Part III: Antarctica and Academe - Scott Polar Research Institute

though cooler. Albatrosses, Schlegel's petrels, great shearwaters and two Arctic skuas
were around. I worked in the morning and we had curry for lunch.
During the passage to Stanley the good weather continued until 30 November,
with clear skies and at times oily calm seas. There was a number of oil slicks across
our tracks where ships had been cleaning out tanks. Also, further south, skeins of
blood-red organisms - a dipped bucket revealed copepods - Calanus type. The birds
varied in number, increasing where we passed across a squall line. We saw two
sharks (hammerhead?) and a sun-fish (Molo molo), light-mantled sooty albatross, soft
plumaged petrels and cape pigeons. On 30 November heavy seas developed and the
motion became uncomfortable for about 36 hrs, so there was not much sleep that
night. But it improved again as we neared the Falklands.
We had lost time and instead of an early morning arrival we steamed through the
Narrows into Stanley Harbour at 3.30 pm. As we approached the islands were in
brilliant sunshine, the beaches looking as inviting as ever, but behind them new
evidence of the military: gun emplacements, rapier rocket batteries, and observation
posts. In Port William there were two big water tankers and several ships were lying
in Stanley Harbour, but not as many as expected. They had 19 in a week or two ago -
now only three. To the east were the two Coastels - huge floating hotels each
housing about 500 troops. The Falklands War had come and gone since my last visit
in March l982.
We were invited to Government House for dinner - John Cole, Eric Salmon, Paul
Whiteman, John Dudeney and me. We took a launch in and walked along the Front
past the War Memorial that was still being built. The other guests were David Taylor
(Chief Executive), Mr and Mrs Pouncefoot (Chief Secretary), Harold Rowlands
(Treasurer) and a visiting economist (Peter Evans ?). It was a very pleasant evening.
The Hunts, Sir Rex and Mavis were very hospitable and affable. There were drinks
before, during and after dinner and we decided to walk back to the ship before
midnight. My main impression from the evening was of uneasy relations between
Rex Hunt and Keith Spacie (General and C in C). Mavis Hunt hated him and Rex too
was very outspoken. Clearly it was a difficult situation for them.
I had an appointment to see the [Col Sec/CC] for 11.30 am next morning. It was
blowing hard, but fine and sunny, and as there was some uncertainty as to whether
the launches would continue to run I went ashore at 10 o’clock. I saw Myriam Booth
(our girl in Stanley) and then walked along the Front, past the Battle Memorial.
Stanley was little changed outwardly; the main evidence of change was the increased
traffic, containers and landing areas, greater activity at the Camber (Oil fuelling
station across the bay) and a lot of aircraft and helicopter movement, also boats
buzzing around the harbour. Another two ships came in and World Discoverer, a
tourist ship.
As I stepped ashore George Llano was waiting on the jetty. (He had formerly
been Chief Scientist in the Division of Polar Programs DPP at the US National
Science Foundation). We had a chat and he invited me to lunch on the World
Discoverer, where he was a lecturer. I had a talk with Rex Hunt: BAT and FID
payments and estimates (problems to be resolved soon), BAS proposals for FID
project funding (well-received, though I doubted whether it would all be
implemented) - the [C C] seems very anxious to consult with the Executive Council
on all matters. Concerning philatelic matters, the Bureau was not to
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