As usual, something a bit different for our festive PencilPoint. While many of us are "dreaming of a white Christmas", our blog authors endured a solid year of the white stuff. I am grateful to Dr Jim Bamber, Cambridge Consultant and OAA Honorary Treasurer, along with Dr Rhiannon Wilkinson, Specialist Trainee in Glasgow, who have agreed to regale us with tales of their respective Antarctic adventures, albeit 30 years apart! I find it fascinating and I hope you enjoy it too…
Interviewees:
Dr Jim Bamber (JB)
Medical Officer, British Antarctic Survey (BAS) 1990–1992
Dr Rhiannon Wilkinson (RW)
Medical Officer, RRS Sir David Attenborough 2022–2023
How did the opportunity come about?
JB I was finishing-up my training programme in general practice in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire and spotted the BAS job advert in the back pages of the BMJ.
RW The job is advertised yearly and open to all post-F2 applicants. I first heard about it as a medical student on the Orkney Islands, where I met two doctors who had worked previously in Antarctica.
A seal on Adelaide Island and an orca from above (part of a pod hunting humpbacks)
How did you get there?
JB My pre-South training timetable meant that I missed the BAS ship from the UK. Instead, we flew with from RAF Brize Norton (a busy airport due to first Gulf War preparations) to Ascension Island then on to Port Stanley, Falkland Islands. I then boarded the RRS John Biscoe to cross Drake Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula. I left the ship by Zodiac for a stopover at the old BAS station Port Lockroy for a couple of days, waiting for a weather window so that a Twin Otter could land and pick up me and some others to take us to Rothera. The plane landed on the ski-way about 2km from the base and we then travelled to our final destination by Sno-Cat.
RW I took the long route and sailed there and back again from England. As the ship’s doctor, I lived on board for the full seven months, which meant I saw a lot of different places, including the Falklands, Chile, South Georgia, Bird Island, Signy Island and Antarctica.
A Chinstrap penguin considers joining the crew at Rothera Research Station
What were conditions like?
JB The base consisted of various huts. The main ‘hut’ was a large building which contained the accommodation block with dining and recreation areas, lounge bar (with beer taps), library, kitchen, offices, laboratories, workshops, stores, generators etc. There were other huts for workshops and stores.
The bedrooms had four bunkbeds. During the winter you had your own room, but in the summer, you would have three other new bedroom companions.
There were 14 ‘winterers’, (all men as no women were allowed to over-winter in those times) who were all support staff; carpenter, electrician, plumber, motor mechanic, chef, meteorologist, radio operator, professional mountaineers, and the doctor. Other staff, mainly scientists, would pass through the base during the summer. In addition, we had a large summer party of Yukon construction workers.
RW The ship has some of the best living conditions in Antarctica. The crew have their own rooms, plus shared living spaces. There’s a small gym in the heli-hangar and even a sauna (very popular when we were further South!). There are video games, movie nights and the ‘doc’ traditionally writes a weekly pub quiz for the crew.
The ship has two rotating crews of around 40, with a capacity of 90, and a high turnover of individuals. For the middle months of the trip, the ship is dedicated to science, and we are host to a large party of busy scientists.
One of the limitations on board, and throughout Antarctica, is the internet connectivity – anything beyond Whatsapp and email can be quite a challenge. Many enjoy the respite from the outside world and feel it improves the connections within the team. However, BAS is generally moving towards greater connectivity, and there was a marked improvement even in the short time I was away.
Sailing through Lemaire Channel and the RRS Sir David Attenborough moored at Rothera Research Station
What were the temperatures and weather like?
JB The temperature during my stay ranged from 1.6-13.9°C (average was -5.0°C). The weather in Antarctica is very dry. In the summer, if there is no wind, you can wear T-shirts and get sunburn. In the winter you need to protect against frostbite and it can get very windy.
RW Once you’re South, anything goes with the weather! We had days where the sea was so calm you could see the mountains reflected in it. We had another day where we hit a storm that was an 11 on the Beaufort Scale (it only goes up to 12), not dissimilar to riding a rollercoaster!
Chinstrap penguin with twin chicks on Signy Island
How was the food?
JB We had a professional chef who did all the cooking except Sunday (we had a rota for ‘Sunday chef’ duties). There was a professional kitchen set-up including proving ovens to make bread. During my week's rota as nightwatchman (keeping an eye on the generators etc) I practised making croissants which progressed from inedible biscuits to a passable substitute for a pastry!
RW Excellent! We have some very hardworking chefs on board and we regularly stocked up on fresh food when passing through the Falklands.
What was your day-to-day role and routine?
JB As the base personnel were supposedly youngish and fit, there wasn’t too much daily clinical work. I did some research (my main project was investigating dietary intake against cholesterol. Later I produced a lovely linear graph to show as sugar intake increased the serum cholesterol went up. Still waiting for the Nobel Committee to notice…!). During summer I was the GP, A&E doctor and occupational health physician to the 80-strong Yukon construction crew who had come out to build a hard runway outside the base, so larger planes could land. During the winter I did dental check-ups of the winterers.
I was also the vet to the 20 BAS huskies and pup-man to the five husky pups who were born at the start of my tour at Rothera. The main veterinary work was stitching up lacerations from dog fights and ensuring the pups who were born at the start of winter didn’t get rickets (I designed a high vitamin D diet for the pups – mainly involving lots of butter and cod liver oil).
