Scillonian Down South!

Trip South 2011/12

2012-01-28T15:40:00.000-02:00

Been a busy few months!

2011-12-24T23:08:00.000-02:00

Ok So its been a busy few months, got married, when on honeymoon and then had to rejon the ship...

SVP

2011-04-07T02:52:00.003-02:00

"The Surface Velocity Profiler (SVP) is a drifting buoy specifically designed to track the ocean currents at a fixed depth of 15 meters.

The key elements if the SVP include the surface float with contains the telemetry system and sensors necessary to retrieve and transmit the required data and the drogue that it is designed to hold the SVP in place on the ocean surface." (Quote from the deployment instructions).

We deployed several of these on the way from Bird Island toward Stanley in the Falklands to fill a gap in the drift buoy network in the Southern Ocean.

Anyway next instalment will be some photographs of the wedding of Tim and Jules in SG at Grytviken Church. (This actually happen before the buoy deployment but I did not download the photographs from my camera.)

We are off to Falmouth now.. Almost back home!! not long now...

Deception Island

2011-03-15T22:07:00.001-02:00

.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deception_Island

Halley 2011

2011-02-19T07:00:00.001-02:00

Some 'Sea Smoke' and Moon Rise and a visit from a pod of Killer Whales. All the fun of the night shift!!

A Wander on the Ice!

2011-02-11T16:18:00.000-02:00

Weddell Sea 2011

2011-02-10T04:17:00.005-02:00

Well I know that its been a long time since I have published any photographs on my blog and for that I am remiss!

The Ernest Shackleton is back down south now and we are in the Weddell Sea hunting for seals. Well searching would be a better word!

The project that we are working on at the moment involves looking for the Weddell Seal and placing a tag on to the seal which is used to profile that behavioural patterns, feeding patterns and locations of the seal.

The tag is glued on to the head of the seal just after the moult is complete, the tag remains on the seal for about 8-10 months (until the seal moults again) when the tag drops off.

In this time the tag uses satellite system to transmit data that it has collected, so basically the seal is a mobile platform for the collection of CTD data (conductivity Temperature and Depth).

Below are some of the photos that i have taken of the process of tagging the seal.

Ice Science

2010-02-13T19:22:00.000-02:00

Tresco Isles of Scilly

2010-01-05T12:53:00.000-02:00

2009-12-02T21:09:00.000-02:00

Summer in Scilly just a distant dream!

Elephant Seal

2009-11-28T11:02:00.000-02:00

2009-11-28T10:58:00.000-02:00

The QE2 on one of her last call to the Falklands..

Falklands

2009-11-28T10:57:00.000-02:00

The Dorada and the Sigma 2002

ROV's and the bottom of the North Sea..

2009-07-23T15:13:00.002-02:00

ROV and survey work this month.. Working on the sub sea installations at Gryphon Alpha.

Speedlines and drills.....

2009-06-01T16:28:00.004-02:00

These Speed-lines are kept on-board for use in emergency situations; this one was coming near to its expiry date so it was decided that we should use it in a drill...

Mud Glorious Mud!

2009-05-31T11:07:00.005-02:00

Shacks Tour of Bergen

2009-05-31T09:54:00.002-02:00

Boson Tormentors

2009-04-10T15:04:00.003-02:00

Boobies or Boson tormentors know as such because the have a tendency to crap on the deck from a great height!!

Back down South again!

2009-03-17T11:15:00.005-02:00

Managed to get a bit of a Jolly in on the First call, Ian and myself escaped for couple of hours and were taken up the Ice Ramp to the nearest Crevasse and climbed / slid our way to the bottom of a very small hole in the ice and was confronted by a magical world of ice crystals and icicles... Was really quite impressive (the photos don't do it justice, could have done with a few hours and a tripod to get some decent photos!)

Dynamic Postioning and Diving...

2008-09-06T13:17:00.005-02:00

Some Photograph and survey work was done from the Ernest Shackleton's FRC
Nice calm evening to go for a stooge about in the North Sea

The Trenching ROV

2008-07-09T05:18:00.002-02:00

Mobilisation North Sea

2008-07-08T09:29:00.004-02:00

We are off to dig a trench.......

Away to Sea Again

2008-07-05T12:45:00.005-02:00

I went to Petans in Norwich to do my Bosiet course.

Well at least I am in Aberdeen back on the Ernest Shackleton waiting on a job!

Mobilization starts on Sunday morning and we are off to dig a trench; all this north sea stuff is new to me.....

High Speed Ice breaking!

2008-03-25T21:51:00.002-02:00

Ernest Shackleton Crew Photo 2008

2008-03-14T16:33:00.003-02:00

The 'extreme' team 2008 (or is it the icecream team!?)

Ice....

2008-03-07T21:23:00.002-02:00

Departing Creek 4 Halley 5th March 2008

2008-03-06T10:29:00.003-02:00

Finally Getting Dark....

2008-03-03T23:25:00.002-02:00

It was -21°c outside and getting dark; thought that I would try and get a photo of the ship all lit up by the deck lights...

