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

one we called the ‘Finsterarhorn’, and East of the former was another peak, which I
presumed to be the one we saw rising from the Petter Bay ice. We had lunch about
and then pulled on until 4 o’clock, when we pitched camp on the sea ice, about 400
yards south of Pyramid Point. We returned for the second sledge - at Saunders Point
- and dragged it up, reaching camp at 5.30 pm. As it was so early we decided to pull
on with the second sledge in the direction of Reid Island. The surface had been quite
good all day but westwards from the camp we struck a lot of drift snow, which was
quite deep in places.
We pulled to within about 1 2 mile of our berg camp and then, leaving the sledge
there, returned to camp at 7.10 pm. This had been our best day's pulling yet;
although we hadn't come very far, we had passed three of our outgoing campsites.
The temperatures had been very low all day, probably near -34°C. Derek thought we
were in a pocket of cold air beneath the corries; it felt as cold - if not colder - as when
we had recorded a temperature of -35°C before we broke the thermometer. There
were no birds about and no seals to be seen. A very fine sunset lit up the skies to the
west - with woolly clouds and vivid colouring. My sleeping bag was again frozen
stiff and I spent some time trying to thaw it out.
I reflected that back home that day was August Bank Holiday, in contrast to our
situation. It was a cold night and I slept fitfully. The morning was overcast and
survey wasn't possible so we decided that Derek should continue geologising along
the coast while Charlie and I pulled number 2 sledge to Reid Island. We left a little
after Derek made off for Tophet Bastion, intending to work westwards from there.
The sledge was very difficult to start as snow was balled on the runners – these were
the days before frictionless ‘Tufnel’. We tried first to start it without turning it over
and scraping the runners - the trace broke. Then we pulled, lifting the bow onto an
icy patch and soon got it started. The surface was generally poor and we found the
sledge very much heavier to pull than yesterday. In addition there was a lot of
broken pack ice to negotiate. But we moved inside the bergs and had a pack-free
surface for a couple of miles - which brought us to Reid Island. Our clock was not
working, but it was probably about 4 o’clock when we stopped some 100 yards south
of Reid Island and ate some biscuits.
A bitter wind had troubled us during the last part of the pull and Charlie was not
keen to go further, so we returned in our tracks. The hills had been overcast all day,
down to about 1,000 ft, but as we passed the Berg camp it cleared for a short time and
the sun lit up the higher peaks. Signy appeared for a moment and then pack fog
drifted in from the east and obliterated everything. It became very cold - at least -
34°C we thought - and we were glad to get back to camp and a thermos of hot cocoa.
Derek appeared about 30 minutes later having covered the coast to Pyramid Point.
He had found his boots useless as they were iron-hard and snow was balling on the
soles. He had also broken my ice axe; I supposed the cold had made the wood
brittle. Charlie had turned in to his sleeping bag and I went to meet Derek. We had a
lot of trouble lighting the primus, which emitted toxic fumes (and perhaps carbon
monoxide), so we had to open the inner door to the tent and it was very cold. On
turning in, we left the sleeve open.
I wore two pairs of Scapa scanties in an attempt to defeat the cold! But it was
another cold night and I was glad to get up eventually, having spent half the time
shivering. We were all ready to leave at 12.15 pm, having struck camp and loaded the
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