The Voyage of M.S. Explorer to Antarctica 19/11/06 - Part 2

In the afternoon we were to visit Port Lockroy (64 degrees 49' south) on Wiencke Island, in the Palmer Archipelago. Originally discovered and named by the French, this is now a kind of GPO for this region of the South Pole and run by the British. I suppose in the grand scheme of things it should also be regarded as Antarctica's megastore, selling souvenirs and stamps as well as taking our post. It also doubles as a small museum. All this activity is housed within Bransfield House, as big as the ground floor of a suburban semi. A colony of penguins live beneath the floorboards (and everywhere else) and a Union Jack flutters on a flagpole by the door. Walking the gangway into the house, you go over a penguin nest (so much for the 5 metre rule). Here the poor female was being subjected to a two-pronged attack, with a penguin on either side of the nest trying to steal her nest stones.

While the shop was full (a very easy thing to happen), I investigated the museum. This is a collection of rooms restored to (or let fall back into) their '40's state. I signed the visitors' book, perused the small library (readers' Digest and "The Collected Stories of W. Somerset Maugham"), and noted the food stores (Bovril's Pemmican, Crosse and Blackwells' Fresh Herring, etc.). (You may note these activities encompassed ego, books and food, probably my three my concerns). A small room at the back served as the living quarters for the three inhabitants. It was small, messy and filled with Tesco marmalade, etc.. The outpost is maintained by one man and two women during the summer months. The women were asked by some of our women whether they felt lonely for men. They answered, "We have our husband." The man said something similar, and though it may have been a joke, the reality is that there's no room for a third person that we could see and precious little space in the room we saw. We left them with our postcards, some fresh food and a good portion of our money.