The Mount Erebus Disaster

Here are a few notes on things I couldn't quite find space for in the video, but which truly fascinated me nonetheless...

The recovery operation

I mention the recovery operation that took place on the slopes of Mount Erebus... but the story of what was done there could almost be a video in and of itself.

Volunteers, police officers and other rescuers had to deal with incredibly difficult conditions. They dodged crevasses, worked in all weather conditions, and had to constantly fend off scavenging gulls.

Here's a brief account of the process by Inspector Jim Morgan, from the archives of the New Zealand Antarctic Veterans Association:

"Later, the skua gulls were eating the bodies in front of us, causing us much mental anguish, as well as destroying the chances of identifying the corpses. We tried to shoo them away, but to no avail; we then threw flares, also to no avail. Because of this, we had to pick up all the bodies/parts that had been bagged and create 11 large piles of human remains around the crash site in order to bury them under snow to keep the birds off. To do this we had to scoop up the top layer of snow over the crash site and bury them, only later to uncover them when the weather cleared and the helos were able to get back on the site. It was immensely exhausting work.

After we had almost completed the mission, we were trapped by bad weather and isolated. At that point, [another recovery worker] and I allowed the liquor that had survived the crash to be given out and we had a party (macabre, but we had to let off steam).

We ran out of cigarettes, a catastrophe that caused all persons, civilians and police on site, to hand in their personal supplies so we could dish them out equally and spin out the supply we had. As the weather cleared, the helos were able to get back and we then were able to hook the piles of bodies in cargo nets under the helicopters and they were taken to McMurdo. This was doubly exhausting because we also had to wind down the personnel numbers with each helo load and that left the remaining people with more work to do."

Life at the pole

On a lighter note, I found this website (an unofficial Antarctic site maintained by a lone expert) extraordinarily interesting.

It has a tonne of pictures from the history of Antarctica, as well as detailed accounts that cover many aspects of living and working there. And even though it's a very old site, it's still updated on a seasonal basis.

Antarctica is a vast and mostly uninhabited continent... but this site gives a glimpse into what life is like there. There's a surprising amount to learn, and it's oddly heart-warming to see the affection the people who work there have for the place - however inhospitable it might be!