Part III: Antarctica and Academe - Scott Polar Research Institute

and some emperors out on the pack. The seals were in numbers - about 25 in sight
from the ship - in playful groups of two or three, chasing and mock fighting in and
out of the water and from floe to floe. As I climbed up to bed, I looked down on a
crabeater swimming alongside the ship above the jade-green ice foot; it looked very
graceful and perfectly streamlined. I tried to telephone Maureen, but had a long
wait and then had to give up because reception was so bad; I heard her voice
though she sounded worried.
On 4 February it was overcast again, the cracks in the fast ice wider and a big
one had opened across the ramp. The floes were still in the chip, but the pack
outside was much thinner. We experienced a very dense snowstorm. Two Adelie
penguins made their way across the fast ice and a Weddell and a crabeater hauled
out of the tide crack near the ramp, suggesting it is getting wider. After lunch I
went up to the base and Munro [Sievright] showed me around the geophysics and
ionospherics instruments and experiments. Brian Jones (BC) came along too. I now
felt that I had a better understanding of these programmes. I was still trying to
telephone home; Hugh had begun about nine days ago but conditions have been
very poor. There was much soft snow falling and the temperature fell again. More
whales were around the ship.
Next morning it was initially still and overcast, although a few blue patches
showed through. There were good reflections in the still water, and snowstorms,
some heavy. I had a radio schedule with Adelaide where it was blowing but fine. In
view of the Halley weather they decided not to fly there that day. There were up to
ten seals on the fast ice at midday, all but one crabeaters. I spent two hours with
them and they were remarkably tame. All except one were yearlings(?) and I took
some photos. They were playing and mock-fighting with each other - pairs, often a
pale-coloured one with a darker animal. I wondered if there was a sex difference in
colouration. Their coats were beautiful and sleek. It was interesting to see how the
foreflipper 'fingers' were used to flex and scratch and also how they rear up, like
elephant seals, to look ahead horizontally. The temperature was minus 7.6°C.
I spent some hours thinking about the optimum structure for BAS, and then just
before dinner Hugh came down to say that Portishead contact looked promising
and suddenly I found myself talking to Maureen. She sounded so close, the darling,
though neither of us had much to say! But all was well with them, which is what I
needed to know. It was very still in the evening light and the water between the
floes was a burnished copper colour - due to reflections from the ice cliffs.
The morning of 16 February was perfect and sunny, with air temperature down
to minus 16°C ashore and the snow glistening with diamonds. I spent most of the
morning talking with Tom about operating Biscoe from Stanley and about the
problems of one-ship operations. We had a schedule with Adelaide at 9.30 am and
in view of the weather report Dave Rowley decided to fly to us. He took off at 11.17
am and expected to be with us at 7.15 pm. They had a good flight and arrived at
6.20 pm. There had been good weather over the Peninsula, then cloud until they
arrived at Halley. I went up to the base with Paul on the skidoo and was at the
skiway when the plane came in low over the base from the direction of the ship, to
make a good landing. They had the ship beacon to home in on from 2 hrs out of
Halley. Dave Rowley (Pilot) and Dave Brown (Mechanic) climbed out of the
cockpit in their shirt sleeves to a bitterly cold climate. They said it was minus 24°C
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