Base value: 12 faces that made Port Lockroy

11/03/2025

From the pioneer who first gave Port Lockroy its name to our latest base leader, Heather Barrable profiles the people that made Port Lockroy what it is today.

As another season at Port Lockroy draws to a close, we’re taking this opportunity to acknowledge the hard-working base leaders, team members and explorers who, over months and even years, for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, have watched over our flagship site, working through enormous challenges, delivering their missions and guiding their teams to success.

From the pioneer who first gave Port Lockroy its name to our latest base leader, we profile the people that made Port Lockroy what it is today.

1. Jean-Baptiste Charcot

French-born Jean-Baptiste Charcot left his career in medicine to seek adventures worthy of his heroes from the tales of his favourite author, Jules Verne. A keen sailor, Charcot won two silver medals in the sport at the 1900 Summer Olympics before earning the accolade ‘Gentleman of the Poles’ from his friend Captain Robert Scott for his Arctic endeavours. In 1903, he turned his attention south and led the French Antarctic Expedition on the Français to explore the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula known as Graham Land. On board were 22 men and Toby the pig, the official mascot of the Français.

Portrait of Charcot by his wife Marguerite Cléry-Charcot (Public Domain)

The expedition’s scientific contributions were unprecedented: 75 cases of samples and data were collected; three advanced nautical charts were made; and 1,000km of coastline was mapped and explored for the first time. On 19 February 1904, he discovered a natural harbour in a magnificent setting that was rich in wildlife. He called the inlet Port Lockroy after Édouard Lockroy, a French politician who had assisted him in securing government funding for the expedition. 

2. James Marr 

James William Slessor Marr straddled the heroic and the scientific Antarctic ages. He was an 18-year-old “bluff, big-hearted fellow from Aberdeen” studying classics and zoology when he was selected by Sir Ernest Shackleton as one of two Boy Scouts to work as cabin boys aboard the Quest. 

Lieutenant Commander Marr at Port Lockroy as part of Operation Tabarin, 5 Nov 1944 (BAS Archives)

By 1943, former Scout Marr was balding and bespectacled with the deeply lined face of an accomplished sailor and polar field scientist. Selected to lead Operation Tabarin, Marr was running out of time as the end of the 1944 polar summer was approaching. Faced with dangerous ice conditions and dwindling fuel, he abandoned his plans for Hope Bay to instead establish Base A at Port Lockroy, a safe anchorage with a flat area that could accommodate a hut. The rest, they say, is history.

3. Captain Andrew Taylor

No line up of Port Lockroy protagonists would be complete without the robust figure of 36-year-old, Captain Andrew Taylor, Operation Tabarin’s surveyor and later leader following the departure of James Marr. Seconded from the Royal Canadian Engineers for his experience in Arctic overland travel and cartography, his systematic mind and outstanding technical abilities gained him respect. 

Captain Andrew Taylor at Port Lockroy in 1944 (BAS Archives)

Gwion Davies recalls, “I was always impressed by his stolid endurance of the cold, especially when working his metal theodolite with bare hands.” Taylor set up the Hope Bay base in early 1945 and led sledging journeys totalling some 800 miles, adding significantly to earlier surveys with 40 new place names, including Mt Taylor. Of his time at Port Lockroy, he wrote, “We were much more comfortable in this house than many people are in much more civilised localities.” A polar medal with Antarctic clasp recognised Taylor’s achievements as the first Canadian to lead an Antarctic expedition.

4. Roy ‘Bill’ Bailey

Roy ‘Bill’ Bailey, a laboratory assistant from the Radio Research Station was sent to the Falkland Islands to set up a station to measure the ionosphere (upper atmosphere) for radio communications. Seeking measurements further south, he hitched a lift on the MV John Biscoe and landed at Port Lockroy in February 1948. 

Roy Bailey, 1948. (BAS Archives)

Together with the four men assigned to reopen the base, Bill was met by a hut stripped bare, plundered to build Wordie House when Port Lockroy had been abandoned and of no further value as a sledging base or weather station. Stranded when the Biscoe experienced engine problems, Bill and the base leader, George Barry, assembled basic manual ionospheric gear. On 9 March 1948, he took the first Antarctic reading. Measuring the ionosphere provided Base A with a new lease of life. By the International Geophysical Year in 1957, the set-up had advanced to an ionosonde known as the ‘Beastie’ with readings taken at 15-minute intervals.

