Staten Island - L7X - L8D/X - L20XSI

Jorge F. VRSALOVICH, LU7XP

Ushuaia

            When I wrote this title in 1979 due to our first expedition to the Staten Island, Ushuaia had a population of 10.000 inhabitant and some cars, today it has 45.000 inhabitants and 14.000 cars, the panorama is the same, fascinating, but logically a lot of things have changed, there is an essential change in the Communications, specially in the air Communications, with a new landing strip, it has almost two miles long and its airstation with two aviation sleeves, now they looks as if they were luxury, but from now on they must be enlarged in order to give place for the future traffic.

            Ushuaia is not the one it used to be, like those time, the Capital of the National Territory, today is the Capital of the Argentine Province called "Tierra del Fuego e Islas del Atlantico Sur", its distance from the Staten Island is 250 kms on an air line (45 48’- 17’W).

Staten Island

            It is separated from the Great Island of "Tierra del Fuego" by the Strait of Lemaire and Shouten, they sailed to the Cape Horn, name given by them because it was the name of the Holland harbor, where they came from. It is supposed according to the documentation of those time, the Spanish Francisco de Hoces in 1540 out of his route due to a tempest, could have a view of this island of 60 Kms long and a variable wide from 300 miles between the Cook and Vancouver bays to 6 miles between the Cape Kempe and the Cape San Antonio. The island is rough with mountains of 800m height, big fiords, with mountain side and levels ground covered by boggy wet turf, woodlands of small trees called "lenga" (shorted and combed by the wind) totally putrid, and also a great variety of plants like clump of rushes and moss, making a big vegetable conformation, the animal life consist of goats, huge deers with big horns, birds like black eagle, condors, the beautiful sea bustard, sea wolfs and penguins. The sea climate is windy, cold and wet with low atmosphere clouds, everything together propitiate a lot of rain the whole year. The island is really difficult to travel, so difficult than a sea travel could become from a day trip to a week long, it depend on the sea weather, the same who whip the Cape Horn shore with waves of several yards height, apart of that the choppiness of the sea, guilty of most of the shipwreck.

            1998 will be, perhaps, for the Staten Island, a transcendent year, because there is a possibility of recover the lighthouse of the "San Juan de Salvamento" bay, built by the Colonel Augusto Lasserre in 1884, with everything relative with this subject, this will become a world affair specially in maritime and tourist matters, the J. Verne’s novel will be illuminated again by The End of the World Lighthouse.-

EXPEDITIONS TO THE STATEN ISLAND MADE BY THE GACW

FIRST EXPEDITION

SECOND EXPEDITION:

THIRD EXPEDITION:

THIRD EXPEDITION NARRATION

            In April, during one of the our diary chats, LU1DZ insinuated the possibility of celebrate the 20th years of the group with an expedition, due to it I immediately called to Area Austral Navy Commander so we can study the possibility of going back to the Staten Island at the End of the November month, with the propose to coincide, like the two former opportunities, with the CQ WW DX, Radiotelegraphist World Concourse, organized by the CQ Magazine of the USA.

            When I get an affirmative answer, asked for advice to Martin Lawrence, about which was the best part for the third expedition, and both agreed on the answer, the Crossley Bay was the most appropriate for two reasons, it was the nearest place to Ushuaia, from where we can departure, and also from where we can get a lot of firewood for various needs, inasmuch as there is somebody who can’t stand sailing not even for a minute.

            When we were back, we realized that we were wrong, firstly, because the Crossley is a bay under a hard Northwest wind with often reefs against a long low beach which make difficult to disembark and to embark, specially in low tide, secondly, because a small kitchen stove and two gas heater, substituted in all ways, the whole amount of firewood piled in the beach by the sea, used by us only to make a symbolic fire imitating travelers from old days.

