A final goodbye to Damoy
It’s not just the places you go but the people you meet along the way that make life special
My co-pilots, Sven and Martin, enjoying a final night toast to Damoy Hut
As I write this blog, I am sitting in my van looking out on the beautiful countryside of the Peak District with Monty dog at my feet and the birds chirruping all around me. I am feeling a little reticent about writing this final goodbye to Damoy as it feels like I am putting a full stop to one of the best jobs I have had the privilege to undertake during my 15 years of working in the outdoor adventure industry.
As you may know, this job was a little different to my ‘normal’ work life of public speaking, teaching DofE students in the UK or guiding clients on high altitude mountains around the world. No clients, only 3 of us on site and being static for 26 days whilst on project, no trekking, no altitude briefings and no Trangia safety chats with 14-year-olds. Simply 3 people in a pristine environment hoping to turn a historic hut orange. A true one off for me however, as much as the environment and the job were incredible, it was the people I worked with and met along the way which added that special something to an already pretty bonkers 2 months in Antarctica. I can’t mention everyone in this blog as it would go on forever, but I have picked out a few.
I came to understand a whole new adventure industry and felt a small part of it when I finished my time in Antarctica. I became friends with a whole new understanding of heritage thanks to the amazing and talented team at UKAHT, including Head of Operations Sophie Montagne, 1/6 of the Ice Maidens team who, in 2017/2018, were the first all female team to cross Antarctica, who gave me the shortest but most concise training before I left. Having never worked with anything old other than people before, it was a big education of the do’s and don’ts of historic buildings and their importance in our world but mostly I came to once again appreciate the strong bonds you develop with your co-pilots when your lives depend on each other, and the people who pop in and out of your isolated world to help and support you.
I mentioned in my first blog, ‘A long commute to work’, the Expedition team and crew on board the MS Hamburg who kindly took me under their wing for my watery bus ride from Ushuaia to Port Lockroy. I was a bit of an anomaly on board. The guests were a little surprised to hear that a British girl who doesn’t speak a word of German was heading to ‘work’ on a seemingly one-way ticket to Antarctica but everyone welcomed me on board, even if my most used phrase was ‘I’m sorry, I don’t speak German’.
The Port Lockroy Massive
Once I landed at Port Lockroy I was warmly greeted by Lucy, Base Leader, who along with her colleagues Natalie (Shop Manager), Clare (Post Master), and Mairi (Penguin Monitor), had been on Goudier Island looking after and running the island since mid-November which inhabits over 1000 Gentoo penguins plus Bransfield House, home to the shop, Post Office and museum. Also on the island is the Nissen Hut which is their accommodation which myself, Sven and Martin were due to bombard, and the Boat Shed which houses their stores. It’s a very busy place and if anyone thinks that this is a romantic get away from ‘normal life’, you soon come to realise that there is a whole different kind of normal down there. When they arrived in 2 shifts in mid-November ‘22, they had to dig their way into their home from home, the Nissen Hut, then dig themselves out a fair number of times, along with digging out Bransfield House in order for cruise ship passengers to visit.
Almost doubling the inhabitants in one day, myself plus my Damoy co-pilots, Sven and Martin, had to get into the swing of life at Port Lockroy pretty quickly. Within one day we had learnt about doing ‘gash’ or ‘going for a walk’ as I described it in my last blog ‘The nitty gritty of 26 days at Damoy’. 7 people + 3 buckets = getting to know your comrades pretty quickly. We also got to grips with the rota which included but was not limited to cleaning, cooking and gash, fortunately not all on one day; understood the health and safety rules of being on Goudier Island which includes protocol about being around the penguins and cleaning your boots of the stinky guano before you go into any building.
We were staying at Port Lockroy for 10 days before being picked up and taken over to Damoy Hut by HMS Protector so needed to not only get our kit and equipment together but also contribute to life and work on the island. Before I left the UK Clare sent me an email asking if her Mum could email me a game ‘Murder on the Disorientated Express’. ‘No problems’ I replied to which she said ‘Don’t look at it, it’s a surprise’.
Roll on to our 2nd night and, with a lot of prep from Clare, we played said game. A little bit of vino, some good food and some very dodgy accents later (from me mostly), we had finished this brilliant ice breaker of a game. With 7 of us and 8 characters, Sven was chosen to play 2 totally different people so seeing the transition from one to another was hilarious. I am not going to tell you who did it, it’s worth playing and finding out!
