2022: Blog | A safe start in Stanley
09/01/2022
After working as Antarctic operations assistant part-time since October the time had come to finish planning and packing and head to RAF Brize Norton to meet Tank for the military flight to the Falkland Islands. I think we were both a bit nervous about check-in with all the extra paperwork including covid passes and PCR results. There was much relief when we squeaked in just under our 55kg baggage allowance at 54.4kg and 54.7kg! However, we didn't have long to relax before we heard the flight had been delayed 24hrs. To cut a long story short we spent the next 48 hours on base broken up only by bus rides to the mess hall 3 times a day and having to get second PCR tests collected and posted (thanks to my parents for the courier service) before we finally departed.
Pictured: Tank and Kit enjoy some fresh air in Stanley
Since landing in Stanley we have been in hotel quarantine where Kit had been safely checked in and patiently waiting to hear of our arrival. Daily meals get left outside your door and little pots of ice cream have been a real treat! We are able to have some time outside and had our first visit from the nurse, who was both efficient and gentle with her swabbing technique.
To pass the time I have been reading Andrew Taylor’s account of Operation Tabarin, Two Years Below the Horn. Even travelling during the current climate seems easier when put in perspective with their journey south in November 1943. Their original ship - the HMS Bransfield - didn’t make it past Falmouth. It was in the Falklands that they took over the Fitzroy, originally built in 1931 for the Falkland Islands Company, and the William Scoresby, finally sailing out of Port Stanley on 29 January 1944. We will board the HMS Protector shortly for our own voyage south.
Pictured: Lucy reads Two Years Below the Horn.
I knew this season would be very different and so far it has definitely lived up to that but I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity and look forward to getting back to Port Lockroy for a third time.
Thanks to everyone who has supported the Trust and helped us to get this far. We will update you with our progress and news as much as we can.
Lucy Dorman, Base Leader 2021 - 2022
Many historic expeditions and explorers, including the men of Operation Tabarin (a top secret mission to Antarctica during World War II) have followed this same route to Antarctica. Whilst I set sail on a modern ship, the 14 men of Operation Tabarin left Stanley on 2 small ships, one of which was not ice strengthened. Not only did they have the dangers of a polar expedition in front of them, but also the potential threat of enemy forces during WWII.
This film captures the 134ft HMS William Scorseby at sea in Feb 1944 (Reproduced courtesy of BAS Archives, Ref AD6/16/1944/1.1).We, like our polar ancestors, are now heading South through the furious 50°'s and eventually to the screaming 60°’s, where the winds batter the Southern Ocean, with terrifying intensity. I cannot begin to imagine what it would have been on The Scorseby, with the men of Operation Tabarin in such weather. I am hoping to experience some of the beauty and wonder of Antarctica's wildlife on my journey there. With perhaps a small bit of Antarctic adventure thrown in. Although perhaps I should be careful what I wish for!
