Day 56 + 57

More unloading of cargo, today we made a good start on the 45 gallon drums, 700 offloaded in 12 hours, a new record for Halley.

Its been snowing fairly steadily for the passed couple of days, I'm told it doesn't snow here very often so it is unusual, especially for the summer. 

Offload will finish tomorrow then we’ll be moving onto loading rubbish, etc to take to the Faulklands.

 not a sign you see everyday

  sledges of cargo

  the shack

  me, yes wearing a lifejacket while skiing. It's in case you fall through a crack in the sea ice

Day 55

Day 2 of cargo work. We load sledges pulled behind large tracked vehicles, these are towed to the top of the ramp and an empty is brought back down to the ship. When three or four sledges are full, a larger tractor thows them to the base.

Temperature was colder today, although I still managed to get burnt.

  The crew and Fids xmas day, can you spot me?

  Matt of the antarctic

  The chief mate and I

  L- Matt snr Cadet, Mid- 3rd Mate, R-Matt jr

Day 54

  the sea ice and las resort attached to the ROV crane, if the ship starts moving, you can jump in there to be rescued.

  ships gangway and mooring line

  flags marking a crack and mooring line

  ramp up to caboose, marked with flags

  skiddoos

  penguins

Well we are here, ‘alongside’ at Halley. The actual base is approximately 10km away, we have moored to a big bit of sea ice in creek 3. The ship is tied to ‘deadmen’ (big fence posts)  hammered into the ice.

There are flags marking the danger areas on the ice and we are not allowed to walk very far as there are large cracks. If we want to venture up the cliff, we hitch a ride on one of the snow cats.

At the top of the ramp is a ‘caboose’ (a big portacabin) that is there primarily for safety, if the ice breaks away and the ship floats off, anybody left on the ice can make their way to the caboose and await rescue from the base.

Most of the FIDs are gone and so is a fair bit of cargo, the 24 hours of sunlight make it much less tiring than it was in Immingham.

Day 53

Merry Christmas from Antarctica.

Got up and went out onto the ice to stretch the legs and actually touch Antarctica.

Full Christmas lunch with everybody in the mess room then I was back on the bridge for 1630.

The ice image had shown that it was a clear run to Halley so we were to slowly make our way down on one engine to arrive in the morning.  That turned out not to be the case, myself and the third mate battled with the ice for 7 hours and found open water at midnight.

We had a bit of a treat as one of the leads we broke into had a pod of about 12 orcas and we followed them for 15 minutes.

Midnight Position  74° 48’S   025° 30’W

The plan is to be alongside Halley at 1000 in the morning then begin to offload all the cargo and FIDs.

  Ship stopped in ice

  Ice shelf (the small balck blur on the right is some people)

  The Shack

  Orcas

Day 52

The day was spent in open water, making good speed and cruising passed the shelf. We found a good spot to accidently get stuck into, engines running ahead slightly to hold us in for Christmas day.

This morning we went into a cove in the ice with many penguins and later we saw a group of orcas hunting.

ETA at Halley is 1000 26/12/11

We are ‘stuck’ in the ice and aiming for a game of football for Christmas eve, myself and the third mate are going to go for a cross country skiing session instead.

Day 51

  flat calm sea

  looking aft from the 'crows nest'

  mr penguin

  the ice shelf

  big crack!

Another good day of ice breaking, we got stopped a few times and had to ‘hammer’ the ice i.e. reverse and take a run up until it cracks then follow the crack. This evening we got into the shore lead which means we will be in open water for a few hundred miles.

This evening, I felt as if we had finally made it. We reached the iconic ice shelf, all is needed now is a few orcas.

Measuring the distance off the continent with the radar then comparing it to the chart shows a difference of four miles. The charted coastline is that of 1989 and of course the ice shifts so we record the coastline as we go to then send the data back to the hydrographic office. It’s the reverse of what a navigator would normally be doing!

