Christmas at the South Pole? Are you sure you don't mean the North Pole? No, I mean the South Pole; Antarctica, the frozen contin ent. I was just a young 20 year old seaman, (deckhand if you will), serving aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Glacier and I was about to embark on a journey of a lifetime. Glacier was a 300 foot vessel designed specifically to break ice and a clear a channel for ships to resupply various scientific stations and Mcmurdo Station in Antarctica. Mcmurdo Station is a base which is staffed year round by Navy and civilian personnel. It has a medical and dental clinic, a great chow hall, and a little convenience store. It even had the Acey/Deucy Club, a fine establishment for thirsty sailors.

Our 5 month round trip journey to the South Pole began in October 1973 as we sailed from our homeport of Long Beach, California. Talk about change of scenery! We went from sunny California to the ice and snow of Antarctica. I must say though, I was enjoying the trip because we stopped in Hawaii, Tahiti, and various countries in South America. But, that changed when we arrived in Ushuaia, South America. Ushuaia is located on the southern tip of Argentina and it is considered to be the southernmost city in the world. Let me tell you, there was nothing southern about that place other than its location. It was, as some would say the "end of the earth". Cold, cloudy, wet, and barren surrounded by mountains. But, this was just a preview of what was to come.

After refueling and resupplying our stores (groceries), (what! no milk?), and our last mail call for some time, we were off to the South Pole. By now, it was getting close to Christmas and most of us had gotten our holiday gifts and letters so we were starting to get into the spirit. Boy, did that change in a hurry. For many of us this was our first trip "south". We spent a few days crossing Cape Horn and Drake's Passage enroute to our destination. Some folks believe this stretch of water is the nastiest and roughest body of water in the world. For days we rocked and rolled in rough seas. At times, Glacier "took" upwards to 50 degree rolls to the port and starboard sides. It was said she could withstand rolls up to 65 degrees before flipping over, not a very comforting thought for any of us. You could not eat or sleep and you were actually strapped into your rack (bed). You didn't want to eat, smell, or look at food. Saltine crackers and buckets were a standard issue. And, through all of this the evaporators which change saltwater into fresh water had broken down. Oh boy! There is nothing like a cold salty shower.

By now, we were a tired, hungry, depressed crew. But after about 2 months and some 9,000 miles later we made it to the beginning our operations at the South Pole. As we started to make our way into the "ice" it started to feel like the holidays. Our ship was painted bright red (better for aircraft to see you in the ice) and Antarctica was really stunning with all of the ice and snow in the bright sunlight. Yes - sunlight, 24 hours of it from September and into March. This period is considered the summer season, if you consider single digit temperatures with a wind chill of -30 degrees summer. Well, we did have a heat wave of sorts when the temperature soared into the teens a few days. The reason we go to the South Pole in the summer is because it is virtually impossible to be there in the winter season. It is completely dark with strong winds that can cause the weather to stay well below freezing with wind chills of up to -100 degrees. In fact, the coldest recorded temperature in history of - 128 was recorded here. 

As we began breaking the ice, sometimes as thick as 20 feet, it was pretty obvious this was not a simple matter. The procedure was to ram the ice or lay up on it until it broke and then back up and do it again. This was done 24 hours a day. It took 9 days to reach Mcmurdo Station which was 18 miles away. Needless to say, sleep was almost non-existent. Couple that with standing watches and the sun shining all the time, and after a while it didn't matter what time or day it was. In fact, you didn't know what time or day it was.
 

    

 

Christmas Day finally arrived. I remember being on the "bridge" at midnight as the Deck Officer announced to the crew that it was Christmas. After being relieved of my watch at 0400 I went down to the galley. As I approached I could smell the bread, cakes, and cookies baking. As I entered the galley I could see all the cooks scurrying around like Santa's Elves starting to prepare for our Christmas dinner. This day really seemed to have everyone upbeat and festive. Considering where we were and what we were doing it didn't seem so bad. I remember Cookie Jones, our baker, wearing a large Santa hat and he really seemed to be in the holiday spirit. Heck, he even had a red nose. Little did I know Cookie had been putting some extra holiday cheer in his coffee. Although many of us were in the holiday spirit some married crewmembers were a little down because they missed their families. We enjoyed a large holiday feast hosted by Santa on the mess deck, complete with red and green "bug juice" (Kool-Aid) and that great tasting? "Powdered milk". As we were on an operational mission it was business as usual with everyone doing their assigned duties and standing watches. But, we all took time to celebrate and enjoy the day. 

  

 

  

We did have a few special things for Christmas. Everyone aboard was allowed 5 minutes to talk to their families and loved ones. How was that done? Well the year was 1973 and there was no internet, no Facebook, no cell phones (I don't think we would have gotten a good signal at the South Pole anyway). No sir, we used HAM. What is HAM? It is radio communication which allows you to talk to anyone in the world. In order to do this you are sitting in a small cubicle with the HAM radio operator. The radio operator contacts another radio operator on his frequency from any state or country who, in turn, may contact another until they were able to reach the person you wanted to talk to. Pretty neat huh? Only problem is everything you say can be heard by the radio operators and every time you finished talking you had to say "over" so the other person knew when to start talking. Trust me, this was a big deal at the time and it really lifted the crew's spirit. I love you, "over". I miss you "over". You wrecked the car? "OVER". One other holiday treat was we got to watch movies all day long on the mess deck. Remember, there was no DVD, no Blu-Ray, and no Netflix. Nope, instead we enjoyed good old movie reels and a projector with a screen. The big movie of the day of course, was "Santa Clause Conquers the Martians". It was a good movie except the film kept breaking and it had to be spliced. Also, the "special effects" caused by the screen moving because of the constant breaking of ice was a little hard on the eyes.
 

       

As the day drew to a close and night time arrived, I think it was night, but it was hard to tell with the sun shining, we, the deck department, went through the ship singing Christmas carols. When we arrived on the bridge the Captain let us use the ship's PA system and he even joined in and sang with us. Standing there overlooking all the ice and snow with Antarctica's volcano Mt. Erebus in the distance was just unbelievable. All in all it was a pretty good Christmas, even if it was at the South Pole.....

 

 

 

If you liked Dennis's experience let him know.   

 

 

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New year to all!

  

 

 

  

  

 

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