Iceberg nearly stopped her pension

Press, 6 March 1978, Page 1

Iceberg nearly stopped her pension

NZPA Sydney A New Zealand grandmother will collect her first superannuation cheque only a few weeks after she cheated death on a scientific expedition to the Antarctic. Mrs Dorothy Smith, aged 59, said she watched without fear as an iceberg holed the 18-metre ketch Solo. “I wasn’t scared or frightened, even when I saw all the water pouring in,” she said on the yacht’s return to Sydney at the week-end. “I thought how disappointing it was to have come this far and not finish the expedition, and how I was not going to let death stop me getting my pension.” Mrs Smith will become eligible for New Zealand’s National Superannuation when she turns 60 in three weeks.

A dairy farmer's widow from Onewhero, about 75km south-west of Auckland, she was the only woman among an international crew of eight on the three-month voyage. The trip was first planned by Mrs Smith and her.“old friend,” Dr David Lewis, the oceanographer, round a campfire in the Snowy Mountains. “I was over in Australia to do a trek acoross the mountains on snowshoes,”she said. “David was living here, and he brought his two daughters down to see me. That is when we made up the whole idea.” In spite of her age and sex, she was generally treated no differently from other members of the crew, Mrs Smith said. “There were no concessions at all, except I was released from sailhandling duties because I have arthritis in my fin-

gers,” she said. “I went on watch with all the rest acid helped with the others’ research whenever I cpuld. “But I broke my determination not to wind up being the cook. I got so conscience-stricken about the others handling the sails that I felt I had to take control of the food.” Mrs Smith said she would be prepared to go back tomorrow, but could not recommend a similar trip to women unless they were fit and prepared to tolerate “terribly primitive conditions.” “You have to learn to be dirty,” she said. “I washed about once a week with cold salt water while I was sitting on the toilet. It was very difficult. If a wave came along, you would hit the -roof.” Mrs Smith, a former mountaineer, said she kept herself fit by doing yoga

and making regular trips to Mount Ruapehu, where she is captain of the Rangatira Ski Club. She made her own clothes for the expedition, padding rubber gumboots with two layers of dacron and sewing thick quilted jackets. “None of my clothes were too cold, they kept me snug and warm the whole trip,” she said. Conditions on the yacht had been cramped and she was forced to lend her berth to other members of the crew while she was on watch. “I would have thought we would all have been sick of one anctther by the time we got back, but it hasn’t happened that way,” she said. “I did lose my" cool a couple of times, though.” Dr Lewis, the only other New Zealander aboard and leader of the expedition,

said that an uncharted harbour had been found at Sturges island in the remote Ba’.lenys group. He believes he and his crew were the .first people to step ashore at the inlet. “We were surprised, and excited, even to find it there,” he said. “There is nothing on the maps to say it exists, and unless someone has been there in a helicopter we were 'he first to explore it.” The expedition was the maiden venture of the Oceanic Research Foundation, of which Dr Lewis is president. It was made to obtain biological and geographical information, and Dr Lewis said it would take six months of analysis to complete the work. Specimens of plants and birds thought restricted to other areas of the Antarctic were discovered. Evidence was also obtained to suggest icebergs

I disintegrated through the action of heavy seas more than because erf the sun’s heat. > Dr Lewis, who has : twice sailed single-handed to the continent, said that I heavy seas during the : Solo’s trip were among ; the worst he had encouni tered. At one stage they ; had to hove to for 60 i hours off Macquarie Is- ! land. He said that having Mrs : Smith on board made “for ! a more human atmosphere.” ; The foundation will > search for a larger boat before making any more 1 big voyages, but it has 1 plans to take the Solo to f Torres Strait later this > year to study the habits of > turtles. Dr Lewis also said he f planned to visit Christchurch to arrange an experimental survival tactics expedition to Antarctica s next summer.