Ice Coffee: the history of human activity in Antarctica

105_USASE_Part_3

So fuck! it warrants spelling fark!

104_USASE_Part_2

Fuck!

103_USASE_Part_1

Keystone cops. Byrd at his finest. Fumes and fuming.

102_Ellsworth_s_last_Antarctic_gasp

Lincoln Ellsworth convinces Sir Hubert Wilkins to head south once again and achieves very little. 

101_World_War_reprise_and_foreshadowing_the_cold_war_to_follow

The War to End All Wars didn't do what it said on the box and political and economic pressures to fascist all over Europe, China and the Pacific led to another protracted period of bloodshed and barbarism.  This episode is short and short on Antarctic content but it's important to understand the motives and outcomes of the morass of conflicts we came to call the Second World War because war and its wake once more held a lot of sway in what happened in Antarctica and by whom it happened to h...

100_Nazis_on_ice_part_two

Nazis don't deserve theme music, soundscapes or even my best efforts at editing out narrating flubs. 

099_Nazis_on_ice_part_one

Driven south by the Third Reich's thirst for fat, the Schwabenland (ship version) carries two cool flying boats and a load of fucking nazis to Antarctic shores.  No house keeping and no calls to action, this episode, because I hate nazis and writing, recording and editing this episode made me grumpy.  Given that I parted brass rags with Quark expeditions because one of their guests called me a nazi and I told him to go fuck himself only re-doubles my anger at having to incorporate nazi a...

098_BGLE_wrap_up_and_twice_the_normal_number_of_McArthurs

The British Graham Land Expedition comes to a close but it's not the last we'll hear of its members or the repercussions of the work they carried out.

097_BGLE_Part_2

The British Graham Land Expedition near the end of their second year in Antarctica.  Much flying, sledging, surveying and the first crossing of Graham Land. Huzzah.

096_The_British_Graham_Land_Expedition_Part_01

John Rymill picks up where Gino Watkins' death left off and leads the most efficient Antarctic expedition to date.  Lots of new discoveries, competent seamanship, sledging and flying ensue.  The BGLE set the mold for safe and competent operations in the high southern latitudes.

095_Santiago_the_ornithologist_and_John_the_pilot

I've traveled with Santiago for three austral summers and his humour and humanity have buoyed my moods while his perspectives on the birds we encountered opened my eyes to biological vistas I'd previously not spotted due to my focus on the mud.  I only just met John Marsden ten minutes before pressing record but his tales of high latitudes aviation warrant further attention than the ten minutes afforded at Seaworks.  I hope to spend a lot more time in company with these people in the futur...

094_Ellsworth_triumphant_but_still_a_jerk

Lincoln Ellsworth's money returns to Antarctica with new pilots, no meteorologist and Norwegians all but ready to throttle him.  Job's a good 'un, though, in spite of the lack of oomph, patience and skill the money bags brought with him.  Herbert Hollick-Kenyon nails one of the best put downs in Antarctic history while puffing on his pipe, munching on boiled sweets and reading westerns.  Lots of penguins, seals and Swedes in the aural background. Still holding off on throwing the s...

093_Ellsworth_at_his_best

Ellsworth's money gets it into its head to be the first to cross Antarctica. Wilkins, Balchen, Braathen and another polar pig get tangled up in his weak sauce Ahab routine. Soundscapes featuring Port Circumcision and the waters just off Two Hummock Island, which I'm sure is the British Hydrographic Office's cleaned up label for a rude sailor name originally given that land mass by some sailors who'd been at sea for a really, really long time or who knew a woman with really unusually shap...

092_Ice_Life_Art_and_Unemployment

Two interviews with three fellow Drake Passage crossers and a thunder accompanied decompression after recent upheavals. Anyone who feels hard done by in the third act is welcome to a right of reply.  Also putting out my shingle via Patreon once more. https://www.patreon.com/Ice_Coffee outlines what's on offer in return for financial support but I won't start processing episode releases through the Patreon system until people who signed up years ago have a chance to check they still want...

091_Little_America_Two_Finale

In an epic episode spanning an hour and a half and featuring a singing leopard seal, blowing humpbacks and the tuneless honking of the penguins the residents of Little America and Bolling Advance Base and the various dog and half-track teams reconvene and get out of Dodge aboard the Jacob Ruppert and the Bear.

090_Little_America_part_two_part_three

Byrd gets exactly what he asks for, what he deserves, and then saved, spoiling the symmetry of an otherwise well mapped story of hubris and punishment in the Greek myth mold. 

