Operation Tabarin
[1] Following Cabinet approval in January 1943, there was an intensive period of planning, recruitment and procurement, before the expedition left the UK in November 1943, led by Lieutenant-Commander James Marr.
The resupply of the bases included men, supplies and equipment, together with 25 sled dogs to extend field work on the mainland of the Antarctic Peninsula.
FIDS had been established in July 1945, following the end of the War in Europe, to put the work started by Operation Tabarin on a permanent footing.
[4][5] Following the outbreak of World War II, Allied shipping across the globe became vulnerable to attacks by German Navy commerce raiders and U-boats.
[9] On 5 March, Queen of Bermuda visited the abandoned Norwegian Hektor Whaling Station in Whalers Bay, Deception Island, which was a well known safe harbour, destroying stocks of coal and oil, and associated equipment, to prevent them from falling into enemy hands.
[6][14] On 28 January 1943 a meeting of the War Cabinet, chaired by Clement Attlee considered Foreign Office proposals to address what were seen as mounting Argentine encroachments on British territory.
These were to dispatch the armed merchant cruiser HMS Carnarvon Castle to the Dependencies to make landings, carry out administrative activities and remove marks of Argentine claims, and, crucially, to establish permanently occupied bases at strategic locations.
[15] Upon reaching Deception Island, Carnarvon Castle replaced the Argentinian flag with the Union Jack and placed four British Crown Land signs.
[18] During the planning stage the priority for the location of the second base was changed to Hope Bay, since it was on the mainland, with an option to erect a hut on Signy Island if resources allowed.
The third, Brian Roberts, was an ornithologist on the British Graham Land Expedition, who was working with Wordie in the Admiralty Intelligence Department on cold-climate clothing and equipment.
In the circumstances of war and time constraints it was difficult to find a ship built to navigate through sea ice and with sufficient cargo capacity.
Several were well known to them through the Discovery Investigations, including the chief steward Thomas Berry, ship's carpenter Lewis Ashton, senior wireless operator James Farrington, handymen John Matheson and Gwion Davies.
Other specialists recruited were surveyor Andrew Taylor, a Canadian with cold-weather experience; medical officer Eric Back; meteorologist Gordon Howkins; botanist Ivan Mackenzie Lamb, then working at the British Museum of Natural History; and two geologists, William Flett, from Glasgow University and Buck, who withdrew from the expedition before it left the UK; and wireless operator Norman Layther, a New Zealander.
Meanwhile, the Marquesa, on leaving Liverpool wharf, had grounded on a submerged wreck and the Tabarin contingent were ordered to re-join the rest of the expedition.
She was taking a relief garrison to the Falkland Islands and sailed on 14 December,[41] calling at Gibraltar and Montevideo before reaching Port Stanley on 26 January.
Built for whale marking work by the Discovery Investigations, she had been requisitioned by the Royal Navy for mine sweeping duties in the South Atlantic during the war.
Hooley was taking up a two-year post as wireless operator for the Government station on South Georgia, and the family were only landed there once the priority objectives of establishing two Tabarin bases was achieved.
The following day the attempt was reluctantly abandoned and the decision made to proceed south-west along the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula in search of an alternative mainland site.
[50][51][52] Although long-used by ships visiting the area, Port Lockroy's location restricted the range of scientific activities possible because the Gerlache Strait rarely froze, so cutting off access to the mainland.
[53] The main hut, named Bransfield House in memory of their original expedition ship, was a prefabricated design by the Norwich firm of Boulton and Paul.
[57] From there the vessels sailed to Grytviken, South Georgia, where the Hooley family disembarked, before returning to the Falkland Islands, taking official mail.
[60] On 22 April Marr and others were aboard when the vessel visited Cape Renard to erect a Union Jack and British Crown Land sign.
[64] During the winter the nine men practised skiing, prepared equipment for planned field trips and Taylor carried out local mapping work.
In September a party of four, man hauling two sledges, undertook a topographic survey of Wiencke Island over 25 days, in challenging terrain and poor weather conditions.
[50][65] As spring advanced Lamb took advantage of the low tides and melting snow to conduct an ecological study of the local beaches, Marr encouraging the others to collect zoological specimens.
[66] List of Winterers 1944[67][68][69][1] – British Antarctic Survey – Operation Tabarin List of personnel}} Base A, Port Lockroy Base B, Deception Island On 6 December, William Scoresby returned to Station B bringing plants native to the Falklands and soil for Lamb to conduct a transplantation experiment, which ultimately failed due to low humidity and strong winds.
Stores, equipment and crew members destined for the erection of an unmanned Base E on Stonington Island moved into Eagle, others boarded William Scoresby and Fitzroy in order to build Station D on Hope Bay.
[74] The trip resulted in 250 kilograms (550 lb) of lichen, fossil and rock samples, meteorological and glaciological measurements as well as corrections to Otto Nordenskjöld's maps.
[80] Among other accomplishments, it brought Chilean President Gabriel González Videla to inaugurate one of its bases personally, and he thereby became the first head of state to set foot on the continent.
Port Lockroy was designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 61) and is now a museum following a proposal by the United Kingdom to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.