5. Alan Carroll

Alan Michael Carroll is pictured here on his 22nd birthday in Bransfield House. He had arrived a fortnight earlier on 28 November 1954 to become the youngest leader of a British Antarctic base. With magistrate, postmaster and radio pioneer roles, Alan oversaw Port Lockroy’s role as a communications link with the Falkland Islands and ionospheric work – taking hourly upper atmosphere recordings using an ionosonde nicknamed the ‘Beastie’. 

Alan Michael Carroll on his 22nd birthday in Bransfield House (BAS Archives)

On 13 February 1957, Alan became the first to hear a ‘whistler’ – low-frequency radio waves generated by lightning recorded as sounds. He left his mark on Goudier Island by making a flagpole to fly the Union Flag (the timber base remains today) and starting the construction of the boatshed. Alan left Port Lockroy on 2 March 1957 but returned with UKAHT in 2006 to install a ‘Beastie’ in the museum that he constructed from machine parts found in a field! A fitting legacy for one of the faces that made Port Lockroy.

6. Alan Cameron

In February 1957, Alan Cameron answered an advert in the Daily Telegraph for electronic engineers for Antarctica. A telegram in September gave him a month’s notice before his ship sailed. “I told my girlfriend that I had got a job down South. She said, ‘Oh, London?’ and I replied, ‘No, a bit further than that.” A week’s training at the Radio Research Station in Slough set Alan up for his role as an ionosphericist at Port Lockroy.

Alan Cameron, 1957 (BAS Archives)

Anyone who has visited the shop in Bransfield House has walked on Alan's handiwork. He worked on the pillar foundations and wood flooring for the new generator shed, receiving a blow to the head from a wayward metal beam – an injury treated with a bulldog clip! Turning his attention to science, he interpreted data every hour during the International Geophysical Year and even every 15 minutes during special World Days to contribute to the international scientific programme. The next season, Alan became base leader via a message, “You’re Base Leader and you’ve got a £100 a year rise”. Alan’s leadership approach was democratic much like his description of his work, “You make a noise and listen to the answer.”

7. Brian Roberts

In 1904, Jean-Baptiste Charcot discovered the natural harbour of Port Lockroy. Almost 30 years later, the Antarctic veteran gave geography student Brian Roberts a lift onboard the Pourquoi-Pas to Greenland. On 21 January 1935, at the age of 22, Roberts himself landed at Port Lockroy as a scientist on Rymill’s British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE) observing, “How infinitely small and insignificant all human efforts become in these surroundings.” Roberts’ next connection with Port Lockroy came through his steering of Operation Tabarin, a secret mission to set up permanent British bases in Antarctica.

Brian Roberts, AKA ‘Mr Antarctic’ (BAS Archives)

In the same month that Base A was being built at Port Lockroy, Roberts was signing a contract with the Foreign Office to research Britain’s sovereignty claims, making him the nation’s pre-eminent political expert on the region. Informally known as ‘Mr Antarctic,’ He was the main driving force behind the conception of the Antarctic Treaty, taking on the role of international diplomat in Washington in 1959 when the multilateral agreement was signed. Over 60 years later, this agreement continues to recognise historic sites in Antarctica as part of humankind’s cultural heritage, protecting Port Lockroy since 1995.

8. David Burkitt

Meet David Burkitt, once referred to as the Prime Minister of Port Lockroy. Dave’s passion for Antarctica began as a child. He can remember drawing a picture of Captain Scott at infant school. Following a spell in the Royal Navy and an expedition to Elephant Island in 1969, he joined the British Antarctic Survey as general assistant, boatman and base leader, spending time at South Georgia, Halley, Stonington Island and Rothera. 

