Header Photo: The re-named HMS Endurance Robbie Peck
Christmas with HMS Endurance – Ali Skinner
(Notes from my Diary but as usual not all detail recorded so may have got some names wrong).
Arrived on ‘John Biscoe’ into Potters Cove, King George Island just on Midday, ‘Shackleton’ and
‘Endurance’ already there all three anchoring up for Christmas Day.
Spent the afternoon looking over this really beautiful island taking photos of the three ships in the
bay, helicopters ferrying surveyors and the wildlife of penguins, elephant seals and giant petrels
sitting on eggs.
When it was tea and pre-christmas celebrations before assembling on the foredeck at midnight to
sing Christmas Carols and try to drown out the official Endurance Choir. Also sent off a few
rockets courtesy of the Captain although no one was in distress!
After midnight the Biscoe Geminis were launched with 3rd and 4th officers in charge and Fids with
a few pots of white paint and brushes. (They may have been the 2nd and 3rd officers by that time as
there were a few officer changes around that time.) The plan was to ‘decorate’ ‘Endurance’ and
‘Shackleton’ as a christmas present. Ian Curphey, Rod Pashley and the Biscoe 4th Officer were in
the Shackleton party which planned to paint a Plimsol Line on the Shacks funnel. For whatever
reason that did not happen, maybe the Shack crew were more vigilant than that of ‘Endurance’.
The Endurance Party was, Chris Elliot, 3rd Officer, Steve Wormald and myself and our plan was to
paint a 1⁄2 beside the A171. This we duly achieved with a lot of white paint on ourselves and the
Gemini because we did not realise the letters were a metre high and it required the two of us one on
the shoulders of the other to reach the top of the number and make a neat job without painting the
hull at the same time. Great gemini handling skill by Chris was also required to keep the Gemini
alongside and us out of the water! We then boarded ‘Endurance’ but the only person we saw was
one of the cooks in the galley and although there was no one on the bridge we refrained from
signing the logbook ‘painting completed at 0130hrs’ just in case that was a hanging offence.
Somewhere along the line we also seemed to have collected an RAF Ensign from the Survey Party
but I don’t have details of that.
Christmas Day for the Biscoe passed quietly with walks ashore, photographing Endurance and a
Wardroom party which lasted until dinner time and after that it was all hands to the fire pumps and
hoses to stop parties from Shackleton and Endurance trying to get their own back on us.
We never did find out when the Endurance Crew became aware of the number change. Although
helicopters were flying and there was travel ashore and between the boats on Christmas day
‘Endurance’ sailed for Punta Arenas after Christmas with the new number still clearly displayed!
Ali Skinner, Geologist, Stonington – 1969 & 1970