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

immatures had been absent for some time now. Giants were at their colonies and we
saw some snowies.
From its position out to the west Gerd Island was very good for observations of
areas we didn't usually see. We arrived about 11.30 am, having made quite good
going as it was 6 1 2 miles as-the-crow-flies - 9 miles by the route we took - with much
broken ice to cross. I set up the plane-table; the pack fog had been variable and now
cleared a little though never completely. I fixed the position of Gerd Island by
resection and it seemed to correspond with the Discovery survey. Then I got an
excellent series of rays to all the prominent features on both sides of Norway Bight,
except for some indefinite small islands further to the west of us. We could see that,
behind Blaven, one of the Cragsman (Cuillin) Peaks, there were gentle, smooth
glacier slopes providing easy access inland. The whole appearance of the Cragsmen
was different from that angle. Ralph built a cairn and I made four sketches. Then we
set off for home, noting a good echo from the castle berg. The return trip was
uneventful and we reached our tiny home, tired and sunburnt at 5.30 pm.
The Winter Journey, 1948
Preparations. We wanted to get away from base for a few weeks and were resolved to
travel by man-hauling sledges. That was the way Scott and Shackleton travelled and
that way one knows that any results are due to one's own efforts. So in one way it
was more satisfactory than using dogs, if rather masochistic! In any case it would
have been quite impracticable to maintain a dog team at Signy as travel was not then
an official objective and the biological work came first. Hope Bay (Base D) and
Stonington (Base E) each ran several dog teams but they had more men, were able to
sledge for more of the year over a wider region - and topographic mapping and
geology were priority objectives, requiring extensive travel. (Later some dogsledging
was done from Signy, but the uncertain sea ice conditions posed problems).
So as the weeks passed after our arrival we began to think about travelling
further afield as, for Derek and me at least, this was one of the opportunities that had
brought us to the Antarctic. Our first thoughts were to visit the western end of
Coronation Island, as far as Sandefjord Bay and hopefully round to the north coast.
Before we could undertake any journeys, however, we had to acquire experience of
an unfamiliar environment and put together an appropriate selection of equipment
and stores from our ‘job lot’ of polar equipment. The first we did by travelling about
Signy Island and on day trips over to Coronation Island to the north, as already
described; also, when the snow cover developed, by learning to ski. Our preparations
were necessarily spread over several months as the autumn lengthened and winter
began. Fortunately our tiny library on base included a full set of the Polar Record, a
journal that had articles on polar travel and equipment - and became our Bible in this
context.
First, on 12 March I opened the crate containing the 'lightweight mountain tent'.
This was most certainly not lightweight and was indeed likely to hinder our
operations on Coronation Island by greatly reducing our mobility. It had come
ashore with us and apparently weighed about the same as the pyramid tent stored in
the Nissen hut. The provision of a genuine 'Primus' stove was a partial
compensation. Then on 18 March I got the skis out - some of them were very worn.
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