A Trip to Antarctica

Ginge Fullen

October 1998

The ship deployed late in October of 1998, sailing down the east coast of South America. Our work area was to be the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the British Antarctic Territory down in Antarctica, this year the northern part of the Antarctic peninsular. We were then to sail back home on the west side of South America transiting the Panama Canal, planning to get back in England in early May 1999.

It was a very busy time before we deployed storing ship for 120 people makes for a lot of food and beer. As I was in charge of the diving store I also had to make sure we had everything, spares and all for the six months away. This was my first time at sea in five years, things had changed.

With HMS Endurance being a survey vessel and not a warship the work and routines were very much different. Everything was of course to support the Survey Recorders in doing their job. With more cruise ships travelling down south and generally more interest being taken in the Antarctica and the other British Dependencies there's plenty of work left surveying bays and inlets to make them safe for ships to sail in them. There's plenty of other work to do as well, such as supporting the British Antarctic Survey teams and many other people from around the world who descend on Antarctica for many different types of scientific projects.

Life on HMS Endurance is a lot more luxurious than that of warships, two-man cabins and plenty of space is something you just do not get on grey ships. Also the furthest I had been on my previous ships before was the Gulf, now the ports of call included such exotic places as Rio-de Janeiro and the following year Cape Town.

The only thing of note that happened on the way down was in Rio de Janeiro. As well as getting a couple of parachute jumps in there which makes for an excellent drop zone by the way was that quite a few of us got to meet the one and only Ronnie Biggs, the great train robber. For a few quid you can go around his house for lots of booze and some food; there he will tell you all about the robbery and what has happened since. It was a great evening out, one of those great run ashores that you never forget. We did invite him back on board for a drink, an invite he didn't take up as the last British warship he was on tried to arrest him and sail back to England with him. He only got away when some of the sailors helped him get on to the upper deck and he jumped over board.

After a stop in the Falklands we headed straight down to begin our first work period in South Georgia for the whole month of December. South Georgia is one of those places that you just have to see with your own eyes rather then being told about it. With all the wild life and history to it not to mention the scenery, I would pay to come down here and many people do.

The history behind HMS Endurance and the former ships of the same name mark important times in Antarctica and in the world of exploration. None more so then Sir Ernest Shackleton and his epic escape from the Weddal Sea after his ship Endurance was beset in ice for 15 months and had to be abandoned. So started one of, if not the, greatest survival story of all time when Shackleton and his men had to drag boats across the sea ice to open water. Leaving most of his men on Elephant Island near the Antarctic peninsular he and five others made the incredulous boat journey over 800 miles of the worst seas in the world to land on South Georgia. His journey was not over here; landing on the inhospitable and unpopulated west side of the island, he and two others had to walk to the eastern side of the Island and the safety of Stomness whaling station. A traverse of the Island had not been done before not least because there was no map of the area, nor did they have appropriate equipment for such a mountainous snow covered walk on dangerous glaciers. They were short on food and carried no tent or sleeping equipment, but desperate situations lead to desperate measures. They walked non stop for 36 hours over the 30 miles or so to Stomness, Shackleton then went back to rescue all his men that he had left behind.

The Royal Marine detachment on board and I had hoped to repeat the walk that Shackleton had done, fully kitted out with all the modern equipment we didn't make it more then 6 miles into the walk. The weather conditions had been bad all month and it proved impossible for us to make any headway, we had the luxury of being helicoptered out by one of the two Linx helo's on board. It goes to show you, over 80 years on and just the walk across South Georgia cannot be taken lightly.

Shackleton is buried in South Georgia at the old whaling site of Gytviken. Just being able to see his grave and experience the places that he explored and the trials he came through gives you a measure of the man. Anyone who puts an advertisement in a paper for his expedition like the one he did below and gets plenty of volunteers to follow him is truly a man to be reckoned with.

"Wanted men for hazardous journey, Low wages, intense cold, long months of darkness and constant risks. Return not certain."

Being away for six months people do one of two things, drink more or train more. As I had something to train for I trained more then most. The ship was going into a major refit when we returned in May of 99. I immediately asked to be spared so that I could get off for the Field Gun. I was especially keen as 1999 was the last year that Field Gun would up at Earls Court and very likely be the last year of Field Gun all together.

I was in the lucky position that I could be spared from the ship and could fly back to England early in April to join Field Gun. The only down side was that I would miss my post deployment and Easter leave when I got back, but as I had missed so much pre season training I had to go straight there and get my face seen and so stand any chance of getting selected. But you have to make sacrifices if you want to make things happen, as of the first of January no more drinking was one of them. My mates would say I am a lucky bastard yet again with just being in the right place at the right time to get time off for Field Gun again, but was is luck but years of preparation for that one opportunity.

