South Georgia Newsletter, November 2007

From South Georgia Website

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Rocky Times for South Georgia Shipping

The charter yacht “Spirit of Sydney” suffered a knockdown and damage to the rigging whilst returning to the Falklands after a visit to South Georgia. A very large wave pitched the boat backwards and knocked her on her side. One crewmember was slightly injured. The policy on the boat that all people on the deck are secured by safety lines may well have saved lives. The crew were able to make temporary repairs to the rigging so the yacht could complete its journey to Stanley.

The cruise ship “Explorer”, which sank off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula on the November 23rd, had been here five days previously on the same cruise. All the passengers and crew escaped safely. The ship was the first tour ship ever to visit the Island in December 1970 under the name “Lindblad Explorer”. She has been a regular visitor ever since. She was scheduled to make two more calls here this summer season.

The BAS ship “RRS James Clark Ross” suffered internal damage when it touched an uncharted rock off Signy Island. Temporary repairs carried out in the Falkland Islands will allow the ship to operate safely for the rest of the Antarctic season.

Passengers waiting to join the cruise ship “Clipper Adventurer” in Stanley, were billeted out to residents houses when the ship was late arriving due to bad weather. With limited hotel accommodation in the town, Stanley residents have come to the rescue several times by welcoming stranded visitors into their homes. Several of the passengers remarked that everyone found the unexpected night in the Falklands to be a great experience, a highlight of their trip.

Rat Eradication Report Published

A report entitled “Recommendations and concerns regarding proposed South Georgia Rat Eradication” was published this month.

The 24-page report is very readable and highlights the many difficulties associated with any attempt to eradicate rats on this mountainous isle. The document, prepared by the South Georgia Environmental Officer Darren Christie, with significant input from Derek Brown (New Zealand Department of Conservation) is the culmination of a year-long project jointly funded by GSGSSI and the UK’s OTEP (Overseas Territories Environmental Programme) fund.

A statement from GSGSSI accompanies the report. It states that the Government has considered carefully the issues raised, especially in the light of the commitment stated in the Island’s Management Plan to make rat eradication its highest priority. GSGSSI recognises that eradicating rats on the whole Island is “clearly a formidably challenging task”, though it is also one that would “bring clear benefits to the Island’s wildlife”.

The Government is unable to devote the resources necessary for success to the eradication of rats on the Island, however it will consider positively applications from other bodies who wish to carry out rat eradication on all, or part of South Georgia.

The report and the Government statement are published in whole here.

“Pharos SG” Takes Veterans Back To Where Their Ship Was Hit

“Pharos SG”, the South Georgia Fishery Patrol Vessel, was involved in several events during the ‘SAMA 82 pilgrimage’ of 250 veterans to the Falkland Islands earlier this month. SAMA, the South Atlantic Medal Association, had arranged several events for veterans and families centred round Remembrance Day on November 11th in this 25th anniversary year of the liberation of the Falklands.

Whilst in Stanley “Pharos SG” hosted an evening aboard for veterans of the South Georgia conflict. On Remembrance Day the ship was dressed overall and anchored in the Stanley Harbour. The next day 12 veterans, the Rector of Christchurch Cathedral Revd Dr Richard Hines, and South Georgia Executive Officer Richard McKee embarked on “Pharos SG”; and 6 “HMS Glamorgan” veterans, the Commissioner for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Alan Huckle and the Minister for Veterans, Derek Twigg embarked on “HMS Clyde”. The ships then sailed together to the site where “HMS Glamorgan” was hit by an exocet missile in 1982, when fourteen of the ships company died.

They were blessed with a beautiful sunny warm day for the voyage and once on site the veterans, visitors and crew of the ships joined together on the aft decks of the two vessels to hold remembrance services and pay their respects.

Aboard “Pharos SG” the service included two hymns and a two-minute silence after the names of those who had died were read out. Two wreaths were cast on the water. Captain Ken Whittaker cast one, a tribute from Merchant Seamen and the other was a tribute from ‘SAMA 82’.

Shipping News

A busy month for shipping started with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) ship “RRS James Clark Ross” coming alongside the King Edward Point (KEP) jetty on the 2nd to do the annual resupply of the base. It brought in all the goods needed to keep the station running for the next year, including food, fuel, equipment, spares, stationery and personal goods. Cargo work continued the next day in an unpleasant blizzard, when some of the year’s accumulation of rubbish was back loaded onto the ship to be taken out for recycling and disposal.

