Beyond Endurance: An Epic of Whitehall and the South Atlantic

by Nicholas Barker

  Having returned to the Falkland Islands the Flight were disembarked as were the surveyors and the Royal Marine Detachment prior to the ship’s planned passage up to Montevideo where the replacement Royal Marine Detachment is to be embarked.

  This report concluded by referring again to my anxiety about the political situation and, predictably, to the campaign to save the ship, the impasses at Whitehall and the folly of Britain turning her back on the massive untapped potential of Antarctica. I added, ‘It can only be hoped that it is not too late to secure our rightful advantage in an area which has been largely pioneered by British adventurers, British scientists, and the Royal Navy.’

  On 25 March the Buxtons were reunited with their daughter, Cindy. Maria Buxton wrote:

  The great day has dawned, sadly dull and damp. We were due to fly out at nine – that is from the ship to the beach – but the helo developed oil pressure troubles, so Daddy and I finally got off at 10.30. At 9.30 I spoke to Cindy on the radio. It was marvellous to hear her voice. We finally got off and it’s only a short flight from Royal Bay to St Andrew’s. On the way I took photographs of herds of reindeer on the mountains. And there they were; two tiny figures armed with cameras, a tiny hut and a huge Union Jack doing its best to fly in the windless conditions. I had my camera out too, and photographed them as well. Hope the pictures come out.

  We had a rapturous welcome; both girls looked wonderful. Cindy much better than usual and Annie her usual blooming self. Goodness, it was good to see them. We took our awful orange suits off to return them to the helo, which was going back to Endurance to fetch the film crew who tactfully left us alone and filmed us at a distance from the penguin colony and seals.

  The hut – that’s the hut the two girls are living in – is tiny, but superbly neat and tidy. Two bunk beds run the width of the end wall. Two windows opposite each other, a tiny table or shelf along the dividing wall, a chair, a stool and a door; that’s their living quarters, bookshelves right up above the bunk. Heaven knows where their clothes are. Next comes the tiny kitchen, the shelves for perishable stores in use, through this to the lobby where coats are hung, cameras etc. and that’s it. 12 feet by 7 foot 6 inches at the most. Outside the front door is a platform and on it the loo; built by Endurance’s carpenters a wooden throne with wooden cistern, a ball and chain hanging from it.

  On the seaward side of the hut is a huge red tarpaulin where all the food – tins, of course, is kept; The tarpaulin weighted down by huge stones. Then round the end, opposite to the front door, a green tarpaulin where they keep heaven knows what. I think suitcases, skirts and shirts, and fuel, probably paraffin for the tilley and for the primus stove.

  Penguins everywhere and very tame once the chopper had gone. They are madly inquisitive and poke their noses into everything, but the hut isn’t among the main colony. Far too smelly. But there must be 20–30 thousand on the beach in the bay. King penguins are lovely birds, about 3 feet tall, with lovely yellow markings behind their ears, if they have any, and down their chest a little way with an orange red slash on the lower beak.

  Whilst the Buxtons enthused about and recorded the flora, fauna, and wild life of South Georgia we got on with the embarking and sorting out of the Joint Services expedition. We lifted all their stores out from Royal Bay. The next day we went round to Grytviken, where Lord Buxton and his daughter discussed the progress of the film being made for Anglia TV’s ‘Survival’ programme.

  The Buxtons also visited the partly ruined small Norwegian chapel at Grytviken. The small organ is still there, and the hymn books are open at the appropriate page for a carol service that took place in 1960. There is also a Russian Orthodox prayer book and a Roman missal. This small church clearly served the various denominations of the whaling community. Perhaps the strangest thing of all is that the Christmas tree was still standing although now rather decorated with cobwebs. It is as if the Christmas worshippers walked from the church and vanished into the ether.

  There were hugs and laughter as the Buxtons said their goodbyes. It was, after all, just five weeks to 20 April when they were scheduled to meet again. In the event it was a schedule that would be broken. The war had started by then.

