Jeremy Bailey

Rod Rhys Jones has provided a recording that Jeremy Bailey made a couple of months before he left the UK on the Kista Dan, According to Brian Dorsett-Bailey it is a recording made with family friends Bill and Marjorie Pilkington. It lasts for 23 minutes.

[00:40] Jeremy Bailey: Well there's only a certain time each year when the ship can get through the pack ice. In fact it is the most difficult part of the Antarctic to go through. And in the past there have been a number of occasions when ships have got stuck in pack ice here. And now they are finding that there is one very easy way around, and the first time this was found was when Halley Bay was opened in the IGY. There were two trips down there then - one to open this base which was run by the Royal Society and the other which was Sir Vivian Fuchs's Shackle ton base of the Trans Antarctic Expedition. While the Halley Bay journey was with the base stores and the personnel were taken down on a ship called the Theron or [pronounced] Teron; it was a Norwegian ship which barely hung together. In fact the first ship which they chartered from the Norwegians, sank on its way to England, so they had to ask for another one, please. I suppose they had it [incomprehensible]. [laughter]

[01:58] Marjorie Pilkington: Oh Dear!
Jeremy Bailey: So they sent another one which was apparently in an equal state of repair, or rather disrepair. And it kept on going wrong all the way there. The engines would keep stopping. The captain would just laugh and had a beer quickly and then talk to the engine room sailors, you know: "You might just stoke up your boilers a bit" or something. "We really do want to get there some time". The climax of this fateful journey was himself [incomprehensible] in Port Stanley where they found themselves. There was some slight problem or something and when they slogged their way through it, they were heading directly towards the side of another ship. So the captain rightly put the thing into reverse which was about the only way of stopping the ship. When the engines, again, stopped finally, and refused to work, they had no control over it. It just drifted into the side of this other ship, bent the bows a bit on the side of the other ship. The captain just laughed and said "This is one of the hazards of the game." [laughter] It was just too bad. The captain of the other ship thought it was quite a joke as well because he knew where the ship was going. He thought it was understandable.

[03:25] Jeremy Bailey: But in spite of the capacity of this captain, he did listen. On his off days he listened to the whalers and found that the only way into this part of the Antarctic was to skirt the edge of the pack ice and go east, off-course in fact, for many miles and to get around the whole bely of pack ice. You can get in round the side. And he had got all this sorted out. He went that way, and got no delay, at all. Whereas Bunny Fuchs's ship, the Magga Dan with all the resources of the Trans Antarctic Expedition; there were two aircraft on board for flying and observing where the pack ice was. And with a brand new ship, they did contrive to get firmly held in the pack. They didn't get to their base until six weeks after the Theron which was . . . made it quite difficult for the party that were eventually left on the coast. So presumably we shall go down on one of the now well-charted routes.

[04:37] Bill Pilkington: How far are you away from the Pole at that base, roughly. Any idea?
Jeremy Bailey: Well in rounded miles it's about [inaudible]
Bill Pilkington: What are you . . . ?
Jeremy Bailey: It's what's known as being in the general direction, That's right.
Bill Pilkington: OK
Marjorie Pilkington: What are you in fact, are you on land or on ice?
Jeremy Bailey: On ice which Is floating on the sea, but it's a very big chunk of ice. It's about 600 feet thick; it's called an ice shelf and it is very very solid indeed. This goes inland for probably 60 miles and then it joins on with what's normally called land, although you can't tell any difference.
Marjorie Pilkington: No, quite.
Jeremy Bailey: There is rock underneath then, and at the junction between the ice and the land, as it were, there is always a crevassed area because the ice shelf goes up and down with the tide and the land stays still. So you get little cracks in the ice. And I'm hoping that I shall go on a journey which goes past this area and onto the inland plateau, forming a way into a mountainous area which will be particularly interesting.