There was more heavy cargo work on November 16th when Fishery Patrol Vessel “Pharos SG” arrived with the 12-man Morrison FI Ltd building team. Cargo to be unloaded included containers, a tractor and a small digger. Two containers already occupied the jetty, so the large Volvo Digger, stored over-winter at Grytviken, had first to dig out the track from Grytviken through the last of the accumulated winter snow to reach KEP. Once the containers were moved the rest of the cargo work could be done.

Thirteen tour ships called into Grytviken throughout the month. The first one “Ushuaia” arrived on November 2nd, three days earlier than scheduled, due to bad weather. One vessel cancelled its trip due to engineering problems but some of its passengers still managed to get here when they were offered places on other ships with available space.

There were eleven yacht cruises this month, at least eight of which were under charter to groups of tourists or expeditioners. One night five yachts were moored up in King Edward Cove.

Vagrant Albatross has Irregular Habits

By Robin Snape

A vagrant White-capped Albatross is incubating an egg on Bird Island.

The male White-capped Albatross, a single individual lost from its homeland on the other side of the world (the Auckland, Antipodes and Chatham Islands), has been a regular summer visitor to Bird Island since 2003 when it was first spotted in a colony of Black-browed Albatrosses. This year, for the first time, it is incubating an egg having mated a female Black-brow. The sex and species of the bird have been confirmed genetically from a blood sample.

A geolocator, which he carried in 2005, revealed that the White-capped Albatross spent the austral winter off the west coast of South America in the Humboldt current, rather than off the west coast of Africa in the Benguela current, which is where this species are more commonly known to winter. Clearly the bird is very disorientated.

The scientists at Bird Island are keeping an eye on the nest in hopeful anticipation that the egg may hatch and produce a viable chick. Black-brows and White-caps breed sympatrically (they occupy the same or overlapping geographic areas without interbreeding) and the two species have never been recorded to hybridise successfully. However, nor have they been recorded as even pairing up together and it seem that in the case of the lost bird on Bird Island, courting a Black-brow is the only solution if he is to have any chance of producing offspring.

The Four Mountains Tribute

Two more of the four mountains, named after individuals who played a leading role in the liberation of South Georgia 25 years ago, have been successfully climbed this month as part of the ‘Four Mountains Tribute’.

The French mountaineers of the ‘Georgia Sat 2007’ expedition made a successful first ascent of Sheridan Peak on November 12th. Sheridan Peak was the most challenging of the four mountains in the ‘Four Mountains Tribute’. The 955-meter mountain is located in the vast Nordenskjold Glacier at the top of Cumberland East Bay. You can read a report of the climb below. Two previous attempts have been made on this mountain, including one by Guy Sheridan after whom the mountain is named. Guy was the commander of troops tasked with the liberation of the Island after it had been invaded by the Argentines in 1982.

Mills Peak was climbed on November 30th. Though high winds looked like they may prevent the attempt, the wind dropped mid-morning allowing the three-person climbing party from KEP to be dropped in by boat on the coast of the Barff Peninsula below Mills Peak. Andy Barker, Anjali Pande and Les Whittamore climbed the 627-meter mountain using snowshoes to make their approach. The snow was slushy and difficult due to the warm temperatures on the day. An initial steep ascent allowed them to gain the ridge where a few rocky outcrops added some enjoyable obstacles before they reached the summit to enjoy a picnic lunch and the views from the top. Keith Mills, for whom the mountain is named, commanded the 31 Royal Marines, nicknamed “Mills Marauders”, who were at King Edward Point when the Argentines invaded. On April 3rd, after a heroic battle in which the tiny British force caused the Argentines considerable damage, they were forced to surrender as they were heavily outnumbered and surrounded on all sides. Both Keith Mills and Guy Sheridan returned to the Island earlier this year to mark the 25th anniversary of the liberation of the Island.

The ‘Four Mountains Tribute’ was devised as a way to pay tribute to all involved in the defence and liberation of the Island in 1982. Just Ellerbeck Peak remains to be climbed to complete the tribute.

Husvik Revisited

Plans are now underway for a volunteer team of five Norwegian craftsmen, funded by South Georgia Heritage Trust, to return to the former whaling manager’s villa at Husvik in January/February 2008. The team are supported by the generosity of Hurtigruten Fleet’s cruise ship NordNorge which will transport their equipment between Norway and South Georgia, and Abercrombie and Kent’s cruise ship Explorer II, which has offered the team free berths from Ushuaia, Argentina to South Georgia.

