Adjudsting the transformer - page 147

So they built a garage - page 150

Some photographs from the book

Building the radar hut at Arrival Heights

The old wooden Endeavor  heading south

Sunset looking south past the flagpole.

The doctor's birthday

The Land Rover on the sea-ice roadway between McMurdo and Scott Base.

Scott Base sleeping huts - page 95

Christmas and cycling in Antarctica - page 70

The Scott Base kitchen - page 63

First foot on Antarctic ice - page 23

Example pages - heading south, page 13

Example pages - Setting the scene, page 4

A new Antarctic book about early Scott Base, Ross Island. Its building, expansion, polar transport, and life in the cold.

Scott Base Antarctica
the early years
A science technician’s view of the years 1960 and 63, including the Base’s growth from its construction and through two major extensions.

Don Webster

RRP:   Published: November 2019

ISBN:  978-0-473-45852-2

Format: Paperback 210 x 250 mm, 268 pages

Contact comments below or Don Webster, donweb@xtra.co.nz

Back cover blurb...
For two periods in the early 1960s young science technician Don Webster wintered over in Antarctica, helping build extensions to the New Zealand station at Scott Base. It was barely two years after Sir Edmond Hillary’s support of the 1957-58 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

Don describes in detail the design and construction of the buildings of the base, providing an invaluable historical record of both the physical base itself and also of daily life there in the summers and winters of those early years. Storms, severe cold and aircraft accidents are described in vivid detail.

The book has 370 photographs many never before published.

DON WEBSTER retired from a career in electronics and computing now lives in the lower North Island, New Zealand with his books, cat, and computers, not necessarily, he says, in that order. During his frequent travels he has spent many weeks at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, England, and the archives at the Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada.  He has visited many aircraft museums and second-hand bookshops in Canada, England and the USA.

For info about puchasing the book please Email donweb@xtra.co.nz

The next postings will be excerpts from the book.

Travels ended, Book completed

My travelling days are over. In 2017 while in Cambridge spent three days in the hospital and in 2018 I came home in a wheelchair. I am a slow learner but I eventually decided that overseas travel was no longer an option. So what to do?

I then devoted my time to finish writing a book on the early days at Scott Base on Ross Island in Antarctica. After much writing sorting photos, editing by myself and friends in November 2018 I decided to go to print. I would have the book out by Christmas and have all presents solved.  No way!  After another twelve months of professional editing and layout, not to mention the cover design and indexing finally today, 27 November 2019, I received eight boxes of my book. As I promised my family they will have a copy for Christmas. Luckily last year I didn’t say what Christmas.

The book tells about the building of Scott Base, the individual buildings, and the two major expansion. The book describes travelling to the Antarctic in the little wooden Endeavour and flying a propeller-driven Super Constellation. The winters and the how we moved around – land sea and air transport – and some description of aircraft crashes and rescues. Finally I give a comparison of how the bases have changed over the last 100 years using Scott's Cape Evans base, 1913, the original Scott Base in 1963, and the new Scott base as it was in 2013.  Interspersed throughout the book are stories from my two winters in 1960 and 1963.

I will talk more about the book in future blogs.

Day 11–13 June,messing about in boats

Today Jane organise boat trip up and down the Fal estuary using the various ferries. The estuary is the outlet of the Fal River from Truro, down to Falmouth and out to sea. The first stage was a short trip from the Flushing wharf just opposite our cottage to Falmouth. Then after a short wait, we boarded  Duchess of Cornwall for a one and half hour trip up to Truro. Not all the way to Truro because the tide was going out, so we landed on the stop before and were bussed to Truro. Here we sat around in the sun at the local Farmers Market before bussing back to the boat and taking another ferry down to Trelissick, Cornwall's most beautiful woodland gardens. From here we were to catch a ferry all the down to St Mawes where the estuary meets the sea. Jane had carefully studied the timetables, but at Trelissick we discovered that the ferry to St Mawes didn't start for a few weeks. We walked up the hill to the gardens and restaurant. The regular entrance from a car has no climbing, but from the ferry, the path zig and zagged up from the river such that day my wrist Fitbit recorded walking 7,514 steps and climbing13 floors. From here, we went back to Falmouth and then back across to Flushing. Jane did a trip from Falmouth the St Mawes on Friday.

