Part III: Antarctica and Academe - Scott Polar Research Institute

station for the time being. The RFA Fort Austin was ordered to load stores at
Gibraltar and to go to the support of Endurance.
The first of three SSNs (nuclear powered submarines) to be deployed, HMS Spartan,
was ordered to load stores and war-scale arms at Gibraltar and to proceed to the
South Atlantic with all despatch. The First Sea Lord informed the Commander in
Chief, Fleet that further action might be required. In the House of Commons, during
a long and acrimonious debate regarding the planned expenditure of c £8 billion for
the purchase of the Trident II system, Mr Keith Speed, a former Navy Minister, asked
why the MOD could no longer afford to keep the Endurance in service. The Secretary
of State for Defence replied: “I do not intend to get involved in a debate about the
Falkland Islands now. These issues [Trident] are too important to be diverted into a
discussion on HMS Endurance.”
Tuesday 30 March dawned as Bahia Paraiso continued its patrol off the Cumberland
Bays, shadowed by the Endurance. At least two Argentine frigates, a tanker, and
possibly a submarine, were reported to be at sea somewhere between South Georgia
and the Falkland Islands. In New York, Sir Anthony Parsons, Great Britain's
representative at the United Nations, was investigating the possibilities of requesting
an emergency debate in the Security Council. In Port Stanley, the Governor was in
regular radio contact with Steve Martin at King Edward Point but was unaware that
the Argentine naval force now at sea had an amphibious landing capability.
On Wednesday 31 Endurance was ordered back to Port Stanley and disembarked her
reinforced detachment of 22 Royal Marines at King Edward Point before departing
under cover of night. HMS Spartan left Gibraltar. The first alert to home-based
troops the SBS at Poole – was issued by the MOD. The majority of other armed
forces units prepared for Easter leave. The joint Intelligence Committee - having
now made its first assessment of the South Atlantic situation since July of the
previous year - decided that imminent invasion of the Falkland Islands was a strong
possibility. In the evening, Mrs Thatcher, the Prime Minister, having seen the new
JIC assessment, consulted with senior political advisors and the First Sea Lord,
Admiral Lewin. The decision was made, in principle, to mount a major Task Force, if
that should prove to be necessary. In Stanley, there was a dinner party at
Government House. The Governor was unaware of developments in London;
consequently he didn’t alert the Royal Marines at Port Stanley, nor the BAS and
Royal Marines personnel at South Georgia. In Buenos Aires, Colonel Love, also
uninformed by London of the latest JIC assessments, entertained to dinner General
Mario Menendez, (who soon after emerged as the new Argentine Governor of the
Falkland Islands!). Disgracefully, and to my fury, BAS HQ in Cambridge had been
left completely in the dark about most of the developments and assessments of the
past week, although I was responsible for 28 people at South Georgia, by then known
in London to be at risk.
On Thursday I April the Argentine invasion force was steering toward the eastern
extremity of East Falkland. Off South Georgia, the Bahia Paraiso awaited the arrival
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