Three members of the team were part of the original group who restored the exterior of the villa early in 2006. The group plan to return to fit new windows and renovate the interior of the building. With the villa watertight and snug, SGHT hopes to encourage more research groups to visit the area to study the marine animals and South Georgia’s glaciers. Husvik is a particularly important site for work on elephant seals and king penguins, both of which breed in large numbers in the area. Since last year’s renovation the Sea Mammal Research Unit, BAS, and BSES have all used the villa as a base for their research.

During their stay, a few members of the team also plan to do some essential preservation work on the Stromness Manager’s villa where Shackleton, Worsley and Crean found refuge.

Groups undertaking research at Husvik manager’s villa can apply to SGHT for funding, see www.sght.org for the application form and guidance. To support research and the conservation of South Georgia’s historical sites, support SGHT at www.sght.org/donations.htm.

‘Georgia Sat 2007’ Climb Mt Paget and Sheridan Peak

By Phillippe Batoux.

Three climbers Philippe Batoux, Manu Cauchy (Aka Doc Vertical), and Lionel Daudet planned to go to South Georgia to climb and go ski touring.

Lionel met Isabelle Autissier (a famous French sailor) who was interested to do the sea side of this project. Isabelle owns a boat, “Ada 2” and sails frequently in these extreme south seas. She formed a sailing team with two other professional sailors, Agnes Lapeyre and Tristan Guyon, to bring the climbers in these wild places.

For the climbers the biggest unknown was sailing; mostly for me, who's never been on a yacht. The journey from Ushuaia was quite scary. We had some strong wind which destroyed our stomachs and the boom of the yacht. Indeed we were obliged to stop in the Falklands to repair the boom. Fortunately from Stanley to South Georgia we had no wind and had to use the yacht’s engine on an almost flat sea. It allowed the climbers to arrive in South Georgia in reasonable health.

We arrived in Grytviken late in the evening on October 8th. The weather was with us, and after preparing the equipment lost everywhere on the yacht, we started out skiing on Nordenskjold Glacier in the direction of Mt. Paget. We established a first camp in the middle of the glacier (500m altitude) without digging a hole or protecting the tent with a snow-wall. First mistake - a strong wind started in the night tearing our tent. Our weather forecast hadn’t predicted it! Next day we continued to go up the glacier fighting the wind. In the afternoon the wind stopped, it had cleaned the sky. It was now warm and we started to burn, with all we heard about the Island - high wind, wild weather, cold temperature - we didn't bring sun cream...

We had never seen Mount Paget before and were confused for a long time trying to understand the mountain as the picture of it on the front of the local map is the wrong way round!

We established a second camp higher on the glacier, at the highest place where we could go with pulks.

At 4am on November 11th we started climbing in snowfall and fog. Fortunately the clouds stopped at 2000 meters, and we had perfect sun above. The route is varied, with snow ridges, a few rocks, and the "crux" a large ice slope of 500 meters at 60° (75° max), leading to the final slope at 15° with very hard blue ice.

The summit was perfect. No wind, great blue sky and an unlimited sea of clouds. We descended the same route, rappelling down. We climbed down into the sea of clouds. In the fog, with 25cm of fresh snow, our tracks had disappeared. We hadn’t anticipated this and had forgotten to take some GPS points... so we were lost for a few hours, thinking that it is impossible to find your way in the bad weather with a 1/200,000 scale map. In the end, after a longer walk in the deep snow than we should have done, we reached our camp at 8pm, tired and very satisfied.

The next day we moved our base camp with the idea to climb Sheridan Peak. We skied to the north col. A rocky ridge follows, with sometimes loose rock, and sometimes nice and surprising rock. Fifteen centimetres of snowfall overnight complicated the climb with a few centimetres of fresh snow over the rock. We reached the summit at noon, with a nice view of the Nordenskjold Glacier and fjord. Unfortunately we could not see Nordenskjold Peak, another possible project, as it was hidden in the clouds. The clouds disappeared in the afternoon, burning our skins. Incredible! We suffered from sunburn in South Georgia! Nobody will believe it! Is it a sign of the global warm up or the hole in the ozone layer?

We are in South Georgia for another month and half, leaving the Island at the beginning of January, our plane takes off from Ushuaia on January 7th. Before then we hope to complete a traverse of the length of the Island and hope we'll have more good weather for climbing other beautiful mountains. Philippe B.

Update on ‘Georgia Sat 2007’

The three-man ‘Georgia Sat 2007’ team set out on November 23rd for the first leg of the traverse of the Island, Elsehul to Right Whale Bay. High winds up to 100km/hr made for an uncomfortable passage to Elsehul on the yacht “Ada 2” and forced them to wait aboard for an extra day before starting out. Fur seals are thick on the beaches at the north end of the Island, and made landing the expedition and all their kit difficult. The boat is now making its way south again. The expedition so far, with many photographs and video clips, can be followed (in French) on the website at http://yannick.michelat.free.fr/GeorgiaSat.htm. Press the news button at the top of the page.

