We left Hobart, Tasmania on our last voyage of the season on March 17th. During the previous ten weeks in the Southern Ocean we had experienced lots of rough weather but this time we encountered the worst during our travels as we battled sixty foot seas and near hurricane winds. This was not a time for panic, you don't spend time looking at the sea and worrying. This is the time to focus on your work and trust your vessel.

The weather gradually improved and we arrived at our destination on the 23rd and anchored a half mile offshore in Buckles Bay. There is no shelter other than anchoring on whatever happens to be the lee side of the island. It is only possible to land at a very few places and then only under good conditions.

The ship's engine was kept running with the propeller in neutral pitch and an officer on the bridge at all times. We did not want to meet the same fate as the MV Nella Dan. She was the vessel we replaced after she had been driven ashore from the same anchorage and became a total loss during a sudden storm in 1987. We unloaded as quickly as the weather permitted and just prior to leaving I finally got ashore for a brief visit.

MacQuarie rises steeply out of the ocean and is about twenty miles long and three miles wide. It is very rugged with lots of hills and valleys but no trees, just grasses and shrubs with year round temperatures ranging from 40 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit and occasionally snow in winter. The sky is frequently overcast and the island is very similar in geography to Newfoundland but the wild life is vastly different.

At the time it was discovered in the 1850's it had huge populations of Elephant Seals, Fur Seals and Penguins which were hunted to virtual extinction by the turn of the century. Since then the original wild life has slowly rejuvenated and the island now supports large herds of elephant seals and penguin colonies.

Less desirable are the rabbit, rat and cat population. The rabbits were introduced by the sealers as a food supplement but rats were the accidental result of shipwrecks. Next the cats were brought in to combat the rat population. All three species thrived on the island but are hunted by the station personnel since they damage the fauna and are a threat to the penguins.

I spent several hours exploring and photographing the scenery and wildlife and climbing Wireless Hill where a Radio Relay Station had been built to provide communications between Australia and the Antarctic Continent during Douglas Mawson's exploration of the Antarctic in 1912/14.

Finally I met Robyn, the Station Radio Operator and Graeme, VK0AG the Radio Tech who kindly invited me to operate from his station. The shack was equipped with an ICOM transceiver, 400 watt linear amplifier and five 700 ft long wires to various points on Wireless Hill. They were arranged in a 150 degree arc and with the use of a 50/600 ohm balun it was possible to produce narrow or wide Vee Beams aimed at the northern hemisphere.

This was an opportunity to use my VK0AI callsign without the /MM suffix. I had only an hour left but my "CQ Canada" on 20 meters was answered immediately. By the time I reluctantly pulled the switch I had made over sixty contacts from British Columbia to Nova Scotia. I specifically looked for VO's several times but at 4:00 AM in Nfld all my friends must have been asleep. One of the few non-Canadian contacts was with an American who needed a CW contact. There was no morse key in the shack but I orally "di-di-dah'ed" our calls and his report and he went away happy.

The return trip to Tasmania was uneventful and after unloading our extra equipment we prepared for the voyage home. During our Antarctic operations, Robyn at Radio VJM on MacQuarie was "back-up" when communications with Australia or the Antarctic Bases was difficult and I worked her on a daily basis at noon. Prior to leaving we agreed to continue our daily contacts and see how far into the Pacific we could maintain communications.

The skeds using my TS 430 on 15, 17 and 19 Mhz continued for six weeks all the way home, a distance of over 11,000 nautical miles and half way around the world. The sked was always at noon her time but my time advanced an hour every three days as we sailed across the Pacific and reached Panama. By then we were on EDT and our final contact was at Quebec City at 11:00 PM the night before we docked at Montreal.

The same propagation conditions existed for my daily contacts on 20 or 15 meters with the VO's at home which took place just after daylight in Newfoundland. Starting at 8:00 PM in Hobart at the commencement of the voyage they advanced to 7:00 AM by the time we reached home.

As I recall the four months spent on the Lady Franklin in the winter of 1989 a number of events stand out in my mind. They include sightseeing in Tasmania, Southern Ocean storms, a brief visit to Heard Island, crossing the Antarctic Circle and the Equator, visits at Casey and Davis in Antarctica, sailing through the island groups of the South Pacific, a transit of the Panama Canal and finally our voyage up the St Lawrence River. Of all these I feel the few hours I spent ashore and the contacts I made from MacQuarie Island were the most exciting and memorable period of the entire voyage.