The key facts

  • George Clarke from Bristol sets off on his third stint at Port Lockroy as part of a six-person team
  • George Clark from Bristol sets off on his third stint at Port Lockroy station as part of a six-person team
  • Mail from the island is sent on ships heading north — mostly towards the Falklands
  • The team continues the second phase of a three-year plan to strengthen Bransfield House: beams in the roof and 30 supports in the floor
  • The team continues the second phase of a three-year plan to reinforce Bransfield House: beams in the roof and 30 supports in the floor

A postmaster with a thousand penguins

George Clarke, who works in Bristol on festivals and as an artist, holds the post of postmaster at Port Lockroy, the world's southernmost post office, from late October to March — the southern hemisphere summer. For him this is already his third trip to Antarctica as part of a six-person team working for the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT). «The penguins are noisy and smelly. The people are wonderful,» he said in an interview with BBC Bristol, adding that he has fallen in love with the Antarctic wilderness. Goudier Island is home to a colony of about a thousand gentoo penguins.

How the post office works without vans

There is no regular delivery to the island: the team hands sorted, packed and weighed postcards over to passing ships. «We get in touch by email or radio and say: 'Hello, could you take some postcards with you?' — and they always happily agree,» Clarke described the process. The ships head north, mostly towards the Falkland Islands, from where the mail is then distributed around the world. Besides the mail, Clarke is the deputy station leader: he helps with cleaning and maintaining the site and carries out wildlife observations for the British Antarctic Survey.

Restoration and the station's history

The team sets off on Monday and begins the second season of a three-year plan to strengthen the island's largest building — Bransfield House, which houses the museum, the post office and the shop. Beams will be installed in the roof and 30 steel and timber supports in the floor, so that the building can withstand rain and snow. Port Lockroy was chosen in the 1940s as a permanent British outpost in Antarctica: the site had been considered a safe anchorage since the days of the early 20th-century whalers — their traces can be seen in the whale bones on the shore. The station operated until 1962, when British research was moved to larger and more modern facilities.

The journey and the team

The journey from the UKAHT base in Cambridgeshire takes about a week: a flight to Ushuaia via Buenos Aires, a couple of days to acclimatise, and four to five days by ship to the Antarctic Peninsula. Before departure, the team trained in the Brecon Beacons. It is led by RAF veteran Carol McCullough: «I applied for this role in search of adventure, and Antarctica is the ultimate adventure.» Wildlife monitor and museum manager Alice Parr was selected as a reserve member three years ago and only made the team on her second attempt: «Persistence pays off!»

George Clarke sitting at a table with a stack of letters. He is wearing a hoodie with Port Lockroy written on the arm. A kitchen can be seen behind with a sash window.Image source, UK Antarctic Heritage Trust
Image caption,

George Clarke is returning for his third stint at Port Lockroy

A large black single story shed building at Port Lockroy, with red door and window surrounds. Dozens of gentoo penguins can be seen around the buildingImage source, UKAHT
Image caption,

Port Lockroy is home to a colony of about 1,000 gentoo penguins

George Clarke is pictured stamping postcards at Port Lockroy, with dozens spread out across the table in front of him. He's wearing a blue top and has brown facial hair.Image source, UK Antarctic Heritage Trust
Image caption,

Postmaster George Clarke says he has fallen in love with the Antarctic wilderness

Seven people in outdoor clothing standing on top of a hill in the Brecon Beacons. Large and dramatic hills span the background.Image source, UKAHT
Image caption,

Clarke (second from left) and the team have been training in the Brecon Beacons before heading to Antarctica

Two red and black huts sit on rocky ground beside calm Antarctic waters, with snow-covered peaks rising in the background. The buildings, part of Port Lockroy, are reflecting in the still surface. Small penguins are also dotted around the landscape and the sky is a bright blue.Two black and white chinstrap penguins - which appear to be a nesting pair - face each other in the foreground, while a few others of the same species sit and stand in the background. The landscape is brown and rocky, with the birds sitting on nests made of piles of small stones. The penguin on the right of the image has a tracking device - a small tracker with an antenna - on its back.Dan McKenzie sits on a snowmobile outside the Halley VI Research Station in Antarctica