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

Fuchs to arrange for us to be sent two large battle dresses and four large shirts. They
did not arrive and I was reduced to wearing trousers I had brought with me for the
voyage out - and eventually to the trousers of my grey chalk-stripe suit, tailor-made
in student days by Shephards in Trinity Street, Cambridge! The only ‘issue’ outer
clothing I had in the first year that fitted me was naval ‘fatigues’ (work-suit garments
like prisoners used to wear - navy blue button-up cotton jacket and boiler-suit
trousers). Fortunately there were some white woolen RN jerseys and sea boot
stockings.
Boots were also a serious problem. We were issued with RBLTs (rubber-bottomsleather-tops)
manufactured in Canada, which were suitable in summer, but too cold
for winter wear, even though they had thick felt inners. Initially for winter we had no
eskimo mukluks, a more practical winter footwear.
So we fell back on sealskin boots with duffel inners, but found them too small and
were unable to wear them; possibly frequent wearing around base would stretch
them? Eventually we learnt the trick of soaking them in water (which made them
flexible), putting them on wet and wearing them until they dried. They were the
warmest footwear we had, but were not ideal in our circumstances and descending
the stone chute wearing sealskin boots was very hard on the toes; also they provided
no support to our feet. However, they could only be worn in freezing temperatures
and were very vulnerable to tearing on the sharp South Orkney rocks. Derek had a
bad frostbite attack due to this, when his sealskin boots, ripped on rocks, filled with
snow. By July however, I was wearing sealskin boots and duffle slippers with 1 pair
of socks. Even so they were too small for my large feet, which were cramped and
usually going white in patches when we came in from outside. I could find none
larger, so would try stretching - or possibly chewing ("Oh! for a helpful eskimo" I
cried).
Consequently I used to suffer from continuously cold feet and occasional frostbite
wearing issue boots (listed as Army snow-boots) which were too small for me. They
were leather-soled and for a grip we had to fix triple-hobnails, which of course
conducted the heat away from one's feet. Also the leather uppers were inflexible and
set like iron in the cold.
However, I had only one really bad attack of frostbite during the two years and
this was while pitching the tent in a blizzard at camp three on the l948 winter
journey, when I couldn't tend to my feet until the tent was erected. (Usually on such
occasions we could take off our army boots and rub our feet back to life before they
got too cold). When I wore my own climbing boots I was not troubled in this way,
but a snag was that they couldn't be worn with the skis. So I ordered a personal pair
of ski boots from Lawrie’s in London, which arrived at the next relief and fitted very
well, so I didn't have any trouble in my second year.
Also in February l949 when we unpacked the incoming stores - surprise, surprise!
In response to our pleas for better boots FIDS had sent some beautiful pairs made by
Lawrie: size 14, with warm fleece lining which was detachable. New windproof
clothing had been specially designed by Colonel Ken Butler and was excellent. The
anoraks had pockets, draw strings to pull the hood close around the throat and face,
and other draw strings around the waist and thighs. Moreover they were ventile
cloth, windproof and more or less waterproof. The gloves had also been specially
designed and were warm. Other clothing was now supplied in appropriate sizes, but
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