Day 50

We reached thick pack today, ice breaking for most of the day.  The ship cannot break through if it looks completely covered, we need to go from gap to gap because we need to be able to push the ice into the gaps. If the ice is particularly thick and the ship slows dramatically with the chance of stopping completely, the aim is to follow the cracks that appear until you can get to open water again.  If there is a gap smaller than the beam of the ship then you aim to cut off one of the edges as opposed to going for the gap because there is a lot of pressure either side so if the ship goes into the gap it will get stuck, if you cut the ice off the edge, it gets pushed into the gap instead.

It is easy to get disorientated in the ice, following leads for the sake of following leads then suddenly your miles off track or pointing back the way you came. Its a balancing act between getting through to the open water parts and staying close to the track line. Icebergs are good to use as heading markers, if there are none about then its radar/ecdis/compass to keep you close to track.

The ship can break ice up to 4 meters thick, it achieves this by riding up on top of the ice then using the weight of the ship to break it and displace it either side.

Position @ midnight 68° 18’S    004° 28’W

Day 49

  iceberg

  Midnight in Antarctica

Most of the day has been spent going through a pollinier (big gap in the ice). When we reached the other side and got back into the ice, its only year old so we can make 12 knots through it, the outlook is good for getting to Halley on time.  This next section close to Stadcombe Wills is traditionally the choke point so if we can get through rapidly it we are doing well. There is a sweepstake on board for when we are arriving. I’ve taken 2/1/12, 2 months since joining.

Whilst I was steering I had to divert around a piece of ice with a group of 5 adelie penguins on (looked like they were having a meeting). As the ship passed them by they started to run then slide on their bellies towards the water.

Day 48

Today is when we finally began to break ice. It is thin sea ice so we can easily make 11 knots through it. It’s a strange feeling driving directly into solid lumps, not a natural thing to do with a ship, everything shudders, shakes and there are bangs and crashes as the ship ploughs through.  With this thickness of ice, we only have to avoid the larger bits.

At midnight its still fairly light, it wont be long until we are saying goodbye to the night altogether.

There were a couple of fur seals hauled up onto some lumps of ice and a group of 3 small chin strap penguins.

Day 47

  Bovatoya

What a difference a day makes, on deck this morning with full winter boots, padded boiler suit, thermals, wooly hat and a couple of pairs of gloves.

Sea temp is -1.1°C

Air temp -1.5°C

Barometer reads 962mb

Wind speed is F9

Swell height is 8m

We passed Bovatoya, lots of fur seals surrounding the ship. Saw my first Iceberg and glacier.

The ship is now back on GMT

By this evening, the wind and sea have both calmed. Icebergs are becoming more frequent, by the morning we will be in the pack and finally cutting through ice.

On the ship there are three large spotlights to try to illuminate the area in front of the ship to make it easier to navigate through the ice. Most large icebergs can be easily detected by radar although some that have either capsized or have the top at a 45° angle, deflect the radar waves away, making them difficult to detect.

There are many different classification of iceberg depending on size and what kind of ice it is, there are megabergs which are over  1km long, growlers which are the size of a van, blue ice, clear ice and pack ice.

Day 46

Wind has picked up to a F8 on the beam (NW).  First snow fall this morning, air and sea temperature are both below 0°C. No ice spotted yet.

  ships spotlight

  Now, where did I put that sextant...........

Day 45

More splicing this morning, the weather has settled, we seem to have missed the deep depression that was forecasted (so far.....) sea temperature has dropped 5° and the air temperature is about the same.  It is predicted that tonight we will pass through what is called the Antarctic Convergence, sea temperature drops instantly. It is where the two currents meet, that of the Antarctic and southern oceans. Sometimes there is a wall of fog, upon passing through the other side of it; you are in Antarctica with ice, etc. The ship has three ultra bright search lights that are controlled from the bridge to search for Ice at night; they will be used tonight and from here on.

Noon Pos: 47° 18’ S      008° 22’E

Tomorrow we are doing another hour on the clocks which will bring us back to GMT, which is what Halley base operates on.