Sledging parties with dogs on Adelaide Island, and Jake and Elwood, two of the last five BAS dogs to be born in the Antarctic
Apart from clinical work, I was the ‘mate’: chippy’s-mate, plumber’s-mate, electrician’s-mate. But the job I made my own was as forklift driver to move about the mountain of boxes deposited by the ship. Other rota duties included acting as ‘co-pilot’ (essentially a companion for the professional pilots in case they fell asleep in the cockpit).
At the start of my second summer, when my successor arrived, I was sent out to operate a forward refuelling base at Fossil Bluff. It was like running a remote B&B or petrol station for the Twin Otter planes and crew that would land for refuelling as they travelled deeper into the continent with the scientists.
The Fossil Bluff 'B&B'
RW The ship follows a tight routine. Breakfast starts at 7.30am, and everyone starts work around 8am. At 10am we break for coffee, and the doc usually goes up to the bridge for this (it makes up for the lack of view from the hospital). Lunch is at 11.30am, and the working day usually ends around 5pm with dinner at 5.30pm
The doctor’s role varies depending on the phase of the trip. In addition to clinical work, responsibilities included; Covid screening and vaccination, crew medicals, equipment maintenance, medical drills, overseeing the island surgeries, ensuring the surgery meets Maritime and Coastguard Agency requirements, overseeing port inspections, waste disposal, first aid teaching, QI projects and clinical governance.
And, of course, the pub quiz! I’m not sure who started this, but it’s been expected of every doc since.
Any medical emergencies or oddities, and how did you cope?
JB The main major medical emergency was when the chef had a serious illness. I used the surgery as a high dependency care unit. This was in 1991 so there was no internet. I faxed the ECG to the BAS Medical Unit in Aberdeen, and using the satellite phone paged the BAS chief medical officer and the ED consultant in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. Unfortunately, all this happened near the end of the winter, so it wasn’t possible to repatriate him by air or ship. He recuperated on the base for the next six weeks. Meanwhile, I had to take on chef duties preparing lunch and dinner six days a week until a new chef arrived at the start of the Antarctic summer. There are few things more stressful than 13 other winterers queuing up on the other side of the metal shutter stamping their feet and shouting “we want FOOD NOW” whilst you juggle four saucepans on the hob and something else is burning in the oven.
On the third day of my arrival, I was with another new arrival who drove our Sno-Cat into a crevasse on the glacier in front of the base (a snow bridge had collapsed over a hidden crevasse). It took three days to extricate the Sno-Cat. Not a good first impression in the new job.
RW Strangest thing I found in a medical cupboard: tiny crampons to go on crutches. In case anyone breaks a leg but still needs to mobilise around Antarctica!
Crampons for crutches!
What mundane things did you miss? Or what mundane things took on new excitement?
JB In winter the Sun disappears for about six weeks. Clouds permitting, the Moon is always visible and you can see the Moon rotate around the night sky over the weeks like the hour hand on a watch. Communication with family or friends was limited to a 300 word fax every month, so your mum and girlfriend would be allowed 150 words each to send to you each month. No phone calls, and it was pre-emails!
RW Exercise at sea takes on a whole new level of risk. I’ve been splashed by waves whilst running the helideck. I’ve been tipped over whilst doing lunges in the gym. I’ve made myself pretty seasick using a treadmill in a storm. I took any chance I could to run on land, but it wasn’t much better. If you’re not turning an ankle in the snow, you’re being chased by fur seals - who will bite! The seals of the Southern Hemisphere are a lot less friendly than their Northern equivalents.
How did you mark special occasions (or socialise) while there? Christmas? Birthdays?
JB Christmas occurs in the middle of a very busy summer season of activity, so it passes by without much notice. But in winter, the Midwinter Meal is celebrated. New winterers are surprised to receive presents from family, which BAS had surreptitiously organised to have shipped out before the start of winter. Everyone dresses up and there is a five-course meal put together by the chef and his helpers. The dining room is decked out in flags.
Midwinter meals: 1911 during Scott’s last expedition and 1991 at Rothera
RW We took any chance we could to have a celebration. We spent Christmas last year at Rothera Research Station on Adelaide Island where we had a roast dinner and sang carols on the helideck. The base also hosted a Christmas football match for us all. Adelie Penguins are known to be curious and attracted to activity, and we had one waddle from about 400m away to come and join in the game.
For birthdays, the catering team always made an effort to bake a cake and I would usually draw a card and dash around in secret to get it signed by everyone.
A humpback putting on a display at Rothera Research Station
Finally, who is Colin the Penguin?!
RW One of the better-known penguins in Antarctica is Colin. He is a Gentoo penguin and lives in Rothera Research Station, where he generally causes mayhem through his love of all things orange. Due to an ongoing construction project in Rothera, there are currently a lot of cranes (orange), construction vehicles (orange), and construction staff (also in orange). As soon as the working day starts, Colin arrives to escort the vehicles as they go about their work. But with no appropriately sized hard hats it’s a full-time job to keep him safe, and he is a leading cause of delays around base!
Malcolm, Jim, Rhiannon (and Colin!) wish everyone a Happy Christmas and a Peaceful and Prosperous New Year.
