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Top of SectionThe below list, in chronological order (oldest first), is a diary based account of our expedition, how it came about & its planning [though some may call it organized chaos], with asides, anecdotes and thoughts at the time. Not everything is listed, many contacts were chased to no avail, but hopefully it will aid as a guide. Dates are given where possible.
Initials used as abbreviations:
JB: John Bradley JP: James Passmore KB: Kirsty Brown PS: Paul Seaman CJ: Chris Jenner DS: Doug Shearman AJ: Alan Johnson AT: Antony Taylor
Pre Expedition Diary:
June 1991: London, PS asks for an early viva so he can attend a dive trip The external examiner DS relates the ikaite story to PS, on discovering that he is a diver.
June 1991: Scapa Flow, Orkneys PS relates the same to JP & AT
Good UK diving comes and goes
JP/AT/PS decide to look at possibility of diving in Greenland
May 1994: Meeting is arranged with DS at Imperial College (IC), to get further information. Meeting is attended by AJ who is working on white smokers [no pun on DS!] Agree to look into the possibility / logistics of going to Greenland The proto expedition has 4 (diving) members.
However, there is one 'minor' problem, despite knowing the name of the fjord, we dont know where it is! The search is not helped by there being usually three different spellings for each place (Danish/Greenlandic/Inuit) in Greenland. At one point we thought we had it located on the east coast, but we eventually got it right - the SW coast.
Meeting of JP/PS/AT, to decide on our largely nominal expedition roles: PS elected after some persuasion as 'Leader' [some have greatness thrust upon them], as he is the more contactable person - being a research student @ IC. AT as a Company Secretary is elected as 'Treasurer'. JP as most experienced diver is elected as 'Diving Officer'.
05 June 1994: Copy of a letter is sent to the 3 main diver magazines (Diver/Scuba World/Sports Diver), requesting information on diving/conditions/local area in the hope that somebody may know the area. JP awaits the replies to come flooding in!
07 June 1994: Spoke to George Brown BSAC Expeditions Advisor, He was very interested in the trip and said that it fulfilled the expedition requirements to receive some BSAC funding c/o The Jubilee Trust. He also confirmed our previous DIVER review, ie. That there had been no previous BSAC expeditions to Greenland, due to difficulty in getting there and cost. However he did know of diving being carried out by some Joint Services Expeditions who reported it to be rather tedious due to a deficit of marine life - the fjords being swept clean by glacial ice every winter
[Thought that this may not apply to our area considering its relatively low latitude, but even if true, would not greatly affect our trip as we were going to look at some rocks and not the fauna.]
He could not be of much more help at the time but has promised to research it for us.
05 July 1994: Write to David Bridgewater, (ex DS student) and ex Deputy Head of the Geological Survey of Greenland, in the hope that he can give us some contacts etc.
July 1994: Long telephone conversation with Dr C. H. Emeleus - the geological mapper of Ikka Fjord in the sixties. Dr Emeleus sends us copies of his geological maps and photographs of the fjord.
21 July 1994: Enthusiastic response, giving moral support from Dr Eric Robinson - President of the Geologists Association.
August 1994: Letters appear in Scuba World and Sports Diver magazines
September 1994: Discovered there was a NATO base in the next fjord and made our first contact with S?ren Lund, the Naval Attach? at the Royal Danish Embassy (London). Several phone calls by S?ren to AT, with information, following an initial letter. Informed that we would need to liase with the Danish Polar Centre (DPC).
AJ/PS go to Royal Geographical Society (RGS) to discuss our ideas with an expedition advisor
Speak to Henning Thing, Head of the secretariat for the DPC Henning visited the Ikka area in Summer 1994, to discuss the establishment of tourism in the area and the setting up of a nature reserve (including Ikka fjord). The area supports a large Musk Ox population. Henning mentions that there is another expedition planning to go to Ikka to study the unusual marine fauna.
On asking whether we might encounter Polar Bears - with the need therefore to take a firearm - Henning tells us that 'only if we're very lucky!!'
October 1994: Letter appears in Diver magazine.
07 October 1994: KB replies to letter in Diver, enquiring whether she could be considered as a member. [Other than this reply and another in Feb. 1995 from an Icelandic Diver also wishing to join the team, these letters produced no other replies] A meeting with JP/PS/AT is arranged, and KB is accepted onto the team The proto expedition has five members.
19 October 1994: George Brown has not furthered anything . Further communication by ourselves has found out that there is no equipment available from the BSAC.
