Monday 31 December 1973
A beautiful calm day. Maintenance staff are working on the new sewerage pipe. “end of month” work is proceeding in the laboratory. Ian Thomas is unpacking and setting up his photometer. Another ice collecting party was organised. No field party movements. Howard Dengate is much better and ready to go back to Vanda. Professor Segre also seems improved.
Conditions at 0900 hours no wind Temperature -0.5°C
Ration Strength 23
Tuesday 1 January 1974
A quiet day. Neither helicopters flying nor McMurdo phones working. Most staff went skiing in the afternoon. Late in evening Alex Wilson of Event 10 called unexpectedly and the night mouse woke me to go to the radio. Alex had heard that a small rig he had erected on the Canada Glacier was about to be moved by DVDP. The rig was serving as a marker and he was anxious to forestall removal. I rang Frank Morelli the environmental monitor with DVDP who assured me the rig would not be touched.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-North-East 8 knots Temperature -1.2°C
Ration Strength 23
Wednesday 2 January 1974
Event 19, the Italian Group, with Colin Monteath returned today. They intend to remain in Scott Base for a few days in the hope of getting to the South Pole. The two caretakers and Maurice Conly are back from Cape Evans but Maurice flew straight out to Vanda. The caretakers will work at Scott’s Discovery Hut until they go.
Fred Szydlik has completed his return of book sales and it seems as though I may have mislaid two bundles of the pamphlet “Antarctica”. There is also some excess money not accounted for by recorded book sales.
It transpires that Frank Morreli was unable to contact the drill site in time so that despite his assurances to me yesterday, Alex Wilson’s drill rig has been removed. Naturally Alex wants it put back and I am endeavouring to arrange this.
I am having a lot of difficulty in making a firm schedule of movements to NZ. Aircraft details are not firm (neither seats nor timing), I have only approximations as to when projects end and several of the people are not even here yet.
We have started work grading the slope for the kitchen drain. Tony Atkinson went to Vostok as my representative. Vanda had a record warm day.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind West-North-West 7 knots Temperature +3.4°C
Ration Strength 30
Thursday 3 January 1974
Garth Cowan’s birthday. We had our first contract with the ship Lindblad Explorer. Lindblad wanted to know if we could move his passengers to McMurdo and when we pointed out that our only over-snow vehicle carried seven people and had a speed of 10 mph he accepted our suggestion that he call at Cape Bird. We undertook to send a SnoTrac party and dog team to the nearest point to which he could come to McMurdo.
A SnoTrac under repair
I was able to establish that Alex Wilson’s drill rig was removed on the authority of Frank Morelli’s monitors and by all accounts the area was not only an eyesore but, worse, some of the rubbish had been obtained from the Americans and was marked USARP. With their Congressional visitors about to view the area I can well understand the eagerness to clean it up. Anyway, with the responsibility fixed, Mike Mudrey issued instructions to his people at the drill site to rectify matters.
Today when Bill Whitley endeavoured to two one of the ice sledges down to the pressure ridge from which we get ice, the D4 suddenly sank into a melt pool. It looked quite odd sitting in the middle of an apparently firm snow surface with only its cab showing.
Shaun was taken by the Americans to Cape Crozier to survey routes by which to recover the damaged helicopter. Ian Clements, Gary Brehaut and Bob Newland are coming back from White Island with the dogs. They are about 10 miles away.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind West-North-West 7 knots Temperature +0.2°C
Ration Strength 33
Friday 4 January 1974
Gary Brehaut’s birthday. Ian Clement, Gary and Bob Newland arrived early this morning. The dogs can have a days rest before setting off for the ship Lindblad Explorer. Terminal Operations rang to ask me to get the passengers for Sunday’s aircraft on a plane departing early tomorrow. Since Professor Segre, the senior member of the party was out walking and the entire group seemed to believe they had good reason to wait at Scott Base until they could obtain a flight to the South Pole. I had some difficulty in giving Terminal Operations firm numbers. Finally I got 10 people nominated.
During the day I had several conversations with Mr Lindblad on the radio. He was concerned at his inability to make radio contact with either McMurdo or the ice breakers and led me to believe that he suspected their failure to respond was deliberate. This was embarrassing because I found myself passing messages from him to my good friends in McMurdo which were unlikely to be well received. Through the generosity of the US Navy I was able to arrange for Mr Lindblad to get several minor items such as satellite photos of the ice front and pre-mixed cement.
The kitchen drain earthworks are proceeding. This involves bulldozing up a heap of surface scoria, picking the big lumps up by hand and scooping up the finer bits with the loader bucket. The whole is then dumped, graded and compacted to form a ramp. It all takes time.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-North-East 9 knots Temperature -1.2°C
Ration Strength 42
Saturday 5 January 1974
This morning I drive our departing group to Williams Field at 0500 hours. It was my first time over the track and a real eye-opener. The “main” road is closed to traffic for some reason and vehicles drive alongside. It is pretty rough. Survivors of the ride were Lew Kerr, George Madgewick, Steve Warder. I arrived back at Base to find the dog team had still not departed. Bob Newland and Bill Whitley had each expected the other to arrange to be awakened, neither did anything and they both overslept.
At 0900 hours whilst walking over the hill to McMurdo to catch a helicopter going out to the Lindblad Explorer I saw the pair setting out due East to circle right around the pressure ridges to the South and so finally head north to the ship. I was furious as with a little help from the others in the Base they could easily have avoided the detour.
At the ship the NSF people gave a slide exposition of their activities but I didn’t speak when invited as it seemed to me that my chaps when they arrived with the dogs, SnoTrac and polar equipment would convey a far more vivid image of our Antarctic effort than anything I could say.
On the way back our helicopter passed over the team with Bob and Bill both running through soft snow to spare the dogs as much as possible. I was back in time to meet the Congressional Committee being shown the Base by Fred Syzdlik. Later Fred and Tony Smith took a selection of books to the ship for sale to passengers. The evening closed with the drillers, who had been brought in from the site by Mike Mudrey, being somewhat upset when they were too late to make phone calls. I was able to get an extension for them.
Dog team
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-North-East 4 knots Temperature +0.8°C
Ration Strength 24
Sunday 6 January 1974
Early this morning a recreational trip got away to White Island in a SnoTrac with sledge. They climbed almost to the top of White Island but encountered heavy winds and decided to turn back. Shaun, with the SnoTrac which had called on the Lindblad Explorer and bringing Franz Lazi film team spent the Saturday night at Cape Evans and then drove out across the ice to film the ice breakers in action. They arrived at Scott Base just before midnight.
Meanwhile Ian Clements and Bob Newland with the dogs, spent the Sunday night at Cape Evans. The Lindblad Explorer reported a Royds Penguin count of 2976 adults and 1653 chicks. Our usual route to the ice ridges to collect ice is now closed. I was towing a sledge along it with the D4 when the D4 suddenly collapsed into a melt hole. It was extracted with some difficulty.
The Sunday mice had some trouble with the new stove. Its blower is not as powerful as the old one and the stove “soots-up” quickly if not cleaned. Titch Gibson’s birthday – cake and hymn.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-North-East 4 knots Temperature +0.8°C
Ration Strength 26
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