  On 19 March we arrived off Port Stanley on the kind of day that is all too rare in the Falklands. The sky was blue except for a few fluffy white clouds and the sea was a calm deep blue. At 11.30 that morning we picked up reports of an Argentine Lear jet ‘in trouble’ over Stanley. This was, of course, a reconnaissance flight. We also had news of overflights of South Georgia by a C130 Hercules aircraft. This too was unexceptional. Cindy had told us she had seen them many times.

  In my report I mentioned the increasing crescendo of bellicose remarks being found in the Argentine press and my deepening suspicions about the combination of Constantine Davidoff, the scrap man, and the Argentine Navy.

  On the evening of the same day a message was received from the BAS in South Georgia reporting the presence of ARA Buen Suceso at Leith. The Argentine flag had been hoisted, shots were heard and military men had been seen ashore. The message was passed to the Governor and I spoke to the Base Commander at Grytviken late that night for confirmation. At 06.30 the following morning (20 March) the Governor came on board to discuss the situation with me, to speak personally to the Base Commander and to issue instructions. When this was completed signals were sent to the FCO and Naval Authorities informing them of the situation. For the time being, at least there was very little more that the Governor or I could do. And the ship was among friends in Stanley; we were not going to allow the Argentines to spoil that.

  The ship’s company were in particularly good spirits and put on a winning performance in the Stanley Shield, a local FA Cup. This success was followed by a splendid buffet supper given by the Manager of Cable and Wireless, Mr Iain Stewart and his wife Hulda, where our officers joined the Hunts, the Buxtons and a number of local friends. Despite the deepening crisis there was a mood of jovial determination at the party. I believe everyone sensed the conflict to come and in a typically British way responded with resilient cheerfulness. The mood was shattered in the middle of the party when an eminently moist duty officer put a damper on the evening. He had come ashore by boat in very heavy weather with the signal we had anticipated:

  C-in-C Fleet is sending instructions to Capt. HMS Endurance to leave for South Georgia at 0930 21st. March.

  Our first Council of War, for surely that was what it was, was held right there in Hulda Stewart’s kitchen. Plans were made to re-embark the flight immediately. The ship’s Royal Marine detachment was to be beefed up to platoon strength with nine marines from the Falkland garrison. The surveyors, we decided, should remain in Stanley and continue their work using the survey launch.

  Lord Buxton was then brought out of the party because he and Maria had been expecting to go to Montevideo in Endurance. I arranged a boat for them at first light next morning to remove their baggage and an onward flight to Argentina.

  Rex Hunt came on board the following morning and spoke to Steve Martin, the Base Commander, on the radio. He asked for the following message to be delivered to the leader of the Argentine shore party in Leith:

  1.

  You have landed illegally at Leith without obtaining proper clearance.

  2.

  You and your party must go back on board the Buen Suceso immediately and report to the base commander, Grytviken, for further instructions.

  3.

  You must remove the Argentine flag from Leith.

  4.

  You must not interfere with the BAS depot at Leith.

  5.

  You must not alter or deface any of the notices at Leith.

  6.

  No military are allowed to land in South Georgia.

  7.

  No firearms are to be taken ashore.

  Rex then reported the situation to the FCO reinforcing his opinion that the Argentine Navy were using Davidoff as a front to establish an Argentine presence on So
uth Georgia and suggested, that since this was the second violation by Davidoff, the party should be ordered to leave South Georgia even if it did report formally to Grytviken.

  On this occasion the FCO demonstrated the speed with which Whitehall could move in a crisis. They agreed Rex’s instructions to the Base Commander and instructed the Ambassador in Buenos Aires to tell the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the incident was regarded as serious and that if the Buen Suceso did not leave South Georgia forthwith the British Government would have to take whatever action it saw necessary. The Argentine Chargé d’Affaires in London was also summoned and given the same message.