On Monday, the watches are changing in preparation for the ice. The Capt and Chief Officer go back to back 0600-1800, the 2^nd and 3^rd mate are back to back 1200-0000. The two deck cadets will stick with the 2^nd or 3^rd mate for a week then swap over.

The reason for doubling up on the deck officers on watch is because in the ice, it is all hand steering. We each take and hour of steering, one hour of lookout and one of hour of doing the other necessary jobs on the bridge.

Day 44

Sea state is moderate to rough with a Force 7 on the beam (not too bad really).   The lead scientist had said we could see a comet last night burning up into the sun but as the time came it was cloudy.

There’s a few albatross’ flying near the ship.

We have altered the passage plan slightly (cutting off a corner) so we can pass close to the most isolated, uninhabited island in the world. The place is called Bouvetoya, as far as I’m aware its nothing more than a large mass of rock and glacier with an unmanned weather station on top of it.

Two handy tips for making life at sea more pleasant;

1.     1)   Wedging the inboard side of your mattress up with shoes/towels etc makes sleeping in rough weather much easier.

2.       2) Blue tacking a small Pringles box to the desk makes a perfect beer/port holder.

Day 43

Weather is calmer today but it is to get much lumpier as we enter the roaring 40s until the ice early next week.

Christmas tree is now up and more FIDs are appearing out of their cabins.

All is well on board, everybody is just looking forward to the ice.

The pressure chart, shows what were about to go into. The line depict barometric pressure, the closer together, the higher the winds, the higher the winds the bigger the seas. The yellow outline is South Africa and Madagascar. Our position is approx on the 1008 line.

Day 42

The wind, sea and swell have picked up. Steady F8 gusting 9/10, 8m sea.

Noon Pos: 36°21’ S  016° 28’ E.

Quite a few of the new passengers on board have been throwing up and blocking the heads, glad I’m not an engineer. Work on deck is weather dependent, today I was replacing ropes on the RIB covers.

The ice has broken up quite a bit so hopefully will be at Halley base early in the new year.

Day 41

We have moved over to a bunkering (fuelling) berth this morning, to load another 110t of diesel because the ice is still looking thick and we could be there for longer than planned. The F.I.Ds (Faulkand Island Dependents, passengers) are all on board. There is 25 in total, some scientists, some mechanics, engineers, some field assistants and a group of construction workers to finish the Halley VI base.

Back on watches, I’m on the 8-12 with the third mate.

The basic passage plan is to head SW until the Greenwich meridian then due south to 55° S, try to pick up a lead (a gap in the ice) then follow that to the coast and hopefully the coastal lead should be opened enough for us to get round to Halley.

  The 'Shack' dwarfed by a container ship

Day 39 + 40

  christmas tree

  on top of table mountain, overlooking cape town

  me in the middle of a tank of nemo fish

  first penguin of the trip, this is a Rockhopper

Testing the lifeboats and FRC this morning. Unfortunately, sailing has been delayed so we regrettably have another day in Cape Town.

Went up table mountain and had lunch, then went to the aquarium and looked around some local markets in the city itself.

Day 38

Arrival at Cape Town this morning then a bit of cargo work as well as bunkering.

The Volvo ocean race has just departed from here so there is a lot of life about the port. The weather is beautiful and from what I’ve seen so far, it is a lovely city.

Day 37

Wind and sea have both settled down, we have reduced speed to give us speed in hand for going through the traffic separation schemes. Pilot is boarding at 0800 local time, busy morning ahead then a day and a half off.

Day 36

Wind and sea have both increased, Force 9 on the nose and 20ft seas. We have to run both engines at full power to maintain our ETA. 

Signs we are getting close to land, more birds, fishermen on VHF and sea depth less than 1000m.

approx pos: 30° 37' S   015° 9' E

Day 35

More traffic appearing on the radar, we are now less than 200miles off the coast. The wind has picked up again, blowing a 6/7 from the south, there was rain today, typical. 

