Navy officer from Dudley makes trip to namesake Antarctic Pitt Islands

Lieutenant Commander Dave Pitt, from Dudley, seized the opportunity to spend the night on his namesake island, as icebreaker and survey ship HMS Protector conducted her second patrol of Antarctic waters this year.

The islands, scattered across an area of Antarctic ocean about twice the size of Norwich, were discovered nearly 200 years ago by a British expedition.

Collectively, the chain takes its name from late 18th/early 19th-Century Prime Minister William Pitt, but the individual islands are named after characters in Dickens’ Pickwick Papers.

On her second stint around the Antarctic peninsula this austral summer, Plymouth-based HMS Protector has paid a succession of goodwill visits to research stations, upholding the Antarctic Treaty which the nation signed on December 1 1959.

Under that international agreement, Britain is duty-bound to protect and conserve the region’s unique wildlife, preserve historic sites, manage tourism, work with scientists of all nationalities and gather data about the weather and climate.

Captain Michael Wood, HMS Protector’s Commanding Officer, said: "With the increase in fishing and cruise ship activity, the ship has collected data that will contribute to the safety of navigation of shipping routes.

"Surveying alone provides many obstacles, but doing it in Antarctica when surrounded by ice is the Premier League of hydrographic operations.

"The challenges faced range from ice conditions, unfavourably strong winds and the constant management of maintaining the equipment in this harsh environment."

While the icebreaker and her survey motor boat James Caird IV surveyed the waters around Jingle Island on the northeastern fringe of the Pitts, a 12-strong party landed to study its large population of Gentoo penguins.

The birds covered the shoreline of the main bay with a mass of particularly-pungent guano, but otherwise the mile-long outcrop was blanketed by fresh, undisturbed snow and ice.

After setting up camp, the team dined on Navy ration packs as the sun went down and temperatures plunged.

Lieutenant Commander Pitt said: "Overnight the winds picked up and along with the sounds of the buffering tents, nesting penguins and half a dozen fur seals, the surrounding noises were drowned out by snoring sailors and marines resting from an amazing day prior to embarking back in Protector

"The whole 24 hour period was an amazing experience and one that I will remember for the rest of his life. I wonder if I am the only ‘Pitt’ to have stayed on a Pitt Island.”