Meet the team running Antarctica’s Penguin Post Office
Imagine a job with no running water, no flushing toilet and more than 1,000 penguins as your neighbours. For one small team, that is exactly what the coming Antarctic season holds.
They are the new crew of Port Lockroy, a tiny base in Antarctica that is home to the famous “Penguin Post Office”.
Who is going
The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, which runs the site, has introduced this season’s team.
The base leader is Carole McCullough, a former Royal Air Force officer. UNILAD reported that she served for 18 years. She has called Antarctica “the ultimate adventure”.
Her deputy is George Clarke, an artist from Bristol. This will be his third season as deputy base leader and postmaster.
Speaking to the BBC, he summed up life on the island simply: “The penguins are noisy and smelly. The people are fantastic.”
Port Lockroy sits on Goudier Island, just off the Antarctic Peninsula.
A long journey
Getting there is part of the adventure. The team travels to Buenos Aires, then on to Ushuaia at the southern tip of Argentina. From there, it is a voyage of four to five days by ship.
Once they arrive, they will stay for about five months.
A piece of history
Port Lockroy was set up in 1944 during a secret wartime mission called Operation Tabarin. Today it is protected as a Historic Site and Monument under the Antarctic Treaty.
The main building, Bransfield House, is now a museum. This season is the second year of a three-year plan to look after it. The work includes up to six new roof beams and around 30 supports, or props.
Busy days at the post office
The base may be remote, but it is far from quiet. Last season the post office handled about 50,000 postcards, weighing a total of 366.5 kilograms. The site also welcomed 22,743 visitors, most arriving on cruise ships.
The team’s daily tasks include:
- Running the shop and the post office
- Showing visitors around the museum
- Repair and conservation work on the old buildings
- Counting and monitoring the gentoo penguins
That penguin monitoring programme is now 30 years old, giving scientists a long record of how the colony is doing.
Simple living
Life at Port Lockroy is basic. There is no running water and no flushing toilet, and the team lives closely together in a small space.
But for those who go, the rewards are huge: spectacular scenery, a sense of history and the chance to play a small part in looking after one of the wildest places on Earth.
The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust shares news about its teams and future seasons on its website, so anyone dreaming of a season in the snow can keep an eye out.
If you have ever sent a postcard from Port Lockroy, it was this kind of team who stamped it on its way.
Sources
- UNILAD (lead)
- UK Antarctic Heritage Trust: Meet our 2026 Antarctic team
- UK Antarctic Heritage Trust: Port Lockroy vital statistics
- BBC News
Featured image: Port Lockroy, home of the Penguin Post Office, on the Antarctic Peninsula. Photo: Liam Quinn / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped and resized). Source
