26 CHALLENGER 



The passing of such an expHcit and encouraging opening must 

 be regretted. Today they read rather more prosaically: 



Having completed your refit and the drawing of the Fair Charts of last 

 season's work, and being in all respects ready for sea, you are to leave 

 Portsmouth on Monday, loth April and proceed to the Grenadines, West 

 Indies, where you are to take in hand the following survey . . . 



And, in fact, that is how the Hydrographic Instructions for 

 Commander Wyatt read when he received them in early Feb- 

 ruary 1933. 



Although the Labrador survey was to go forward, it was im- 

 possible to get in through the ice much before mid- July and it 

 was expected that freezing over would force the survey to be 

 discontinued about mid-November. This was a short season in- 

 deed and Commander Wyatt had discussed a plan with the 

 Hydrographer whereby a winter party would be left ashore in 

 Labrador in November until the following July. It seemed that 

 such a party might expect to make considerable progress in both 

 triangulation work and in coastlining; with the sea completely 

 frozen over the theodolite teams would be able to move across 

 from one island to another by sledge, and plotting the coastline 

 could be done by sledging along the edge of the frozen sea 

 rather than by walking over many miles of broken country as 

 would have been necessary in the summer time. 



But conditions during such a winter would be extremely 

 severe and it would need men of character and endurance if much 

 useful work was to be accomplished. Challenger had these men: 

 'Number One', Baker, would lead the team with Lieutenant 

 D. W. Deane as his assistant surveyor. Surgeon Lieutenant Com- 

 mander E. W. Bingham had now been appointed to Challenger; 

 he had much previous experience of work under such conditions, 

 having been to Greenland with Gino Watkins, and he was known 

 to be a good man with dog teams on which the work would very 

 greatly depend. These men, together with Petty Officer Stevenson, 

 were well suited to lead others under the rugged conditions to 

 be expected, which to say the least of it were novel to the 

 seamen who were to make up the winter party. 



However, few were thinking of the winter in Labrador as 



