Bouvet facts and figures
1959 Silvio Zavatti Giorgio Costanzo Beccaria
Purported to have visited Bouvetøya 22-25 March on a chartered South African Whale-catcher,
Setter IV [Crawford A. W. 1982]
Source – Chronological List of Antarctic Expeditions and Related Historical Events,
Headland, Robert K., Cambridge University Press 1989
Crawford also notes that some years later, in 1978/9, he got the librarian at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge to
write to Italy and ask Prof. Zavetti for the name of the vessel he had travelled to Bouvet Island on at the time of his expedition –
late March 1959. He received a reply naming her as the whale catcher “Setter IV”.
“Upon hearing this,” writes Crawford, “I considered I held a trump card, as I had known the “Setter IV” quite well. I asked the
Port Captain of Cape Town to let me know the movements of this vessel 20 years before.
“”We have established from harbour pilot logbooks,” he wrote in reply, “that “Setter IV” docked at M berth on 20 March 1959 and
shifted to the Robinson Dry Dock on 3 April. The vessel is recorded next as having sailed from M berth on 15 December 1959. It
can be seen from the above that it is extremely unlikely that “Setter IV” was at Bouvet Island on 22nd and 23rd March 1959.”"
[Crawford pp.175-6] The voyage from Cape Town to Bouvet takes about five days, so Crawford seems to be correct.
Beau says:
22 May 2011 at 4:37 pm
I would like to offer a possible “connection”. Being an old “ham” (in more ways than one) operator I wondered if there could be a
ham radio aspect of this mystery. “DXpeditions” are journeys by ham radio operators with time (and money) on their hands to
travel to remote corners of the globe to make radio contact with other hams all over the earth. A Google search of “bouvet island
dxpeditions” reveals a number of such journeys in the period from the 1970s to present.
But in the commentary above it is mentioned that “First, it is clear that the boat must have arrived on Bouvet at some point in the
nine years between January 1955, when the New Rubble did not exist, and April 1964, when it did.”
Well, in fact, the Google search does indeed make mention of a DXpedition to Bouvet on November 26 to November 28, 1962
(links below). This date falls squarely in our “target” date range.
Abbreviated quotes from the link include “Gus (Browning) went to Indian Ocean with his four friends, W0AIW and so. He made his
second DXpediton alone.
The QSL cards that I had worked with him in his second DXpedition.
Those countries were very rare countries, not much activities were reported or new one.
The most rare one was from LH4C Bouvet Island in his 1962 DXpedition.
He made the first radio operation from the island.
JA1BLC,JA1BK and JA1VX were only JA stations reported to work with LH4C
There is no activities from the island for 15 years till March 1977 by 3Y1VC. After that, 3Y1VC from late 1978
to early 1979, 3Y5X in late 1989 to early 1990 and 3Y0C in 2001 were reported active from the island.”
The link for the above quotes is http://www.qsl.net/ja1dm/englishw4bpd62.htm
Another link makes reference to the 1962 DXpedition at
http://homepage2.nifty.com/JK1DVX/dxcj-2008.htm
Interestingly, it also includes a photo of the radio shack, but from a 2001 DXpedition.
The ham in question, Gus Browning (call sign W4BPD) was apparently a famous radio operator (he died in 1990). Many stories of
his adventures appear at
http://springfieldsc.us/Archive%20page.htm
Tantalizingly, the following quote appears:
“He also told of being adrift in the Indian Ocean in a small boat for several days, a tour through the African jungles, and another,
south of Cape Town, Africa, which took him into the icy waters of the Antarctic Ocean.”
http://springfieldsc.us/Archive%20page.htm#Post 02
I offer the above information solely because it documents a visitor to Bouvet during the time period under examination not
otherwise mentioned in the above commentary. One can imagine various scenarios where the radio operator was dropped off in
the whaler by a mother ship and the whaler was just left there when the the mother ship picked him up to continue his journey.
Or, as quoted above, “being adrift in the Indian Ocean in a small boat for several days”! Could it be?
I have not yet found a detailed description of the journey but I suspect that it exists somewhere. Perhaps someone more skilled in
this type of research can use this tidbit to continue the search..
Beau says:
23 May 2011 at 5:13 pm
Mike,
Here is additional information and comments:
1 – One of the items referenced above is a “copper flotation or buoyancy tank opened out flat for some purpose” found near the
boat. In keeping with the ham radio theory, I am reminded of the need for a “grounding” system to provide for an electrical offset
to the antenna as well as for lightning protection. It seems possible that Gus Browning needed a ground connection, and a
flattened out piece of copper stuck into the earth would do the job….it’s not like he could run down to the hardware store on
Bouvet to purchase a proper ground rod.
