British Antarctic Survey Staff Detail Christmas Activities

Many individuals will celebrate Christmas comfortably at home, but hundreds of people are spending the holiday season in the Antarctic region, where they are surrounded by penguins. Employees of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), headquartered in Cambridge, are observing the festive period thousands of miles from their homes. Their locations include five research stations and the Harwich-based vessel, the RRS Sir David Attenborough. Several of these individuals have shared their intentions for how they will spend Christmas Day. Derren Fox, 52, a zoological field assistant at Signy Island Research Station, located on one of the remote South Orkney Islands approximately 370 miles (600km) from the Antarctic Peninsula, shared his plans. Originally from Cornwall, he states he now “lives on a yacht just about anywhere.” Fox detailed his Christmas Day activities: “On Christmas Day I’ll head over to Gourlay Peninsula on the south-east shores of the island to carry out the almost daily checks on the chinstrap and Adelie penguin colonies to monitor productivity.” He added that this “will probably be followed by some sledging or snowman building with some of the other station members before returning to base for a traditional Christmas meal, this year cooked by our station leader, and then probably falling asleep in traditional Christmas style in front of a cheesy festive movie.” Sarah Clark, Signy’s station leader, is responsible for preparing the complete Christmas dinner. The 42-year-old mentioned she has moved around “my whole life… but over the last six years I’ve been living in North Wales, near Beddgelert.” Clark further stated: “The Signy tradition is for the station leader to cook Christmas dinner, so that is what I will be doing – but we are just a small team of five at the moment.” She continued, “We’ll have a nice brunch whilst reading the email greetings from all the other Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic stations. Then the others will probably head out to survey some penguins and do some sledging and I will hold down the fort, make sure everything is ok on station and get the turkey, nut roast and trimmings sorted. After dinner we’ll spend the evening enjoying some games together including maybe some Christmas darts.” Capt Will Whatley, 35, from Southampton, serves as master of the RRS Sir David Attenborough, which is currently at sea for the season. He noted, “Christmas is in the middle of the operational season in Antarctica so it is a busy time work-wise.” Whatley explained: “It’s usually possible for us to take the day off, although some people will still have to work to keep the ship safe and ticking over. For most, Christmas on board provides a good break from the busy Antarctic season and time to reflect on the contrasts between life at home and our time spent with our ‘work family’ in Antarctica. With modern day communications it is always possible to do a video chat with family and friends back home which is very different from years gone by.” Dr Nisha Mistry, the ship’s medical officer, 32, from Bradford, stated: “This will be my first time at sea so I’m not too sure how the day will go – but I’ll be doing my usual hospital checks in the morning.” She added, “Then later I hope to do my favourite thing – which is going outside to watch the icebergs.” Aaron Harper, the chief cook on the Sir David Attenborough, from Harwich, Essex, commented: “This Christmas I will be working.” He shared, “We’ll be feeding 56 people and we’re doing turkey with all the trimmings. A good way of cooking Brussels sprouts is with dried bacon, lots of salt and cracked black pepper.” Nick Greenwood, the senior steward on the ship, will be assisting him. The 53-year-old, from Grimsby, stated: “On Christmas Day I will be working on helping to get the Christmas dinner ready. When I finish work, I will have a festive tipple and then back to my cabin to watch a Christmas movie.” Rowan Whittle, 45, a palaeontologist, typically resides in Cambridge. This year, however, she is part of a small team deployed by the BAS ship and will spend Christmas in a tent. She explained, “We are being deployed onto King George Island a couple of days before Christmas.” Whittle elaborated: “Our team of three, Saurav Dutta, a geochemist, Andy Moles, a field guide and myself, will be camping for four weeks hunting for fossils, to try and understand how Antarctic seafloor ecosystems evolved. As our trip is time-limited we will need to work on Christmas Day if the weather allows. We will either be finishing camp set-up or conducting an initial survey of the study area. Hopefully we can finish a bit early on Christmas Day to cook something nice with our field rations.”