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FROM THE UK TO THE UKRAINE:

THE JOURNEY OF AN ANTARCTIC
BASE
By Stephen Pendleton
Stephen Pendleton takes us to the Antarctic Peninsular to highlight
the postal history of a remote polar base with a very intersting
story to tell. Three owners, just as many names, and a long list of
postmarks and cachets to explore, makes this is one of the most
interesting Antarctic bases to study.

Antarctic Peninsula West Coast

Fig 1 A map of the Antarctic
In December of 1996 I found myself Bransfield Strait Peninsula showing the Ukrainian
aboard the venerable Russian survey 63°00’W base, Vernadsky, bottom left
ship, cum tourist hauler, Professor 0 20 km
Khromov, venturing south along the coast (1) Base Gonzales Videla Dallmann B.
(2) Base Almirante Brown
of the Antarctic Peninsula (Fig 1). Our Melchior
Base
Fig 2 The three Ukrainian
target was the new Ukrainian Antarctic scientists who the author met
o
ag

base, Vernadsky. We reached Petermann Brabant on Petermann Island in 1996

el

Island
ip
ch

Island, but could penetrate the ice no

Ar

Anvers Island
further. However, on landing at the
er
lm
Pa

island, we found to our amazement Mt. Francais

three Ukrainian scientists, complete with 2821 m Ronge I.
Cuverville I.
Palmer
rowboat (Fig 2).
it

Station Mt. William

ra
St

Therefore, I can’t claim to have 1515 m

e

Arthur
I.

ch
ke

actually seen this site. But I can say Harbour Herrera

la

Au
er
nc

Channel
dv
G

Bismarck
ie

that I have made an acquaintance over (1)

or
W

Strait
d

Port
B.

many years of its many aspects of postal Lockroy

(2)
65°00’S Neumayer
history. They make it one of the most Channel
Cape Renard Paradise
interesting Antarctic bases to study. After Lemaire Channel Bay
st

Booth I. Flanders
all, few places in the Antarctic have a
oa
C

Bay
more complicated history. It has had Peterman I.
co
an

Hut
three names, Argentine Islands, Faraday Mount scott
D

Groussac
and Vernadsky. There’s a long list of Vernadsky
Base
postmarks and, in addition, there are Antarctic Peninsula
Penola
numerous examples of base cachets. Strait
There have even been some ‘local’
issues, not to mention a possible bogus
release. Fig 3 Jean-
Baptiste Charcot
To the Argentine Islands and his ship on a
You might not be able to find the British Antarctic
location on a small scale map, except in Territory stamp. He
named the islands
general terms. You have to look along
the Argentine
the coast of Graham Land (today its the Fig 4 John Rymill
Islands during his
Antarctic Peninsula). This is not the and his ship
expedition in 1903-4
Penola on a British
usual place of endless ice caps and polar
Antarctic Territory
blizzards. The coast is very mountainous stamp. The Penola
with a few harbours. It wasn’t well is also shown on
known, if at all, until the French Charcot governments support of his expedition. a Falkland Islands
expedition of 1903-4. The explorer and The next appearance these islands Dependencies
his ship are found on BAT 74 (Fig 3). make is during the Rymill Graham Land issue
Voyaging along the peninsula coast, expedition in the 1930s. The explorer
south of the large Anvers Island, they and his vessel, Penola, are seen on BAT
came across an archipelago of tiny 58, while the ship is seen on FID G30 (Fig
islands and islets. Compared to some 4). A hut was built on one of the islets
places these were really insignificant. which no longer exists. Unfortunately,
However, Charcot named them postal history from this expedition is
the Argentine Islands in honour of that very rare, only a few pieces being known.