2 – Here is a copy of a “QSL card” (a postcard confirming a radio contact) sent out by Gus verifying that he made radio contact
from Bouvet on Nov 29, 1962 http://hamgallery.com/qsl/country/BouvetIsland/lh4c.htm
3 – In a testimonial to Gus, another author reported: He told us once: “I have to QRT (“disconnect”) now and get back in the boat
– my feet are getting wet!” (I’ve misplaced the link but I will look for it).
4 – “73 Magazine” was a ham radio monthly magazine that was published for decades until it shut down in 2003. A search of the
article database produces two listings in the years 1967:
“Gus: Part 28 – Sir Gus lands on Bouvet”, October, 1967
“Gus: Part 29 – Bouvet Island”, November, 1967
The only problem is trying to read these particular issues published 44 years ago. I’m unsure if they have been scanned to
download online. Perhaps some libraries might have them in storage. But I have the feeling that these two sequential articles
(apparently of such length that it had to be split between two issues) would likely make reference to the boat (if he had one) and
it’s disposition when he left Bouvet. If you have knowledge of how to access dated magazine issues, “73″ magazine would seem to
be promising for research.
The link to the database is at
http://www.mikeyancey.com/73mag/listauthor.php?Author=w4bpd
Beau
Mike Dash says:
27 May 2011 at 8:18 pm
Thanks to the extremely efficient staff at the Library of Congress, I am now in possession of both the articles noted
by Beau.
They’re interesting. Gus Browning states he landed at Cape Circumcision, which is about half a mile north of the
Nyrøsa, but his description of the landing spot, a flat area about the size of two football pitches, sounds very much
as though he actually was ashore at roughly the spot where the lifeboat was found. And he had a large (50 gallon)
drum of petrol with him.
However, Browning’s account is explicit as to how he got ashore and off Bouvet again: he hitched a lift on an
icebreaker, and though he was taken to the island by ‘lifeboat’, the boat went back to the ship and returned some
days later to pick him up.
Hence while it might be possible at a stretch to imagine Browning was responsible for the equipment found by
Crawford, the boat must have had another origin. Does this make the ‘flotsam & jetsam’ explanation for the
lifeboat’s presence more convincing? Perhaps, but I still think any storm-tossed lifeboat would exhibit more sign of
damage than the craft in Bouvet’s lagoon.
The search continues…
Reply
•Beau says:
7 June 2011 at 7:53 am
Some more random comments:
1 – We both read the October and November 1967 issues of “73” magazine wherein Gus recounted his
DXpedition. We agree that there was nothing particularly revealing concerning the lifeboat/whaler. Nevertheless,
we must remember that this magazine is targeted to amateur radio enthusiasts and their primary concern is
radios, their technical stats, antennas, etc., not the secondary concerns of how he got there. Believe me, I was a
ham operator in my youth and all you think about is radios. We know that Gus was there during the target
period. The fact that he doesn’t discuss the boats does not mean he wasn’t involved some way.
2 – You will recall that our previous search of 73 under “Bouvet lifeboat” brought up the October and November
1967 issues and with your skill you were able to secure the articles that we read. However, a search of 73 under
merely “Bouvet BOAT” brings up 9 different pages in several issues, 7 of which are in 1967.
See http://hamcall.net/73/?nam=&pw=&search=bouvet+boat
A search of just “Bouvet” by itself brings up 80 pages through the years. Remember, Gus died in 1990 I believe.
I will leave it to you to decide if activating the Library of Congress for these additional issues would be
worthwhile. I believe he was on an extended journey….he did Tristan da Cunha and Gough for example….and he
might just have made just tangential reference to Bouvet in the other issues. Then again, you can’t know for sure
without reading them.
3 – I wonder if it would be worth contacting the heirs of Gus (his wife died in 2007). One would think that he must
have taken many photos on his journey and perhaps made a diary.
4 – As you can see I tend to think, given the few clues available and the fact that we know Gus was there, that he
was somehow involved.
•
Beau says:
11 November 2011 at 10:58 pm
Scott – I refer to my comment made above on 22 and 23 May 2011 regarding the copper tank. I am not an electrical engineer but
have been an amateur (“ham”) radio operator since I was 12 years old. We have established that a ham operator, Gus Browning,
went to Bouvet in 1962 on a “DXpedition” to set up a transmitter there and contact as many other hams around the world from
this location while he was there. His voyage to Bouvet (and other islands) is documented in radio magazines of that era. In any
event, for proper operation of a transmitter, a “ground” connection is necessary as an “offset” to the antenna. One can certainly
imagine that Gus improvised a ground connection by using a tank made of copper (which is an excellent conductor of electricity).
Furthermore, “flattening out” the tank would facilitate inserting it into the frozen earth to maximize the conductivity of the
connection.
