Monday 18 February 1974
The final tidy up before departure of our summer staff. Three ice sledges filled in 1½ hours. It is much easier to get ice now it is cold and cracks off cleanly. The departing three have all been extremely good value during the season.
Gordon Nation with his previous experience and continuing interest has greatly eased the burden on Shaun and me. His abilities as a storeman and member of the team are beyond question
Bill Whitley proved a most versatile chap. His previous experience on an isolated station (Raoul) and all round trade skill made him extremely useful even before Bob Newland’s departure for Vanda. His quiet North Country wit also went down well.
Brian Fischer was easily the most popular person in the Base. It was strange that whereas bad language by some was not acceptable to the group, Brian, who frequently constructs entire sentences of expletives, never gave offence. Apart from his diligence and competence as a tradesman, his general kindly and helpful manner made him everybody’s friend.
I hope those of us who are left do as well as these three have done.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-East 15 knots Temperature -8.4°C
Ration strength 14
Tuesday 19 February 1974
This morning Gordon Nation and Brian Fischer drove over to McMurdo and searched the timber yard for our missing timber. Eventually they found most of it in an untidy heap. It had been merely dumped off a forklift and a good deal of it was broken. They returned at 1000 hours and after a quick cup of tea I drove them towards Williams Field. Gordon, who does a lot of business with Terminal Operations, the dispatching group, had been told to be at the airfield no later than 1030 hours. At 1020 hours as we drove across the shelf towards the field a Hercules taxied to the end of the runway, turned and took off.
“That’ll be some other aircraft” said Gordon “Ours won’t have arrived yet”. The blend of aggression and anxiety in his voice would have done nothing to reassure the two in the back of the truck if they could have heard him. Both of them had their faces glued to the back window of the cab as with fixed melancholy stares they watched the Hercules climb into the air and turn towards Christchurch. To show them how seriously I felt about their concern I held up two spread fingers. However all was well. As we pulled up to the passenger terminal we could see another Hercules letting down in the distant Northwest. Our winter group spent the day with normal routine and sorting and tidying work areas.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-North-East 14 knots Temperature -12.7°C
Ration strength 14
McMurdo Station with Observation Hill behind
Wednesday 20 February 1974
Snow fell off and on for most of the day. It is still ablating rapidly leaving only a thin covering on the ground. Nevertheless it is becoming easier to move the ice sledges with the tractors.
Bob Grant continues stripping and overhauling toboggans. Bill Johnson is sealing drift entry points and securing drums and other stores which will winter outside. Titch Gibson is dealing with the rush before the last aircraft out and Les Walker is unpacking the final consignment of Post Office stores (principally his work bench). Chris Wilkins, as last night late mouse, is sleeping in. Laboratory routine as normal. Mike Wing is putting the final touches to the seal meat wannigan and attending to the dogs and pups. I have been sorting and tidying the carpenter’s work space.
After discussions with Bill Johnson I have decided not to close D Hut for the winter. It was a temptation to do so and at one stroke effect the necessary fuel savings and avoid the need for a series of small irksome economies, but on the other hand the place might suffer if allowed to freeze. There is already frost through the floor in one place. The risk of a fatal fire is increased if, as Bill Johnson put it “all our baskets are in one egg”. Finally, to quote Titch Gibson “the small group of better class residents do need a place of their own”. Needless to say Titch and I are both in D Hut.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind Northerly 9 knots Temperature -1.0°c
Ration strength 14 (and not recorded hereafter)
Thursday 21 February 1974
A calm overcast day. Nothing to report
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-North-East 7 knots Temperature -10.5°C
Friday 22 February 1974
The day started overcast but cleared to a cloudless afternoon. The day was spent on normal maintenance and laboratory routines. Tony and Stuart have succeeded in rectifying a faulty time marker in the micropulsation recorder at Arrival Heights. I have been sorting and labelling the iron mongery in the carpenter’s shop. Towards the end of the day we heard that the last aircraft to call here had turned back after flying south for two hours.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-North-East 7 knots Temperature -11.8°C
Saturday 23 February 1974
My turn as mouse. We had a fairly thorough interior clean up of the common areas of the Base such as the Mess, the cold corridor and the ablution block. Afterwards Tony Atkinson gave us a talk on nacreous and noctilucent clouds.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-North-East 13 knots Temperature -14.5°C
Sunday 24 February 1974
Again as early morning mouse I tried unsuccessfully to polish the new green lino. On the second to last aircraft, amongst several eagerly awaited items like the re-supply sheets we received a new stylus for our record player, so I was able to listen to my favourite records whilst polishing.
At 0600 hours I spoke with Tony Smith at Vanda. He said that all is well there. At 0800 hours I went to bed, but Ray Colliver and Tony Atkinson took Stuart Clarke, Les Walker and a number of Americans to the survival training area for some practice with crampons, ropes, crevasse ladders, etc
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind East-North-East 14 knots Temperature -17.0°C
No comments:
Post a Comment