“Volcanos are harmless as long as they grumble away” – Sir Vivian Fuchs – Dec 1967
FIDS DECEPTION SONGS
On our journey south on the Shackleton in 1967, as well as FIDS, was a party of builders to erect an aircraft hanger on Deception Island. We Stonington bound FIDS were ignominiously unloaded on to the Island as labourers to unload the tons of steel for the framework, cement fondu, sand and gravel for the foundations. They loaded the steel onto a rubber inflatable float which, when loaded, was unable to reach the beach so we had to borrow seaboots from the crew and wade out into the water and lug the heavy beams up to the beach. Big Al Smith was the powerful taskmaster overseeing the job and teaching us the art of Fidpower.
The Shackleton’s scow was known as the Red Peril, and it was commanded by Barry Bromby, the Shack’s third mate. This was onloading the drums of cement fondu, sand etc as well as the normal cargo for Deception base. It was backbreaking work and during this time there were several small earth tremors which our expert volcanologist (Ian Flavell Smith) insisted was very usual on extinct volcanos.
The Hanger Builder, a song about the work was written in the Fidery on the Shackleton while doing this work while the last verse was added sometime after the eruption.
Jack Donaldson and I wrote ‘BAS Knows Best’ sometime later after the eruption on our way to Stonington.
The Hanger Builder (To be sung raucously under the influence of alcohol)
Come all ye builders from the north and listen here to me,
I’ll tell you of a frozen land beyond the Scotia Sea.
We left the Globe in Stanley Town and sailed for many a mile,
‘till we came to a land of dust and slush they call Deception Isle.
The ship was loaded to the rails with a thousand tons of oil,
There was coal and steel and gravel bags, we began a life of toil.
It would break the third mates granite heart to see us heave and strain.
As the loads of Fondu mounted up, smoko never came.
It’s waders on at 9 o’clock, there’s oil drums to discharge,
And it’s up to your neck in frozen slush where the ice-flows grow and barge.
When the Peril’s afloat there’s a lump in your throat, she’s not exactly new.
But she brings us loads of gravel bags, so fuck the Peril too.
I woke one morn at the crack of dawn to the sound of falling snow,
Looked out to see that out at sea there arose a volcano.
I wasn’t paid in the building trade to be blown up to the sky,
So grabbed my sack and boarded the Shack and to BAS I’ll say goodbye.
Deception Base was a lovely place and bonny was the bar,
But when I get back home again, I’ll never go so far.
I’ll say goodbye to my friend the third, to BAS I’ll say goodbye,
And find a job in the building trade where the union rules apply.
BAS Knows Best
‘Now have a good year’ said Sir Vivian
As the ship lay at Southampton quay.
And always remember our motto,
Whether your on Base or at sea.
BAS knows best. There really is nothing to fear.
Confusion may reign on the bases but doesn’t affect us back here.
Now the first time that I saw Deception
There was steam rising out of the sand,
But they say that volcanoes are harmless.
Its as safe as your own native land.
BAS knows best. There really is nothing to fear.
But I come from Tristan da Cunah and its meaning is perfectly clear.
Its not very pleasant to look at,
The edge of the crater is round,
There’s a bloody great cloud hanging over it
That’s erupting out of the ground.
BAS knows best. There really is nothing to fear.
Its safe to stay here for the winter, safe for a thousand years.
There are earthquakes to wake us for breakfast,
The tremors go on through the day,
But they say that volcanoes are harmless,
As long as they grumble away.
Bas knows best. There really is nothing to fear.
But I’m not a bloody seismologist and I’m glad that the Pardo is near.
When the ashes and boulders start falling,
If things are as bad as they looks.
I’d rathe have a good air-raid shelter,
Than the word of Sir Vivian Fuchs.
BAS Knows Best. The truth is beyond recall,
and since we can trust old Sir Vivian, it can’t have erupted at all!
Ian ‘Spike’ Sykes – Stonington, GA, 1969 & 1970
Hangar Building:
I believe I had the attitude before I joined BAS that If there’s a job to do and you’re not already busy, then do it; if something needs moving then pick it up and carry it ( or alternatively, drag it, roll it, or slide it). I think that came from spending many childhood weekends and holidays on farms in N. Yorkshire and having a father who ran a village shop as a one-man-business. So I had no difficulty as a scientist ( BSc(Hons) and MSc) chaining coal sacks or building Halley III, etc. but I must say that it is an attitude that has stood me in good stead throughout my life. It has also given me both friends and respect along the way. It has, on occasions, meant I could clearly see how petty the alternatives are; whilst working at BBC Radio Cleveland as EiC (Engineer in Charge; an excellent title which the BBC and others dropped in favour of “management” oriented designations.) a fluorescent tube in the corridor needed replacing. There were only 2 engineers on such a small station, myself and an engineer. I asked him to change it; his response was: “that’s a brown-coat job” he, of course was a “white coat” as an engineer! Needless to say, I changed it in all of 10 minutes.
BAS’s omniscience:
Having spent nearly all of my life working distant from HQ ( Hong Kong is a similar distance from London as is Margeurite Bay and The Falklands nearly as far) I sympathise entirely with the sentiments expressed .