Polar Blog

Zoom! And here we go again already, onwards at both the AGM and Committee meetings, the new enabler is helping us run the Society. With new plans for our future you can read elsewhere with reports as appropriate and it was especially good to see new faces from members using technology to chat and listen with us, and some known but not seen since before the Covid interruptions – remember that difficult time.

There have been some very exciting Polar related events, not least a good sale of material at Grosvenor again in June – sadly in some ways I was on a train heading west to a lovely lunch organised by the Devon & Cornwall Polar Society – Scott’s birthday 6th June, but I still got a couple of successful bids in despite train Wi-fi terrible links! But the lunch was fantastic meeting, talking with and listening to the nephew of Apsley Cherry Garrard no less, talk about his “curmudgeonly uncle “ – his words! How often due to the passage of time can you meet someone so directly related. I was able to give him some information he had not seen before and will keep in touch. My good friend David Wilson great nephew of Ted Wilson ‘uncle Bill’ to his Terra Nova colleagues also attended with other Scott Last Expedition members descendants and other friends of my own acquaintance.

I recently acquired the photo postcard of the statue to Edward Wilson in Cheltenham Promenade which is an earlier type than the Frith publisher cards of 1950s. Trevor in the Post Office of the South Museum at Grytviken. Always a slightly faded look but very scarce (Figure 1 on the front cover) credit E M Bailey photographer, plain back. Sculpted by Scott’s widow Kathleen, in bronze, as per that of her husband in London and Christchurch New Zealand. The official dedication unveiling took place on 9th July 1914 (Figure 2 on the front cover).

Another link is the card of the Fine Art set For My Own Sake (Figure 3 - the picture side Figure 3A and address side Figure 3B shown on the front cover) but even more poignant. It combines my love of Social and Polar History - it is dated 24/11/16 in the middle of WW1 – and you may recall at the time contemporary thoughts were that the Scott story could be used to encourage the troops and boost morale. Ponting’s’ film was sent out to France for that reason.

The message (Figure 3C) from son to Mummy touches that nerve - “I wish Father Xmas would give me a longer holiday “ then realising what he is saying – in smaller letters ”never mind we must make guns for the boys in the trenches”. The Battle of the Somme has just officially ended. These message cards are now scarce and especially posted.

I enjoyed other key Polar events at the RGS in May, about Shackleton, and news that the wreck of Shackleton’s last ship Quest has been found. AT my local club I retained the Advanced Cup with 91 points, judged by qualified external judges with “Captain Scott’s Last Expedition – A Memorial”, 16 pages . (Figure 4 ). Finally can I emphasise again that the Society is solvent, moving forward with exciting plans to keep our hobby vibrant. My thanks as ever to all Officers and others past and present as I said before who keep the work done.

Don’t forget John Youle will oversee/edit the December 2024 issue of Polar Post, so still send items to him to make a bumper quality finale.

Spring is almost sprung as I write with masses of yellow and colourful blooms in my garden borders – not at all reminiscent of my Southern stopover in the windy mainly green Falklands summer!

Although my enjoyment was of a different calibre, I do love our changing seasons and the wait for
our sunnier days somehow eased by enjoying our hobby. To that end other big changes beckon at
the end of this year, as you may already have read via our E - News bulletins and Website, Yes our stalwart Editor John Youle has fi nally, finally decided this year is the end of his 28-year long tenure as Editor of Polar Post. I know you will all agree he has overseen a massive growth in the quality and content of our printed Society magazine, from black and white plain paper to glossy full colour, and monitored the size and weight after much pressure on costs from especially postage and packing from the UK Post Office.

This leads to our options to consider. Please see your Email Newsletter and the new options and hopefully once again another move forward for our Society – it’s often said change should be seen as an opportunity!

Elsewhere in this issue, we have the Committee members reports for last year 2023. I would just like to add my own thanks for all the dedicated efforts that they put into keeping the Society running and personal support to myself during a sometimes difficult period for me to do my job. Don’t forget if you would like to help look in on our new upcoming Zoom meetings and see more closely what goes on.

As to actual matters of postal history I can share some amazing news referring the Heroic Age, first for some National Antarctic Expedition letters from 1903 auctioned after 120 years in a family attic! Yes amazing that there are some items still hiding. The items of Figures 1a and 1b were sent to Mrs Alice Waymouth as her husband Frederick was managing director of Canterbury frozen meats, and they were part of Christchurch society in the sense of being successful business people. They entertained the members of the expedition at their house called Karewa and helped the ships and crews a great deal, often with free goods! So these letters were all sent as thanks and the senders couldn’t possibly realise what the value would be later even by the descendants who inherited them without researching them at all for over 100 years!

And a reminder secondly, of a contemporary Expeditions fate, the Swedish Antarctic Expedition of 1901-03, and brave sailors from Argentina rescued the Expedition Members crew of the sinking Antarctic (Figure 2 and Expedition Members Figure 2a) – aboard the Uruguay ( See Figure 3, back then and Figures 4 and 5 today, 2023). I hope you will excuse me delving back again to another aspect of my Voyage last year and showing you pictures of one of the SS Discovery’s rival explorers’ contemporary ship which also still survives – the ARA Uruguay built by Laird Brothers, Birkenhead, England, and launched 6th March 1874 - as I had the pleasure of roaming over her on a very bright sunny afternoon in Buenos Aires, so un-Polar like – so Shackleton ice conditions which are ignored at peril! ARA Uruguay is moored alongside the Quay at Puerto Madero on the river Plate in central Buenos Aires, pretty much unremarked upon and unappreciated, I could not even find a postcard of her for sale on board! You see from my close up of a part of one gunnel
(Figure 5 gunwale for the true seafarer) the need for repairs and restoration but the generally well known poor economic conditions in Argentina probably have other priorities. What a shame if she should deteriorate further to the point of not staying afloat. I wonder if we can twin her with Discovery Point in Dundee, Scotland and at least increase the publicity that she’s still here – too late if the worst happens! I know the Fram is well looked after in Oslo, Norway. As far as I know these are the only 3 ships still available to visit connected to the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration (notcounting the Endurance lifeboat James Caird at Dulwich College London) so only Fram to go for me!

