I’ve written about the practical, scenic, wildlife and environmental aspects of the Antarctic Peninsula. But a major aspect I’ve only touched on has been the human side. People live and work in Antarctica, and have been doing so for many years. Many countries have permanently occupied or seasonal bases on the Peninsula, and then there are unoccupied buildings that are now museums, emergency shelters, and ruins. This entry has additional comments and images on these Antarctic “homes away from home.”
|
|
As with all things Antarctic, there are strict guidelines and requirements about how we may interact with any built structures or relics, no matter how derelict they may be. The most derelict we saw was the old British Base J at Prospect Point (66°S). This base was occupied until 1959, and as it was not selected as a historic site under the Antarctic Treaty it was demolished and removed in 2004. All that remains is its foundation slab, bare of snow in summer, with moss growing on nearby stones and penguins moulting all around it.
On a couple of other landings we saw emergency shelters. These were off limits to us, and as we couldn’t see into them I have no idea what creature comforts they may offer in an emergency. They too were surrounded by breeding penguins, discarded feathers and penguin poo. However, they were in quite scenic locations!
|
|
So was the old British Base A, less prosaically called Bransfield House! As a backdrop it has a lovely mountain on Anvers Island, and off to the SE is a magnificent range of peaks nicknamed “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. This was the first British establishment in Antarctica and is on a point on Goudier Island in Port Lockroy. It was originally a military outpost, but during the International Geophysical Year (1957) the base played a key role in ionospheric research and monitoring. Bransfield House is now occupied by volunteers over summer who welcome visitors, such as us, maintain the buildings, and run the post office and souvenir shop. The little island is also host to a breeding colony of hundreds of Gentoo penguins who believe the entrance to the building is their own territory and access is their right, snowy sheathbills, nesting Antarctic cormorants, and other wildlife.
|
|
At Bransfield House, with Anvers Island as a backdrop
The building is now a museum of base life in the 1950’s and early 60’s, with the bunk room, kitchen, workshop, bathroom, and science rooms more or less as if they were in use. The bunk room was shared, but each person’s bed and cupboard were their sacrosanct personal space and featured murals of scantily clad film stars of the day, and Marilyn Monroe adorns the storeroom door. These murals were rediscovered when the bunk room was restored to its original state. Many of the household products exhibited took me back to our days on the farm in Sheffield, and some of the scientific equipment to my student days.
To view an album of images from inside Bransfield House, click on the next image. Then click on the first image and use the arrow keys to browse the album.
| A bunk in the Bransfield House bunk room … click for more images |
The old British Base F, or Wordie House, is on Winter Island, in the Argentine Islands. It was heavily cloudy at the time of our visit and any neighbouring mountains were hidden. However, the view from Wordie House embraced a lovely series of calm waterways with small ice flows and sculpted icebergs serenely floating. Penguins were elsewhere, but seals were plentiful on the ice flows.
|
|
Wordie House was closed in 1954, although operations continued until 1996 at a new station known as Faraday, and then Vernadsky, on the neighbouring Galindez Island. The main focus of work at Wordie House was meteorology, and the records from Wordie House, Faraday and Vernadsky continue to the day and constitute one of the longest and most important scientific datasets from Antarctic.
A series of images around and within Wordie House can be seen by clicking on the image below.
|
|
A short ride in a zodiac from Wordie House along a winding and ice-strewn waterway is Vernadsky Station. Faraday was sold by the British Government to Ukraine for one quid in 1996, and was renamed as Vernadsky. It has accommodation for up to 24, and is occupied year-round by a small group of scientists who maintain the ongoing meteorological program, and conduct research including atmospheric and ionospheric physics, oceanography and microbiology.
|
|
We were given a tour of the station, and some of the scientists talked about their science. The scientific and personal equipment of Vernadsky was a far cry from what we’d seen in the nearby Wordie House! Living conditions seemed very comfortable, and a veritable home away from home. The common rooms were very homely, and their pub had a bit of an English pub look to it, but the barman was uncommunicative. I gathered all personnel at Vernadsky where men, yet it did have a loo for women, which contained the station’s washing machine. A serious case of stereotyping?
On the topic of loos … the station has a garbage and waste disposal system that uses microbes to digest waste, a system that has apparently reduced the mass of waste from the station that has to be transported out of Antarctica from hundreds of kilos to dozens of kilos.
A major attraction of Vernadsky to tourists is its pub. The story is that some resident British carpenters used wood that was to provide the station with a new pier to build a small bar imitating a traditional English pub. Its new Ukrainian owners made some cosmetic changes to reflect its Russian patronage. Apparently, the bar used to offer vodka distilled on site, and the drink was free to any woman willing to donate her underwear to be displayed in the bar. Or so the story goes!
To see more images of and around Vernadsky Station, click the image of the pub.
Our final Antarctic destination was King George Island, and in particular the Frei Station airport for our flight back to South America. There are numerous research stations on the island belonging to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Ecuador, South Korea, Peru, Poland, Russia, Uruguay, and the US. Russia's Bellingshausen Station has a gorgeous little Orthodox church, which we were able to visit.
|
|
On our way to the airport from our last zodiac landing we walked along the outskirts of the Chilean Frei Station – its full name is “Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva”. It was clearly quite extensive, and has a summer population of around 150. Apart from the airport and control tower, it has cafeterias, post office, bank, super market and hospital for its residents, and comfortable homes for families with children.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment