Jan-Feb, Mar-Apr, May-Jun 1965 - Navy League of Australia

——#*MARITIMEMAINTENANCEPTY. LTD.For:• Rust Eliminalion• Tank Cleaning• Flame Scaling• Cleaning and Painting,indAll forms of Ships'Husbandry and ServiceConsult:MARITIMEMAINTENANCEPTY. LTD.Shell House, Sydney29-1488 37-8106(D»y)(Night)WORLD'S BIGGEST GAS-TURBINE GENERATORORDER FOR 'ENGLISHELECTRIC'English Electric' has beenawarded a Central ElectricityGenerating Board for ten 25.000KW gas turbo-alternator generatingunits.The order, valued at about£5.000.000 Sterling, is believedto be the world's largest for thistype of plant.The ten units will be installedat the Board's new Cottam. Didcotand Rugclcy B' power stations,to ensure auxiliary supplyfor the stations' 500 MW steamunits, and to perform peak loadduties.AT YOUR SERVICEFor YourHolidayRequirementsaInformation and BookingsCall or TelephoneHOWARD SMITHTRAVEL CENTRESSYDNEY269 George St. Tel.: 27-5611MELBOURNE522 Collins St. Tel.: 62-3111PORT ADELAIDE3 Todd Street. Tel.: 4-1461FREMANTLE1 Mouatt St. Tel.: 5-1071NEWCASTLE16 Watt Street. Tel.: 2-4711CAIRNS18 Abbott St Tel.: 2115 6BALLARATCnr. Lydiard and Mair Sts.Tel.: 2-5462JOIN THE NAVY LEAGUEThe object of the Navy League In Australia, likeits older counterpart, the Navy League tn Britain,la to insist by all meana at Its disposal upon thevital importance of Sea Power to the British Commonwealthof Nations. The League sponsors theAustralian Sea Cadet Corps by giving technical seaThe League consists of Fellows (Annual or Life) and Associates.All British subjects who signify approval to the objects of the League are eligible.training to and instilling naval training in boys whointend to serve in Naval or Merchant services andalso to those sea-minded boys who do not intendto follow a sea career, but who, given this knowledgewill form a valuable Reserve for the Naval Service.MAY WE ASK YOU TO JOIN and swell our members so that the Navy League in Australia may be widelyknown and exercise an important influence in the life of the Australian Nation?For particulars, contact The Secretary'. 66 Clarence Street. Sydney, N.S.W.,or The Secretary, Room 8, 8th Floor. 528 Collins Street, Melbourne, C.l, Victoria.or one of the Hon. secretaries at:• Box 376E, G.P.O.. Brisbane, Queensland a) 30 Pirie Street. Adelaide, S.A.• 11 Quorn Street, Sandy Bay, Hobart. Tasmania 4> 182 Coode Street, Como, W.A• CI- II.MAS. "Melville", Darwin, N.T. 9 60 Limestone Ave., AlnsUe. Canberra, A.C.T.8 THE NAVYpenguins, and the old sealers'digesters and graves. This iswhere the sealers used to huntthe fur seal (which is almost extinctnow) for its skin and oil.In those days of hardship on theisland when the seals left theshores, penguins were often fedinto the digesters to be boileddown.After lunch we proceeded tothe Royal penguin rookeries upthe creek in our search for taggedpenguins. I photographedpenguin chicks and climbed almostto the plateau for photographs.Graham Smith remainedon the beach with his blisteredfeet and by now mangled socksin which he walked all the wayback the two miles to the camp.We returned to the ship onthe last DUKW at 1X30 for dinnerat 2000. The desert for thiswas rather extraordinary as itwas smothered with spirits andset alight. We turned in at 2300after a tiring day in which wehad found no important penguintags. During the afternoon. ProfessorFalls and his wife whocame from Toronto University,Canada, recorded a seal andpenguin sound track for the filmwhich Dr. Carrick is making ofthe fauna on Macquaric Island.While we remained at MacquaricIsland we rose at 0530and had breakfast at 0600. Thefirst DUKW left the ship at0630. One morning we climbedWireless Hill and with JohnDart and Miss Ena Thomas wewent sight-seeing on NorthHead. Here I photographed theSooty Albatross, the BlackbrowedAlbatross with its chickon the cliff face and the MacquaricIsland Blue Eyed Cormoranton the waterfront. Thesebeautiful birds are only foundon Macquarie Island and in noother part of the world, as isthe Royal penguin which has notbeen sighted more than fiftymiles from the island. We visitedthe Rockhopper penguin'srookery and saw a fur seal onMAY - JUNE. 1965the rocks but it was too timidand escaped before it could bephotographed. While we werephotographing the Sooty Albatrossit drew blood from Tom'sfinger which ventured too closefor the bird's liking. But it madea good photograph for theothers.We returned from North Headat 1200 and helped unloadDUKWs until 1230 when we returnedto the ship for lunch,after which we went ashore tounload the DUKWs and help tobuild the refrigeration hut. Tomand I went to where the AntarcticTerns were nesting and wewere dive-bombed by them.After helping to put the tractoraway we returned to the ship at2000 and at 2130 we helped topull the fuel line aboard whichhad pumped fuel ashore to thestorage tanks. We turned in at2300, exhausted after the longday.After breakfast next day, theDUKW left immediately and wehelped unload sand near the sealpen. We then waited for Dr.Ashton, John Penkin and MalcolmGill to go on to the Plateauwhere they were investigatingthe growth rate of the plantswith respect to environment.This was carried out by harvestingsquare metres of vegetationwhich would be dry-weighed andin two months the process wouldbe repeated for comparable results.The vegetation which we encounteredand which was typicalof that on the island was Pleurophyllammasses, Poafoliosa (thelong grass) and Stelbicarpcr(Macquarie Island cabbage,eaten by the scalers in their day).While we were harvesting thisvegetation, the mist and rain onthe plateau soaked us to the skinso that we could not feel ourhands or feet because it was socold. We came down the mountaina little for lunch where weslept for about an hour in thelong grass which sheltered usfrom the chilly winds and rain.Tom and I carried the bags ofharvested vegetation to the biologyhut after which we waitedfor the DUKW to return us tothe ship for dinner at 2000. Determinedto have an early nightwe turned in at 2130 but aftertalking and tomfooling we finallywent to sleep at 2330.The arrangements for Thursday,10th December, were thatwe should go to Half-moon Baytosee the Wandering Albatrossbut for lack of time we went tothe Plateau with Ena Thomasand John Dart. Here we cameacross a wonder of the island!On the top of the plateau (approximately800 feet above sealevel) there were lakes which arebelieved to be quite deep. Afterseeing Scoblc Lake (which wasnamed after an A.N.A.R.E.member who broke through thethin ice while ski-ing back fromBoucr Bay. His companion escaped,but it was days beforeCharles Scoblc's body was retrievedand burned at the lake'sedge), we encountered anotherwonder of Macquarie Island—feather bed. This is floatingground on which one does notget one's feet wet while bouncingon this soft ground. We saw arabbit during our return to theship for lunch. The ship was quiteempty at this stage and the passengershad trouble boarding theship as the DUKW rose and fellfifteen feet in the swell.After lunch Tom and I returnedto the plateau with NellCaine via Cadgets. where we duga thirty foot trench into the terracesnear the plateau. Nell wasinvestigating the internal structureof the terraces as well asexamining the movement of thesoil with respect to frost action.The weather was better than theprevious day's and we returnedto the ship at 1845 via the Doctor'sTrack.At dinner at 2000 the Spanishcook on board had prepared thepassengers the national dish of