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

eak so we decided to travel back along the coast to the West, for geology and
survey if wind and cloud permitted. We left camp at 1.15 pm and ploughed through
the snow to the first point. Here I got a resection and drew in some rays, while Derek
geologised. He caught up as I finished and we had lunch about 3.30 pm on a floe.
The cocoa was very good; the addition of butter in preparation raises the boiling
point and keeps it hotter.
On again to the next point which wasn't very conspicuous. There I got a resection
and drew in some rays and then we all made for the next conspicuous point to the
west. We climbed a steep snow slope behind the point but the clouds clamped down
and I was unable to get a resection. So we roped up and I belayed while Derek went
to collect some rocks. Then down again and a long trudge back to the camp in snow
showers. There was a very fine sky to the south. The contact between the
conglomerate and the schist runs along the line of the crags, ascending from sea level
near camp 6 to several hundred feet below the summit of the Divide Range. It was
visible for the most part as a sharply defined line or rake on the face of the crag, with
massive boiler-plate slabs above and the more shattered schist below. We saw
several snow petrels and a fine V of flying shags, two giant petrels and a Dominican -
in addition to the sheathbill camp followers. It was calm and the temperature high.,
A very severe wind blew throughout the night, continuing through the morning.
We felt very much colder and swirls of drift snow limited visibility. When I walked
through the Divide that morning the wind was so concentrated that it was only by
using my ice axe that I was able to stand up at all. The ice in Lewthwaite Strait
appeared still to be quite solid, but it wasn't possible to see far to the north. I cleared
the big drifts, which had formed during the night on the East and West walls of the
tent and crawled in again, to spend the day drawing and reading. Derek was at his
magnum opus - the translation of Kafka's ‘The Castle’ into English using a German-
English dictionary. Charlie was reading an ‘Esquire’ magazine. I had now reached the
chapters in the ‘Beagle Diary’ on Tahiti and the Galapagos - and found them
warming in our situation. An extra biscuit at lunch was a pleasant surprise. When I
went out again at 6 o’clock the wind was appreciably weaker, but the sun had gone
in and to the north through Lewthwaite Strait was an ugly green, purple and crimson
sky. The enforced lie-ups were getting us down and made us critical of each other, so
that I thought Derek was taking up more room than he should - damn him! - and no
doubt he reciprocated.
We had a sleepless night largely due to lack of space and were quite glad to rise
early. The morning was fine - the sun bathing the crags above in a warm glow, and
there were clear, cold horizons. I began to dig the sledges out before breakfast as I
felt that we should start back to base. The surface appeared good and the day
probably would not hold for survey.
Derek had some trouble with the primus, so that although he was up early we
were no earlier finishing breakfast. He was a long time over other tasks and Charlie
and I, having dug out the tent, sledges etc. and packed what we could, had a game of
football with an empty tin while waiting. Then all of us had trouble with our
bindings - my second one snapped as I put it on - and they all required attention.
Consequently it was not until 2.15 pm that we moved off with the first load. A small
male Weddell hauled out onto the ice just before we left and spent the day travelling
about aimlessly in the vicinity, as we saw him again on returning for the second
220