089_Little_America_two_part_two

Byrd's second expedition re-colonises Byrd's first expedition's digs after lots of digging.  Gentoo penguins under the hut floor provide ambience. 

088_Little_America_II_part_one

Boom! Two episodes in two days.  Take that, incomprehensible download statistics.  Let's see me make sense of you now.  Byrd returns south to finish...    something...  something brave and stirring and laudably scientific and humanitarian, no doubt.  Prolly work it out in payroll.  Or in a post-hoc rationalisation that will remain in publication for half a century.  More importantly, I get to share music I love with you. Egoism's song "What are we doing" rounds out this episode and ...

087_What_happens_on_the_ice_ANDRILL_go_boil_your_head_Ed

Iceolation and why it's not a big deal these days, a fourteen year old interview with Professor Timothy Naish, and an excuse to use my favourite quote from my favourite robot.

086_Watkins_Wilkins

Jeff Maynard returns to the dive hut to discuss the non-voyage of the Nautilus and we receive a visitation from the ghost of an Antarctic feline. Then the sustained influence of James Wordie and the efforts of Gino Watkins get some attention to set the scene for further British efforts in the south.  Oooh, foreshadowing and ghosts.  Woooooooooooo!

085_Norwegians

Lars Christensen funds extensive coastal exploration in concert with his whaling exploits.  A decade of Norwegian effort gets compressed into a single chagrined episode. 

084_BANZARE_Part_3

The best acronym in Antarctic history draws to a close and Sir Douglas leaves the southern continent for the last time.  Similarly the Discovery makes its final transit of the Southern Ocean.  | Some errors of fact that warrant addenda pass into your ears. 

083_BANZARE_Mawson_needs_a_gin

The first BANZARE voyage plays out with much tension, flying and coal.

082_BANZARE_Mawson_rides_again

Old Dux Ipse thought he was the ducks nuts but the BANZARE looks more a dog's breakfast than the dog's bollocks.  Another not-a-race sees the Discovery racing south on its penultimate voyage.  Sir Douglas Mawson and John King Davis get on each other's nerves ninety years ago. 

081_Interviews_and_soundscapes

Three interviews with staff at Bransfield House, Port Lockroy, one with a descendant of Bartholomew Sulivan, second mate on the Beagle under Fitzroy and Falklands Island farmer, and animal noises from the islands.  Happy April, one and all. 

080_Sam_Edmonds_and_taking_the_piss_out_of_Antarctica

Sam Edmonds is good company at high and low latitudes but you'll know that for yourself by the end of the interview, conducted north of Sydney with sulphur crested cockatoo and DeHavilland Canada Beaver accompaniment. Much has been written on high latitudes food but the residues receive less attention.  After finding out about Antarctic sewage and sewerage I now understand why, but having done the yards it's only right that I put the information in your ears.

079_Meanwhile_and_Andrew_Atkin_in_interview

The world didn't stand still and await the outcomes of Wilkins' and Byrd's efforts with bated breath.  This episode catches you up on Antarctic pertinent developments that the buzz caused by the aviators eclipsed. The episode also features an interview I recorded with Dr Andrew Atkin while I was in Sydney.  Yes, if you get in touch and tell me you like the series there's a chance I could turn up in your home, drink your coffee, eat your food and sleep on the spare bed, too, all while talkin...

078_Victor_Serov

Victor and I spent time in the Zodiacs around the Antarctic Peninsula in late 2018.  This unassuming man quickly demonstrated a tremendous experience in and love of Antarctica and cherished the opportunities our work offered him.  I sat down with Victor to record a brief history of his Antarctic career after one of the presentations he gave to our team.  This episode comprises that interview and audio from another of the presentations he gave, detailing his experiences at Vostok Station, th...

077_1929_coda...

Byrd and Wilkins are done in Antarctica for the 1920s and head north, leaving many loose ends in the snow next to the dog corpses.  With the depression changing the playing field it would fall to the primo fund raisers and the independently wealthy to pick those loose ends up in the 1930s but I'll get to that after covering some Australian and Norwegian 1929 action and knocking out some interviews I picked up in my travels through the austral summer.  Victor the vostoknicchi coming your wa...

076_Updates

Some news and a correction.

075_Byrd_and_Wilkins_1929

Wilkins returns to the arena, negating the worth of the winter spent at Little America. Byrd gets his pole flight and drunk.

