Antarctic Adventure - 4

From Trevor Potts in Antarctica:

Before we left Pleneau (see previous post, here) we were subjected to an inspection by an international team made up of representatives of countries who are signatories of the Antarctic Treaty. They were based aboard HMS Protector.

Whilst we were undertaking our zodiac cruise HMS Protector sent over a boarding party to inspect our ship to make sure we were complying with the environmental provisions of the treaty and to check we had proper authorisation from the United States as the cruise company is based in the states. They had already checked out the museum at Port Lockroy and the nearby US base of Palmer Station on Anvers Island. When I spoke to the British representative from the British Antarctic Survey he remembered meeting me at a meeting some years ago. Apparently they had planned to go further south to visit some other bases but the pack ice was too thick so when the tripped over us at the South end of the Lemaire Channel they decided to give us a quick inspection.

Inspection over we then sailed northwards back up the Lemaire to the museum at Port Lockroy, a little piece of Britain nestled amongst the ice.

Port Lockroy was set up in 1944 as part of operation Tabarin (Tabarin I believe was a Parisian night club). The idea was to set up a string of bases to monitor German shipping rounding Cape Horn. After the war the base became a research centre using powerful radio equipment (the Beastie) to study radio waves in the ionosphere. Some of the research data was useful many years later when scientists were trying to establish the extent of the hole in the ozone layer. It was closed sometime in the 1960s and fell into disrepair.

As Port Lockroy was the first permanently manned base in Antarctica a group of ex-BAS personnel decided it should be preserved and set about fixing it up and turning it into a museum. It was re-opened in 1996 and is now officially Britain’s (and I think the world's) most southerly public Post Office. There is a post office at the US base at the south pole for base personnel. I have visited Port Lockroy a number of times every year since 2000 (excepting 2005) and every year the museum has been improved. It is a great credit to those dedicated ex-BAS personnel such as Rick Atkinson and Dave Burkett and others who set it. The museum is now run by the British Antarctic Heritage Trust - website here. 

In the old days they were allowed to supplement their rations with locally caught meat such as penguins and seals. On sale in the museum is a recipe book explaining how to prepare some of the many local delicacies. It is now totally forbidden to kill the local wildlife and HMS Protector was there to check on this and maybe buy a few of the excellent souvenirs.

Many thanks to Trevor for photographs and story.

Trevor runs the Ardnamurchan Campsite, link here.