Part III: Antarctica and Academe - Scott Polar Research Institute

dense fog, to hear and smell the rank odour of the fur seals and then suddenly in the
calm water of the cove to come up to the jetty. The Bird Island team came down to
us. We were exchanging Keith Christie (diesel mechanic), for Seamus McCann
(biologist). We also had Keith's supply of beer and two squeegee mops to deliver.
The work had gone well. We spent some time talking about it in the base and I
then inspected the buildings and we went up the hill to see an exclosure plot
installed 18 months ago and already in the absence of seals a green square against the
general muddy desolation produced by seal impact. There was a close sward of
grass and some tufts of tussock about 6 ins high. Seamus said that this had been
another bad year for food resources for the seals and penguins: with longer feeding
trips by the cows and reduced pup growth rate and reduced breeding success of
penguins and mollymauks. Also many more adult bulls than usual had died that
year. Previous such years were 1978 and l983. We had some more discussion in the
hut - the rain outside was drenching. Then back to Bransfield and breakfast at 9
o’clock. Bransfield now set sail for Stanley, ETA on the evening of 6 January. There
was a gentle swell and the fog returned - a quiet day. That night a video show of:
"Endurance", "The return of the fur seal", "The 150 million ton shrimp". (Noon
position: 54°01'S, 39°02'W).
There was fog again on the morning of 7 January but the day improved so that by
early afternoon we were in bright warm sunshine and under a cloudless sky. I spent
most of the morning talking with people. Wrote, read a little and sunbathed for an
hour. After dinner the film was: "Witness", set in an Amish community in North
America; it was exceptionally good I thought. The clocks were retarded an hour as
we moved west. (Noon position: 53°06'S, 47°13'W). Another quiet day followed on 6
January, catching up on letters etc. We came up to the Cape Pembroke light in calm,
slightly overcast conditions. There were flocks of shags and individual birds rippling
the surface as they dived. Eventually we turned into the Narrows and anchored in
the inner harbour just after 6 pm. Stanley was looking very placid and calm under a
dull evening sky. Nelson and I went ashore for a walk after dinner, but it was
raining. We returned about 10 o’clock and had an early night. (Noon position:
51°53'S, 55°51'W).
On 7 January I went ashore on the 9 am launch to see Myriam. Cargo loading had
started and was going well. I sorted out various appointments and had a walk
around the town. Then I returned to change for a lunch with Admiral Leyman at his
home, 'Britannia House'; with just his wife and daughter as well. It was a very
attractive house, built by the Argentines for the Lade (airline) Representative before
the conflict. Talk was general - quite a lot about the Antarctic, wildlife etc. The
Admiral seemed rather ignorant about the Antarctic Treaty, but he stated that his
command extended to 60°S, the Treaty boundary and no further. After lunch we
went to HQ for a talk about military support to BAS. Group Captain Curry joined
us. He was a hard-faced, unsmiling character. The outcome was:
First. The LSLs would not carry helicopters and their boat capability was
not up to Bird Island requirements. They could put BAS people ashore at
Grytviken and Husvik, not St Andrews Bay or similar places. Charges would
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