There was a lot of time to dedicate toward training as well as to further expeditions I was planning. I was lucky again to have a very good training partner who luckily again was my direct Boss who had a big say to weather I got time off for Field Gun. Chief Bosons Mate Billy Fury, with a name like that he had to be hard as fuck, pretty much the same weight, size and strength as me he was more of the dedicated body builder type then anything else. At 40 years old with a body like it was sculptured out of rock he very much looked the part. He worked hard and trained hard and very much the old school mentality.

Work period two we spent down in Antarctica around the peninsular itself. Waking up and opening your curtains to see icebergs floating by and whales and penguins swimming just off the ship should give us all memories that we should not easy forget. Although we were at sea for the whole work period in January we did manage to get a shore on different islands and on the peninsular. We visited such places as Deception Island, Desolation Island and Danger Islands, Cape Disappointment and Exasperation Bay. All the places named long ago by the hard men who first ventured down here with out the safety let alone luxuries that we have today.

Deception Island alone is boys own stuff, like something out of the Lost World. A massive volcanic crater now flooded with sea water with only one narrow entrance in which to enter, with several old whaling stations and a manned Argentinean Base on the shores inside the crater rim it is truly a magnificent sight. We dived in the heated waters near the shore with steam coming behind us and leopard seals just out to sea in front of us.

Whilst doing some work off Haley one of the British Antarctica Bases the ship was at a stand still just off the shore with a couple of our boats in the water ferrying people here and there doing different work projects or just for walks ashore at the base to see the penguin colony. We were amongst many icebergs when the Captain called over the ship's loud speaker and said that there is an extremely nice iceberg just floating by the ship with its very own little swimming pool inside it. I rushed up to the bridge with the little inkling of an idea in my head.

Sure enough there was a very unusual iceberg with a shallow pool about 15 feet wide and 5 feet deep with crystal clear melt water inside of it totally enclosed on top of the iceberg. I took another look at the iceberg then a look at the Captain. He took another look at the iceberg and then looked at me. "No" he said in a long drawn out way as if he was speaking to a child of 5 years old. "Yes" I said nodding my head enthusiastically. "No Leading Diver definitely not". "But Sir I carried on it's a terrific photo opportunity, one not to be missed".

I spent the next 10 minutes on the bridge gently trying to persuade the Captain of HMS Endurance to let me go for a skinny dip in the iceberg pool. There is too much scope for things to go wrong he argued, you might have another bloody heart attack for God's sake, no way, absolutely not. Now you don't argue too often or even at all with a 4 ring Captain in Her Majesty's Royal Navy, not if you want your future job prospects to be any good, but through gently persuasion I carried on. "But Sir I've got a reputation to keep up, I have to do something mad every now and again". We carried on, "We are just off the Arctic circle for Christ's sake you wouldn't last more than a minute". "I only need a minute" I said the boat can drop me off and get me back on board within 30 seconds into a hot shower.

He thought about it, he knew my background and he knows the mentality of your average Clearance Diver, "you really want to do this don't you?" I wasn't sure if it was a question or a statement. I kept quiet. "Go on then if you must, you best put some shorts on though you don't want to upset the ladies do you, it is rather cold you know". Yes, I was off to get changed. Five minutes later I was jumping into the ice cold pool thinking a radical change of image would not come amiss and might just stop me doing these stupid things. Cold was not the word, fucking cold was more like it.

Everything went to plan and I was soon back on board and thawed out, much to Captain Tim Barton's relief. That's the sign of a good Captain I think, not over estimating the men that he has under his command and not under estimating what different individuals on board are capable of doing, basically using each man or woman to the best of their ability.

Just a few days later we were anchored off King George Island in a very large bay called Edgell Bay, amongst all the penguins and the few and quite rare leopard seals. Suddenly two very large hump back whales came into the bay looking like they were going to stay for a while. Another idea sprang to mind, down to see the Captain who was busy doing fitness training down on the quarterdeck. "Excuse me, Sir." "Whatever it is, no, definitely not." "Any chance a couple of us can take a boat away and swim with the whales?" He shook his head side to side but said yes at the same time. We were off, me and two of the ships divers on board, dressed in diving suits we were soon out in the bay in a small inflatable boat on the lookout for the two whales.

We followed them for about an hour and on a couple of occasions when they came to the surface we jumped in with masks and snorkels and managed to get within a couple of feet of them. Big old units they were, as big if not bigger then one of those lorry cement mixers you get. It was a unique experience and the opportunity of a lifetime, how many people can say they have swum with humpback whales? let alone with them in Antarctica. We had a scream, chasing whales and coming along side them and jumping onto small icebergs for photos, we came back with cuts and bruises every where me more so then anyone. I had a bit of a gash on my forehead, it would have been a good dit to say I had gotten it from clashing with the whale, that's what I told the Captain when I came back. "Ah," he said, "so it wasn't when you were jumping around on the icebergs then?" which we were not really supposed to do as they could easily topple over and so could be dangerous. "Don't know what you mean sir." Doesn't miss much, our Captain.

