Header Picture – Memorial Cross to Tom Allen and John Noel (Photo: Terry Tallis)
A Sledging Fatality (continued)
There has been a lot written about this tragic accident, unfortunately, second or third hand accounts, and not from those involved. These were often gleaned from official BAS HQ archived reports or books by authors who made their second or third hand judgments from those reports, published incorrect facts and sadly at times, completely fictitious. Unfortunately that also included official BAS press reports and reconstruction by those who were not involved in the incident at the time.
From my Personal Diary & My Official Base Reports from 1966
May 21st John Noel, radio operator and Tom Allan, diesel mechanic left base with my dog team (Trogs) and Alec Bottomley’s team (Moomins) to depot 12 boxes of dog food at Walton Peak for their forthcoming holiday trip. They returned to base the same evening after climbing Walton Peak.
“Alec and I had recently returned from the field with other teams. All teams were back at Base for the winter by the middle of May except Dave Matthews and John Noble who arrived later from Horseshoe base Y.
May 23rd John and Tom left Stonington just after midday, for their holiday trip via the Northeast Glacier driving a nine-dog team each. They left with the usual very comprehensive sledging equipment including food and fuel for 30 days, and emergency tent.
May 24th Radio contact was made with them at 1700hrs as well as the usual contact with Dave Matthews and John Noble at Horseshoe. John reported – ‘East of Butson’ and on the move,‘manking in’ (low cloud, bad visibility). Dave Matthews at Horseshoe Base was also on the radio frequency and heard them. The weather on base was overcast and wind blowing between 25-30 knots.
May 25th “Wind getting up today and the ice taking a turn for the worse. A busy day in the radio shack again, quite a bit of traffic in and out. Air letter in for Ken. Also sent out a telegram regarding the requests for changes for those doing a second year. Alec wants to go to the Argentine Is. as diesel mechanic, (he ended up as BL at Adelaide in 1967) and Tom would like to change to a GA (General Assistant). Wind increasing in force and buffeting the hut this evening.
May 26th “Wind blowing like hell last night, approx. 100 knots, and the whole hut was shaking. I hope the lads are ok….I’m a bit worried about them, especially because the area where they would be is not good at the best of times. More radio traffic in and out in the afternoon. The usual sked with Dave at Horseshoe but heard nothing of John and Tom. Got onto a few UK amateur radio stations in the evening and G2F…. rang up the folks at home for me to wish my mother a happy birthday. Conditions were extremely good on the air waves. Wind dropping thank goodness. Lost two crates of polystyrene weighted down with coal bags and a few sledges suffered. Wind dropping but still 40-50 knots.”
May 27th Wind about 30 knots on Base. No contact with the sledges.
May 28th Wind – calm on base. No contact with sledge team. Horseshoe also listening.
“Wind speed was estimated as there was no anemometer or wind speed recording equipment on base. No contact with the sledges. Although daily radio contact was made with Dave Matthews and John Noble on Horseshoe Island.
We know that John and Tom camped at Walton Peak for their first night on May 23rd and also that they picked up the complete depot of dog food, Nutrican at Walton Peak, and that afternoon, they were near East Butson and “still moving”.
The photographs recovered from Tom’s camera and a map also recovered later confirmed the campsite of the 24th. The remaining photographs on Tom’s camera were possibly taken on the 25th May. They also depict drift and high winds, and were likely to have been taken close to where they were found.
The radio when recovered was in perfect working order, but was not found in the snow cave, so they could not have used it.
It must be assumed that blizzard conditions, and very high winds and drift forced a decision to camp. The dogs had not been fed or spanned out and some were still attached to the main sledge trace”.
However on base whilst planning their trip Tom and John had talked about trying out a snow hole. Tom had dug and slept in one in the Alps and was keen to try again in the Antarctic. This is relevant since it may have influenced their choice of camp site. Quite a lot of effort had been put into digging the cave and protecting the access tunnel using the pyramid tent as a roof and nutty (Nutrican, dog food) boxes as sidewalls. It does not however explain the lack of attention to the dogs which were vital to survival.
June 2nd Again no radio contact with John and Tom. They were due back on base today.
June 5th I discussed with Neil and Keith about setting out to search for John and Tom and the possible search area.
June 6th Neil and Keith prepared sledges to leave for the search area in the morning.
June 7th The weather had been fine for the past week. Stanley HQ was informed and the search party left at first light.
I was unable to make radio contact with the Horseshoe party, or the search party on the normal sked time. I had to work Dave at Horseshoe on a different radio frequency.
I had a voice contact with Ted Clapp at the Stanley office by radio in the early afternoon and coded messages were exchanged later.
