Part III: Antarctica and Academe - Scott Polar Research Institute

over the radio to Steve Wormald (BC) about plans. There was some mail for me,
including some letters from Maureen, bless her; all well at home.
We had a smooth passage to Neny Fjord, the cloud however clamped down tight,
so we didn't see much of the views. The water looked quite murky and there was a
thick phytoplankton bloom. An interesting feature was the formation of small dense
white cotton wool clouds over individual icebergs, which were 'steaming'. The air
temperature was +3°C, which was warm, and the miniature clouds resulted from the
warm air condensing over the cold ice. Soon the features so familiar to me from
photographs came in sight. We could see Millerand Island for most of the passage
from Adelaide, then Neny Island, Red Rock Ridge and, as we turned into Neny Fjord
proper, the mass of Roman IV mountain. Stonington itself was a surprise. The
island proved to be much smaller than I thought, bare of snow and a bit sombre, with
bare scree slopes and from a distance no indication of any vegetation. Fires were
burning, and producing clouds of smoke where they were burning rubbish in a
clean-up. At first acquaintance this romantic place didn't live up to its reputation.
We were off the island by 7.30 pm but by the time Malcolm had found a place to
drop anchor - difficult because of the numerous small bergs which occupied the best
places - another hour had passed. The base had invited the ship to a buffet supper
ashore, but as the last boat would be returning at 10.30 pm I didn't think it worth
going ashore that night. Instead Steve Wormald (BC) came out and we talked in the
wardroom until 10.30 pm and then for a further hour with Malcolm and Chris Elliot
(Chief Officer) about the BAS ship operations.
There was a fall of about 3 ins of snow overnight, which made everything look
fresh and pure. Ice floes around the ship broke up the reflections in the clear water.
The clouds began to clear, and the sun lit up the mountains. However, it remained
very patchy. Unloading began with an old SWB Land Rover, fitted with a winch that
would be useful to move stores and seal carcasses. I went ashore after lunch and
inspected the base with Steve Wormald. They had made a great effort to clear up the
previous mess and it was well-ordered and tidy. I wished I could say the same of the
old American base, dating from Finn Ronne's expedition (1947-48). It was a
shambles, with messy piles of rubbish, rusting tins, two old weasel tracked vehicles,
etc. It was a disgusting eyesore in such a lovely spot. We would try to clean it up
year by year. I was pleased that the BAS base with the recently built extension was
in very good shape, clean and tidy. The living room/dining room/bar area was very
attractive and the bunk rooms spacious and light. The piles of stores were properly
arranged and the generating shed and workshop clean and tidy. The dogs were
spanned-out on the glacier above the base, but there were some pups in pens on the
island and some older pups on a span in Back Bay. Another span of dogs was on a
snow patch on the island.
While the discharge of stores continued I walked around the island. At the same
time the gemini was out hunting seals on the floes, so there were occasional shots
and 25 seals were taken for dog food. The island is an old moraine, from which the
glacier had retreated, strewn with rocks of many types, many of which were
shattered by frost into thin plates, sticking up from the ground. This base was
situated in the most beautiful country. The North East Glacier behind was calving,
so from time to time there were thunderous roars as masses of ice weighing
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