Archives – Interesting Good Stuff
(More or Less by Date Received)
- Esablishing Damoy Point Refuge Hut – Bernie Care (LINK)
- “Maritime Support for Great Britain’s Antarctic Sovereignty Claim: Operation Tabarin and the 1944-45 Voyage of the Newfoundland Sealing Ship Eagle by Anthony Dickinson, formerly an inspector/biologist with the Falkland Islands Government and now living in St. John’s, Newfoundland, published in the Northern Mariner of the Canadian Nautical Research Society, Vol. XXVI (2016) available on their website in the “Online Editions” at https://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/index.htm (LINK)
- Seven Happy Years – Mike Bell (written October 2009) (LINK)
- Mountie Pie and Moose Milk Recipes – Peter Bird (LINK)
- FIDASE – Richard Barrett (LINK)
- “For Those Who Did Not Return” (LINK)
- Recruiting a Fid 1966-7 – Bill Taylor (LINK)
- FIDS Exploration in Northern Marguerite Bay – Multiple Authors (LINK)
- The USASE & the Two-Hole Bog – Terry Tallis & Neil Marsden (LINK)
- Eulogy to The Husky – David Golton (LINK)
- One Small Base – David Golton (LINK)
- BAS Handbook for Fidlets – Courtesy of Rob Campbell-Lent (LINK)
- The FID Glossary – Chris Edwards & Others (LINK)
- An Epilogue to FIDS:
- Eric Salmon and William (Bill) Sloman – Steve Wormald (LINK)
- Velma Malcolm – “As Ignorant as Sheep” – Ailsa Heathman and Steve Wormald (LINK)
- The Contribution of Dogs to Exploration in Antarctica – Peter Gibbs (LINK)
- BAS Mapping Dept – Refusal to Help the MB Website – Adrian Fox
- The Changing Role of Women in Marguerite Bay – Richard Barrett (LINK)
- Shaun Norman was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2020 New Year Honours List (LINK)
- 52-1/4th MB Zoom Reunion – January 29th, 2021
- The Last Nansen Sledge – John Wright (LINK)
- Chaos – Sue Thompson
Recruiting a Fid 1966-7 – Bill Taylor
Given that this website has been set up to collect stories and articles for Fids, family members and friends – i.e. not just those that served in the South – it may interest some site users to know more about the historical employment model, what influences motivated Fids to go South and the official recruitment process that set them on their way. While it is probably the case that the reasons for joining changed very little over the years, the recruitment process and working practices have probably moved a mile.
What follows is a snapshot of how that worked in the late 1960s …
More Interesting Stuff about the USASE
Terry Tallis & Neil Marsden
In adding more facts about USASE at Stonington, Terry Tallis and Neil Marsden brought up their photos of the Two-Holer Bog Seat, which for some period of time adorned the gable end of the Stonington Base. At this point, nobody knows (or admits to knowing) how it came to be there, or where it went. Input welcomed…..
Eulogy to the Husky – David Golton
My arrival in the Antarctic in 1947, at the age of 20, was as much due to finding an alternative to marrying an older woman (aged 21) as having a Boys Own Paper view of the heroic age of Scott and Shackleton.
One Small Base – David Golton
This is not a tale of sledging and hardship shared equally by man and dog in the wastes of Antarctica. It is the story of a small four-man base, one of several established during the period 1946-47, around the coasline of the Grahamland Peninsula; later to be renamed the Antarctic Peninsula. However, it was different to the other small bases because we shared it with a group of huskies. The story covers one season, 1948-9, and what happened later when some of the huskies returned to England.
BAS Handbook for Fidlets – 1960’s & 70’s – Courtesy of Rob Campbell-Lent
Check it out here for old times sake. Especially those Salaries and the Communications Section!
The Fid Glossary – Chris Edwards & Others
There are surely lots more Fidese words – Use the Comments to send more – Here:
An Epilogue to Fids
As it was…Nick Beer (with Thanks to the BAOHP)
I think Antarctica is really a special place and working with like-minded people from all walks of life makes BAS a great organisation to work for. I was always really interested in the scientific work that the ship was doing. I am not a scientist and couldn’t even pretend to offer anything to the scientists’ research programmes but it was very rewarding to know more about what was going on onboard the ship and to be able to understand what the ultimate goal was, and how the ship’s Master and ship’s crew were contributing to that… the fact that you were part of this big family was a great incentive.
And As it Became – Dog Holden
In 2020, early in the life of this Marguerite Bay website, with Covid-19 lockdowns taking hold in several countries, Steve Wormald, the website’s creator, found that he was getting little interest and few if any contributions from 21st Century MB Fids, i.e., those who had wintered at Rothera from about 2000 onwards.
