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

in order to introduce the species to the Falklands rivers, for sport fishing. (We
had brought some eggs down for him, for re-stocking, on the first voyage of the
John Biscoe). He took me to his hatchery on the pillion of his motorbike – an
adventurous ride – and we caught trout at will on bent hooks baited with
worms - very unsporting! It was good, though, to have a fellow biologist to talk
shop with after two years out of circulation in ‘the ice’.
There were some dances in the Stanley Town Hall where we danced with
some of the local girls, many of whom rode in from the camp for the occasions.
Two particularly attractive girls were Heather and Una Sedg[e]wick, both of
whom later married Fids. [Two conspicuous rocky peaks on the Antarctic
Peninsula were unofficially named after two of Una’s prominent attractions!].
We were also entertained by Greta Piteluga, a retired schoolteacher, known as
“the big red lady”, who was stimulating company. She was a member of one of
the founding sheep farming families, which owned a huge chunk of [East
Falkland]. John Huckle, one of the “lost eleven” from Stonington, who became
the Governor’s ADC and stayed on in Stanley, married Diana Piteluga, heiress
to the family fortune.
It was at first uncertain how we were to get home to England, but then we
were told that [ten] of us would be taken to Brazil on the RN frigate HMS
Bigbury Bay and from there would catch RMS Andes to Southampton. Places
were limited and the favoured few were Bunny Fuchs, Bob Spivey, Pat
Toynbee, Colin Brown, Ken Blaicklock (members of the “lost eleven”), Tim
‘Jumbo’ Nic[h]ol (who had been Base Leader at Argentine Islands), Geoffrey
Hattersley-Smith (Base Leader and glaciologist at Admiralty Bay), and myself.
Geoff and me had to get back to write up our research. David Dalgliesh stayed
behind to work in the local hospital. Ray Adie remained to undertake
geological survey work in the islands. (This led him to predict, correctly, that
the Falkland Islands had originally been contiguous with the Karroo basin of
South Africa, and had migrated to their present position over geological time
by continental drift). Derek Maling, my close companion over two years, had to
wait several months for a ship, but made good use of the time writing a thesis
on the geology of the Falkland Islands, for his degree at Durham University.
During this time he also made an expedition to Tierra del Fuego with Ken
Pawson (Port Lockroy), via Punta Arenas, Chile, on the SS Fitzroy
Those of us in HMS Bigbury Bay contingent were crammed in as
‘supernumeraries” and travelled direct to the port of Santos, just south of Rio
de Janeiro. Shortly before departure the ship’s gunners spent a few hours on
target practice trying to sink an old whale catcher anchored in Port William.
They met with no success and eventually had to put a party aboard the hulk to
scuttle her by opening the sea cocks! En route to Brazil there was more target
practice at sea – deafening in the close confines of the steel ship. At Santos we
were put up in a luxury hotel on the beach, a palatial building with large high
ceilinged rooms and floors of marble and polished hardwood – a marked
contrast to our quarters over the previous two years. I had a large suite to
myself – quite a change from the rabbit hutch of Signy Island lacking all
civilized amenities. The first night we were kept awake by a prolonged and
violent tropical storm with brilliant lightning flashes and thunder, circling the
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