ANTARCTICA 1958 | ARCHIVES
Coded Missives from the Antarctic: The Text Messages of the South
Boredom and beards: How do you say I miss you in five letters?
Digging through Graham Knuckey’s archives from his 1958/59 Antarctic Expedition, I quickly stumbled across unintelligible telegrams, and lots of them. Unintelligible as in “YUREF YAEPH five days now moving towards Mawson YIMKE ship and mail WYVIX.” Without the nine-page typed codebook elsewhere in the archive, it is impenetrable. Radio telegrams were the text message of the time with a restricted number of words, and the codes helped the expeditioners communicate with as much nuance as possible.
The codes were both practical and whimsical, about both work and play, and I’ll share some of both in this blog. Nicknamed WYSSA, the code that means “all my (our) love, darling,” they were a crucial lifeline for those down south as well as those they left behind. Many were codes for communicating status between people in the field and at the station, or at the station and at the headquarters of the Antarctic Division of Australia’s Department of External Affairs in Melbourne.
Expeditioners received a “ration” of words they could send and be sent each month, with 100 words allowed to each expeditioner and 75 words to their next of kin. Any excess words were charged at four pence (USD $0.38 or AUD $0.54 per word in today’s dollars). While family could send “radio telegrams” from any post office, if they wanted to use the free allotment, they had to type or write in all caps their telegram and mail it to the Antarctic Division.
The word limit was not much at the best of times, but in the long, dark winters when no resupply ships brought mail, those words must have felt very precious. To stretch the word count as much as possible, many common phrases were turned into five letter codes. And each expeditioner could translate two recipient’s addresses into five letter codes so that the address didn’t eat much of the allowance.
Updates on expeditions
Starting with the practical, codes were set up for every major location, species of penguin and seal as well as seasonal events.
Penguins have begun to arrive on the island …… WUVNE
Seal elephants are breeding …… WUYGD
The codes also illustrate the ranges of ways expeditions got around, with separate codes for journeys by man-hauling sledge [sled], dog-sledge, Weasel, tractor, Beaver flight, Auster flight, and simply walking on sea ice.
Some show polite, even formal, work communications were sent through code, ensuring tone of voice was clear.
May we use our (my) discretion …… EMMSA
Owing to a misunderstanding …… KIDHA
Shall we (I) make arrangements …… ANYUJ
Keeping family connected
With men (they were all male expeditions in that era) away from home and loved ones for anywhere between 3 and 15 months, family communications were foreseen and codes planned for various affectionate greetings as well as missed anniversaries and birthdays, . Several of the phrases had variations with Darling added at the end for those who left a significant other far behind.
And the codes included ways to communicate about harder things, ranging from losing or gaining weight to the illness of a grandparent.
Very sorry to hear about the death of …… YIRAS
Are your alright? Worried about you …… ZAODS
Injury is not serious …… ZAPEC
My thoughts and prayers are ever with you …… ZANGY
And the boring parts of life went on at home as well, with codes to help out.
Please pay from my account the sum of …… YEEBY
Please send Xmas card from me to …… YEEGD
Would you please ask/tell …… YIPER
Communicating through highs and lows
The codes give insight into the daily trials and humor of those who headed South. Several codes are nudges from those who are far away to get more news from home, others show the toll on mental health, usually tempered with assurances so those at home weren’t too worried, and others show that, without the inability to send a selfie, updates on weight and facial hair were common.
This place gives you a pain at times but is worth it …… YIKYR
Wish you’d communicate more often, suggest short messages sent frequently …… YINSO
Please don’t wait so long next time …… WYZZA
Rather fed up at having to stick around camp …… YIKAL
The food is first rate and I’ve put on some weight ……YINAP
Like it here but not having you leaves a gap …… WYZIC
I miss you more than I can say darling …… WYTAT
And my favorite from the whole list?
I have grown a beard which is generally admired ……YIHKE
You may also like…