We all came back buzzing from the experience. Once back on board we all went to thank the Captain for giving us the opportunity, he said not a problem he was glad that we enjoyed it so much. He was probably wondering what on earth I was going to ask permission to do next.

I had a few ideas before we even deployed, as well as the Shackleton route that I was desperate to do and a few mountains that I had in mind I had wanted to parachute on to the Antarctic. After getting the Captain's permission and seeing the pilots of the Lynx helicopters and them having no problem with it, all I needed was to get hold of a parachute. As it turned out I didn't have time or couldn't afford one before I left as all my time and money had gone toward the mountaineering World Record. Never mind there was always next year.

There was plenty of opportunity to dive during the deployment. Diving jobs varying from engineering work on the ship to working jobs laying moorings and erecting tide poles in support of the survey department. We also got in over 12 diving hours alone mending a sluice gate in a very cold fresh water dam at King Edward in South Georgia for the army.

Antarctica is a spectacular place with some great diving opportunities which very few people have had the chance to visit let alone dive. Diving below the Antarctic Circle in it self is some thing that probably no more then 100 people have done. The highlight of the deployment though and one of the most amazing and potentially dangerous dives that I have ever done was during work period three operating around Dundee Island just off the Antarctic Peninsular when a number of dives were done with Leopard Seals.

Little is known about Leopard Seals except as David Attenborough says during one of his documentaries, "many people reckon that the leopard seal is the most dangerous killer in Antarctic waters, and it would be suicidal to get into the water with one." Not many people have, perhaps only on one or two occasions before. We carried out several dives with leopard seals. Since the leopard seal is the only seal reported to stalk and attack humans without provocation getting in the water with this very sinister looking four-metre long half-tonne animal takes a bit of bottle.

I have done some risky dives before, some including other big animals. When in Hong Kong the one and only Chief Petty Officer Darby Allen thought it was a great idea and highly amusing to dive in the same bay that three people, one diver and two swimmers only days before had been attacked and killed by a massive Tiger shark. I certainly never found it amusing but once lived through it was a great experience. Likewise with the leopard seal, when one opens its mouth inches away from the camera that you are holding to your eye, and you can see it many teeth and its mouth is big enough to fit your head in it you begin to wonder was this really a good idea. It was a dive worth surviving in order to tell the tale.

When we first came across the leopard seal to dive with it, we had come along side the iceberg that it was on in our inflatable boat. Some of us had jumped on to the berg to get some photographs with it, not too close of course. Two or three metres was as close as it would allow you to get without snapping at you. We effectively kicked it off its iceberg that it was snoozing on because it soon got pissed off with us and slid into the water. We thought that was the end of that and jumped in the boat and went to another iceberg to dive on. The Leopard Seal followed us though; we thought that we must have pissed it off.

All the years Endurance had been coming down here no dives had been carried out close to leopard seals, perhaps, because people fear the unknown, not surprisingly. The only people to have been in with them to our knowledge were the two cameramen for the Attenborough documentary. Unfortunately for me that day I was the only supervisor out with the dive team meaning, that I could not get into the water, much to my dismay. I spent the next 30 minutes persuading the divers that this was an amazing opportunity not to be missed, they would be one of only a few people in the world to see these creatures underwater and if they were bitten they would be in a minority all of their own. I said to them that I was confident that it was only inquisitive; this seemed to fall on deaf ears especially after we saw it catch, strip of all meat and eat a penguin right in front of us. To be honest I didn't really have a clue what it would do but I was fully confident that I could deal with any emergency that may happen.

OM(MW) Pinta Beer became, volunteered I should say to get into the water first, the others saying they would only get in if I went in with them, as to what good they thought I could do in there if it did turn aggressive I don't know. Never have I seen a man more scared in my life then Pinta was then. We had tied a thick line onto him to drag his bones out if necessary. Each time he put his feet in the water the leopard seal would be right there seeing, I suppose, what likelihood there was of a meal, Pinta of course would pull them straight out. This carried on for a while with me saying it can't be counted as a dive until he has put his head under the water, he looked up at me and I could almost hear him think, " Should I not dive and receive the wrath of the Killick Diver or should I dive with this monster that looked of a prehistoric age and the way its teeth showed through looked liked a smiling assassin?"

Eventually I managed to make Pinta believe that this was a unique chance of a lifetime and with a gentle shove he went kicking and screaming into the water. Once the barriers of the unknown have been broken down everybody wants a part of it. Pretty much all the divers got in the water with the leopard seal that day and over the next few days, but all the credit goes to Pinta for daring, like it or not to be the first.

We did get a photo and an article put in Navy News several months later when we got back. The captain on the photograph read "Leading Diver Fullen in the water with very dangerous animal, the leopard seal." When my mates saw it they said that it should read the other way round, "Leopard seal swims with a very dangerous animal, Ginge Fullen!"