Back to Antarctica 2022 Season Update

Back to Antarctica 2022 Season Update

2022 Season Update

09/01/2022

After a difficult couple of years away from Port Lockroy and the other sites we care for, we are delighted to have a small team in Antarctica for a few weeks this season to carry out an urgent assessment of the buildings ahead of winter.

Your support has enabled this essential work to take place. Thanks to your generosity we can once again look to protecting, weather-proofing and conserving some of Antarctica’s most unique and noteworthy heritage sites.

The team carrying out this work is Lucy Dorman and Kit Adams - both bringing a wealth of experience having worked at Port Lockroy previously - and Conservation Carpenter Tank Adams. They will carry out urgent repairs to the building fabric, paint walls and strengthen doors and windows. They will also be laying a power cable to connect Bransfield House to the solar array installed on the Nissen Hut and will install a new weather station funded by our Big Give campaign. Our team will also be handling post - undoubtedly a wonderful moment to be able to see the post office operating after such a long absence.

 

(Pictured left to right: pre-departure training; Kit, Lucy and Tank on training day; Kit tackling the obligatory packing!) 
Building and Conservation Manager Ruth Mullett and Lead Carpenter Geoff Cooper will later join the team in February, we hope, with the support of HMS Protector. Ruth and Geoff will focus on sites that have not been visited by UKAHT for several years to undertake condition inspections and make emergency repairs. On their list are Detaille, Damoy, Wordie House, Horseshoe and Stonington.

This season undoubtedly looks very different to seasons pre-2020, but we look forward to carrying out much needed conservation work as we begin to navigate our way back to some sort of normality, or indeed a new normal, for Port Lockroy and the other fascinating sites that we care for.

Follow the team's progress on social media using #BacktoAntarctica

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!

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