[05:51] Bill Pilkington: In normal circumstances you will be there what? A year roughly and ...?
Jeremy Bailey: I will be there roughly a year, yes.
Bill Pilkington: This ship normally does one trip a year?
Jeremy Bailey: This ship always does one trip. It goes down in December and comes back as soon as it has relieved the base, which takes about a week. It departs and comes back in February/ March extra April. So hopefully I shall come back on the same ship.
Bill Pilkington: How long does the trip out take, then?
Jeremy Bailey: I think we get there ... Well we do get there some time in January. I'm not exactly sure when. We will stay about a week in South Georgia. In fact nobody really knows. It's thoroughly disorganised.
Marjorie Pilkington: I think it would be most ... I don't know. In a way ... [cross-talk]
Bill Pilkington: What's that? For the odd week or two. You haven't got any trains to miss or anything like that.
Jeremy Bailey: You've only got a boat to miss.

[06:55] Marjorie Pilkington: William and I have still got the idea that we can ring you up some time, when we want to, you know.
Jeremy Bailey: Oh well.
Marjorie Pilkington: You know we got the idea that we can just dial. It's. O and whatever it is. It's possible. We can probably do it. It's draft flow don't you, surely.
Bill Pilkington: That's right.
Jeremy Bailey: No, we can send messages but ...
Bill Pilkington: They are from radio a fairly short time. In fact you can't. unless ...
Jeremy Bailey: I'll tell you what I will do for the hell of it. If I get time I will try and phone you up.
Bill Pilkington: Yes you try and do that.
Jeremy Bailey: If we got into radio communication with the American base, I am sure they could do anything.
Bill Pilkington: Yes, it would be great fun.
Marjorie Pilkington: It would be marvellous, wouldn't it?
Jeremy Bailey: But I think it is unlikely They did from Greenland, the Americans of course. The main restriction here is the GPO. In America the telephones are all privately owned and they don't put any restriction on what's called "phone patching". Where if an amateur radio ham gets into contact with somebody elsewhere in the world and he wants to be put in contact with somebody else in the States
Bill Pilkington: Then the phone lines all pay ..?
Jeremy Bailey: You can do it technically. A chap like John Bails [phonetic] just do it and people pay. But it is illegal ...
Marjorie Pilkington: Is that so? [inaudible] it's really rubbish ...
Jeremy Bailey: Well I don't know if John Bails has any broadcasting equipment. You see we could probably pick up hams. If you know somebody who does amateur radio, if he ever gets in radio contact with me in the
Antarctic, then it is quite possible that you could talk over the link.
Marjorie Pilkington: Is it definitely on then? [crosstalk]
Jeremy Bailey: They erect a very big aerial, a rhombic aerial, and they broadcast to an amateur in the States. They just try different codes and frequencies until somebody answers. Then they say "Will you patch me in to such and such a telephone number?" and he patches them in and he sums up the time, how much it is costing him, he then sends a bill in. They say "I'll send the bill in; the cost is such and such. It's going to cost you four dollars send it me when we get back." And this works tremendously well. When we were right out on the ice cap on this long journey we have got in radio communication with the base and they then rebroadcast that on another frequency to a ham in the States who patched them into home. And they could almost guarantee to get anyone a telephone conversation to home, just for the price of a telephone call to the States. And of course I could have had phone contact with home. The GPO would have been and gone and charged an exorbitant ..
Bill Pilkington: Yes yes, quite.
Jeremy Bailey: But Jack Pannel [phonetic} I should have thought was a bit of a giveaway.
Marjorie Pilkington: It wasn't [inaudible] interests on there too.

[10:07] Jeremy Bailey: Well as I say Jack Pannel would have said "Hello, how's the sledging?" On my radio set.
Marjorie Pilkington: It's just pure interest.
Jeremy Bailey: Jack, I'm sure, would have called it an interest. If you do know anybody who is interested in amateur radios, I thing is to write to the British Antarctic Survey in London and ask what frequencies they use for communication with the outside world. And there is no law preventing anyone listening in. I don't know what frequencies they do use. That would be the thing to do: write and ask them. Of course they may not say.