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Fig 5 Base F was
established on 7 January
1947 and the main building
was named Wordie
House. Shown here is a
cover signed by the base
commander in 1971 along
with stamps illustrating base
F and the ship Trepassey

Argentine Islands base

On 7 January 1947 the Falkland Islands
Dependencies Survey established Base
F on the islands. The base
originally consisted of four
men. The main building
was named Wordie House,
it is still standing and is
considered an historic site. All covers shown reduced
You can see it on BAT 380.
The vessel Trepassey was
used to transport the crew.
This ship is seen on FID
G27 and BAT 221 (Fig 5). Fig 6 A cover from 1968 signed
In 1954 the base was by the base commander with
the most common cancel
moved to larger quarters
found for the Argentine Islands
on ½ square mile Galindez
Island. It was visited by
Prince Philip in 1957.
Six major postmark varieties and one
minor one are known.
The first is a variation on
the ‘FALKLAND ISLANDS
DEPENDENCIES/
Graham Land’ generic
cancel. This can be Fig 7 This cover,
differentiated from other dated 21 March 1974,
base uses by the smaller illustrates the scarce
size of the canceller and ‘ARGENTINE ISLANDS
the smaller space between GRAHAM LAND’
cancel with the space
the two words. Another
between the words
cancel was later adopted, ‘GRAHAM’ and ‘LAND’
with different typeface and
the date on two lines rather
than one.
The commonest
cancel reads simply
‘ARGENTINE ISLANDS
GRAHAMLAND’. This is
known from 1954 to 1980
(Fig 6). Three more cancels
are known – a large rather
scarce one simply reading
‘ARGENTINE ISLANDS
GRAHAM LAND’. Note
Fig 8 A cover
the space between the dated 3 April 1980
words ‘GRAHAM’ and with the simple
‘LAND’ (Fig 7). The ‘ARGENTINE ISLANDS’.
simplest one reads only cancel. The
‘ARGENTINE ISLANDS’ accompanying cachet
uses Faraday name for
(Fig 8).
the base
A very rare cancel
was only applied on
8 December 1981.

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This one reads ‘ARGENTINE IS Fig 9 A very rare

GRAHAMLAND’. It is believed only ‘ARGENTINE IS
about 75 letters received it (Fig 9 ). GRAHAMLAND’
cancel on a cover
In addition to the cancels there
dated 8 December
are a number of cachets. These 1981. It is thought
range from single-line marks, boxed that only 75 covers
examples, and more complex usages received this cancel
(Fig 10). You can also find covers
posted from the famous polar tourist
vessel Lindblad Explorer as well as one
of the many BAT supply ships such
as Endurance (Fig 11).

Faraday
In 1987 the name of the base was changed
to Faraday. This was is honour of the
famous British scientist. (I cannot prove Fig 10 A
this but I suspect the change might also cover dated
10 December
reflect the animosity towards the country
1977, signed by
whose name is found on the base). an exchange
Faraday had three cancels and one scientist,
variety. All the cancels are of the same showing a
single-ring design, with the wording variety of
‘BRITISH ANTARCTIC TERRITORY Argentine
FARADAY’ (see Fig 11). One of these has Islands base
cachets
the base name in a slightly larger size.
That is important because it is one of the
Fig 11 Covers posted from
rarest Antarctic cancels. popular tourist ships which
Only ten examples are visited the island. The cover
believed to have been on the left is from the Lindblad
struck. The date was 3 Explorer and below, from the
March 1993. supply ship Endurance. The
cover below also includes a
The base also had
Farady single-ring cancel which is
a number of different missing the last digit in the year
cachets. These
range from boxed
markings to a generic
circular one with
an Antarctic map. A
most unusual cachet
is a large rectangular
example with a carved
depiction of the
scenery around the
base (Fig 12).
There is one more
cancel associated with Faraday. One dated
31 January 1996 when the Endurance
boarded the base personnel and covers
received a double-ring cancel reading
‘BRITISH ANTARCTIC TERRITORY All covers
FARADAY/LAST DAY/OF ISSUE’. The shown reduced
base had been sold to the new republic of
Ukraine (Fig 13).
Through the efforts of the FID and
British Antarctic Surveys, there have been
18 base locations with post offices (and was expanded to accommodate several dozen scientists during the southern summer.
several without). Most of these have been During the early 1990s it was determined that Faraday was surplus to the needs of the
abandoned. A few have been removed, Survey. However, there was a large cost involved in removing the base. Luckily, the new
while others have been restored as republic of the Ukraine was eager to join the polar club. Unable to obtain the use of any
museums by the Antarctic Heritage Trust. of the old Soviet bases a deal was proposed; the Ukraine could take over the running of
Most of these bases consisted of one the old British base – for the princely sum of £1.
hut, usually with a few outbuildings. In the
early days of the survey scientists were not Vernadsky base
overly concerned with trash or possible In February 1996 the first group of Ukrainian scientists arrived. The base was named for
site contamination. However, some bases Akademik Vladimir Vernadsky (1863–1945). He was the first president of the National
became much larger. Faraday, for example, Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine. Scientific activities are under the control of the