Port Lockroy is a very social place with smaller cruise ships coming in for landings twice a day plus yachts visiting in between too. Only a certain number of people are allowed to land on the island each day to protect the wildlife however I came to know a few of the expedition teams. Visiting ships varied from sailing yachts which carry 9 passengers for either pure sailing or ski mountaineering to older vessels, including the Bark Europa which is over 100 years old and a square rig sailing ship, to the most modern motorised and hybrid vessels with their fancy newly design of bows and all the kit and caboodle on board.
We welcomed all on shore in their allotted slots and were offered dinner, showers, laundry and food goodies in return for the hard work and diligence the team at Port Lockroy put in to looking after their passengers and making their experience a once in a lifetime memory.
After 10 days of getting to know the Port Lockroy team we bade a fond ‘see you in a month’ to them as we boarded HMS Protector with our kit and equipment for the short hop around to Damoy. Once on the island we established radio contact with Port Lockroy and continued to keep in touch. To have comms with the people we had come to call friends was a joy. Not only did we need their help and support when our email system decided to play up in the first week, it was lovely swapping the ‘thought of the day’ when we checked in with them in the morning and finding out how their day went after the ships had left in the evening. They managed to come over to see us on a couple of occasions courtesy of a Zodiac ride from a friendly cruise ship and we regularly swapped out goods or asked them for more soup or coffee. When we left PL and set up on site at Damoy I had thought we would be autonomous however was happy to have their support.
Hearts in the Ice
Working on such a historic site in Antarctica with ships visiting during our time on project meant that we met a number of people who had strong connections to our little hut or to the polar regions north and south. Some cruise ships have guest speakers on their expedition teams, people with certain links to times gone by in Antarctica. On our first full day on site we were having our lunch at ‘home’ when our 2nd Hurtigruten ship of the day was offloading her expedition team. I remember Martin popped his head out of the door and then ran down to the hut to warmly greet 2 ladies. Sven and I smiled and carried on with our chores before Martin came bounding back up to the mess tent and said that Sunniva Sorby and Hilde Falun Strom were guest speakers on the MS Fridtjof Nansen and were with us all afternoon. I had heard of their achievement via social media, both incredible women who truly stretched boundaries being the first women to over winter in a hut in Svalbard and now inspire women and girls globally with their citizen science programme. When I plucked up the courage (I do get shy when around people I admire too!), I went over to them to have a chat. An hour flashed by with lots of stories from both sides and the obligatory selfie when we all realised that we needed to do some work and parted company. Meeting people like Sunniva and Hilde was such a joy and I would encourage you to read their book Hearts in the Ice.
Hearts in the Ice legends Hilde and Sunniva
I can’t find the butter
Onwards we went through our time on site with the hut being closed to everyone bar us, meeting passengers and expedition teams on most days and enjoying their fleeting company, but when Alan McPherson, expedition team member with Ocean Adventurer came ashore there was a glint in his eye. ‘I came through here in 1983’ he said as I was chatting to him at the landing beach. ‘Really! Do come and look around the hut’ I replied. He had had a cup of tea in the hut in 1983 when he was offloaded from a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) ship for his onward flight to run the dogs at Rothera. He had seen the hut and been inside on many an occasion with his work as an expedition team member but never without passengers so it was a treat to have a wander around solo.
Luke Hull asked on social media ‘what was the atmosphere like inside? I remember Sir David Attenborough saying he felt a strange atmosphere at Scott’s hut!’ Not such a strange atmosphere at Damoy Hut however you can definitely feel what it was like to live, work or transit through the world’s most southerly waiting room. As it is modern history and from a time when a lot of the equipment in the hut is still being used today, it is like stepping into my Dad’s workshop. Alan said the same, it hadn’t changed much at all, even in the 10 years of its use before it closed from when he passed through. A bright and vibrant character, I could have talked to him all day. He has certainly lived a life.
I asked Alan to do a little video for the UKAHT archives
Being an integral part of Damoy history
As our time at Damoy was coming to an end we were wondering how to finish off the project. The history of the hut needed to be marked and honoured, and not just by us. We had an email from the office to say that Jonathan Walton was on Hurtigruten’s MS Roald Amundsen who was landing on our final weekend. Jonathan, another former longtime BAS employee (which doesn’t do his work justice) had been instrumental in getting the Structaply material used for Damoy Hut and was a guest speaker on the expedition team along with Rachel Morgan, former Director of UKAHT, who was also part of the team. We borrowed them from their duties for a few minutes to take some photos and hear stories from Jonathan of how the hut came to be and from Rachel of its transition to a historical monument. We then asked Jonathan if he would place the screws in the new plaque which he very proudly agreed to and finally gave him a Damoy baseball cap which he looked as pleased as punch to have been given. A small gesture on our part but one that he will hopefully wear with pride.