[10:43] Bill Pilkington: What's the time difference?
Jeremy Bailey: Well there isn't very much because it's not too far off the Greenwich Meridian. You see, you will get a nice lot of warm weather on the way down won't you?
Bill Pilkington: Oh yes.
Marjorie Pilkington: That will be nice won't it?
Bill Pilkington: How many people are at this base you are going to?
Jeremy Bailey: I think it's about thirty, but I'm not at all sure.
Bill Pilkington: What age range is it, from/ to?
Jeremy Bailey: That, I haven't the faintest idea. I just don't know. I don't know anything about any of the people. I have only met one of them.
Bill Pilkington: Are you going out there as a replacement [inaudible]
Jeremy Bailey: Well most people go down there for two years but I opted for one. And so I suppose half the base is still staying on for a second year and the other half are going down at the start of their two years. It will take probably about fifteen people. I'm only guessing; I really don't know. I am prepared to wait and find out.

[11:55] Bill Pilkington: What about clothing?
Jeremy Bailey: Well we get kitted out in South Georgia and that's all taken care of. Oh it's a good financial bet; that's the other interesting point because they pay you your full salary while you are down there. You don't have to spend it.
Bill Pilkington: You can't spend it. [clock chimes]
Jeremy Bailey: Well on small items and when you dock, you can spend. So when you are on the base, you live on credit. So if you want a beer or something ...
Bill Pilkington: Oh, do you? Do you get debited as well, for a beer?
Jeremy Bailey: They do give .. They make an allowance actually. They give you a certain quantity of beer and cigarettes if you want them, but it's not very much. It's about a pint of beer a week or something like that.
Bill Pilkington: Of course all that's got to go down on the same little ship, has it?
Jeremy Bailey: Oh yes, everything has to go on it.

[13:00] Marjorie Pilkington: Under whose auspices is this ...?
Jeremy Bailey: This is run by the British Antarctic Survey,
the Director of which is Sir Vivian Fuchs . I gather the department which puts a completely different tone on the whole thing . . .
Bill Pilkington: There's no way you'd get a plane down there, is there? In the case of emergency or something like that?
Jeremy Bailey: I don't know.
Marjorie Pilkington: But I can't see anyone being down there. You are so isolated you are completely snowed in.
Jeremy Bailey: There is no aircraft support. There is aircraft support at some of the bases and looking to the future, by about next year, they are hoping to have planes there, which can fly for much longer distances. As soon as you get planes that can fly for longer distances, they have to carry more fuel and the whole logistic programme all grows, rather as the square or the cube, because this is the trouble with the Americans, you see. They use enormous planes. They can take anything they want there in the plane but the organisation involved to enable these planes to fly now is so enormous, it just doesn't bear thinking about. They fly planes to the South Pole. They need to take all the fuel out to the South Pole first; then they can survive after that. They just have continuous planes and vehicles going out there to refuel. The whole organisation becomes rather unwieldy. It's probably better, the British try and keep things small and simple and I think there is some virtue in this.
They want to try and strike a happy medium because some of their bases, they do have light aircraft, so they carry all the fuel down once a year. They are investigating using some slightly bigger planes.

[15:12] Bill Pilkington: What's the living accommodation like?
Jeremy Bailey: I don't know very much about it but I know that it is fairly good.
Bill Pilkington: You have got your own room?
Jeremy Bailey: You have your own hut probably to yourself. Of course at the time you tend to build rather a lot of huts. You have some space of your own, both for your living accommodation and in some other place, for your scientific work. But it is your own. There are good workshops and they are laboratories for any kind of scientific work. It is a very well equipped place.
Bill Pilkington: And presumably there is plenty of recreation?
Jeremy Bailey: Well they have good libraries and they have a cinema with about 50 films that were obtained. New films each year.
They are usually films that have been on circuit in English cinemas in the previous year. I'm rather hoping they will have Tom Jones there. I haven't seen that. That's the kind of thing they do - they take down all the best films. I don't know whether there is a piano but they do have pianos on some of the bases. There is a guitar which I will probably take if I think about it. I haven't really thought about what I'm taking.