12/13 November 1994: AJ/JP/PS/AT attend RGS Expedition Planning Workshop, to gain further insights into expedition planning & logistics, to seek out possible leads on equipment and further members [Following this workshop, we realize that our expedition fulfils the requirements of a 'good' expedition - and is likely to get some funding. With this and other moral boosts, we decide to make a GO of the expedition.]
30 November 1994: Submission of our first budget and expedition aims etc to IC Exploration Board. The budget assumes that the expedition will comprise 6 diving members and the possibility that DS may attend, for some of the time. Budget comes to ?28,201 Exploration Board requests that the budget be re thought, and re drafted. The sixth member proposed is Paul Easton - a Dr friend of JP
01 to 05 December 1994: PS/AT visit Copenhagen to meet DPC / Danish expedition members. DS arrives separately to give a lecture on ikaite to the Danes The Danes decide to make a geochemical study of the ikaite, as well as their original intention of a zoological survey.
07 December 1994: Meeting of the IC Exploration Board accepts our modified budget and gives us provisional approval.
Early December 1994: CJ is put forward by PS as an expedition member, to replace Paul Easton The proto expedition has six members Production of a full colour Expedition Prospectus Establishment of an expedition account and an initial deposit of ?500 is asked from the proposed members.
15 January 1995: Letter is written to Rolf Darville - The Danish Royal Navy diver at Gr?nnedal, with regards possible assistance and diving conditions in general. [due to bureaucracy, this letter came to no avail, however in the field Rolf was extremely helpful to us]
25 January 1995: DS/PS/AT Met with S?ren Lund, Danish Naval Attach?, to discuss progress of expedition. Plans for a grandiose buffet didn't materialize, and the four ended up in the IC senior common room canteen!!!
Early 1995: Applications for funding and company sponsorship is sought. [Like getting blood out of a stone.] Following chasing over ?500 initial contribution AJ pulls out of expedition Expedition is back to five members
13 February 1995: Formal application to the DPC
28 February 1995: Submit grant application form for the Gilchrist Educational Trust [the application was successful]
04/05 March 1995: KB/CJ/JP/PS/AT Attend a Nautical Archaeology Society - Archaeology Underwater Course
07 March 1995: Applied to British Sub-Aqua Jubilee Trust for financial backing
10 March 1995: JP to Stirling SUT conference, in search of further guidance on diving in arctic conditions and on the look-out for possible sponsors, bits of equipment, not least a coring device. [useful discussion with members of the British Antarctic Survey, but unfortunately no sponsors or equipment]
Mid March 1995: Attend the Diver show in London, in search of sponsors and equipment. Make an enquiry to Diving Diseases Research Centre (DDRC) with regards recompression chambers in Greenland / North America. Following a promise to lend us some drysuits in December, DUI approached to confirm the arrangement, which it was. Greatest success was in obtaining the loan of a Lowrance GPS/Echo sounder unit from their main importers - Simpson Lawrence.
7 April 1995: Reply from DDRC re Recomp chambers - No knowledge of any chambers in Greenland. [a fact confirmed by the Rolf on arriving in Gronnedal] Novice Theory lessons and exam given at JP's house Lessons are attended by JB who the team are considering as an expedition member
April 1995: JP attends (3 Day) Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Diver First Aid course, to revise medical skills. [Departure date for the shipping of the bulk of our kit is set for May just as originally envisaged, suddenly the time seems impossibly short, a lot of equipment is still to be obtained]
8/9 April 1995: Training weekend attempted at Swanage, however due to conditions, little is achieved. JB is provisionally accepted into the team. Still discussing the merits of team size vs. cost etc.
19 April 1995: Pool training is started at LGUSAC / TGSAC for CJ and JB
21 April 1995: Our first bit of media publicity c/o JP with an article in the Wandsworth Borough News, the article is repeated with a few changes in the Putney & Wimbledon Times and Brentford, Chiswick & Isleworth Times. The team is finally set as six members: JB/KB/CJ/JP/PS/AT
Easter 1995: Got hold of the equipment from the IC exploration board store, on trying to erect the tents, realize this is a task similar to the logical problems on the 'Krypton Factor' or putting up a DIY kit without the instructions. Managed to erect three large tents, two of which are assembled from a variety of parts and a lot of jerry rigging. Leave up tents, so that we may waterproof them and mend the holes, not helped by the resident puppy who adds his own. Still hoping that someone will lend us a boat and engine.
May 1995: All the big bits of equipment are finally assembled. In total we shipped out three normal pallets plus a larger specially built container.
