Part III: Antarctica and Academe - Scott Polar Research Institute

57°31'W). Sunday 11 January was very foggy and many icebergs were nearby. There
had been a bit of movement during the night. I read the Sunday Times in the
morning, and had more talks in the afternoon. Engine problems developed so the
ship hove-to while the engineers worked on it. In the evening we had views of King
George Island, Aspland and Gibbs Islands, and Elephant Island in the distance;
Bridgeman Island was ahead. It was calm but cloudy. Another slide show in the
Fiddery, which was quite good. (Noon position: 59°46'S, 57°24'W).
Then we were near Williams Point, Livingston Island at 7 o’clock on a clear sunny
morning. The satellite receiver showed us to be in the only cloudless patch for
hundreds of miles! The scenery was very impressive and beautiful: ice piedmonts,
backed by many jagged pinnacles and volcanic plugs; some very attractive islands.
We were in a 5 knot tide-race, with bergy bits sailing past us. Initially we didn't
anchor and Stuart had to dodge the ice; later we dropped anchor. We found Damien
II in the bay where John Smellie (Geologist) and Ash Morton (GA) were to be
dropped. Sally and Jerome Poncet came out to Bransfield to transfer some rocks and
equipment. I had a chat with Sally: they were very happy she said with the contract
arrangements, which were working well as far as they were concerned and I
confirmed that BAS was equally happy about the work. They had taken a lease on
part of Beaver Island, FI, including a house, which gave them a fixed base. Their
three children came on board, the eldest seven years, also Jerome's sister Katie (?).
Tony Alabaster and Mick McIlvaney had been on board geologising and having a
very successful time in excellent weather; Mark O'Donnell was along too, making a
complement of nine. All were very pleased with the arrangement.
Our party went ashore in a small armada of two Humbers, the launch Terror and
the flubber, with all the gear (including two skidoos). David Walton and our two
girls and a few others also went ashore at 9 o’clock, back for mid-morning when we
weighed anchor and sailed past the Chilean base on Half Moon Island. Then out into
Bransfield Strait to turn SW again past Deception Island. It wasn't clear but we had
occasional views of the islands: Trinity, Hoseason, Liège, Brabant and Two
Hummocks. Plentiful phytoplankton painted the sea green. I discussed the Halley
feasibility study with Paul, entertained Fids before dinner, and afterwards watched
the scenery from the bridge
On 13 January I looked out of the porthole at 5 o’clock, saw nothing and then
again at 5,30 am when I found we were approaching Lemaire Channel. It was flat
calm, with scattered floes and the cliffs were wreathed in mist. The sun wasn’t
visible, but it was a very majestic scene - black cliffs, pale blue ice and smoky mist.
One minke whale was swimming in the channel. There was plenty of phytoplankton
in the channel, clearly indicated by the colour of the underwater parts of the floes -
quite a deep Hooker's green. As we passed Peterman Island I could see the
memorial cross to the three Fids who died in l982. Argentine Islands were in thick
fog as we inched our way in by radar and anchored at Drum Rock at 7 o’clock. Two
hours later I went in by the first scow and returned at 3.10 pm.
Peter Stark (Permanent BC) showed me around Faraday Station with David,
Nelson and Eric. The base was in very good order, outside and inside. We found it
very impressive. It was five years since I had been there and the refurbishment and
expansion was just nearing completion. We walked through deep snow to the
Balloon Shed and Sonde Store. We took lunch on base and the cargo operations were
291