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

Work continued on the fitting out and over the next few weeks as time allowed
we made various finishing touches. With the blow-lamp burning the lab
temperature rose to 10°C – attesting the efficiency of the insulation and evidently the
best way to heat the place! By mid-May however, with no heating it was down to -
10°C and all the solutions were frozen up or beginning to freeze. When the lab
temperature fell to -14°C, all my fixatives were frozen solid and I brought them into
the living hut to thaw out.
A two-seater privy and other construction. We had another smaller building project to
undertake and in the middle of March started work on a new two-seater lavatory,
pre-fabricated by Boulton & Paul. Ralph and I spent most of a day putting the
framework together - in driving sleet and snow for the last three hours. Over the
next week or so, we erected the walls and sloping roof and inserted a floor; there
was a flight of steps leading up to the door which had a latch! Inside were two seats,
with drums beneath to take the excrement, which rapidly froze and was
periodically thrown into Gash Cove. Our privy stood North of the other huts with
fine views of Coronation Island.
Although the building of the laboratory had taken the best part of two months
since our arrival we had not been idle in other ways and were gaining experience of
the environment, of which more below. During May we altered the layout of the
living hut so that we each had a bunk at floor level. We continued to make use of
the timber from the whaling station to construct cupboards, drawers and shelves for
our belongings. We all took turns in painting the ceiling and the door into the lab,
which brightened the hut. Derek built a set of drawers for his charts; we ripped out
the old desk from the wall and, with a little encouragement it more or less fell to
pieces. He put on a new glass top and later placed a 1:12,500 map of Signy under it,
as well as the various temperature conversion tables etc.
Initial Explorations. We were extremely busy during the first fortnight after landing
so didn’t venture away from base, but 1 March was fine, so we decided to take a
break. Leaving base at 6 o’clock that evening we rowed north across the bay to Balin
Point, making the crossing in just 20 minutes and landing near a number of elephant
seals and gentoo penguins. What a contrast. the elephants were in tight pods - gross,
dirty and smelly, moulting their skins and hair, snapping at each other. The gentoos
were small, elegant, glossy black and white, with red beaks. We walked over to the
Wallows and Stygian Cove. In the northernmost of three freshwater lakes we noted
numbers of freshwater crustaceans (fairy shrimps). We followed the outlet stream
down to the beach of Stygian Cove where there were two monumental, bleached
whale skulls at the water's edge. The beach was piled high with brash ice, which
stretched for two or three yards out into the sea. A score or so of elephant seals were
ranged along the beach in lifeless postures, occasionally twitching and belching, or
adjusting their position for comfort.
One morning a few weeks later there was not a breath of wind - the anemometer
cups were stationary. It was one of those still, clear days with extensive thin cloud
cover and a very moist atmosphere. Although, because of the absence of wind, it felt
very warm outside it was yet cold enough to cause the layer of ice on the pools
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