“Over all the transitoriness of summer life and activity, Graham Land stood, a few miles away, massive mountains, huge glaciers, unchanging…proud!”
Cliff Pearce, “the Silent Sound” – The Book Guild Ltd.
NEW ADDITIONS
We have several articles and items to post, hopefully over the Christmas period, but one new story is added under Latest Additions below that most of you doggy drivers will find ‘interesting”, to say the least and a second for those who spent time at “the Bluff”.
SEARCH THE WEBSITE
Use this Search facility to find all the references to Anybody or Any Place involved in Marguerite Bay
(Compilation: Roger Scott)
This website relates to the activities, work and people of BAS (The British Antarctic Survey) and its predecessor FIDS (the Falkland Islands Dependences Survey) from the period starting with BGLE in 1934, currrently through to 2000. All the people involved in these activities in the Antarctic are collectively referred to as “Fids” on the website.
This period covers all the exploratory Topographical Survey work carried out which produced the maps (see right) which are the basis of those now available to current day science and the general public, together with the related Geological, Geophysical and Glaciological exploration over that period, with extensive Meteorological observations performed throughout those years.
The area covered includes work carried out using Husky dog teams from Detaille Island Base (Latitude 66° 86′ S), Adelaide Island, Horseshoe Island and Stonington Island, Bases; work based at Fossil Bluff Base (Latitude 71° 19′ S) carried out by ‘skidoos’ and Muskeg tractors; and work further South still, airlifted and supported by aircraft operating from Rothera Base.
The website contains collection of historical and entertaining stories and facts – gripping stories of wintering at Fossil Bluff; epic winter journeys – in the Northern fjords, on Marguerite Bay sea ice trying to reach solid ground, and on Sodabread; Fids inadvertently marooned in various outlandish places; Otter, Porter and Twotter flights out of Adelaide and later Rothera to lay depots (and sometimes permanently mark depots – each crash landing its own story!); adventures and misadventures of the ships in Marguerite Bay; the development of Rothera and its increasing capabilities. The website is available for everybody to see and read the stories, pictures and research papers, rather than such information being lost in official archives.
Marguerite Bay is a beautiful area which left a permanent mark on the lives of hundreds of Fids, and we encourage all you Marguerite Bay Fids to contribute your yarns, stories and unique grips, whether from the 1930’s or the 2000’s. We want YOU to add your stories, whether major, significant, funny, serious, or just plain Fid-stupid.
Note the “Tabs” at the top of this and every page, one for each Base in Marguerite Bay, and for the various other related Topics – Dogs, Ships, Aircraft, and the “Archive of Interesting Stuff”
Marguerite Bay?
15 January 1905 – Jean-Baptiste Charcot led and financed the French Antarctic Expedition with the purpose built ship ‘Français’. The ship was a relatively small 3 masted schooner of 250 tons and 105 feet overall, but was “exceptionally well built of first class materials”. On the advice of Adrien de Gerlache of the ‘Belgica’, whom Charcot consulted, the ship was strengthened at the waterline with transverse beams, the bow was reinforced with iron.
Le Français ran aground south west of Adelaide Island, within sight of Alexander Island, and had to retreat northwards sighting the coast of Loubet Land to the east. While in the Antarctic Charcot was divorced for desertion by his first wife Jeanne, a grand-daughter of Victor Hugo.
In 1907, Charcot married Marguerite “Meg” Cléry. She was a painter and illustrator who accompanied him on some of his voyages and was constantly supportive. At the end of the year their daughter, Monique, was born.
15th January 1909 – Charcot, in ‘Pourquoi-Pas?’ rounded the southern cape of Adelaide Island and named it Cape Alexandra after the royal spouse of Edward VII. This was in honour of the English Captain John Biscoe who had discovered the island.
Charcot named the bay after his wife Marguerite, and Jenny Island after the wife of second officer Bongrain.
Read “The Rest of The Story” of How Marguerite Bay was explored, long before and long after Charcot – 200 years from 1821 to 2021: HERE
WikiFid – The Fid Glossary – Chris Edwards & Others
There are surely lots more Fidese words – Use the Comments to send more – Here:
Latest Additions
SIMBA, THE INCREDIBLE DESTINY OF AN ANTARCTIC DOG
(Translated from the original in Spanish, as best we could. This Story is from Miguel Acosta, a mechanic with the Fuerza Area Argentina, part of the crew of TA33 and TA05 planes, at the command of Mario L. Olezza at Matienzo.
The story was sent to, and submitted by, Dog Holden. We will leave it to Fids to surely comment as to the likelihood of where this dog came from; and if able, to tell more of the facts of the story. So far, we have determined there was a Fids dog so named).
THE LAST WINTER AT FOSSIL BLUFF
This is the story of our return to the Fossil Bluff base from fieldwork in June 1975
Bad light had precluded further accurate surveying and glaciological work. The sun had disappeared below the northern horizon and would not return, at our location, for two and a half months.
These Fids or Their Families Contributed Stories & Anecdotes
Last Updated December 23rd, 2024
With Grateful Acknowledgements to:
Related Links
Halley Bay Website (Z-Fids)
BAMT (British Antarctic Monuments Trust)
BAOHP (British Antarctic Oral History Program)
UKAHT (UK Antarctic Heritage Trust)
BAS (British Antarctic Survey)
DFB (Dictionary of Falklands Biography)
Background Music
“The Song Of The Ice” below by Steve Garrett will automatically play as background music when you open this Home page, and will loop. You can stop the music as with any other music video, and it will stop automatically when another MP4 video is started. The complete “The Song Of The Ice” video is on the Movies & Videos page
© MargueriteBay.org 2019