Steve wondered about this apparent lack of interest from the recent Fids in telling their stories, not to mention them learning about some of the history of MB life from those that had been there in earlier times. Although on the face of it there was nothing special about the turn of the Millennium, perhaps it did bring with it a shift away from what had gone before? It is interesting to think that 1966/67 (a time well-represented by MB Website stories) sits halfway in the 110 years since Captain Scott’s Last Expedition to the present day. No wonder things had changed
Eric Salmon and William (Bill) Sloman
Eric Salmon and William (Bill) Sloman were well known in the 50’s, 60′ and 70’s, as the selection “committee” for new Fids.
Eric Salmon spent four winters as a Meteorologist in the Antarctic – Signy (1950), Deception (1951), Argentine Islands (1954) and Detaille (1956), and so was also uniquely suited to picking out gentlemen that would be suitable for FIDS Bases. He and Bill Sloman formed an able Tag Team.
New applicants typically spent from half an hour to an hour being grilled by these two, and if it was the right time of day, the interview continued over a pint or two at the pub just down the street. In retrospect, the pub session was really an integral part of finding out if the potential Fid would fit in on a BAS Base!
April 7th, 2021
As Ignorant As Sheep – Velma Malcolm
In September, 1942 my father bought the Rose Hotel from Albert Hardy and we moved there on 1 st September 1942. Now a lot of the Royal Engineers were living in what I’ve described as Fritz Lellman’s shop in the Co-op grounds but the building’s no longer there. They went to the Rose on Sunday, then went home and had a fight and somebody drew a knife so they were banned from going to the Rose for quite some time.
April 6th, 2021
The Contribution of Dogs to Exploration in Antarctica – Peter Gibbs
A September 2002 presentation in Paphos, Cyprus, to the Corona Society, an organization devoted to rescuing huskies – ISD crosses – that are accompanying Russian immigrants.
Antarctica, a continent that has never known war between peoples, is indeed where all nations have worked peaceably in the interest of science and exploration and where husky dogs were often the peacemakers between strained explorers. Dogs are a subject dear to my heart, and rather particularly that breed of husky that we are seeing more frequently these days in Cyprus, perhaps due to immigrants from Russia. And one coffee morning we were all doting on this 8-week bundle of husky fur found in the deposit box, a purebred pup if ever one can be defined. But next morning his Yeroskipou owner claimed him.
March 15th, 2021
BAS Mapping Dept – Refusal to Help the MB Website – Adrian Fox
March 8th, 2021
The Changing Role of Women in Marguerite Bay – Richard Barrett
At the start of the 20th century Charcot was divorced by his first wife for desertion while he was down south. When he came south 1908 be bought his new wife Marguerite with him as far as Punta Arenas and named a very large bay for her.
In 1939 Richard Blackburn Black brought his wife Aviza as far as Dunedin en-route to Marguerite Bay via the Ross Sea.
In 1947 Finn Ronne on the RARE decided to take his wife, and the wife of his chief pilot Darlington, as far as Panama, as there was a lot of paper work to catch up on, and then as far as Valparaiso, and then all the way.
Harry Darlington was not pleased, “There are some things women just don’t do, become Pope, become President, or go the the Antarctic” Jenny Darlington thought “Why not?” but said nothing.
Refresh your page to get the latest Comments
If the Women of Marguerite Bay (or fellas) would like to add to or improve the page with relevant Marguerite Bay stories, they can be added at any time.
Feb. 7th, 2021
Shaun Norman (Met. – Deception; 1967, GA – Stonington; 1968, BC – Stonington 1969)
Shaun was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2020 New Year Honours List for services to mountaineering, alpine safety and the community. The citation is as follows:
“Mr Shaun Norman contributed to the New Zealand Mountain Guides Association and the New Zealand Alpine Club for more than 40 years. Mr Norman was appointed as the inaugural Secretary and Treasurer of the New Zealand Mountain Guides Association (NZMGA) in 1975. He has held five roles since then, including three years as President in the 1990s. He became an accredited International Federation of Mountain Guides Association (IFMGA) guide in 1981, making him the NZMGA’s longest standing guide, as he continues to this day. He was instrumental in getting the NZMGA recognised at an international level, and organised and hosted the IFMGA annual meeting in New Zealand for the first and only time in 1998.
Read On…. and leave Comments for Shaun
January 29th, 2021
January 1st, 2021
The Last Nansen – John Wright
As most FIDS will know the dogs completed their final season down South with John Killingbeck and John Sweeny in 1993-94. The story of their removal from Rothera and final journey to Inukjuak on the East side of Hudson Bay is told in BAS Club Newsletter No. 32 Winter 1994.
The dogs’ Nansen sledge returned to Kevin Slater and Polly Mahoney at Mahoosuc Guides in Newry, Maine. (Kevin and Polly having played a major role in taking the dogs North). Kevin has always been very keen that the sledge should find a good home in a museum or similar location where it could help to tell the story of the dogs. Unfortunately no suitable location was found and the sledge remained in Kevin’s barn.
Nov 19th, 2020
Chaos – Sue Thompson
Geoff Somers (R – 1979 & 1980) responded: I had it drawn by one of my friends in Keswick. Some time after Rothera 1978 – 81. I do have a few more copies.