Island I saw a fur seal in the
water. We turned the corner and passed the old Adelaide base. The ramp and the
old skiway looked very green, with pollution and bare ice. The cloud base was still
low and there was no contrast - only gloomy grey-black rock and white snow and
ice. As we approached Rothera, however, we saw that it was lit by weak sunshine -
in contrast to the surroundings. We arrived at about 2 o’clock in South Bay, and
drifted and steamed in the bay (there is no anchorage at Rothera). The base was
looking very good, but it was sad to see the remains of the crashed aircraft, with its
wings removed. The relief began immediately and Donald and I went ashore for an
unofficial look around the base and its surroundings. We spoke with some of the
winterers who said they had had a reasonable year, despite the special problems.
John Hall (Field Operations Manager?) was in very good form. We returned to the
ship at 6 o’clock and left to anchor near the Mickelsen Islands, before taking dinner at
7.
Two days later it was fine, the cloud cleared during the morning and so we had a
perfect afternoon of sunshine and calm. The relief went ahead and was completed by
6 pm. I went ashore for talks and to look around further, including a walk over the
point, taking some photos and returning to the ship for lunch. We were expecting the
Endurance at 3 o’clock, so I stayed on board, but we made no contact. Her
helicopters arrived about 4 pm and made contact about 5 pm, but the radio
conditions were very bad. We were invited to dinner next day and a day at sea the
day after that, but declined because we planned to go to Faraday. However, after
further discussion we agreed to postpone our departure and invited Lord and Lady
Buxton (guests on Endurance) and Nick Barker to lunch next day, arriving 11 o’clock.
We planned to depart at 2 o’clock for Faraday.
During the afternoon a bergy bit of blue ice drifted down on the ship and was
deflected by the bows. It tipped over violently and as it rolled back again we saw
that a small fish had been trapped in a small pool formed on the ice. It wriggled
around in the very shallow water of this pool which attracted the attention of a
passing skua. The bergy bit was still rolling quite violently, because of its instability,
and the skua was very wary and flew around in circles several times before alighting;
even then it flew off again without taking the fish. We never did see what eventually
happened to it. Perhaps it survived long enough for the berg to capsize and release
it! During the night a few more bergs bumped us, but we had a fine morning with
some patches of blue sky and intermittent sunshine.
On Sunday 7 March, just after 11 o’clock, we sighted Endurance round Jenny
Island to the south and a helicopter flew over to us to deliver the Buxtons - both
looking quite grotesque in the Navy's shapeless orange survival suits. A second
chopper brought Nick Barker and Commander Ponsonby, similarly attired. We
showed them around the ship and had lunch in Stuart's cabin. I had a long talk with
Aubrey Buxton about BAS and Endurance (the main purpose of the visit), then a
curry lunch and social chat before, at 2.30 pm, they returned to Endurance which was
still sounding the approaches to Rothera (a task BAS had asked them to undertake).
We raised anchor and left for Faraday.
Conditions were calm with a moderate swell, but Adelaide Island was cloudcovered
so we didn't see much of its western side. I had mint tea with the Fids and
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