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

and made our way down the West side of the islands to the southernmost of them.
At first Coronation Island was relatively free from cloud and we had fine views of
the south coast and of Mount Noble. This mountain has a form reminiscent of The
Turret and I was inclined to think it was also composed of conglomerate. A ridge
joins it to the peak we saw above Petter Bay. By the time I reached the southernmost
island cloud was clamping down. We had lunch and the others went on round the
island while I set up the plane table and attempted to get a resection. Waiting for
some time hoping the cloud might lift, met with no luck. So I went on to join the
others at South Cape. They had been turned back by the rotten sea ice and, the coast
being precipitous, could not get around the ice-foot.
We retraced our steps and I started up a snow gully intending to cross the island.
Charlie, who was wearing slippery sealskin boots could not follow us, so we turned
back and went round the coast the way we had come. We walked round between this
island and the flat-topped one to the north. I drew in the coastline as plane tabling
was out of the question; we noticed several differences from the Admiralty Chart. On
a small promontory of the southernmost island there were about 70-80 blue-eyed
shags roosting and from the number of nest sites the concluded the breeding
population was about 100 pairs. A large penguin rookery covered most of this island
- probably chinstrap penguins as we found a dead chick. A sheathbill flew over to
investigate us. There was no sign of the Long Island marked on the chart, so we
assumed it to be a small rock that was in about the right position. We had poor views
of Laurie Island but Powell Island was clear.
We returned to camp around the islands, meeting with a gentoo penguin en
route and seeing the tracks of a Weddell seal and later the animal itself. The moon lit
us on our way for the last hour or so, we reached camp about 8 o’clock. There
seemed to be more room in the tent that night. Yet again we had no success with the
radio. The temperature was -4°C. Charlie didn't set the alarm so we were a little later
finishing breakfast next morning. We slept well but I found it a bit cold lying in an
outside berth. The temperature was -14°C and a strong wind blew up snow squalls.
The peaks above us were in sunlight, but to the east there was a solid wall of black
cloud, with the sun just showing above it. Signy Island and the rest of Coronation
Island appeared to be in cloud and in any case surveying was out of the question
because of the wind.
The ice in Lewthwaite Strait was firm as far as visibility extended - which wasn't
far. The surface was much better - a kind of wind slab rather than mushy soft snow.
There had been one or two avalanches near, but none very large and we decided to
go around Coffer Island so that Derek could complete his geological survey of the
islands. We made our way southwards over the sea ice, which was easier going than
before, as most of the loose snow had been blown off or compacted. It was snowing
when we started and gradually worsened. We passed between the land and the
islands and Derek made notes and collected rocks. Wind erosion was very
pronounced with some fantastic forms, arches, tunnels, bosses, etc. sculpted in the
conglomerate. Then, in crossing a tide-crack he put a foot into the water and got wet.
We turned back soon after as he was afraid it might get frost-bitten. Back to camp in
a blizzard, reaching it by 5 o’clock when the temperature was -11°C, but by the time
we turned in that night it had risen to -7°C.
218