The small ferry from Flushing to Falmouth

The larger ferry from Falmouth to Truro.

The chain car ferry and a look across the stern.

Day 24-27 26-29 June, 61 Coronation St., and in the archives

My accommodation at 61 Coronation is an old terraced two storied house that has been beautifully restored inside. Six rooms, Barlow, Battersby, Bishop, Duckworth, Tanner, and Tilsley. No prizes for guessing were they got the names. Four upstairs and two downstairs

Through the front door and up the stairs to Barlow, my room. 

Just before the stairs is the entrance to a very modern spacious, fully equipped kitchen, two ovens, a gas hob, microwave, fridge, freezer, and a dish washer.

Dining and cooking areas.

Dinning room and behind the floor to ceiling cupboards are from left to right the multi-draw freezer, the fridge, the micro wave and oven, and three dry goods cupboards.

Now the readers desk at SPRI.  I walk from 61 Coronation street, around the corner, through an ally to Union street, and in through the back entrance to the Chemistry faculty and out at the SPRI. A 5 minute walk.  That was for the first day The second day the builders blocked off the short cut through the Chemistry building making it a 15 minute walk. Once their I started work at 9.30 AM, lunch from 1-2 PM and go homme at 5 PM. Some times I left early.

Weather in Cambridge has been fine sunny and hot.

Day 28 - 30 June, dry cleaning

Saturday no more sitting at a Readers desk, a day to relax. My plans were to go uptown and have a look round. First, drop some clothes off at the dry cleaners. From the internet, I found Johnstone dry cleaners at 4 Emmanual street seemed to have a fast service so I rang a taxi and off I went. Walked across the road, entered the dry cleaners, plonk my bag of two shirts and pair of trousers on the counter only to find out they couldn't be ready before next Saturday. I am flying out to Singapore on Tuesday. I walked around town for a while and then took a taxi across to another cleaner I saw on the internet. Had a bit trouble with the driver as I didn't know the address, but after a bit of to-and-fro we eventually arrive at cleaners title "One Hour Dry Cleaners." Into the shop only to find that they couln't have the cleaning done until Wednesday at the earliest. However, after more discussing, they said they would have it ready by 5 PM Monday night.
I walked back to my room, had a lay down for a while and about 2 PM walked a 100 yds down the road to a local pub and had a meal of ham eggs and chips and that was Saturday.

Day 23 - 25 June, off to Cambridge

The last day on the Broughton we tried to use up the leftover food for breakfast then had our washes, showers were off the menu as they require a few hours of engine running to heat the water. Jan and Jane cleaned the inside of the boat while Gary swept down the outside. We finished packing and were underway.
At 8.58 Gary steered us into the boatyard and the boat was returned to the owners. We all got off with Brian helping me with my luggage. After a few goodbyes, Jane helped me across to the railway station to catch the 9.50  train to Oxford.

A fifteen-minute ride and I was walking through the Oxford station to the taxi stand. Twelve English multi-coloured taxi cabs were waiting and off I went to the bus station. The next bus to Cambridge left in 10 minutes. You load your own bags and pay the driver on entry. I picked a seat on what I thought would be the shady side of the bus. I was wrong, but it didn't matter as the windows had some screening and the air condition worked well.

Three hours twenty minutes later I was in Cambridge.  I walked down the road and around the corner to the corner of Coronation Street and popped into a coffee shop to wait for the key holder to my Airbnb house. Ten minutes later he arrived and we walked down to number 61. A six bedroom house with on-suites and a shared kitchen.

Once settle I laid down trying to decide if I would have a shower or just go to sleep with my CPAP. After the 18-inch square shower on the boat, I had to try out my new wet room here in coronation street.

My shower room

My bedroom with a bed slightly wider than the one on the boat.

Day 17–19 June, Locks and bridges

Second day on the canal and let’s talk about locks and bridges. First on this canal the locks are only one boat wide so our drivers have to steer accurately as there is only about six-inch clearance.

 

The boat approaching a lock that Jane has just opened the down stream gate.

Entering a lock with the gate holding back the water a head of us.

The down stream gates closed, the lock filling and the boat rises  then once the lock is filled, the upstream gate is opened and we sail out.