074_Little_America_mid_winter_toast

Sly grogging among a large company of over winterers makes Byrd's winter on The Barrier a very different experience to that of previous expeditions. I set up a paypal account for anyone who wants to support the series.  You can flick me some bucks for books, hosting services and travel expenses at https://www.paypal.me/icecoffeepodcast

073_Little_America_1928_part_two

Byrd gets on my nerves ninety years ago.

072_1928_part_1

The first of the on site recordings for this Austral summer, episode 072 examines the preparations made to finally take aviation south and the echoes of Scott and Amundsen that resonate through the stories of Byrd and Wilkins. 

071_ANARE_Club_part_3

The final full episode arising from my trip to Hobart.  Ron Hann, Peter Reid and Rob Nash speak about their time in Antarctica and I bloviate about my favourite podcasts. Ah, narrowcasting, you path to digression, you.  I'm hoping the next time you'll hear from me I'll be speaking about November 1928 events at Deception Island at Deception Island in November 2018.

070_ANARE_Club_Part_two

The second tranche of interviews from my time at the Australian Antarctic Festival in Hobart.  Barry Becker, Denise Alan and Trevor Luff discuss their time with ANARE and I look forward to seeing Dr Brewin in December. 

069_Whaling_update

A look at practical, political and ecological developments arising as the whaling fleet, largely comprising Norwegian vessels and crews, set about the business of ridding the Southern Ocean of those pesky cetaceans.  I'm none too fond of the booze culture of my home nation, the other nations I've lived, and Antarctic bases, but Nicholas Johnson's legacy warrants light, so I recorded one of the articles missing from the resurrected Big Dead Place website for inclusion in this episode. 

068_ANARE_Club_part_one

Four of the interviews I recorded at the 2018 Australian Antarctic Festival in Hobart.  Bob Tompkins, Joe Johnson, Ian Toohill and John Gillies share some fo their experiences in the south and Dave Davies rounds the episode out with some Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

067_Arctic_Aviation_Part_Three

Bringing to a close the trilogy of Arctic aviation episodes, this episode ties up loose ends sufficient to fully set the aviation scene for the first flights in Antarctica.  I've really enjoyed putting these episodes together.  Recent Tasmania adventures get some sizzle but the content won't reflect my time in Hobart until later this month.

066_Polar_aviation_part_two

Flying in the Arctic posed a dodgy prospect but faint heart never ended up dead on a tundra. 

065_Polar_aviation_part_one

With aircraft offering opportunities to keep the feet dry and singalling a possible end to the miseries of sledging in all its forms, key players were keen to get flying. Efforts in the north require some attention as the experiences in the Arctic shaped the approach those key players took when they brought flying machines south.

064_Fingeewulf

063_Quest

Sir Ernest makes his final alive foray to South Georgia before making two further Atlantic voyages while dead. 

062_Jeff_Maynard

With Sir Hubert Wilkins set to take a prominent role in several episodes I sat down for coffee and a chat with Jeff Maynard, who knows more about Australia's forgotten polar explorer than I know about most of my family.

061_Lester_and_Bagshawe

Boom! Two episodes in quick succession. Weren't expecting that, were you? I was too excited about sharing the story of Lester and Bagshawe to wait a month to get this out and so trebled the five buck monthly outlay on the hosting service to service my need to let you know about the two and the dogs.  The most disarmingly charming chapter in Antarctic history.  Enjoy.

060_Antartica_war_and_its_wake

Many Antarctic veterans served in the First World War.  This episode I outline the military service of several of those veterans who will make return appearances in the south. The Great War also affected the political landscape of Antarctica and that gets some attention, too. How long's it been since I published a short episode? You'll be halfway through some task or errand and you'll hear me making the house keeping announcements, but don't freak out.  You haven't gone blank or nodded ...

059_ITAE_closer

The various parties of the ITAE come in out of the cold and most of them immediately head off to war. 

058_James_Caird_more_than_most

Frank Worsley knocks it out of the park, navigating across eight hundred nautical miles of open ocean with four sextant shots.  Tom Crean breaks through thin ice for the final time in our saga. Shackleton tries to get back to Elephant Island and the fourth time's the charm.

057_Boat_outta_Weddell

The Endurance sinks.  Plans form, change, re-form, change again, get discarded, get reinstated and re-form after changing.  Hoosh is the only constant.

057_Boat_Outta_Weddell

The Ice eats The Endurance. Plans form, change, re-form and change again as the Weddell Sea gives Shackleton's team a thorough stuffing about.