03 June 1995: Medical questionnaire sent out by JP - All members were already in possession of a certificate of fitness to dive, (which is a stipulation of BSAC membership) - To get an accurate record of blood groups, drug and other allergies etc
05 June 1995: AT's continually revised budget: ?19,751 (per capita contribution is ?2350) Still no DUI drysuits - And none came !!!!
13 June 1995: Contact Northern Diver re Drysuits, they can't lend us any, but willing to sell us some suits at a reasonable discount.
01 July 1995: PS flies out to Greenland, to supervize the shipping of our kit from Gr?nnedal to Ikka and arrange the transfer of ourselves to Ikka from Arsuk when we were to arrive approx. 2 weeks later. [All done in the name of saving money but, a lot of hassle and time for little gain]
04 July 1995: Draw up a list of 70+ small items that we still need. 05 July 1995 Notified of Jubilee Trust Award
06 July 1995: Last minute panic, as someone forgot to get some new filters for the compressor Though we did pack some material to repack them, as a last resort
07 July 1995: 3 am: Apply the last coat of varnish to our home made clipboards Noon: Compressor filters arrive as promised, and even ordered the correct ones which wasn't bad from memory. Arrive at Heathrow just a bit over loaded, 24 Kg for one of our bits of Hand luggage! 6.30pm Depart Heathrow
08 July 1995: Flying over Greenland, from Iceland took us over the East coast, where the landscape is covered in glaciers. First thoughts were that we hadn't brought enough film.
On arriving at Narsarsuaq - an old american air base at the end of a glacier valley. We discover that PS had managed to arrange for us to leave our valuable 'hand luggage' with the Greenlandic tourism agency, with the idea that they would put it on a boat going down the fjord, to save us carrying it on our planned hike - to fill in time before catching the coastal ferry.
However there was a small catch, rather than the five days we had envisaged, we would have to do it (50Km) in three to ensure that we met it. We also had an hour to catch the last boat across the fjord.
Spent the evening sitting around a driftwood fire, drinking beers that we had cooled down on a stranded iceberg. Unfortunately JB used the same method to keep the milk cool overnight & when we woke up the iceberg had gone.
09 July 1995: First day of serious walking, took us along the fjord side in the morning, and past several buildings, though there was no sign of life. Then the ascent began & up & up & up, all made the more harder because there are no paths. But _amazing_ views at the top and then our descent, this was a little disheartening as we knew that we would have to climb up again in the morning, but there was no other way.
10 July 1995: Raining! Stopped for lunch near a hut, only to realize when we approached it, that it had been blown off its foundations and was lying on its roof. Discussed splitting up so that the fitter members could definitely meet up with the equipment, but decided to wait until the following morning. Then the dreaded assault, culminating in a steep pegmatitic scree slope - according to the guide books the name of the mountain Nakkaalaaq means Black Crumbly Scree, which is also apparently what Karakorum means.
Spent the night at the side of a lake in a massive corrie at about 500m, the floor of which resembled a moonscape, comprising of literally, crushed rock, like some giant steam roller had been moving back and forth
A quote in the guide book says of this place, ' If night-time sleep down by the lake is ruined by complaining or dismal cries, the culprits are breeding Great Northern Diver' !!!
11 July 1995: We reach Narsaq, in time to meet the boat, but when it arrived our kit was not on it. In fact we had to wait until the 13 to be reunited with our equipment, it arrived just in time to lifted off the first vessel so that we could carry it onto the second.
In our days of R & R, we got to thinking, If there are no trees in Greenland over about 2 ft tall, why is it that most of the buildings are made from wood?
There must also have been a good entrepreneur around, because, although the fjord was 8/10 covered in ice, they were selling it in the local shop!
13 July 1995: Travelling through sea ice is just... well surreal. Ice is always present though in differing amounts, but the sea is becalmed, despite there being a continual breeze.
Most bergs are bumped out of the way, or break up under the bows, but occasionally the ship comes to a grinding and sudden halt.
The mountainous coastline and colourful seascape is awesome, and thoughts, soon turn to the fact that we shall soon be diving in this water and it could be much colder than expected. The silent anticipation is deafening!!
14 July 1995: Getting off the ferry involved boarding a small motor launch and being driven ashore. PS had arranged a fishing boat to pick us up, and so it was that we arrived in Ikka in the early hours of the morning.
The journey reminded me [JP] very much of the book ' By Eskimo, Dog Sled and Kayak', well almost.