David, Dan and Andrew were to return to the Advance Base next day to get B station established as soon as possible. A station was really set up now, and Robert and Sandy were up there at this time. Unfortunately three dogs have been lost in crevasses - Bamse, Isijak and alas! poor Merkujuk. What a sad end to our beloved Woolly Bear.
We needed help during the Monday - Tuesday international day as it was a special Equinox study and we took runs every hour. So what we finally decided was that we should all go to the Advance Base for the day - as Brownie and I had had no change of air since we had found Hansigne’s puppies, and that Dan should return with us in the evening. So at noon we told Bear Island we would have no report for them in the evening, and we all set off. The scenery all looked so different from the boat, and we got an idea of what a fine lump of a hill it is at the bottom of which we live - it looks very like the Roddev (?). I took the tiller most of the way going, and soon we could see the ice-cap more clearly, and the small ice-cap on Mt. Franklin showed up very white. After rounding Dog Point we ran into a more sheltered bay at the bottom of which lay the Advance Base. This is a queer little hut - Karl’s old valley hut moved over and a bit added on - only 15 ft long by 5 broad, but 6 to 8 ft high, and anything from 3 to 5 people living there at one time. It was nice to see Archie again, and also all the dogs that came out to meet us. With thicker coats they looked so different and I hardly recognised any of them. We brought Merratark with us and she was glad to see all her boy friends again and quite forgot her Annapup!
The hut is delightfully situated at the bottom of this Advance Base bay, quite near the foot of the dead glacier leading up on to the west Ice, and, what I appreciated more than anything - on flat ground so that one could run about, a thing we cannot do at the base. We were fed there - how nice not to have to get one’s own meal for a change. Then we started off a bit late, as Brownie had a schedule with Advent Bay at 11p.m. and as soon as we got properly out into the bay round Dog Point we found that the sea had got up and it was pretty rough. Luckily we were steering straight into the waves so that though we pitched badly and the propellor came out of the water at times we were never in danger of being swamped - we didn’t even have to bale at all. Of course I was sick after a bit and it was very cold going into the N.W. wind and the spray froze solid on to any object to which it was driven by the wind, but Brownie was marvellous and sat at the helm all the time and we got in just before 11.15p.m. when the schedule was due to finish; we rushed in but we couldn’t get contact with LGS. Dan stayed with us till the following Wednesday helping us with the ionosphere and a lot with the cooking; he had to return alone and it was a distinctly nasty sea, but he managed it all right.
We were just going off to bed early after an International Day on the 10th Oct. when Dn came in. He and John had come over to fetch some things, but with a strong S.E. wind it was too rough - certainly in the dark - to bring the boat into our harbour, so they had gone round the point to the shelter in our N. bay, and Dan came ashore for help. Even then we couldn’t all pull the boat up, because there was nothing firm to attach the tackle to, so they used a hydrogen cylinder as an anchor and let the boat ride in the sheltered water. Next day they brought the boat into the harbour, and we pulled it up. They made a false start a day or so later, but having loaded the boat decided it was too rough and stayed till the next day. They said they were determined to go off this time, and we got the boat into the water, but it got rougher as the reindeer and coal were loaded in and the thin rope that was holding the bow broke and the boat was thrown all over the place; we then had a long struggle trying to prevent its being thrown on the rocks and to get it ashore again. We were all waist deep in the cold water (30℉), John holding the bows with waves breaking over his head, and Dan fell over once. At last we manoeuvered it so that the stern was on the slipway and we got it up with the tackle. But all the contents of the boat were soaked through - chromometer, watches, aneroids, theodolites, wireless time signal set etc, and the bottom of the sea was strewn with Silver Bud cheeses. They resolved now that they would wait for a really calm day before venturing out again. Next day it calmed suddenly in the evening and they went off, tho’ we hear that the motor failed and they had to row to land and then walk in sea boots up a steep cliff and then a long way overland to the Advance Base - carrying Hansigne a lot of the way.
On Friday 18th. Oct night we heard a noise outside. We were expecting Sandy, and went out and found him and Archie pretending to be bears.
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