            In the same month of April, I started contacts with the potential members, to whom I sent a note in order to outline the expedition functioning, taking into account our previous experiences and asked them for new ideas and suggestions. Instead of the great enthusiasm at the beginning, a dozen members let know their difficulties because their jobs and studies, this is why it was a really never ending job to obtain trained telegraphists for this events, it requires, speed, operation mode knowledge and also it needs full English management for the contact answers by radiotelephony, when the concourse is over. Both of the beginners of the operation, one from La Pampa and the other from Buenos Aires, had to change their destinies to LU1ZC from the Deception Island because the 50th Year Celebrating Operation for its creation, in due course Julián Cevallos - LU3XQ, had to stay locally, and he became an excellent co-operator and also with the hope that LU1DZ could travel, as at the end it come true. Meanwhile, I had to arrange everything in an anticipating way, and for this task I was lucky to meet Eduardo OTAMENDI - LU1XQG - who made the necessary arrangement for the aerial towers and for the electric generator Brigg & Stratton of 4,0 Kw, a Kawasaki Generator engine of 2.1 Kw, and a smaller generator engine of 0.5 Kw as a batteries charger.

            As month goes by, little by little boxes and bags increase inside the Bungalow Atelier at the De Loqui and Don Bosco corner in Ushuaia, a place where aerial dipoles, cords, equips, stakes, equipment, tools, etc. were ready till the early days of November when we had to complete the gasoline and the food requirements and the survive tents which were assembled in my house park in order to control their state. The End of the World Museum lend us the main tent of 6 X 4 metros, the same tent used by us in he second expedition, where were working the radio -the kitchen and the livingroon - once everything was ready, on the 25th day in the morning, in the navy harbor we embarked eighty packages for the event and in the same day at 23:00 hours the ARA A. Sobral Ship free its mooring lines with East route with the eight expeditionaries aboard.

    Alberto U. SILVA was arriving by air from the Federal Capital. Instead of the quit sea much of us didn’t feel like at home and not even know what was waiting for us in Crossley, of the eight only Lawrence and Vrsalovich were members of the former three expeditions. In the morning the tugboat was anchored in Aguirre bay in order to disembark foodstuffs for the inhabitants and at the 11:00 hours we started the cross of the Lamaire Strait with a lovely weather, sitting in the stern we stared how the ship was moving with the soft waves of the sea, at 13:15 hours, we arrive at Crossley after 16 hours and 15 minutes of sailing.

IN CROSSLEY BAY

            At three o’clock in the afternoon of the 26th of November in 1997, the picture was going on under an increasing NW wind, the two gom boats of the ARA Sobral Ship commanded by young sailors full of great heart and effort, who were going and coming really funny with the medium tide, I was the last in disembark on a Tenant who carry me to the beach in order to avoid me to get wet , but it result totally useless because after that it was necessary to carry the packages to the dry shore. Only the younger expeditionaires were wearing neoprene clothes and in this way they could help to finish the disembark. Meanwhile the ship was weighing anchor, the eight adventurers and their packages were hardly a bit more than the woods bringed down by the sea which cover all the beach and the encrusting sand spreaded by the wind everywhere.

            The panorama was bizarre and rough, with the sun circling to the West, illuminating through some clouds the mountain side of Crossley, in where we could perceive some goats and a solitaire deer which look at us with curiosity, our act of looking was only for an instant, due to there were survival activities like building the main tent, it was a never ending job, because the wind was stripping the awnings off, we had to replace the stakes for 80 centimeters long woods, which neither could get inside the sad ground, until in despair we use rocks and tied them to trunks of trees, everything fighting against the 90km wind, we could at the end get a tent rised and exhale with satisfaction because we had won our first battle.

            In the meantime the bags were putting inside the tent, Eduardo LU1XQG was installing the Electric generator to provide us the necessary electricity for the radio equipment’s and light devices. I immediately installed a 40 m. Band dipole and with it we could made the first contact with the continent.

            Almost without rest we had to go on with the four tent installation. The same night we had to move three of them to the inside of the island searching for the woodland covering, Martin and I stayed in our tent on the beach, but we couldn’t sleep due to the wind, it forced us to move to another distant refugee part inside of the island, on the following night.

            This day we had no time to make our dinner, so our chef Funes prepare big cups of mate infusion, with abundant cheese and bread, so we were feed up and ready to pass through the short austral night, at the morning we started the aerials and radio equipments installation so we can carry on our main aim, the short wave band contacts.

