Lucky Surprise, Tempelfjorden 1983

Things that happen on expeditions.

Three of us forming an advance party had been stopped in our progress by an ice bound fjord and it had taken almost a week for most of the pack break to allow us to move our two tonnes of gear to our Base Camp location. 

Mike & I took the first of several loads in the expedition boat and set off up the fjord.  Navigation close ashore amongst the floes was tricky, so we kept our eyes on possible rogue floes.  Suddenly, we swept round one small headland to find, almost alongside us, the huge grey form of a bull walrus.  Nothing had prepared me for just how large these creatures are, but we had heard tales of them attacking relatively large boats and even people. 

We were lucky, he just lay there on the edge of the water with a baleful eye and watched us struggling to ward off floes as we crept our way towards our desired goal. Neither of us had cameras, we were too busy looking after our precious cargo.  On the way back, he had gone, as mysteriously as he had appeared.

Ian Frearson