2011-01-15 ANTARCTICA, Detaille Is., British Base W

Detaille Island lies 2 miles NW of Andresen Island off the west coast of Graham Island. A British station hut was built there in 1956 and called Base W, a centre for survey operations and meteorological measurements. It was built when the area was largely free of sea ice and so it was anticipated that it could be provisioned each year by sea.

However, in the Summer1959 the relief ship John Briscoe arrived with the annual supplies but the sea ice was so thick that it could only get within 30 miles of the base! The team at Base W were given just an hour to pack their personal belongings and travel to the ship.

The base has been abandoned for over 50 years and is now a tourist attraction for intrepid polar tourists who can see such choice of F & B items e.g. Roses lime juice, Marmite, custard, oats and HP sauce!

One bedroom of 240 square feet had 8 bunk beds.