AT JUST 22, Geoff Fairclough answered an advert in the ‘Liverpool Echo’ that took him to the sub-Antarctic and adventures with whalers, bootleg liquor and an American film crew.
The former Hampton Road resident had completed his military service, and was coming to the end of his apprenticeship, when he spotted a notice appealing for diesel electrical engineers on the island of South Georgia, the final resting place of legendary explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton.

It was 1952 and after three months travelling between hemispheres on an old whaling vessel, Geoff arrived.
He told LookBack: “We ended up in Lees Harbour – and calm water – and were met by the customs man down there. I came out and looked straight in front of me and there was just this wall of ice.
“I looked up and up and up and it was just this big huge ice cliff where the ship had tied up.”
Geoff moved into digs at Discovery House, Shackleton’s former dwelling, and set about assessing his new home.
He said: “It was bleak with wild conditions but very, very interesting.
“It was the beginning of the winter and all the whalers had gone so the place was pretty deserted, I just sent a telegram out saying I’d arrived.”

Geoff was introduced to the island’s magistrate and sole policeman, who spent his summers tracking down whalers distilling bootleg liquor, and soon settled into the routine of Grytviken’s “close community”.
The small town had a cinema and library, and annual sports tournaments would see residents test their football, skiing and rifle-shooting skills.

But the way of life was interrupted one morning with the appearance of a strange ship, the Kista Dan.
Geoff, now 77, said: “We all woke up one morning and somebody said there was a ship out in the bay – it was built like an oil tanker.
“We put out in the dinghy, rowed over and a couple of people were hanging over the side, and they said ‘hey there, how you doing?’
“And we thought, they’re from America, what they doing down here?
“The film crew came over, including Welsh actor Stanley Baker, and we went over to the ship and all had rather too much alcohol!”
The crew was there to film the 1954 adventure picture, Hell Below Zero, also starring Alan Ladd, Joan Tetzel and Basil Sydney and set aboard a vessel from the Antarctic whaling fleet.

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