[16:32] Bill Pilkington: It's quite a long time, isn't it?
Jeremy Bailey: Yes.
Bill Pilkington: Jeremy was saying he's been so involved getting in his equipment underway. But what else is there? if he get's down there and he's left one dry battery at home . . .
Jeremy Bailey: Well the interesting thing is: my supervisor was one of the first people who went to Halley Bay. He was there when they opened up the base.
The organisation was a little bit chaotic with an atmosphere of humour. In fact they lived rather comfortably. The later thing that went wrong was the mains transformer for the radio transmitter burned out and they didn't have a spare and there was a radio operator who only knew how to operate radios; he didn't know what was inside at all. So the only other chap was this fellow who I know. He knew a lot about what was inside the radio but didn't have a clue about how to use them So faced with this problem, they have to communicate with the outside world and if you don't have a spare mains transformer you are in a pretty sorry state. So he just took it to bits and he threw away the burned bits of wiring, tied all the rest of the wire together and he rewound it. I said "But surely the wire wasn't the same length?" He said "We weren't in a position to worry about that [laughter] But it happened to work." So if you plan properly, you don't have that. I mean I had to think very hard about spare parts. On oscilloscopes, for example, I wrote to the firm and asked for a spare mains transformer. They immediately wrote back and said "We have never ever had one of these break in any of our oscilloscopes so please tell me exactly why you want it and if it is faulty, we will gladly give you a spare."
Bill Pilkington: Yes, quite
Jeremy Bailey: to put on the boat. So I phoned him up (it's much better to talk on the phone) and said Look chum I know one of these has never lasted but in my position, if one does bust, because they are the only component in the whole thing which I couldn't replace.
and if it blows, the rest of the equipment will be sitting there doing nothing. If that thing broke, there's no reason I know why but there is nothing else I can use to replace that. So he said Yes but, andthen he made a list of other things you could almost say the same of. I said well if you know so much more about it, why don't you compile me a list of things I ought to take? Which he undertook to do; in fact he did, and the first thing on the list was a mains transformer.

[19:35] Marjorie Pilkington: How long has the base been in existence?
Jeremy Bailey: Since about 1957.
Bill Pilkington: It's certain to be a fascinating experience, isn't it?
Jeremy Bailey: There are all sorts of people who have been to the South Pole, seventeen times, but there aren't many people who have been down there even once.
Bill Pilkington: Presumably you can get out and sort of . . . at Halley go over the ice floes or something. A bit of exercise. It must be terribly cramped.
Jeremy Bailey: Oh yes, yes. You've got miles and miles of flat pure land or rather ice. It goes on for a very long way.
Bill Pilkington: What life is down there? Could you go sort of shooting polar bear or bagging penguins?
Jeremy Bailey: No, there are no polar bears in the Antarctic. There are penguins and seals. People do shoot seals; people do shoot penguins as well. Apparently a penguin is a very difficult thing to kill because it has adapted itself to live in a very cold climate, and although its brains and its head, its brain doesn't have its usual functions of a brain. It doesn't control movements of the body and general manipulation of its structure.

[21:05] Marjorie Pilkington: Oh is that so?
Jeremy Bailey: Its dexterity and so on is controlled by some other organ in the body and so even when you have killed it, the thing still looks to be alive. It's rather difficult to define when a penguin is really dead. Perhaps that's what's the matter with our own trollies.
Marjorie Pilkington: That is the answer. We've got central heating.
Jeremy Bailey: So there we are, our clip; orders for penguins eggs.
Marjorie Pilkington: I want a penguin.
Jeremy Bailey: You want a penguin? Dead or alive?
Marjorie Pilkington: Alive.
Jeremy Bailey: The poor thing would be unhappy.
Bill Pilkington: It could live in the fridge, couldn't it?
Marjorie Pilkington: Or in our fish pond with our fishes.
Jeremy Bailey: Well I think it really is about time that I was thinking of going. Yes I have been here too long. It's seven minutes to get here.
Bill Pilkington: All right I will be seeing you in about a year or a little more.
Jeremy Bailey: A little more, yes.
[22:45] ENDS

Transcribed by Andy Smith, November 2025.

[19 Nov 2025]