“Unclaimed Coast”, New Book about an Amazing SG Adventure

“Unclaimed Coast: The first kayak journey around Shackleton’s South Georgia.” A new book by the three expeditioners, Graham Charles, Mark Jones and Marcus Waters, who undertook this challenging journey in 2005. Book Review by Anjali Pande.

Almost resembling a small coffee table book, the book is filled with photos of exceptional quality. However, the narrative that complements these photos is written in easy, lively style and your eyes are naturally drawn to the text to fulfil the curiosity and sense of awe that the images invoke. A story of adventure, each chapter is written in turn by one of the three-man team. It tells of the perilous journey of the first circumnavigation of South Georgia by kayak. Descriptions of characters, the surroundings and emotions are vivid enough to put the reader in the author’s place without being exaggeratedly dramatic. The reader is transported to another world and can feel their mounting tension and sense of trepidation.

Satisfying for ‘gear freaks’ and people who ask detailed questions, the authors do describe in detail each step taken in the planning and realisation of this adventure. It will be a good source of information for anyone wishing to undertake an adventure journey of their own.

Paying respect to the Island and its history and wildlife the story is interspersed with ‘fact’ pages about animals or whaling stations or other Antarctic novelties. These pages are also written by the authors and appear to be well researched. This book is a must for anyone with a love of adventure or knowledge and appreciation of South Georgia.

Published by ‘Penguin Books’ in New Zealand, this soft back edition is available for $39.95 NZ. ISBN 13: 9780143007326. 144 pages. http://www.penguin.co.nz.

‘Amazon’ are advertising a paperback version, with a different cover photograph, entitled “Unclaimed Coast: Sea Kayaking Ernest Shackleton's South Georgia Island for £15.24, 128 pages, ISBN-10: 0143007327. A hardback version is due out in the US in the new year.

Bird Island News

By Robin Snape, Zoological Field Assistant and winter Base Commander at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Base at Bird Island.

Following relief at KEP, the “JCR” arrived off Bird Island on November 4th. All of the winterers took a trip out to the ship to see the dentist and many of the BAS staff on board came ashore to help offload cargo during the three-day relief period. We said our farewells to Chris, Andy and Jaume (see last month’s article) and welcomed three summer arrivals. Base Commander John Withers, field zoologist Ewan Edwards, who will be taking over from Donald at the end of the season, and scientist Claire Waluda who is planning a programme of scientific study.

The new staff settled in quickly and Donald was soon busy with Ewan at the Fur Seal study beach. By the end of the month the Fur Seal season had really kicked off with mothers, pups and territorial males crowding the lower half of the beach outside the base.

The first pup was born at the study beach on November 20th and we all came out in sympathy and bleached our hair. This annual tradition at Bird Island uses the same blonde dye “Born Blonde” that is used to mark the study pups. Between us, Donald and I produced some very professional looking highlights for Claire. The two of us are a little concerned about what the world holds for us when we depart the island next season but we’re confident that if all else fails we will always be employable in the field of ladies hair design.

The last of this winter’s Leopard Seals was seen feeding off Big Mac penguin colony, which is now full with incubating Macaroni Penguins, keeping Fabrice and Claire busy.

Everyone got off base to count Black-browed and Grey-headed Albatrosses in the annual census, the results of which were encouraging with both species turning out in greater numbers than they have done in recent years. All fingers are crossed now that they have a successful season and that lots of chicks survive to fledge next April.

South Georgia Snippets

South Georgia spider man Alastair Lavery was awarded an OBE for services to Environmental Education and Arachnology earlier this year. Alastair, who works for the RSPB, spends much of his spare time analysing spider samples he and others have collected in the Falklands and South Georgia, and has discovered a number of new species. The Young Explorers on the current BSES expedition to the Island are also spider collecting for him, in particular they are looking for another example of a possible new species, only one of which has been collected so far.

The Island went white again at the beginning of the month, like a return to winter, with a good coating of snow that stayed a few days. Since then the spring thaw has continued and the streams were running fast by the end of the month with the melting of the snows higher up.