David Burkitt, AKA the Prime Minister of Port Lockroy (Glenn Guy)

In 1996, Dave, along with teammates Simon Almond, Rick Atkinson, Ben Hodges and conservation architect Chris Cochran, took on the momentous task of restoring Port Lockroy, following its abandonment 34 years earlier. The transformation after nine weeks was unimaginable. The buildings were made weathertight, re-roofed, repaired and decorated. Waste was removed and artefacts were saved. When the decision was made to staff the site to keep it secured and maintained while greeting visitors, Dave admirably filled the role for five seasons, providing essential continuity. He received the Polar and Fuchs Medals in 1986 and 1999 for outstanding service on the continent of his childhood imagination.

9. Jo Hardy

Next up is our first female face to our Port Lockroy roll call. Jo Hardy was the first female Port Lockroy team member back in the 2001/02 season. However, the accolade for the earliest women at Base A goes to Gladys Hooley and her 14-year-old daughter Dawn. In February 1944, Gladys and Dawn accompanied Tim Hooley, the incoming wireless operator for the Falkland Islands Government on South Georgia, aboard the SS Fitzroy, which was also transporting the Operation Tabarin personnel to Port Lockroy. Dawn’s diary read, “On first landing, the Union Jack was flown and pictures were taken – even one of me stepping ashore, the first girl to set foot on Graham Land.” 

Jo Hardy was the first female leader of Port Lockroy (UKAHT/Jo Hardy)

Dawn went into nursing and 57 years later, Jo Hardy, who also trained as a nurse before working for the British Antarctic Survey, became the first female Port Lockroy team member for the 2001/02 season. Since Jo, UKAHT has recruited many women – with some seasons being all-female teams – venturing in the footsteps of Gladys, Dawn and Jo.

10. Rachel Morgan

Fourteen years dedicated to the Trust has earned Rachel Morgan, a former director of UKAHT, a place in our Port Lockroy Hall of Fame. In 1998, Rachel became the first British female field assistant to spend a winter in Antarctica. Two years later, with the charity still in its infancy, Rachel joined UKAHT.

Rachel was the first British female field assistant to spend a winter in Antarctica (UKAHT/Rachel Morgan)

During her time, more than 170,000 people passed through the red door of Bransfield House. With a recently-developed living museum, post office and shop, Port Lockroy visitor numbers trebled to become the most-visited site in Antarctica. In 2006, she signed the agreement with BAS to take over Port Lockroy’s management, commissioned the reconstruction of the Nissen hut to provide team accommodation and shared our site with a worldwide television audience as the ‘Penguin Post Office’. In 2017, Rachel was awarded an MBE for her contribution to UK Antarctic heritage and conservation.

11. Graham Gillie

Faced with harsh conditions and the effects of climate change, the vulnerable buildings at Port Lockroy would quickly deteriorate without the care of our expert conservation carpenters. A fifth-generation joiner, Graham Gillie first visited Goudier Island nearly 20 years ago as a general assistant and museum guide while carrying out maintenance between ship visits. He returned in 2010, with Rick Atkinson and Joe Leavy, to recreate the Nissen hut for team accommodation, constructing it in two halves to avoid nesting penguins.

Graham Gillie just can't keep away from Antarctica (UKAHT/Graham Gillie)

Last season, Graham was back at Port Lockroy making urgent repairs to a roof truss in Bransfield House following a stint at Detaille Island. This year, thanks to all who ordered a postcard, he’ll visit Port Lockroy yet again to repair concrete foundations and replace rotten floor timbers before going on to Blaiklock Island Refuge. Graham relishes the challenges of working with limited materials in such a remote and extreme environment, relying on his skills and a close-knit team of like-minded people.

12. Lou Hoskin

Between 1944 and 1962, Base A, Port Lockroy, had 15 base leaders, the first being James Marr. This season, Lou Hoskin will be the seventeenth since its opening to visitors in 1996. Despite taking on the role 80 years apart, they share common ground. James was selected as one of two Scouts as cabin boy by Sir Ernest Shackleton. 

Lou Hoskin was base leader for the 2024/25 season (UKAHT/Peter Watson)

Lou was a Girlguiding leader and in the Brownies and Guides. Lou, like James, is no stranger to a windswept deck, as a crew member for the RNLI. They also both studied marine biology and ecology. But, while James played the harmonica, Lou is more likely to entertain her teammates with circus skills!

– Heather Barrable, Development & Content Officer