Broken Out!

Ice breaking out around the stern of the ship.

Top quality blizzard vis!

Well the weather was not so good last night, was on night watch (last one!) and had to call the Captain to the bridge at 0400 this morning because the wind had got up to 35 knots and was increasing, with gusts up to 45 knots which was putting lots of strain on the mooring line..

The captain decided that it was time to put the engines and thrusters on to steam ahead and keep the weight off of the head line and thrust alongside the ice to try and protect the ice edge from being under cut by the sea.

The captain remained on the bridge till he was happy that the ship was settled and left me in charge with the vessel in 'pos con'(basically a joystick driving the engines and thrusters). His parting comment was give me a call if any dramatic happens!

At 0645 I was making myself another cup of tea and the Ice began to crack up around the stern of the ship, I call the captain and then the crew where mustered and we made ready to slip the moorings. It proved to dangerous to put men on the ice so the captain decided that we should make up the mooring lines on the bits and pull on the lines till the dead men (three wooden post drilled into the ice) parted and freed the mooring lines.

We then steamed around to Precious bay just past Cabo Roll, where the visibility was almost zero and stuck the bow of the ship into the fast ice to wait... which is what we are doing now..

The winds are a steady 60 knots and gusting 80 at times (thats hurricane force).

Have been on 12 hour night shifts for 10 days now and was looking forward to a day off; maybe go out for a ski on the fast ice... (no such luck!!) still got the day off so thought I would post a few photos to try and show how lovely the weather was down here!!