Depending on the direction of the previous boat the lock is either open or closed. When the previous boat came down through the lock the lock is open and we can sail straight in, close the gate, open the inlet valves, fill the lock and sail out, leaving the lock full.The next boat travelling in the same direction has to empty the lock before the can sail in and the repeat the process. 

Bridges on the canal come in all shapes and size, from major road bridges, brick arched bridges, and big and small lift bridges.

The width of the canal varies.

Day 16–18 June, The start of the Oxford Canal

We left the Travelodge in Sutton Colby, Birmingham just before 8 AM heading for Oxford. On the way I was thrown out with all the luggage at Lower Heyford, the Oxfordshire Narrowboats boatyard yard, while Jane and Gary continued onto Oxford  to return the rental car. There they met Brian and Jan and took the train back to Heyford. I filled in a couple hours with morning tea while watching the boat yard people preparing the the canal boats for the next crop of customers.

The boat yard with the railway station on the left.

About mid-day Jane, Gary, Jan and Brian arrived, walked over to boat yard and we all had lunch in the local restaurant—ploughman’s dinner and a pork pies.

The Oxford four  bringing their luggage across the tracks

After lunch we put our luggage on the our boat, the “Broughton”, and went through the hand-over process including a briefing on the boat. Then we set sail under instruction until we passed through the first lock. Then the instructor returned to the boat harbour and we were on canal cruise.

Jan, Gary, and Brian under instruction.

We sailed on passing other boats tied up the towpath, passed many ducks and swans, while admiring the scenery.

After passing through one more lock and under five more bridges we tied up beside the towpath for the night.

Day 10 – 12 June, Eden

Today it was a trip to Eden or more precisely the Eden Project. An old quarry that had been replanted and several giant plastic domes erected as glass houses. One group of interconnected domes was set up as a tropical rainforest and had a warning about heat exposure.

The domes in the old quarry.

They were right, with temperatures around 30 degrees and high humidity it was worse than being in Singapore. Halfway around the paths was a small cooling hut with air conditioning, seats, and cold water. The cooling shack was needed and used it twice. Inside the dome were tropical trees and plants from around the world as well as insects and birds.

Inside the Rainforest’s domes.

The cool room.

Gary inside the tin shack with a tropical downpour in progress.

On arrival, we were taken down to the domes in a train hauled by a huge modern tractor. One of those with a cab that took two people. At the bottom, we walked through a lush garden and into a central structure housing two large restaurants and entry into the two dome structures. One being the Tropical Forests and the other the Mediterranean echo system complete outdoor Mediterranean restaurant.

Looking down on one of the two dining areas.

An exciting place to visit as the crowds of people attending attested. There were 18 carparks and a continuous bus running between them and the main entrance. Not just an ordinary bus but a large bus that flexed in the middle. The entry price was a bit high, 80 pounds for three of us, but we all enjoyed it.

Day 9 - 11 June St Michael's Mount

After breakfast on Monday morning we headed down towards the end of Cornwall, to Marazion short distance from Penzance. Here we got our first view of St Michael’s Mount and causeway out to the island. From the carpark we walked down to the beach and onto the stone causeway to the island. It was just after ten in the morning and by noon the incoming tide was due to covered the causeway. It was possible to come back by boat.

St Michael’s Island, small village, castle, and causeway.

Jane on the stone causeway.

Close to the island the empty harbour with the boats sitting on the sea bed.

Closeup of the castle.

On the island Jane and Gary selected the steep climb to the castle while I opted for the lower gardens thinking they would be an easy walk. Think again--you had to be a mountain goat, so I only saw the lower area.The tide was coming in but the people had not stopped using the causeway.

I did see some flowers, but not the formal gardens.

After the gardens I came back to the entrance and watch the tide come in and the causeway disappear under the sea. This still didn’t stop the people using it.

The still people came as did the water.

Shall we cross. OK let’s have a go. Later for one couple the water was nearly up to their waist.

We paid our two pounds and used the boat. No wet feet for us.

From here we drove home through St. Ives, stopped at the café in the St. Ives  Tesco’s outlet and had toasted sandwiches and ice cold drinks. We all suffered from brain freeze. Before arriving home called into a bakery for some Cornish Pasties.