Monday 18 March 1974
During the weekend two of the dog spans became so slack that the tensioning screws reached the limit of their travel and had to be repositioned. I spent the rest of the day repairing the cupboards supporting the wash hand basin. Like anything made of timber they had distorted so far as to be unsightly.
In the afternoon Mike Wing and Tony Atkinson took the dogs for a run but it was so cold that neither man nor beast was very keen.
Tony Atkinson, Chris Wilkins, Garth Cowan and Stuart Clarke walked over to McMurdo to a Karate class. The evening was reduced in duration because the heating in the building concerned was faulty.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North 8 knots Temperature -30.7°C
Tuesday 19 March 1974
I finished the sink cupboards. Uglin seems to be failing. Mike Wing is now hand tending the pups. A fire false alarm occurred today. Bob Grant was carrying out welding repairs to the top of the front end loader and got too near the triggering device.
Bill Johnson and the maintenance staff re-organised the vehicles to give us the following winter fleet D4, 920 loader, Well-Deck Power Wagon, SWB Landrover and SnoTrac. All the rest winterised and put away in the hangar. The garage cold porch was modified to take the 920 loader. Uglin became very sick during the day and died in the early evening. Her two pups are both still OK though.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North 2 knots Temperature -28.0°C
Wednesday 20 March 1974
I spent the day endeavouring to get the Homelite chain saw cutting smoothly and starting easily. Without either a bench or some means of lifting and rolling seal carcasses, cutting them up is slow work. The blubber closes behind the chain and grips the blade also. With Uglin dead Mike Wing had some problem with feeding the pups. Bob Grant repaired our running SnoTrac yet again and Chris Wilkins likewise on the Landrover sump heater.
In the afternoon almost all the staff attended the McMurdo biolab raft launching and subsequent celebrations. Stuart Clarke is preparing “Julie” (the photometer) for installation in the next few days. Garth Cowan increased the Seismo SP gain to 25k. Laboratory staff carried out normal bi-monthly checks including measuring the free period of seismometers and galvometers. Also checked damping.
The Seismographs at Scott Base
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North 15 knots Temperature -26.0°C
Thursday 21 March 1974
I spent the morning sawing seals and the afternoon, with Chris Wilkins getting ice. We were able to get it with the loader and dump it straight into the ice sledges. Bob Grant is still working on the SnoTrac. Mike Wing, supervised by the US Navy doctor, carried out a postmortem on Uglin. This revealed nothing. Bill Johnson spliced the broken shaft on the big drill motor armature. Uglin’s two pups have been named Savio and Rangi.
Bill Johnson saw our first aurora at 0130 hours. Stuart Clarke started the sky camera at Arrival Heights and synchronised it with the laboratory time signals.
Aurora lights over Scott Base
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North 10 knots Temperature -34.4°C
Friday 22 March 1974
I spent the morning sawing seals and the afternoon making a cover batten for fibreglass caulking by the sledge room to garage steps. Mike Wing, Chris Wilkins and Tony Atkinson took the dogs for a run in the afternoon. They returned rather discouraged as the dogs hadn’t gone too well. Bill Johnson spliced an extension onto the shaft of the alternator for my heat machine. Stuart Clarke set up flag markers at the four points of the compass for the photometer.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North 20 knots Temperature -20.2°C
Saturday 23 March 1974
Chris Wilkins repaired the ‘C’ Block humidifier motor. Bob Grant worked on the 920 loader lights (it was not used last winter). Bill Johnson finished the rotor shaft extension for my heat machine and I made up drive couplings for the alternator and the oil pump. The temperature was much warmer today with a lot of snow.
Tony Atkinson charged the batteries in the ionosonde, reset the clock and programme unit and painted the barometer stand. Stuart Clarke moved “Julie” outside ready for operation but poor visibility prevented the first scheduled run. Garth Cowan undertook seismo console battery check.
In the evening we had Sergei Abakumov and Stanislaw Suszewski, Russian and Polish exchange scientists to dinner.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-East 10 knots Temperature -15.2°C
Sunday 24 March 1974
I assembled the heat machine today to find that some minor misalignment causes a resistance to torque whenever the power unit is assembled. It is impossible to measure the run-out on the shafts once the motor is assembled so I am having trouble locating the fault.
Three of the Base staff took the pups for a walk again this Sunday. Whilst over at McMurdo Bill Johnson stopped to watch some Americans winching in their scientific raft. He commented on the “sick” sound of the winch engine and shortly afterwards it literally blew apart. He inspected Scott’s Hut but contrary to report it has no broken windows.
Stuart Clarke was unable to set Julie (the photometer) in operation due to overcast conditions.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind East-North-East 25 knots (a short squall only) Temperature -19.5°C
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