This day in history: a death on the R.S.A. in Antarctica in 1962

The R.S.A., South Africa’s first Antarctic supply vessel, reached the Antarctic ice shelf on its maiden voyage on 25 January 1962 and commenced offloading cargo and disembarking personnel.  Some days later on 8 February a fatality occurred aboard when the ship’s Radio Officer, Tom Moriarty died from an apparent heart attack.  The ship’s Captain, Kenneth McNish reported in his book The Eternal Ice that the Radio Officer had been feeling ill for some days, complaining of severe chest pains.

Off-loading continued until the 12th.  That morning Tom Moriarty’s body was taken a few kilometres from the ice shelf on a sledge towards the newly erected SANAE I base.  With Frank McCall’s PWD team and most of the new SANAE 3 and returning SANAE 2 Teams in attendance, along with those members of the ship’s complement who could be spared, Captain McNish and the SANAE Team Doctor conducted a 15-minute Catholic service at 19h00 GMT, to coincide with a requiem mass being held in Dublin, the Radio Officer’s home town.

After the ceremony McNish wrote “we filed slowly past the grave to pay our last respects, and to cast a handful of real soil from South Africa into the open grave”.  By late afternoon everyone (except the members of SANAE 3) was back on board and with flags flying the R.S.A. left Antarctica for Cape Town.

ALSA would be pleased to hear accounts from anyone who was on the ship’s maiden voyage and attended Tom Moriarty’s burial.  Especially desired would be a photograph and any details about him.

Reference:

McNish, K.T. 1971.  The Eternal Ice.  Cape Town: Tafelberg.  110 pp.

John Cooper, Principal Investigator, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University