            The following day everything worked wonderful, the 500 W Stations were listening all over the world, with a transceiver of 80m we kept in touch with our families in Ushuaia and with a telephone link system assembled in Buenos Aires by Gerardo GONZALEZ, LU8DNO let us possible to communicate with journalist and various contact giving us a very important support.

            The wind went on disturbing all our tasks, although the temperature average keep around of the 8ºC the thermic sensation was for periods of 16ºC bellow zero.

            On the Friday 28th ...LU1DZ and LU3XQ operating together and some times by day and night shifts, they had two thousands contacts made and they were waiting the 21:00 hour to participate in the CQ WW Concourse. LU1XQG stared constantly at the generator plant and co-operated with all the camp activities, in the time between, the chef surprised us with delicious foods like chicken and rise, hake fried, shacked vetch omelet, eggs and salad at the Staten Island style, sweet potato pudding with chess, fruits roofed in tin and heaps of mineral water bringed from the continent, for suppers and breakfasts were used the water of turf with its typical brown color and a small part of cyanide as a sedative against our anxiety. The sun was setting down and the mounting sides were visited by goats and deers,... a big black eagle landed audacious very close of us as if it was wanting say ... "¡What are you doing here?". Then lowly, it raised its wing and went off.

            The anemometer installed next to the tent let us to see its paddles, it was a clear signal that the rough wind decreased slowly. When the concourse started hundred of piri, pi, pi.. were heard from the two Kenwood transceiver installed in due course, there Alberto and Julián were enjoying these mixture of signals only understables by trained operators like them, the others, after a succulent dinner, went on chatting, making jokes and telling anecdotes typical of this kind of cohabitation, firstly the veterans went to bed and so they were the first to wake up in the mornings. Martin and I had moved to the woodland next to the youngest tent, the wind didn’t disturb us but the ground was very wet in other words full of water and this saying about the warm sleeping bags, is a Chinese tail, I slept on a bunk mattress which was on the air mattress and inside the sleeping bags, and instead of all this things together I couldn’t stand the cold, of this kind were our nights there, the both of us were accommodated more mentally than bodily, because if somebody could have made a film of us inside this small and uncomfortable dwelling, probably had won a prize of funny anecdotes.

            At the day break of the Saturday 29th everything were quit, the only noise was from some waves of the sea rushing to shore an as hours goes by the sun was heating in such way than the thermometer reached the 23ºC, it was really true we couldn’t believe our eyes, I take off my thermal jacket and my pullover, all my lumbar aches had disappeared and I felt like flying in some kind of paradise called Crossley, in the evening the temperature decrease, but the following day we had got similar climate, both days were appreciate by ZAMORANO and MOLINOLO, in order to obtain photographs of the flora and the animal life of the island. In the radio table it wasn’t so easy, atmospheric noise were turning impossible the Communications specially in the 160m band, it reduce in a great manner our night activities.

            In this expedition the meteorological observation each three hours was nor registered because I had forgotten the barometer - years doesn’t pass through without any effect on us -

            It was the first of December, the sea waves noise grow up in a stand way and the hard flog, mixture of rain and low atmospheric clouds, covered the whole island, voices of much of us were hearing, like, ..the ship will come? Or not?, if the weather go on, without any change it wouldn’t come, etc. Logic questions of the most, they wanted to be back in Ushuaia so they could carry on their jobs, in my case it didn’t matter, cause I was mentally prepared for this adventure, even though I couldn’t put on, neither my shoes or my shoes, this reference is really important , because the worst thing for an expeditionary is the anxiety, whichever was its nature and this is well know by, for instance - for the Antarctic inhabitants.

            The camp activities was normal, the radio-operators felt satisfied although they know very well, they wouldn’t achieve the former record of 6900 contacts, in the talk after dinner, we treated aspect related to the act of dismantling on the following day, without switching off at least one of the radio stations until the last moment, the experiences made with Ushuaia in the 6m band didn’t work, perhaps the VHF signals couldn’t arrive traveling in its optical way because the distance, but the contacts in the 80m band resulted optimum, also the Communications made by LU8DNO in Buenos Aires.