Contrary to the account written by Stephen Haddelsey in his book ‘Icy Graves’:
Keith and Neil did not return to Base at Stonington the same day, 7th June. They returned on the 8th June.
June 8th Neil and Keith returned to Base in the late evening of the 8th June having found the bodies of John and Tom and some of the dogs on the surface. Stanley office was informed at 0030 GMT on the 9th June and plans made to return to the fatal camp site to recover the bodies and equipment, so that a full report could be communicated back to HQ Stanley and BAS HQ.
June 11th The four man recovery party, Keith Holmes, Neil Marsden, Ian Ross and Ken Doyle left Base at first light to return to the scene of the tragedy.
June 14th The recovery party returned to base with the bodies of John and Tom and recovered equipment.
Appendix to Stonington – ‘Sledging Fatality’
The Findings at the Scene of the Accident
The recovery party at the camp site found the bodies of John and Tom and five dogs on the surface. Tom was about 100yds from John lying on his back fully dressed in wind proofs but with two left Mukluks (boots) on. He was not drifted over although his windproof trousers were full of snow as they were not tied at the bottom. A small shovel was lying nearby. John was buried up to his arms resting on the surface of the snow, wearing an Anorak, gloves and snow goggles. On digging him out he was found to be in a snow hole (shaft) with his feet level with the roof of a snow cave. He was not wearing windproof trousers or Mukluks, just combat trousers and felt Mukluk inners.
On top of the cave was a sledge lying on its side with nine Nutrican boxes stacked three high and three deep at right angles to the sledge. Also on the windward side, one full fuel can (four & half gallons) was lashed to the sledge and a Pup tent, 68set radio transceiver (in good working order), two Nutrican boxes and a sledge box with Nutrican ready for use (paper wrapping removed). Only 37 blocks of dog food had been used since leaving Stonington Base.
Alongside, a sledge box with sledge repair kit, spare dog harness and side traces plus one man-food box, two pairs of skis, one pair of sticks and ice probe. In behind the load was the ground sheet and tent bag, John’s rucksack with Zdarsky tent inside together with a camera flashgun.
Both front and rear sledging bags were still on the sledge along with ice axe and picket hammer. In the rear bag was the dog night span, still coiled up and the radio antenna along with a map case with a route marked with crosses and dates marked 23/5 and 24/5. This is not where they were found. In the front sledge bag was crevasse rescue equipment and Tom’s camera bag (film in the camera but not used).
The rest of the sledge was dug out and the Pyramid tent found with its apex lying flat with the bottom of the poles about three feet apart. The front two guy ropes were still rolled up and the tent in good condition. Tom’s personal bag was partly under the tent as if blocking the entrance to the cave. In the bag was spare clothing air-bed and sheepskin.
The main dog trace, still attached to the sledge, was not dug out, but three of the dead dogs uncovered, one in its harness clipped to the side trace, attached to the main trace.
The other dog team and sledge was not excavated completely but of the dogs found, they were in their running position and some still clipped to their harnesses.
The sledge over the cave was removed and another half full fuel can found. The back picket was still attached to the sledge and partly through the roof of the cave.
The roof of the cave was about one and a half feet below the original snow surface where the sledge was lying on its side. Snow had accumulated five feet deep above the sledge and original surface. The cave may have been about eight feet in diameter.
Inside were two complete sleeping bags, one almost under John. The inner of this bag was pushed to the bottom. Both bags were in perfect condition although a little iced up. The pots and pans box was also there although the contents were scattered about. One Dixie pan had frozen water in it. A food box was also there with plenty of food in it and a Primus stove that was almost full of fuel and a two gallon fuel can nearby almost empty. Most of these items were covered with snow, probably due to cutting the hole dug through the roof of the cave. Another camera was found belonging to Tom, six frames had been exposed. This film was developed back at Stonington and shows the camp site of the 24th May roughly in the location shown on the photographs. The other shots were also taken in that area showing high wind and drifting. Two right foot Mukluks were also found in the cave (Tom was wearing two left ones when found). Other items of clothing were silk gloves and felt boot inners.
The snow accumulation above the sledge was very hard packed wind-blown snow. The one sledge recovered, took the four men two days with spades to dig it out, shovels were useless.
Time and conditions did not allow the other sledge to be excavated. The only other items of value not recovered were Johns Minolta camera and Weston light meter and the base Transistor radio.
Conclusion by Those Involved
It seemed obvious to those closely involved in the recovery and myself when discussed with the returned recovery party, that the extreme weather conditions experienced on Base at Stonington on the 25th May, forced John and Tom to make an immediate camp in deteriorating weather conditions which would have been even more extreme at their location than at Stonington.