On the first tour ship of the month, the “Ushuaia”, were some especially welcome visitors; Tim and Pauline Carr were working on the ship. They only moved off the Island last year after 14 years living and working here at the Museum. Also aboard was Irene who had worked as a Museum Assistant, and David Cowper and his wife Elizabeth. David is a renowned single-handed yachtsman who came to South Georgia on his specially designed motor yacht “Polar Bound” for her maiden voyage on a ‘shake down’ cruise in 2003. He went on to complete his second single-handed voyage through the Northwest Passage in the Artic and says he is planning a return visit to South Georgia in “Polar Bound” soon.

We bid a sad goodbye to Melanie D’Souza on November 5th after she completed a yearlong contract here as the Doctor. She travelled out to the Falklands then flew via Cape Town to Halley on the Antarctic Continent where she will join the “RRS Ernest Shackleton” for the summer season.

Heavy weather and a breaking sea over the moraine bar across Moraine Fjord prevented the “JCR”’s boats deploying a BAS geological field party. The two-man party was deployed from KEP the next day and will be in the field for a couple of months collecting rock samples to aid a rethink of the geological history of the Island. A planned camp move using the KEP boats was also delayed due to high winds, which at one point “redistributed some of the boxes” at their first camp near the snout of the Harker Glacier.

Once the weather allowed, a gruelling 6 hours were needed to get the field party, their kit, and rock samples collected from the top of Moraine Fjord, though a thick band of brash ice on the coast, and then round the Greene Peninsula to the new camp site close to the western edge of the Nordenskjold Glacier. During the process of loading the camp stores onto the RIB (rigid inflatable boat), one of the sponsons was punctured, but a temporary fix with gaffer tape and re-inflation and the boat was able completed the task before returning to base for more permanent repairs.

“Explorer 2” bought three new faces to the BAS team. The new Base Commander Mairi Macleod, Bob Pratt the Generator Mechanic and Les Whittamore, the BAS Logistics Coordinator for South Georgia. Andy Barker officially handed over the Base Commander job on November 29th and will now be going to the BAS station at Rothera as the Field Operations Manager.

The 12-man Morrison FI team arrived back on the Island on November 16th. They quickly de-winterised the temporary builders camp at Grytviken and moved in the next day. Since then work has got off to a good start, concentrating on the concrete work on the Gull Lake dam and other preparations for the installation of hydroelectric turbines later this summer.

The wind generator at Hope Point was dismantled and sent out to the Falklands for resale. The wind generator would have been redundant once hydroelectricity is online at the end of this summer.

As planned, Prion Island was closed to visitors on November 20th for the peak Fur Seal breeding period. In late January a three-man team will begin work there on the boardwalk.

The Elephant Seal colony at KEP dwindled to nothing by the end of the month, the last female leaving on the 30th. The fat weaners are all round the coast, either sleeping on the beach or playing and exploring in the shallows. Other older Elephant Seals have started arriving to moult.

The Fur Seal numbers have steadily increased. 115 male Fur Seals were counted in the Hope Point area on November 13th leading to thoughts that we may see a lot more pups around KEP this year, but so far the only pup born in the Cove is over by the wreck of the “Louise”. It was first seen on November 22nd.

An Adelie Penguin, rarely sighted on South Georgia, was seen by tourists at Gold Harbour on November 20th.

The French climbers of the ‘Georgia Sat 2007’ expedition came to KEP to give a presentation on their climbs here and around the world. Before seeing this I don’t think many of us had realised what superlative mountaineers we had amongst us. They have completed some extreme climbs, and the images of tiny men on vast rock faces or dangling from icicles were simply jaw dropping!

On November 26th the BSES Expedition group arrived at KE Cove on two yachts. The expedition had almost faltered when their support vessel cancelled its trip, so they were lucky to strike a deal with “Pelagic” and “Pelagic Australis” to get everyone down here from the Falklands. Shortly after setting out from Stanley in very rough weather one of the yachts had to turn back to Stanley with gearbox problems. Luckily repairs were swiftly made and the yacht was able to put to sea once again and catch up with the smaller yacht. The group were happy to be reunited at South Georgia. They were soon dropped in at Fortuna Bay, their main base camp, from where they are well placed to complete science programmes, practice their mountain skills and look for the stove abandoned by Sir Ernest Shackleton on a glacier above the bay.

It has been a social month with all the visitors on yachts, and ships. Barbeques are a great way to feed lots of people easily, so several have been held. At one barbeque on the 2nd many people saw a bright object moving steadily across the night sky to the northwest. It is probable that we were watching the Space Station. At another barbeque at the builders camp a novel use for the Volvo bucket was found.

View of the Month

Don’t forget to see this month’s 'View of the Month' on the South Georgia Heritage Trust website.