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

As to rubbish disposal, the site was simply a gulley running into the sea cove
(“Gash Cove”) to the East of the hut and about fifty yards away. The trip to this
‘Gash Dump’ was a trudge, two or three times daily, and it could be quite dangerous
on nights when there was no moon and it was pitch black. The duty cook usually
found it was necessary to pay two visits a day. If wearing sealskin boots, as was
likely when the weather was cold, one had to be very careful crossing the snow slope
just above the gulley. A slip would take one 60 ft, right down onto the sea ice or into
the tide crack and it could mean a long climb round to get back; fortunately we
avoided such a mishap.
Ralph began his maintenance duties by checking the fuel and did some repairs to
the generator. He and Derek went down to the shore to check on our petrol supply
and found that size, shape and markings of the drums were no guarantee of contents.
Early on we had a general clear up and stocktaking, repeated at intervals. At the end
of my first week's cook duty I finished my washing and baked 16 lbs of bread for the
following week, had a successful afternoon making pastry and after an early dinner
settled down to an evening writing and reading. It was seldom that the cook had any
evening left after dinner and this was a pleasant change. Other evenings Ralph was
busy with the generators and other odd jobs. Derek might be cooking and adding up
figures for the monthly means. I was working in my laboratory.
Ralph and I rolled one of the empty 45 gallon fuel drums to the lab for use as a
water tank. That afternoon I installed it, filled it with snow, and made a wooden
cover for it. Ralph constructed a reel for the trawl twine, which was in a bad tangle.
My boots acquired a coat of seal oil and seemed to be much the better for it. One day
in April as I carried up two sacks of coal from the digesters I noticed that the bottom
of the dory was worn free of paint; so we needed to give it another coat before
winter. First we turned it upside down and cleaned out the snow and ice. It would
need to dry before it would be worth patching and tarring it.
From May onwards the hut was frequently very cold and we all huddled close to
the fire. The temperature at floor level was often well below freezing. The trouble
was that the hut stood on a wooden base raised a foot from the ground and consisted
of two layers of 1 ins. timbers with no space between. If we accidentally spilt water
on the floor in places it bubbled and instantly froze. For a period during the winter
Derek placed thermographs inside the hut at floor level and at ceiling height. The
traces showed it was not unusual for the temperature at ceiling height to be +25°C
and at floor level -10°C.. This environmental gradient encouraged us in the bad habit
of sitting with our feet resting, on a bunk or chair off the floor, muffled in duffel boot
linings. We had some really violent howling gales up to and above Force 12
(hurricane strength) which rocked the hut and lowered the temperature outside, to a
wind chill equivalent of perhaps -50°C or so, therefore affecting the indoor
temperature too. .
One evening in May the wind dropped and after washing and getting ready for
bed I went out in my pajamas to see what the air temperature at the met screen was. I
was evidently getting quite used to the cold, for the thermometer reading was -20°C
and I didn't feel at all cold. On 3 August when I woke the temperature at the level of
my bed was -3.5°C - no wonder my nose was cold! At floor level it often fell to -10°C
during the night and was -+8.5°C at breakfast-time. But some nights when the wind
dropped and it was flat calm, it became very warm and stifling in the hut and we
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