Hello to you all in yet another New Year, while writing experiencing truly polar weather very very freezing and with snow in the north of England and promised, if that is the word, to follow down to the south.

I am ecstatic to confirm and share with you that I did make my voyage during virtually the whole of last November to the Antarctic starting from Puerto Madryn in Argentina via the Falkland Islands across to South Georgia almost literally bouncing from the South Orkneys too much ice to land - through sea Ice hearing it bumping alongside to Elephant Island and then Deepest South to Port Lockroy via a roundabout route West side of the peninsula, Bransfield Strait and Paradise Bay
landing Saturday 18th November at Neko Harbour. Then after Port Lockroy Drake Passage past Cape Horn to Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia on 21st of November!

I experienced an extra few days / nights at the foothills of the Andes and in Buenos Aires - more fun including a visit overthe ship Uruguay (rescue of the Swedish Antarctic Expedition 1901-1904) given free rein re. photos! Finally flying home on 25th November, overnight back to LHR extremely satisfied! Truly, an amazing voyage, covering everything that Scott and SHACKLETON touched on this route outside of the Ross Sea and Weddell Sea of their Antarctic journeys.

I am still reliving many of our stop-off s and passages through the receipt of postcards sent back to myself to my address in the UK to document the places actually landed or seen from the wonderful viewing platform on the rear of the ship MV Seaventure. This is a method I have used on many of my major voyages all over the world and it allows you to reread not just from notes in
a book or today emails or WhatsApp, What you were feeling at the time you are on the spot and it provides in our case, a proper postal history record - having pre-ordered the correct rate postal postcard Stamps collected at Port Stanley - thanks Talia - and again purchased in South Georgia!

I admit to a small cheat that at Port Lockroy they did not have all SHACKLETON stamps at postcard rate available, so we used the nearest value which had a good relevant image, of £1.04 to document my further progress and I cannot begrudge the extra 34p in order to keep the history connection alive!

Please judge for yourself with the card posted and stamped 19th November (Figure 3 in Polar Post) on my own special postcard (Figure 1) created for the voyage of a photograph previously in
my possession signed by SHACKLETON after his Endurance experience. There are also some cards which were left until further stamps could be accessed by the two ladies Claire and Laura operating the post office after we had left, and these are posted on the 5th December (Figure 4), and I was reliably informed by them subsequently returned by the Roald Amundsen for onward return, and only arrived with myself the week of the 8th January, some with the local sorting office, transit markings quite smudged of Greenford /Windsor.

The message (Figure 5) is especially important to me, as I had suddenly realised after we had left, and were actually crossing the Drake Passage, that by going on this voyage finally I had actually travelled to the Seventh continent with it, being my final of the seven continents, having not realised that Egypt, Tunisia would qualify as part of Africa, as not having really thought about
it until someone else, on board, mentioned that in relation to their own travels.

So a truly fitting finale to the whole experience. If space allows in the next few issues of Polar Post, I will be able to give you some more postal history and personal experiences of the places I went to including a discovery of a link with the Lindblad Explorer on Westpoint in the Falklands, the SS DISCOVERY in Port Stanley, and of course the iconic visit to the whalers’ graveyard in South Georgia, 2 postboxes! and ringing the bell in the church!

EBay did provide a few new postcards for my SHACKLETON (Figure 6) and SCOTT (Figure 7) collections, recently, especially the half model of the former at Madame Tussaud’s and the variation of the Scott memorial card similar to MW -KI-9 at a pinch, but because it’s a formal pose, I believe from his Discovery days prior to earning his polar medal (not shown wearing it so taken
prior to departure) someone has created their own card dated at the moment he was at the South Pole. Has anyone seen this style before?

Always satisfying to fill some gaps and potential images of cards I have not seen before. Please don’t forget to send similar items and other Philatelic related findings to John Youle. When you have time we always want to share!

Greetings to you all once again it barely seems possible that this is a Christmas message as
time flies by.

My recent events take me up to the middle of October as I write and the polar collecting front
has been fairly quiet. However at the local Philatelic Society we had an evening to show favourite things and of course that meant I could fly the Polar Collector flag on that occasion. Much of my time has been taken up with improving my fi tness and the associated medical assistance which means I can give you some major news that my trip to Antarctica and South Georgia /Falkland Islands will have started and possibly ended before you read this from the 1st to the 25th of November ! I am very pleased to have got myself in the position of being able to go and I will send a few postcards appropriately where I can.

I did manage to attend the AGM at Stampex to get our administration back on track and bought a few inexpensive covers but due to the diffi culty and expense of hiring rooms and travelling we had limited numbers. I do believe that the way forward for simplicity and convenience for all to have input, will be for Zoom meetings. Your committee is in the process of organising how this might be put into practice and publicise to all members.

Rechecking my diary I noticed that a lot of my time has been taken up with improvements in the garden and the house and the motorcar but Ebay has provided me with some good quality Polar Postcards purchases and it is worth keeping your eyes open. Please let John have anything that you find as a scan and perhaps a few words. I hope that you find the missing gem you wish for next year and seasons greetings to everyone.