31 December 2016 - Antarctica, Deception Island.

Noon position : 62* 55’S 60* 40’W Sea temperature 2.4C Air temperature 2.1C

The first stop today on Deception Island was at Telephon Bay. Deception Island was given the name because the island was first though to be a normal island but deceptively it has an entrance, called Neptune's Bellows, into the centre of the island and a to one of the safest harbours in the Antarctic. Care has to be taken entering through the ‘Bellows’, which is 120 metres wide, as below the surface there is a rock which seriously restricts the usable width of the entrance.

Map of Deception Island showing the entrance

 This island is the caldera of an active volcano which seriously damaged local scientific stations in 1967 and 1969. The island previously held a whaling station; it is now a tourist destination and scientific outpost, with Argentine and Spanish research bases. While various countries have asserted sovereignty, it is still administered under the Antarctic Treaty System.

In 1904, an active whaling industry was established at South Georgia, taking advantage of new technology and an almost untouched population of whales to make rapid profits. It spread south into the South Shetland Islands, where the lack of shore-based infrastructure meant that the whales had to be towed to moored factory ships for processing; these needed a sheltered anchorage and a plentiful supply of fresh water, both of which could be found at Deception. In 1906 Whalers Bay began as a base for a single ship.

Other whalers followed, with several hundred men resident at Deception during the Antarctic summers and as many as thirteen ships operating in peak years. In 1908, the British government formally declared the island to be part of the Falkland Islands Dependencies and thus under British control, establishing postal services as well as appointing a magistrate and customs officer for the island. The magistrate would ensure that whaling companies were paying appropriate licence fees to the Falklands government as well as ensuring that catch quotas were adhered to. A cemetery was built in 1908, a radio station in 1912, a hand operated railway also in 1912, and a small permanent magistrate's house in 1914. The cemetery, by far the largest in Antarctica, held graves for 35 men along with a memorial to 10 more presumed drowned. These were not the only constructions; as the factory ships of the period were only able to strip the blubber from whales and could not use the carcasses, a permanent on-shore station was established by the Norwegians in 1912 – it was estimated that up to 40% of the available oil was being wasted by the ship-based system. This was the only successful shore-based industry ever to operate in Antarctica, reaping high profits in its first years. In 1928 a Lockheed Vega plane was flown from a beach airstrip on the first successful flights in Antarctica.

The development of pelagic whaling in the 1920's, where factory ships fitted with a slipway could tow aboard entire whales for processing, meant that whaling companies were no longer tied to sheltered anchorages. A boom in pelagic Antarctic whaling followed, with companies now free to ignore quotas and escape the costs of licences. This rapidly led to overproduction of oil and a collapse in the market, and the less profitable and more heavily regulated shore-based companies had trouble competing. In early 1931 the Norwegian factory finally ceased operation, ending commercial whaling at the island entirely.

Telephon Bay had fantastic colours of black (the result of volcanic eruptions) and the white of the snow with every shade of grey in-between. The walk over the top of the hills was not too arduous and was helped by the sunny day.

Views of Telephon Bay

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In the afternoon we went into Pendulum Cove, still in Deception Island, to swim in the heated sea water. Some volcanic action heated the black sand/gravel so that the water on the edge of the beach was heated, some to an unbearably hot temperature. New years Eve swimming in the Antarctic, never would I have expected that!

Views of Pendulum Cove

A Chilean meteorological and volcanological research station in Pendulum Cove, opened in February 1955. It was destroyed by volcanic eruptions in 1967 and 1969.

Early on in the evening a visit to Whalers Bay was organised (possibly to get us all of the ship so that the crew could prepare for the New Years party) to see the remains of the old whaling station which had burnt down in 1967  There were the remains of buildings (from 1906 to 1912)  and whale bones together with boilers and cooking vessels for the process of whale blubber. It must have been a hard existence down here during the whaling seasons
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A painting of a blue whale being flensed at Whalers Bay. Flensing  is the  removing of the blubber or outer fat of the whale, the remaining parts being throw away as it took too much effort to remove the rest of the blubber when whales were in abundance.

Remaining buildings

Steam boilers (very much like on some of the ships I sailed on)

Oil tanks

The remains of the graveyard

Oil tanks and boilers

Part of an old floating dock

To one end of the area were some jagged high rocks used by various birds for nesting and one leopard seal. This area looked and smelt of sulphur.

Bird nesting areas

Leopard seals 

The ship had been decorated (dressed overall) while we were ashore and a large quantity of food was available to celebrate thee New Year. It was strange to do so while it was still light. The pictures below are of the party with the obligatory smoking barbecue.