While we have no proof that this is what happened, we do know that a radio operator was there in 1962 and could have found a
tank, especially a copper one, to be useful, even necessary to complete his “mission” of broadcasting from a frozen speck in the
southern ocean. And the flattening of the tank makes perfect sense from an electrical engineering perspective.
While the above explanation is possible, we cannot be sure. But I have not read any other plausible scenario. I agree that we
should organize an expedition ourselves to find out for sure. Maybe the Norwegian government would supply our funding:)
CPH says:
17 May 2012 at 7:49 pm
Astonishing story. The boat, however, is almost surely a from a Soviet bird-watching expedition undertaken in November 1958. A
quick consult of the actual piece cited by Mike (by G.A. Solyanik, “Some Bird Observations on Bouvet Island” in: Information
Bulletin of the Soviet Antarctic Expedition 13 (1959), pp. 97-99 reveals this paragraph:
“In November 1958 a group of sailors and scientists from the research vessel of the Antarctic whaling flotilla Slava landed on Cape
Circoncision. Because of an unexpected hurricane, the group was forced to spend three days (November 27-29) on the island,
which gave them the opportunity to explore this poorly studied section.”
The piece goes on to describe the beach and (in great detail), the nesting habits of Antarctic penguins. The location and dating
here are pretty convincing, as is the detail of the dingy coming from a “whaling” flotilla. Its a pretty convincing bit of evidence.
9 people from the Hanse Explorer reached the summit of Bouvet Island on the
20th and 21st of February 2012. This is my personal account of this historic event. I
left a time capsule at the summit containing visions of the future for 2062.
Making History – the first summiteers of the most remote land on Earth.
The sun has gone down on the Hanse Explorer. We made history today. It’s weird to say it like that, it’s
even stranger when I stop to picture the implications. For some time I may have been the youngest to
climb up the seven summits, the highest mountain on every continent. I may still be the youngest to
have skied to the North and South Pole, but who knows. These things mean very little. When you’ve
done such things you always have one record or another; the shortest man ever to climb X mountain, the
only deaf European woman, or who knows what else. However, to have reached Bouvet Island, the most
remote land on Earth, a place where less people had walked than the moon, and to climb to it’s summit,
that is truly history. While no one can ever take it away from us, as there can only be one first, as I
headed down the mountain I had a hint of regret. This was one of the last untouched places on the
planet. I wonder how many will be driven to visit Bouvet now, and climb the extinct volcano as we have?
Bouvetoya is Norwegian territory. It is a World Heritage Site, and it’s been a personal project of my
father’s to visit every one of these sites. When he mentioned Bouvet to me the first time, the first thing
that came to my mind was whether anyone should reach this island at all. It struck my imagination since
this venture had something particularly human about it; if we can go somewhere, than we will. It was the
fact that the ship would be leaving from Cape Horn that reminded me of an old dream of mine: sail from
cape to cape, Cape Horn to Cape of Good Hope. These are both known as the toughest seas on the
planet and I’d first heard about these as a teenager sailing the Pacific Rim on the SV Concordia, a
beautiful Barkentine school ship that sank on the coast of Brazil three years ago. I decided to charter the
Hanse Explorer and bring meaning to my father’s journey by creating a time capsule, inviting people to
send us their vision of the year 2062. To sail from the end of the world to the beginning of civilization in
the hope of reaching the last place on Earth, it seemed fitting to invite anyone to join us, in their own way.
This was only three months ago, an extremely short amount of time to put together such an expedition,
but ever since we put the project in gear, got a film crew together, and a web site up, I started receiving
not only visions of the future, but also plenty of people letting me know how Bouvet Island is a mystical
place for them, one that they either dream of visiting, or simply dream of. As lonely a place as this may
be, there is a whole community of people with their hearts and minds there. This made my journey mean
more than I’d hoped. I definitely wasn’t alone in this.
That said, we are 25 on the ship, 11 of which are passengers, the rest being crew. It is a Germain ship,
but a lot of the crew is from South Africa, and most have been traveling with the ship for close to 6
months now so they are very happy that our final destination is their hometown of Capetown. Everyone
on board feels quite privileged for being a part of the journey, realizing that very few people have ever
sailed these seas.
