Monday 22 April 1974
Mike Wing is erecting the polar tents in the garage one by one and examining them for defects. So far they all seem to be in need of repair. Bob Grant is working through the LWB Landrover. Bill Johnson gave me some instruction in shifting the load from one Caterpillar generator to another. I have also rebuilt the mounting and drive between the alternator and the pump in the heat machine. Garth Cowan suffered some frustration with his earth magnetic field recorder. The lamp which produces the light which records results on sensitised paper failed. The mechanism continued to work and all the meter readings were normal but nothing was recorded for a period.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind South-South-East 9 knots Temperature -17.0°C
Tuesday 23 April 1974
We had an unscheduled fire drill today. Chris replaced the fire alarm sensor in the ablution block and all seemed well but suddenly the alarm went off. Most of us were caught in inconvenient circumstances but I suppose it was a good test.
Bob Grant has struck a problem with the Dodge wannigan heater pump motor. He has no replacement seals and although we can do without the heater we cannot afford to lose coolant. Bill Johnson is taking his clean up of the kitchen water supply one stage further and is now cleaning out the storage tanks beneath the ice melter.
In the evening Ray Colliver’s cooking class was attended by six US people from McMurdo including Sister Mary Odeile Cahoon. These classes are most interesting and almost all of the Scott Base staff attends.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North 2 knots Temperature -15.0°C
Wednesday 24 April 1974
Laboratory and maintenance routines were normal today. I attended the McMurdo sunset flag lowering ceremony today as the invitation said the ceremony would have a “military and patriotic bias”. Neither bias seems appropriate for de-militarised, international Antarctica so I went along to see for myself. In fact the ceremony was quite unobjectionable. After some minutes of military music an officer called the servicemen present to attention. After a period of silence the flag was lowered during the playing of “taps”. The flag itself was presented to the “Sailor of the year Det Alfa”. In the evening seven of us attended a sunset celebration at McMurdo which took the form of a cabaret evening.
Tony Atkinson spoke with the Superintendent during my absence and gave him a report on the power situation at Vanda. While most of us were at the McMurdo celebration a pipe burst in the kitchen between the diesel-beck heater and the hot water tank. We returned to find the floor and Bill Johnson both covered in rusty water but repairs were almost complete.
McMurdo Station (USA) with Observation Hill behind
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind South 25 knots Temperature -15.4°C
Thursday 25 April 1974
Today we held a combined ANZAC and sunset ceremony. I read a short lesson from the Base bible after which Garth Cowan, the youngest member of, and one of only two servicemen, in the group, lowered the flag whilst Titch Gibson did what he could about the last post. Afterwards we sang a short but appropriate hymn. The ceremony concluded with rum and coffee all round. Visiting us at the time was Lt Chris Stockwell, USN the Public Works Officer from McMurdo. I was surprised to find that I was the only RSA member present.
It seems likely that the pump in the heat machine will be so inefficient as to absorb all the power from the motor and prevent it from revolving. Put another way, the pump is too large for the job it has to do. Gearing the drive down would introduce other inefficiencies. If I cannot find a smaller pump I will try cutting the one I have got in half.
Stuart Clarke is making the first run at Arrival Heights with the photometer tonight.
Conditions at 0900 hours Calm Temperature -16.1°C
Friday 26 April 1974
A routine day. Stuart Clarke annotating photometer results, Tony Atkinson reading ionosonde film, Bill Johnson finishing off ‘A’ Hut plumbing and Chris Wilkins repairing the vacuum cleaner yet again.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-East 20 knots Temperature -25.8°C
Saturday 27 April 1974
Stuart Clarke is at Arrival Heights rechecking the alignment of the photometer. Tony Atkinson is designing a tachometer for my heat machine. Mike Wing and Ray Colliver are preparing to accompany a USARP scientific expedition to Black Island using the dog team.
In the evening most Base staff attended the ceremony in the CPO’s club initiating Harold Roberts (a US sailor)
Conditions at 0900 hours not recorded
Sunday 28 April 1974
Poor visibility prevented the USARP expedition getting under way until early afternoon. I was a bit disturbed when they failed to make radio contact at 1800 hours (the appointed time). Although I strongly suspected this was merely a failure of their radio. The back up team got ready. Three of the staff went bowling and two others took Vaska’s pups for a walk.
Conditions at 0900 hours not recorded
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