Monday 5 August 1974
Mike Wing and Bob Grant with the flagging party encountered fairly thin ice (27 inches) about 5 miles from McMurdo. The party then tried to find a more Southerly route but encountered deep snow and rough surfaces which reduced progress to a crawl. They returned for dinner and the night. Their radio failed due to a blown fuse. Bill Johnson has been to see Dr Console about his dermatitis. Tony Atkinson is still having trouble with the Field Mill. Garth Cowan has adjusted the free period on the seismic equipment. Stuart Clarke, in Mike Wing’s absence, is looking after the dogs.
DVDP proposed McMurdo Sound sites
Site Latitude Longitude
1 770-24’ S 1640-30’ E
2A 770-45’ S 1650-04’ E
2b 770-48’ S 1650-26’ E
3 770-49’ S 1640-44’ E
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-East 14 knots Temperature -31.4°C
Tuesday 6 August 1974
The flagging party went out again. Bill Johnson has started to re-assemble the big lathe. I have assembled and filled the heat machine and it is now outside on a sledge until such time as I can find or make a hole through the ice into the sea. I have looked among the pressure ridges and around the tip of Cape Armitage without success.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-East 14 knots Temperature -20.5°C
Original building at Scott Base
Wednesday 7 August 1974
Today was overcast with a 20 knot wind and a good deal of drifting snow. Not surprisingly the RNZAF Orion turned back. Bill Johnson has made a small modification to the Mess hot water tank overflow which should stop the cold water heating up also. This has been a problem for several weeks now.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-East 21 knots Temperature -22.2°C
Thursday 8 August 1974
The Orion reached here today and dropped the mail at 1330 hours. One bag of the three thrown out on the first run burst as it left the aircraft but the other eight bags (three runs at four minute intervals) all landed in the drop zone.
In the existing stiff (20 knot) breeze, two bags were towed down wind before they could be captured and in the fading light were last seen heading South-East.
Stuart Clarke went to Arrival Heights on foot as the flagging party had the Power Wagon and the SnoTrac was at the drop zone.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-East 21 knots Temperature -24.2°C
Friday 9 August 1974
The No2 Caterpillar turbine failed again. Bill Johnson spent all day repairing it and, found that a bearing had failed because a white metal thrust plate had been put in backwards. This mis-located an oil passage and starved one of the bearings.
We participated in a mail search today and Bill Lokey of Holmes and Narver found one bag. In the evening in conversation with Bill I gathered that there was friction between he and the Navy and he had refused to help look for the final bag.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-North-East 20 knots Temperature -17.9°C
Saturday 10 August 1974
Tony Atkinson, Chris Wilkins and Ray Colliver took the SnoTrac and joined the party searching for the last mailbag. Tony in fact found the bag amongst the dirty ice about 20 miles South-West of the drop zone. The flag party made a further but unsuccessful attempt to find a route to Marble Point.
In Ray Colliver’s absence Garth Cowan and I as mice did the cooking. We were startled to find that the search party intended to bring guests for dinner as this suggested an unwarranted degree of faith in our skill. However no one was poisoned. Lady shows signs that she may soon have a litter.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-North-East 10 knots Temperature -20.7°C
Sunday 11 August 1974
Rest day. A bit off colour so did nothing. Had a discussion with Mike Wing as to whether Lady should now be given milk. This took longer than necessary as Mike felt it was unnecessarily soon and was reluctant to defer to my wishes.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-East 20 knots Temperature -25.6°C
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