Antarctic Clothing Issued To Crew Of N.Z. Frigate

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28159, 24 December 1956, Page 12

Antarctic Clothing Issued To Crew Of N.Z. Frigate

(From Our Own Reporter)

Aboard H.M.N.Z.S. Hawea, 49deg South. December 22. With the barometer dropping steadily all day. and the wind backing to the north—in these latitudes the signs of a westerly gale—Antarctic clothing was issued to the ship’s company of the Hawea late this afternoon. As Petty Officer Harold Gillard made the entries. Leading Stores Assistant John Bell checked off the list as each man made his choice: “String vest, one; combination suit, one: white jersey, one; balaclava, one; trousers, foul-weather, one; smock, foul-weather, one. Each sailor came down a companionway, picked up his gear, crossed the deck and signed the book, then moved along to his mess, his arms loaded down with the fleecy-lined, quilted jackets and pants, oilskins, and gloves. By tomorrow.they may be in full use. The escorting frigates Pukaki and Hawea made rendezvous with the New Zealand Antarctic ship Endeavour shortly before 6 a.m. today, after a grey, overcast dawn. They took up stations, the Hawea to port and the Pukaki to starboard, and reduced speed to the Endeavour’s cruising speed of 10 knots.

With a following wind and following sea, all three ships are rolling easily.

A film was shown on the quarterdeck of the Hawea last night for ratings and petty officers, and this evening the wardroom was shown an English comedy. New Zealand Broadcasting Service transmissions are still being received strongly, and many men are looking forward to speaking by radio-tele-phone to their families and sweethearts on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Today, 74 radio messages were sent to New Zealand. “That’s the heaviest we’ve ever handled from here,” said Telegraphist Bruce Wilson. The Hawea’s off-duty sailors—the watch below—laid aside their magazines and cards briefly this evening when a new voice was heard on the mess decks over the ship’s intercommunication system. In a five-minute tane-recorded address. Mr Robert Willis, a hydrographer of the Oceanographic Institute of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, told them something of the work he is doing on board—with their help. Every two hours, Mr Willis or one of his assistants among the crew lowers over the stern a bathythermograph to measure he temperature of the water down to considerable depths. This research, said Mr Willis, was of long-range benefit to commercial fishermen and the Navy. “Other nations have made progress in charting the temperature of the waters around New Zealand and elsewhere in the Pacific.’’ he said. “Before this survey, it appeared that they would know more about them than we did”

Mr Willis, although a “passenger.” is one of the hardest-working men on board. To find the time to record his

address, he had to dash down to his cabin after the 6 p.m. temperature observations, push aside the surface thermograph chart on which he had been working, sketch out a rough draft of his talk, and then hurry down to the after radio cabin to record it. Even then he had to give the last minute or so of the talk without notes or rehearsal. A few minutes later, he was on deck again for the 8 p.m. temperature observations. Mr Willis’s work, with that of his three colleagues in the Pukaki, will add considerably to New Zealand’s knowledge of the ocean. His talk was given at the suggestion of Commander William Brown, the Hawea’s captain, and .was recorded for broadcasting by Leading Radio Electrician Mechanic Garth Skelton, of Christchurch.