The landing on Bouvet was rather difficult, but not as difficult as we expected. Two days before our
arrival, the weather forecast cleared up, putting the island, usually surrounded by a heavy mist making
even clear photography a rarity, between two fronts. We arrived in the early morning, with the rising sun,
to discover a beautifully open sight at the island. We may have had the best two days of weather in
years. It was plain odd. Everyone seemed to agree that the stars had lined up for us. Nervous, we set off
with two zodiacs to find the right place to land. Aaron Halstead, our mountain guide, a very experienced
Antarctic expeditioneer from New Zealand, had been studying the only map of the island available, as
well as Google Earth, to not only find the best way to the summit, but most importantly, a good place to
bring our zodiacs in and get us on shore. Circum-nagivating the island we quickly found a beach
previously thought to be an ice wall. We attached both zodiacs with a rope and let one of the get pulled
in by the waves, while the other would quickly pull it back out to sea, a technique we discussed for the
three weeks in took us to get there. It was great to see it not only working, but also being necessary to
our safety. Ten of us reached the shore that first morning, quickly emptying the zodiac of all of our
climbing gear without getting it wet. While we had water up to our knees and some of us up to our waist,
we all managed to remain without injury or unbearable cold. We had planned for this after-all, and had
spare clothing and climbing gear ready.
The volcanic sand was utterly black, a very special sight. This fifty foot beach was just gorgeous, but it
was filled with huge fur seals. We knew from experience at South Georgia that they can be rather
aggressive so we approached the ice wall behind them we extreme caution, eyes all around the group,
ready to snarl back at a seal daring enough to come charging, because they do. It’s not dangerous if you
don’t run, you just have to stand your ground and appear superior. Get bitten though and you may just
leave your life here, especially considering that we are over a week away from any other ship or island.
That’s the real danger of this situation: we are in the most remote place on the planet, and we don’t want
to be reminded of what that can entail.
Aaron had decided to first attempt the summit with the four most experienced climbers, meaning Will
Allen, our cinematographer, my father, and myself. We geared up and headed up the ice wall that would
bring us over the glacier. Within twenty minutes we were above the beach, ready for the long day ahead
of us. Bouvetoya is only 774 meters high, but it is not well mapped, so one of the challenges is the
element of the unknown. It’s hard to conserve your energy when you don’t know what’s ahead.
Furthermore, and most difficult in my case, the time capsule was actually very heavy once we had printed
out all of the visions we’d received. Made of stainless steel, it weighed 18 pounds, empty. I hadn’t
realized what that would represent once we’d be climbing, but all I could think after the first hour was how
heavy a burden the future was.
It didn’t take long for the visibility to considerably drop as well, to the point where we could barely see 10
meters ahead of us. 50km winds came in, and snow, and there we were following the GPS up the
volcano, walking into the unknown otherwise. I was living my metaphor of the future more than I’d ever
wished. It was a seven kilometer walk up a steady hill, and we weren’t halfway there that my legs started
giving in under the weight of my pack. It was extremely hard, and perhaps having not moved much over
the past few days on board the ship might have made it even harder. I’ve always thought that what
makes any mountain worth it, is when you get to a point when you don’t know whether you can go any
further, yet you manage to keep going. In that sense, Bouvet was definitely worth it. With about 150
meters of elevation to go, I exchanged packs with my father, leaving him the heavy weight for the rest of
the way. I don’t know how I could have brought the capsule to the summit without him, which says a lot
about the place my father still holds for me. In those dire moments, he remains there for me.
My mind was not on my father as much as my own daughter actually, and even more on the one that’s
yet to be born. In May I have a second daughter due, and I thought of her more than anything else during
my climb up. She’ll be fifty years old in 2062, and if someone returns to the island to retrieve the capsule,
it may very likely be her. That’s what crossed my mind as I planted the capsule into the ice.
It was while walking down that I imagined having possibly created a climbing destination that day. The
chances of the weather being so kind again may be low, and that beach may even disappear under water
within a few months, but I remembered what first occurred to me when my father mentioned Bouvet, that
if man can go somewhere, he will, and we had just proven that it is indeed possible, and there was
something sad to me about that. Back on board the ship however, as I looked back at the island, it looked
just mysterious to me then as it had when we first arrived, even more so perhaps. I may have visited, but
only to discover how little I would ever know it. It is approximately 50 square kilometers so we hadn’t
seen any of it really, and the tall cliffs that surrounded all of it didn’t make it seem much more welcoming
than it did before.
The following day, while a slept and incredible eighteen hours, a remaining five passengers reached
Bouvet’s summit with Aaron, being the only man to ever climb the mountain twice. These five other
individuals are Sarto Blouin, Seth Sherman, Chakib Bouayed, Cindy Sampson, and Akos Hivekoviks. About
half of the ship’s crew also touched Bouvet’s shore, the other half unable to reach it since the zodiac
almost capsized attempting it. The visibility that second day was near perfect.
We are now sailing westward toward the Prince Edward Islands, hoping to have permission to visit an
island whose wildlife is virtually untouched. That will mean checking all of our clothing for any possible
seeds or dirt from any other destination that could contaminate this eden. Once again, as much as I hope
to see this incredible place, I know it isn’t mine to see. None of this planet is mine to see. I am a
passenger here, a blessed one at that for reaching such foreign shores. We look to the stars for alien life,
but lately I see myself as the alien.