Not much to report, everybody is looking forward to their run ashore at the weekend and the ice pictures are being watched closely.

We've just crossed into South Africa from Namibia

Day 34

A pleasant watch this morning, sea and wind is still slight. I was gas testing a few enclosed spaces* with the chief mate this morning.

Clocks are advancing another hour tonight to align us with Cape Town, time zone GMT+2

At doctor school tonight we sutured duck breasts.

*spaces on board that do not have constant ventilation, so the atmospheres within them can be low oxygen and dangerous to life. There are a lot of protocols to prepare a space like this for entry but we just had to test the oxygen levels this morning as a final check before work could commence.

Day 33

Wind has moderated, F2, swell has calmed, only need the sun to burn through the clouds and it will be quite pleasant.  Continuing the slow steaming to arrive on time in Cape Town, I’m helping to organise the first aid scenario this week.

Approx Pos: 23° 22’S    008° 28’ E

Day 32

Watch change over day, got a really good sleep and went to the gym.  The swell has eased slightly. The weather has been overcast for the past 5 days but today the sun was out, despite the force 5 wind blowing, it was a pleasant afternoon.

Compass correction using the sun at sunset this evening, the sun was very big and could see spots on it, a small flash of green as it disappeared over the horizon.

We could pick up the coastguard station on the VHF, something that should be completely impossible as VHF has a maximum range of 40 miles, the coastguard station is 300 miles away. I think its due to the temperature layers in the atmosphere as a surface to bounce the signal off.
Just over 900 miles to go until Cape Town, current location is 300miles off the coast of Namibia.

Day 31

Swell has increased today, making sleeping more difficult. We have come down onto one engine to make our planned ETA.

Writing some reports for my training book and learning more COLREGS.

Noon position, approx 18° 32’S   004°13’E.

Secret santa has been organised on board so we are all to buy our gifts in Cape Town.

Day 30

Quiet watches today, the swell has increased to about 3m, as its on the nose the speed has decreased slightly and the ship is pitching more.* Nobody on board is seasick but that’ll probably change after Cape Town as approximately 25 persons are coming on board to go to the ice.

I sat in on the monthly safety meeting today, where representatives from the departments get together to discuss any safety related issues that have been raised and we had a SOPEP drill, how to manage spillages on deck e.g. while refuelling, hydraulic pipe burst, etc.

*this ship pitches quite a lot for a merchant vessel. The main reasons are its relatively short length (80m) and the ice breaking bow (the bottom of the bow is effectively cut away so it can ride over the ice and use the ships weight to break the ice).

Day 29

Another quiet day of work, more painting.

 The second mate and I have begun to create the passage plan to the ice. Unlike most passage plans, which are fixed the route could change dramatically depending on ice conditions. The most direct route has impenetrable ice between us and Halley, one option is to steam East to approximately 30° then south to cut through the thinner ice and hug the coast round. Although the thick ice, directly in the way could break up within two weeks which would let us through.  So we really have to play it by ear and make a plan as late as possible.

The Ice report picture above is the only information we have. It is a daily satellite image, the different colours denote the ice thickness dark purple thickest, the grey is Antarctica itself. The ship cannot cut through the dark purple regions.

Approximate current location 12° 25’ S 001° 00’ W

Day 28

Another quiet watch this morning, although a flash of inspiration has led me explore a completly new topic for my dissertation.

The second engineer showed myself and the other cadet around the engine room this afternoon, pics and explanations below.

More painting this afternoon.

  

As with most merchant vessels, there is no starter motor for the engines because the capacity is too large to crank over. Instead they are started with compressed air being forced into the cylinders to kick it over. These are the tanks containing that compressed air.

  

We produce our own fresh water from seawater.  Seawater is sucked into these evaporation units, that are heated using the hot cooling water from the main engines, to allow this to boil the seawater, the pressure is lowered within the EVAP to decrease the boiling point of the water. Each unit can produce approximately 14t a day of fresh water.

