Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

torquoise evening sky and the peaks of Coronation were bathed in a brilliant
'alpenglow". It was chilly on the water after the sun went down and we were
glad to step ashore.
A few days later we decided on a re-ordering of the hut and loft which took
us all day. It was bitterly cold, with a blizzard of wind-blown snow outside. I
was instructed that a daily Ice Report was to be sent in Government Telegraph
Code (GTC – in five letter groups) from that day. BBC Overseas News
announced that Ernest Bevin, the Foreign Minister, had stated: "British officials
in command of bases in the Falkland Islands Dependencies have been given
instructions for dealing with Argentine and Chilean intruders " We also heard
that "the cruiser Nigeria has sailed for the southern Dependencies with Mr Miles
Clifford, the Governor of the Falkland Islands on board. He will make his annual
tour of the Dependencies." So we could evidently expect a visit.
We received a message from Dr Fuchs stating that all unserviceable
equipment was to be put on the Biscoe; also coal sacks and empty 40 gallon
drums. Later we overheard him talking to Ken Butler (Base Leader at
Stonington) on R/T (radio telephone). The Biscoe was on her way from
Deception to Hope Bay. Evidently she was then to return to Stanley and would
call on us on the second trip. The cruiser HMS Nigeria was at Deception Island
but unlikely to visit Signy. This secondhand receipt of news was irritating to us.
In view of the dearth of news from outside it was increasingly frustrating that
we were never told anything and had to find out for ourselves in this way; it was
to be a repeated complaint over the months. We listened after dinner to a concert
on the radio: Vivaldi, Violin Concerto and Mendelsohn "Fair sea and a
prosperous voyage" overture; the reception was quite good.
Derek's bread baking a few days later was not a success; the dough began to
rise and then deflated completely when he gave it an encouraging pat. It cooled
so was put on the Esse (stove) to warm up, but when we got back from a walk
the bottom half was brown and cooked, leaving half-cooked dough on top. It
was from this that he made up the loaves and left two in overnight. The result -
two pretty solid bricks which we intended to use as part of the foundations for
our new cocktail lounge! We chalked it all up to experience. We heard the Biscoe
on R/T - they were still at Hope Bay - and HMS Snipe too.
Building a laboratory. Ralph drew up a simple design and marked it out on the
ground. We dug trenches for the foundations and filled them with stones.
Unfortunately, the ground was a quaking jelly, as the hut was sited in a bog, and the
warmth of the hut had melted the underlying permafrost! As we dug, the soil
flowed from under the hut and exposed the original foundations. So we gave up
digging and instead threw enormous quantities of rocks into the bog until they
ceased to sink. We placed 6 x 3 inch beams and filled the gaps between them with
small stones and gravel.
All the materials had to be carried to the site. The timber came from a derelict
dormitory-hostel for the whalers 150 yards away. Constructed of 8 x 4 ft pine
panels, beautifully tongued-and-grooved, with an air gap between inner and outer
faces, it demonstrated the Norwegian’s mastery of timber. We dismantled them and
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