Most people with connections to Antarctica and the Arctic will know Nick Cox. 47 years at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and a stalwart of life in Longyearbyen on Svalbard, he also had a common friend in Sven and Martin. His guest speaking slot on Viking Polaris and landing at Damoy coincided nicely with our final few days on site and gave him the opportunity to officially open the hut. What a day! The 3 of us were picked up by Zodiac early on the Monday morning and taken on board for breakfast with Nick and his wife Katie. We were chatting so much we nearly missed my speaking slot about Damoy as an introduction to the passengers. We were given showers on board and popped by the restaurant to enjoy an early lunch when the chef came over to find out what we were up to at the hut. After a conversation about our mess tent, tinned food menu and limited facilities he asked what we would like to take ashore. ‘Peppers’ I asked. It’s the simple pleasures! He came back with not only peppers but also potato cakes and a bottle of wine so fajitas were then on the menu for that evening.
Once back at the hut we went about our usual daily business and working on the final jobs to be done. Berne, the Expedition Leader, said that once the passengers were all on board, they would then send Nick and a small party back to officially open the hut. This was an afternoon to remember. Nick came ashore with his customary massively excited grin and walked into the hut, the first time since he had last been there over 35 years ago, and it was like he was walking back in time. He told us a story about the time he had nearly had an impromptu dip in the sea when the Twin Otter he was in had trouble getting airborne from the glacial runway above the hut, hair raising stuff, along with regaling tales of skinny dipping in Dorian Bay on Christmas Day. Oh how times have changed! And then it was time to cut the Norwegian ribbon which Martin, who lives in Norway, had placed across the door. So many significant moments from the knife used, to the ribbon which signified Nick’s decades in Svalbard to the Damoy t-shirt we gifted him. And then it was all over.
A great description from Nick about his time at Damoy and ‘that’ take off from the glacier!
A fitting end to our time at the hut however, none it would have been possible without my 2 co-pilots, Sven and Martin.
And finally, my co-pilots – Sven and Martin
I first ‘met’ them on a Zoom call on 28th December, only a few days before we separately left for the deep south. They had now known each other for around 5 months, had gone through 10 days of training with the Port Lockroy team and had also had regular Zoom calls with Ruth Mullet, Head of Buildings and Conservation at UKAHT, about the project as a whole. I was brand new to the party and the first things Sven asked me were ‘what is your personality type and are you a morning person’. Oooph, big questions! Not sure and you’ll have to find out I think was my answer!
Forming a team in such circumstances can be tricky. I was coming into the job without the background that they had but needed to hit the ground running so we spent a good amount of time at Port Lockroy talking about the project and the ‘what ifs’ of time on site. Martin’s favourite phrase was ‘it’s OK’ and it was. Very much OK. We are all human and had our own ups and downs but I can honestly say that I have never had so much fun or laughed so much on an expedition. I learnt so much from the guys, about their backgrounds and backstories, about their trade, the intricacies of Sven’s cabinetry work in Ireland and the large-scale carpentry of Martin’s work in Norway. They graciously ate all of the food I produced, didn’t complain when more tuna came out at lunchtime, agreed that proper coffee is the only type which ought to be consumed, fed me porridge with salt in it (that was a first) and taught me that, in the end, it’ll be OK.
Our final ‘Thought of the Day’ on 16th February - Everything (sadly) comes to an end
And what else did I learn from my time in Antarctica? That there is a work life outside of guiding clients; that there is a whole other industry to explore where I am not battering my body and mind whilst still being in extraordinary places; that being static is ok - for a while at least; that I can withstand hurricane force winds in a tiny tent and that it is possible to survive in a 4m x 4m mess tent with 2 other humans (see 26 days of ‘summer’ at Damoy Hut) and the kindness of strangers means everything.
I said a fond farewell to Damoy as we pulled out of Dorian Bay the morning after I was picked up by the Hurtigruten MS Fridtjof Nansen for my watery bus ride home, hopefully it will be a see you again soon rather than a farewell forever.
A final fond farewell at 6am on 19th February as I left Dorian Bay on board MS Fridtjof Nansen
Ellen Piercy and Lisa Williams asked on social media – ‘did you learn any new skills whilst you were based there and what did you appreciate the most?’ I hope I have also answered your questions.