  

The ship, unlike a lot of other merchant ships burns marine diesel, it is much cleaner than normal heavy fuel but it still requires pre filtering. This is one of the centrifuges for the diesel, the clean diesel is then pumped into the service tanks ready to be used in the engines.

  

Gearbox. There are two main engines on board, they are coupled via a single gear box and drive one propeller shaft.  We have a controllable pitch propeller which is good for manoeuvrability. The engines spin the shaft at a constant 158rpm, if more speed is required; the central computer alters the pitch of the propeller to generate it.

  

One of two diesel generators on board, there is also a shaft generator, this meets all the day to day power requirements but if more power is needed for the thrusters etc then the computer will bring these generators online.

  

One of two main engines, you can see the turbo charger on the left of the pic. Output is 2200Kw @720 rpm. Daily consumption is approximately 7t of diesel or 5mpg.

  

This is the main switch board, where all the electrical power is distributed for the ship.

  

Finally,  the steering gear. The rudder stock is the central stainless steel structure. There is a small needle on the front with a scale for angle indication, if the linkage up to the bridge is lost, the ship can be steered locally from within the steering gear room.

Day 27

Quiet watch this morning, wind is a steady F5 on the nose, temperature is comfortable. I was learning the art of chart corrections this afternoon.

Every chart on board has to be update by law, chart corrections come out weekly and we download them then print them off and apply them to the charts that are needed. There are two different types that you physically put on the chart, blocks and traces. Blocks are replacement parts of chart that are stuck on top to replace a section of chart and traces are printed out onto tracing paper, these can be additions eg new lights, depths, etc or removal of lights, etc or replacing features.

This evening we had doctor school, the doc showed us how to put in a drip, take blood and test our blood groups. I took my own blood, which was a strange feeling and found out my blood type to be O+.

Clocks are going to GMT +1 tonight, each watch it 20mins less. Instead of starting at midnight tonight I start at 2320, then we put the clocks forward an hour.

Day 26

Body clock a bit of a mess today due to changing watches, swell increased over night which also ddnt help the no sleep front.  Tried to shoot the sun at local noon but missed it, back to the books tonight and re try again tomorrow.

 I was helping the third mate pressure test all the fire hoses and nozzles on board (over 40 of them) then we had another drill/safety brief on immersion suits, foam systems and liferafts.

Current location 02° S    008° W. Temperature has decreased to mid 20s and the sky has been overcast for the past couple of days

Day 25

Scrubbing the decks this morning. Swell has increased, its now on the nose, we have got wind, swell and equatorial currents against us.

Crossed the equator tonight, now its summer!

I missed the only exciting thing of the day, the third mate saw a raft float passed. There wasn’t anybody on it or near it, looked like it had been out at here a long time.

Watch changes today, moving onto the 12-4 for a week.

Myth busted; water ran down sink clockwise in N hemisphere, runs down clockwise in S hemisphere.

Day 24

On deck painting this morning then a fairly chilled out afternoon BBQ for crossing the line. Weather has been overcast all day with a bit of rain to spoil my painting, cant complain though, it has caused the temperature to drop to a comfortable mid 20s

Day 23

A nice morning of undercoating then had a fire and first aid drill, I got strapped into a stretcher.

This afternoon has been fairly quiet, usual stuff, gym, a bit of laundry and some uni work. 

Current location is 250nM off the coast of Sierra Leone.

Tonight, the ship was heading straight for a large lightning storm, the forecast was for gusts of severe wind but it must have always just been ahead of us as the ship never met the wind forecasted.

Day 22

First job this morning was to pay out and flake the aft mooring line onto the poop deck. Once this was complete, the pressure washer was rigged and I drove to winch to put the line back on, whilst the boatswain washed the line. Bridge watch tonight was hot and not a lot happening, usual met forecast sent to the met office and a compass correction by star (Achenar). The last waypoint and turn before Cape Town has just been done, this leg is over 3000nM.

Air and Sea temp at midnight 28°C