  The FCO had required the Endurance’s change of destination be kept secret from the Falklanders but that was a forlorn hope. Too many of the islanders were aware of, or involved in, the arrangements being made for her originally planned departure for Montevideo. What was more the ham radios were already buzzing with news of the Argentine landing at Leith.

  Then came the announcement that the John Biscoe was returning to Stanley with the new Royal Marine detachment from Montevideo.

  On a cold and bleak Sunday morning, 21 March, Rex Hunt, with Aubrey and Maria Buxton, came aboard to say farewell and Rex spoke to Steve Martin at Grytviken.

  Sir Rex Hunt takes up the story:

  Back in Stanley, shortly after lunch, the new police officer, Ronnie Lamb reported an incident at the LADE, which is actually the Argentine Air Force office. Apparently somebody had entered the office the night before, using a key, draped a Union Jack over the Argentine flag next to the Vice Commodoro’s (Wing Commander’s) desk, carefully removed the trays from the desk, stacked them neatly in the corner and ascribed on the desk top in toothpaste, Tit for tat you buggers’.

  When asked why it had taken him (the Argentine Officer) so long to report the incident, he explained that he had been trying to work out from his English/Spanish dictionary what the words meant.

  Two nights later somebody sprayed the LADE office window with the letters ‘UK OK’ in aerosol paint. These two incidents were magnified out of all proportion by the Argentine press: ‘Barbarous Piratical Reaction – LADE Offices Attacked’ was one of the more sober headlines. Our Embassy in Buenos Aires quoted: ‘The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is alleging that this was a parallel insult to Davidoff’s party hoisting the Argentine flag at Leith’. More realistically, a second official pointed out to Anthony Williams that the Captain of an Argentine Naval Support vessel should not have expected to request permission to enter what Argentine law did not recognize as a foreign territory and that these problems should have been faced before the salvage contract was authorized. This is one point on which we could agree.

  We sailed with John Tippey and his film crew still embarked.

  On the following day at 04.00 I was shaken in my bunk with news that the Bahia Paraiso had disembarked troops and stores and had sailed. We began to plan an operation order for the retaking of Leith and tested the ship’s helicopters and weapons. At 15.30 I received a signal advising me ‘to resume programme’. This was confusing to say the least. Did ‘resume’ mean we were no longer the teeth of the bailiff’s dog on a eviction mission, and were instead to proceed to Montevideo? An hour later this was clarified. We were to continue to South Georgia.

  It was Rex Hunt who finally sorted out the confusion about whether or not we were to continue our passage to South Georgia. After recording his discussions with the South Georgia Base Commander, particularly with regard to the difficulties of maintaining up-to-date activity reports with too few men and too few key observation posts separated by seven hours on the hoof, he adds:

  Davidoff has not only failed to comply with the laws of the Falkland Island Dependencies, he has also allowed his men to act in breach of his contract with Salvessens. I strongly recommend that Endurance be instructed to proceed to Leith and remove all Davidoff’s men, and that Davidoff be told that he has forfeited his right to purchase scrap. I consider that his behaviour over the last three months makes it impossible for the Falkland Islands Government to give their approval for him to carry on with his salvage activities in South Georgia.

  This was Rex at his best. I have no doubt that this signal changed the mood in Whitehall and allowed us to continue our passage to South Georgia.

  At that stage our role seemed to be unequivocal. We were to land and invite Davidoff and the Argentines to leave. We would try to do this by peaceful persuasion and would also try to avoid provoking an incident that could lead to escalation. We were, however, to be fully prepared to respond to opposition.

  By the evening both helicopters were serviceable. One was armed with the sight for the AS 12 missiles and the other with GPMGs (General Purpose Machine Guns) as a helicopter gun ship.

