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

Chapter 9
Coronation Island: More distant
journeys
Wave Peak Buttress, Coronation Island
O
n 22 March, some five weeks after landing on our island, we woke to find the
sun streaming into the hut from a cloudless sky. I roused the other two and
cooked an early breakfast, as we were going over to Coronation for the day.
(We had to snatch at any fine day that presented itself as they came so infrequently).
We put together food for two weeks (a rule even for day trips away from our island),
tent, primus, sleeping bags, 4 gallons of kerosene, matches and so on, in addition to
the scientific and climbing kit. I asked Ralph to tell Terry Randall at Base E
(Stonington) that we intended going over to Coronation Island and that there would
be no 6 o’clock Met Ob.
After chipping the ice off the dory and fitting new thole pins we set off piled
high with kit, over a placid [3] miles of sea. There was plenty of brash ice in the bay
and we had to look out for chunks. Past various familiar icebergs we made our way,
and initially headed for Lynch Island in Marshall Bay, West of Cape Hansen, so as to
allow as much time as possible to row across the westerly current in Normanna
Strait, if it turned out to be strong. Gordon Robin had warned us of this, but in fact
we had no difficulty and made quite a straight course for Cape Hansen. On the way
we passed many floating Pyrosoma colonies up to 2 ft long, like ghostly white
sausages. We made for the bay to the East of Cape Hansen into which a small glacier
flowed. Across its mouth was a line of rocky islets, one big one with a columnar
structure being apparently continuous with a vertical dyke (of basalt) in the steep
eastern face of Cape Hansen, and forming a prominent crest on its top. The bay was
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