            The second of December, on Tuesday, at last, and by a message from the Headquarters of the Austral Navy Area, we were noticed that the ship to rescue us had weighed anchor with the intention to stay the night in the Buen Suceso Bay, a place at only a pair of hours from the Crossley if the weather were appropriate. During the last hours in the evening we decided to dismount the rotate aerial and various dipoles, aerial tower, and then we packed the dissembled equipments and were dismounted the four bedroom tent, in such way that, except the youngest, the whole of us slept in the main tent, from where transmissions went on till night, ... we assigned a listening frequency of the ship, ...the weather condition were awful in such way the most veteran could had doubted about the embark, ...that night was very short for everybody, ...Martìn (who had slept in a chair) an I enjoyed the last breakfast, at four A.M., ...slowly the other were coming with us and also with the datum confirming that the ship would be in Crossley at the same time with the high tide, as it was supposed. We finished the last aerial tower dismounts, and also the main tent and from then on we only worked with VHF Hand Transceiver in order to keep in touch with the ship when it was nearer.

            It was eight of o’clock in the morning in December the third when the big amount of charge were totally ready in the beach to be embarked.

IS THE TIME TO SAY GOOD- BYE AND TO EMBARK:

            The English explorer Henry FOSTER who went over the whole island in 1930, is who put the definite name Crossley Bay, which cover and refugee us during a week.

            As well it is normal an embark operation, here nobody were free of getting wet, including MOLINOLO, who wear only a half of the neoprene clothes and had to work like a Titan, receiving, waiting and sending the gom boats with the cold water to shoulder in such way that the engines were at the necessary profundity to start, ...in the same time ZAMORANO, his team mate, recorded the pictures of the embark, ...it were necessary various travels and the boats crew did it with vocation which is typical of them, once aboard, the Indomita Ship Commander ARA Indómita, Corvette Captain BASSI and its second Tenant CRUZ, put under our desire the best commodities they had available, .. it was like staying in a luxury hotel. At 10 AM. The Indómita weighed anchor to Lemaire and there behind us stay for ever, or for some of us, the Crosssley Bay, with the Captain ZARATEGUI and Tenant PALET BEACONS on the shore and its lighthouse in the Cape N.W.. From there, the CWAG in its three visiting with more than 19.000 QSOs, let the world to remember that this Argentine Island exist with an aggressively mixture of charming which satisfy to whom visit it.

            In a quiet hour, we crossed the strait, reaching in Buen Suceso Bay in order to mend the Argentine Naval Station, at 13:00 hour with W route, we were back on our way home at 23 knots - about 42.5 Km per hour - we arrived at Ushuaia at 18:30 hours, ...some of the expeditionaries were not in good conditions, not even to talk, ..the sea had affected them seriously, ...but now everything together is only a good remembering.

REFLECTION:

            What different I could see everything from the island, ...what small we see ourselves, ...there we looks like we were really, ...there our men arrogance become in a simple exhale in front of the power of the sea and the wind, ...what marvelous advance between the civilization and the cavern, ...but what a wonderful opportunity to remember in this disarranged reflection, to so many men and women who worked and work in the solitude of this incalculable and vast Argentine South and although there isn’t any connection between this expedition, but yes there is with its aims, one can’t avoid to mention a name which is alive and which great modesty is bigger than its heroism of had traveled for four months of the polar night with temperatures of 68ºC below zero, the Antarctic meseta which link the Esperanza Base with the San Martín Base, like a previous training for the expedition he carried out to the South Polo, his name is Gustavo GIRO.

THANKSGIVING:

            From the Austral Naval Area Commander, to the last sailor of the boats who made possible the expedition in due time and form, to our families and our dear close people who give their support in every moment, in spite of our veterany, to the Ushuaia Radio Club and its members for the help, to The End of the World Museum, to Luis SOSA and Gustavo CARRERAS, to the "LA NACION" newspaper and to the "Nacional", "El Mundo", "Del Plata and "Splendid" radio-broadcastings of Buenos Aires and to The Platino Radio of Ushuaia because they kept us in touch with the population of our country and, over everything to God for having kept up healthy and saved, to all of them, THANK YOU.

Jorge F. VRSALOVICH, LU7XP
P.O.Box 110
9410 - Ushuaia
Tierra del Fuego
ARGENTINA