  On 23 March we encountered gale force winds from the north-west. But the warlike wind from Whitehall was waning. A signal from MOD UK to C-in-C Fleet scuttled the anticipated pleasure of throwing the Argentines off the island. It read:

  In view of continued diplomatic activity at ministerial level aimed at allowing Argentine authorities an opportunity to remove party and equipment by Argentine vessel, HMS Endurance should proceed to Grytviken and await further instructions. Pending these instructions, HMS Endurance should not, repeat not, enter nor conduct any Naval operations in the vicinity of Leith harbour. In event that it should be decided that HMS Endurance should remove Argentines and their equipment, contingency, repeat contingency, guidance follows by separate signals.

  We were disappointed. The taking of Leith had been rehearsed carefully and we were rather looking forward to it. We knew the ground well. Each one of the marines had a job to do and the sailors were fully briefed for their backup roles. We were ready and quietly confident of success. To be told to stop everything the evening before we went to work did little for morale, and I was starting to suffer acute toothache. We waited in some frustration for something rather more purposeful. I signalled to the Governor:

  I suggest that Royal Marines could now be used as an observation party and that I take over communications from Grytviken, sending new SITREPS as required. If you agree with these proposals, I will seek agreement from C-in-C (Fleet).

  Meanwhile the MOD UK were clarifying the way the eviction should be handled if it was approved:

  The guidance below should be used if approval is given to remove Argentines and their equipment. On arrival on the scene the Commanding Officer should inform senior Argentine that he is come to convey them back to Port Stanley for onward passage to Argentina.

  After giving party adequate time to get ready, CO should invite them formally to embark on board Endurance. It should be made clear to Argentines there is no alternative but to comply with his instructions and that neither personnel nor equipment can remain on the island. Every attempt should be made to conduct operation in a friendly atmosphere and as low key as possible. Minimal physical force is to be used in order to compel Argentines to comply.

  In this context the CO should be reminded that the Argentine Government may seek to overdramatize the way in which this incident is handled and of the need to ensure that nothing is done that might be seized on as evidence of over-zealousness. Personal arms may be carried only if deemed necessary by CO and then used only for the purpose of self-defence. Firearms are not, repeat not, to be used to compel Argentines to comply. If armed resistance is encountered, landing party is to withdraw to the ship. Further guidance should be sought from London.

  Every attempt should be made to recover boats and equipment to either Port Stanley or Grytviken; if not practicable, equipment should be left in as secure a position as possible. If taken to Grytviken, equipment should be placed in custody of Base Commander. Whilst on board Endurance and in passage to Port Stanley, every effort is to be made to treat the party with due courtesy. If the party refuses to co-operate, the CO has authority, as a last resort, to place them in confinement.

  On arrival in Port Stanley the party should be met and h
anded over to the civil power who will make arrangements for their repatriation to Argentina, together with any equipment which might still be on board.

  It is possible that Buen Suceso may still be in the vicinity. Should she turn up before the party have been embarked, the CO is authorized to hand them over, together with their equipment, and satisfy himself that they have been taken off before returning to Port Stanley. Should the ship be encountered on the high seas, its CO should be informed that the party are being taken to Port Stanley for repatriation to Argentina. This would both help ensure that the party did not double back to Leith and would also avoid the risk of any accident being caused while members of the party were being transferred. Further advise the presence of French yacht at Leith jetty is to be politely, but firmly, told to stand aside.

  Rules for use of small arms based on NUJ (a joint services document) to follow. Suggest numerical rules of engagement drawn from (another publication) are not appropriate at this stage. The above instructions to be read in conjunction with instructions for Endurance.

  So at 06.00 on 24 March, instead of going into action, I went ashore at Grytviken to meet the Base Commander for a full situation update. I was accompanied by the officer commanding our Royal Marine Detachment, Keith Mills, and my Flight Commander, Lieutenant-Commander Tony Ellerbeck. Steve Martin returned with us for lunch accompanied by Bob Headland, an articulate and intelligent boffin who was to become librarian at the Scott Polar Institute at Cambridge.