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Fig 12 Farady base had a number of different cachets. This
cover includes an unusual rectangular example with a carved
depiction of island scenery

Fig 13 A postcard dated 31 January 1996 with a double

ring last day of issue Farady base cancel. The base was
sold to Ukraine for the total sum of £1

Fig 14 A postcard showing a view of the Vernadsky base

Fig 15 Local
stamps and
All covers shown reduced
other interesting
cancels appear
on many covers
from Vernadsky.
National Antarctic Science Centre, which Most are in Cyrillic
is part of the Ministry of Education and lettering which can
make deciphering
Sciences (Fig 14).
them difficult
The base is occupied all year. One of its
aspects is the operation of a post office,
which is utilised by tourist visitors (who can
also buy shots of the local hooch as well as
postcards).
I can only report items I have seen, but
there seem to have been a number of
interesting cancels plus some local labels.
The postmarks have had some unusual
shapes, and most are in Cyrillic lettering.
This makes deciphering the message more
complicated (Fig 15).
The first postmark is an elongated
borderless oval with the wording
translated to ‘UKRAINIAN ANTARCTIC
EXPEDITION AKADEMIK VERNADSKY’.
There are two penguins and the
Longitude/Latitude position of the base
at bottom (Fig 16). There are a number
of varieties of this mark, mainly having to
do with the size of the letters. These were
used through the 1990s. It measures about
40mm. Fig 16 The first postmark for Vernadsky, an elongated borderless oval, on a cover
In and around the year 2000 there marking the opening of the base post office in February 1996
was a rectangular cancel in use with the

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words ‘AKADEMIK VERNADSKY’, a map,

penguin and the base position. It appears
to be about 46mm by 44mm (Fig 17).
From 2009 to 2013 a very large bordered
oval was in use. This had the base name
and other words. There was an Antarctic
map in the left middle and a penguin on
the right - which appears to be holding
a flower in his beak! It is about 70mm in
length.
I received a very nice card with this
cancel from a surprising source. For many
years I had written articles for an American
periodical concerning postcards. One of
my loyal readers sent this very welcome
memento (Fig 18).
In 2016 I obtained a cover with a large
circular bordered mark. This one has a
flower, map, penguin and the base name Fig 17 The rectangular postmark seen on this cover was used from about the year
plus other wording (Fig 19 ). 2000. It includes a map, penguin and the Vernadsky base position
The most recent cancel seen is from
2020, it is an unbordered circular mark.
This one is unique so far, in that some of it
is in English. There are penguins on either
side of the date plus a map at bottom, with
the base name also at bottom.
A number of cachets exist. One is a
large oval with the base name in English
and a map with a depiction of the base.
There are also covers with ship markings
– the Ukrainians use the Ernest Krenkel and
Akademik Boris Petrov. There are visits from
RRS Shackleton and RRS James Clark Ross
(see Fig 19) as well as various other ship
visitors.
I have also seen cards described as
‘Ukrainian Antarctic Post’ with pictures
of gentoo penguins and one showing a
Russian nobleman. There are at least two
Fig 18 The large bordered oval cancel on this cover was in use from 2009 to
printed labels with this name showing 2013. It includes an Antarctic map and a penguin which appears to be holding
a penguin chick and adult. There are a flower in his beak. This particular example was sent to the author from a
also pieces of postal stationery which loyal reader who was visiting every continent before turning 30
have photos of various wildlife. Cachets
from the old British occupation must
still exist, as I have seen several covers
with Argentine Islands cachets with
Ukrainian postmarks.
From 1996 comes a crudely printed label
in blue with a penguin posing against a
map. I cannot vouch for the authenticity
of this item. Also in 1996, Ukraine issued
one stamp showing the base (Fig 20). It is a
fitting starting point for your collection of
items from this most unusual site.

Fig 19 This cover was posted in 2016 and includes a large circular postmark that
Fig 20 The Ukraine issued this depicts a flower, map, penguin, words in Cyrillic lettering and base name and position.
stamp in 1996 that illustrates This cover also illustrates a large cachet from RRS James Clark Ross
the Vernadsky base

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