9 What the Well Dressed Antarctic Explorer Wore
When the noted polar explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins, then 70 , visited McMurdo Sound as a guest of the United States Navy during the summer of 1957, he cut a sartorial elegance that made us feel quite drab, dressed in reindeer-skin coat and pants. Around Scott Base we wore string singlets, woolen shirts, perhaps a thick pullover, and on windy days a light anorak made of a combination of cotton and synthetics called Byrd cloth.
10 Reminders of Earlier Explorers 75
Scattered around McMurdo Sound are stark crosses, permanent memorials to earlier explorers who died there. Best known is the three-metre-high wooden cross made from jarrah, erected to Robert Falcon Scott and is four companions on Observation Hill.
11 Strange Drinking Habits and Gourmet Meals
Alcohol had little interest for out expedition members, except for the occasional NZ beer, but it was very different for members of the United States navy, to whom service in the Antar4ctic was often just regarded as another tour of duty. Although the navy was “dry”, I uncovered some strange drinking habits. Food, too, varied greatly – and we found that seals and penguins made good eating.
12 Preparing for Next Year’s Great Adventure
Late January, 1957, and husky teams were slogging across the Ross Ice Shelf and up the Skelton Glacier – quite literally going where no man had gone before – blazing a route for Fuch’ party next year. They were supported by our small aircraft, first establishing a depot at the foot of the glacier and then a second, 160 kilometres up the glacier on the Polar Plateau, called Depot 270, at an altitude of 2500 metres.