From what was found at the recovery site, the prevailing conditions must have made it impossible to erect the Pyramid tent. Other desperate measures clearly had to be taken in a hurry to escape the weather conditions. A sledge was over turned and a wind break constructed. The dogs were not fed or spanned out. This suggests a very serious situation.
The seemingly speedy evacuation of the snow cave by Tom due to the way he was dressed suggests they were unaware of the drifting and build-up of snow over the cave. They may have realised there was a ventilation problem (headaches caused by the primus stove, asphyxia, Carbon Monoxide poisoning). They had obviously used an amount of fuel cooking and for heating in the cave. This would have necessitated a quick evacuation of the cave, if they had realised the problem.
(This possibility was many years later mentioned by Neil Marsden in an interview for BAS Club and historic records).
I also suggested this in the original reports transmitted to Stanley but obviously that was not what HQ or BAS wanted to hear as a possibility. We had no medical evidence and an examination had its own implications in the long term. I considered base personnel and moral paramount. After discussion BAS/ Fuchs and the families of John and Tom it was agreed they should be buried on Stonington Island.
A full detailed report of the findings at the fatal camp site could not be transmitted from base to Stanley and the BAS UK HQ until after the return of the four man recovery team on the 14th June.
As stated by Haddelsey in his book ‘Icy Graves’ 2018 – ”Unfortunately, this understandable decision to return (Keith and Neil returned to base on the 8th June not as Haddelsey states as the same day they left, 7th June) without having completed further investigations gave rise to some inaccurate speculation regarding the deaths of Noel and Allan”.
In particular, on 9th June, Vivian Fuchs wrote to families of the dead men, telling them that both had ‘‘lost their lives on a sledging journey when their camp was destroyed by high winds’’
The following day, a BAS press release repeated the conjecture, stating:
“The camp appeared to have been destroyed by exceptionally high winds….which had strewn the snow with areas of rock fragments torn from the nearby cliffs. It is thought that some of these fragments could have cut up the tent which then blew away…There was no sign of the sledge nor of the boxes and gear which it carried. It is presumed that these were also blown away, or they have been buried beneath the snow”.
The release of this press report from BAS UK HQ was pure speculation, despite my communications with Stanley HQ on the 8th June who should have forwarded it urgently to BAS UK HQ.
Haddelsey says “in a later press release, dated 21 July, Fuchs attempted to make sense of the tragedy, and his reconstruction remains compelling, says Haddesley” But…. Haddelsey was unaware some of what Fuchs wrote in his book “Of Ice and Men” was not correct.
It was not until Neil Marsden was interviewed 45 years later that, Haddelsey says “ in his opinion, Neil, and in that of others of the recovery party, (‘they must have run out of oxygen’).”
I made this quite clear to BAS HQ in reports in 1966 that the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning should be taken into account. I have never seen a Coroner’s Report or the results of any inquest, but there was a definite reluctance by BAS HQ to consider this as a contributing factor to the deaths. Perhaps this was to protect the family and friends and complications that may have ensued.
Haddelsey in his book ‘Icy Graves’ 2018 – Obviously took most of his account from my official BAS reports in the archives and Fuchs book ‘Of Ice and Men’ but deviated from the facts with journalistic additions.
Sir Vivian Fuchs book ‘Of Ice and Men’ written in 1982 was incorrect in some instances. He did not quote the official reports and he preferred to stick to his own theory. He had also clearly not re-read the 1966 official reports before publishing his book or he would have known the dogs were not picketed out on their night spans. They were mostly buried and died on their traces still clipped to the sledges with a heavy accumulation of compacted snow over them. There was also still fuel for the primus stove in the can in the cave, and the Primus stove nearly full of fuel. This also makes Fuchs theory in his book ‘Of Ice and Men’ of what Tom left the cave to do, obviously wrong.
Fuchs wrote in his account: ‘Of Ice and Men’ published 1982:
“It was obvious that, quite rightly, when caught by bad weather the two men had dug-in. The dogs were correctly spanned a short distance away. We shall never know why Allan left the snow hole, but the teams had to be fed, probably their picket line needed to be raised above the rapidly accumulating drift; or perhaps he went out to fetch more paraffin, for the can in the hole was empty…..” he continued with his version of the last days of the tragedy of the fate of the men and praised their fortitude and planning in the exceptional conditions.
For those of us left on base for midwinter 1966 it was rather a sombre occasion but we had dealt with the tragic loss of John Noel and Tom Allan as best we could. We were determined to carry out, as best as possible the rest of the planned sledging and field programme despite the loss of dogs and men.
We erected the cross and plaque in memory of John and Tom on Stonington Island during the relief of 1967:
Terry Tallis – Deception 1962 – DEM, Argentine Islands 1963 & 1965 – DEM, Stonington 1966 – BC/GA