Arriving Back at Creek 4

2008-02-29T09:58:00.005-02:00

Ice Breaking Lifeboat! (Ray Davis)

BAS Science on the BBC...

2008-02-25T06:19:00.005-02:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7261171.stm

Video of Antarctica telling us "Its time to go home"....

2008-02-22T12:06:00.003-02:00

Max Gusts 82 Knots..

Broken Out!

2008-02-19T14:21:00.006-02:00

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!!

Science on the Ernest Shackleton..

2008-02-17T12:05:00.003-02:00

Ice Flower sampling... not sure why but will try and find out...

Cruising for a pre-smoko snack!

2008-02-15T11:03:00.003-02:00

Some debate as to which is more dangerous a hungry killer whale or a peckish engineer! :-)

Some Penguin Pic's & Stuff

2008-02-13T22:46:00.005-02:00

Satellite Image of Shore Lead..

2008-02-09T07:41:00.000-02:00

2008-02-09T05:39:00.000-02:00

Poem

2008-02-07T10:55:00.000-02:00

As we crew walk up the gangway,
we know the journey will end far away,
so we greet our friends and face our foes,
and know we still have 4 months to go,

So we slip our berth and get underway,
and then set sail to some bloody where,
out into the oceans thats deep and blue,
we ll get well fed and have a drink or two,
but work there is still to be done,
and the sailors still like to have some fun,

And then we reach those distant shores,
to hear some tales from different folklore,
but scientists and cargo we must supply,
or if not the base will run dry,

So before you know it,its time to go,
to pay off the ship and back to the wife,
its time to leave our way of live,
so we start to forget all about BAS,
and get back home to wor lass.

TUGS TAYLOR 2008 (AB Ernest Shackleton)

Few Pic's of the Shack's Engine Room

2008-02-05T10:58:00.000-02:00

Table Mountain Cape Town

2008-01-22T20:20:00.000-02:00

Amderma Leaving..

2008-01-04T06:18:00.000-02:00

The Ice got the better of the Amderma's mooring lines today and she pulled them out of of the ice and had to head out to clear water..

The Amderma....

2008-01-04T00:54:00.000-02:00

Halo & Sundogs...

2008-01-02T01:10:00.000-02:00

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A sun dog or sundog (scientific name perihelion, plural perihelia, i.e. "beside the sun") is a common bright circular spot on a solar halo. It is an atmospheric optical phenomenon primarily associated with the reflection or refraction of sunlight by small ice crystals making up cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. Two or more sundogs can often be seen on opposite sides of the sun simultaneously.

Some More of the Night Shift....

2007-12-31T10:39:00.000-02:00

"If this is a cassette then i am sticking to CD's!" (quote Andy Campbell...)

The New Cold War.. (well a snowball fight!)

2007-12-31T02:53:00.000-02:00

Night Shift

2007-12-28T02:25:00.000-02:00

The Russian Arrives!

2007-12-27T03:15:00.000-02:00

Ice Attacking....

2007-12-26T10:51:00.000-02:00

Shack's Snowman!

2007-12-25T01:31:00.000-02:00

Christmas decorations on the Shackleton!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2007-12-24T06:45:00.001-02:00

Merry Christmas from Anarchic aliens!......

Sledge & Fuel

2007-12-23T07:40:00.001-02:00

C/O struggling with the pace!

2007-12-23T07:27:00.000-02:00

Seascapes

2007-12-23T05:54:00.001-02:00

Calm weather & Ice on the trip south

Arrived at Halley

2007-12-21T05:16:00.001-02:00

Alongside the fast ice in Halley at Creek 4.

Mooring party prepares 'Dead Men' ice moorings by digging a hole in the snow till reaching the ice, then drilling into the ice with an Ice drill about 8 feet to plant three wooden posts.

Ice drill in action.

Moorings attached to the senhouse slip hook encase the ice brakes out and the ship has to depart the ice edge in a hurry.

First container landed on the waiting snow kat k18.

More Pics

2007-12-19T08:17:00.000-02:00

Excert from BAS Website:

2007-12-18T21:03:00.000-02:00

Station Z - Halley

Position Lat. 75 °35'S, Long. 26 °34'W (2001 Halley V)
(Known as Halley Bay until 15 Aug 1977)

Brunt Ice Shelf, Caird Coast

1956 (IGY) Lat. 75°31'S, Long. 26°36'W
1957 (IGY) Lat. 75°30'S, Long. 26°36'W
1967 (Z II) Lat. 75°31'S, Long. 26°39'W
1973 (Z III) Lat. 75°31'S, Long. 26°43'W
1983 (Z IV) Lat. 75°36'S, Long. 26°40'W
1989 (Z IV) Lat. 75°36'S, Long. 26°46'W
1988 (Z V) Lat. 75°35'S, Long. 26°14'W
1992 (Z V) Lat. 75°35'S, Long. 26°19'W
1998 (ZV) Lat. 75°35'S, Long. 26°30'W

Purpose

Primarily atmospheric sciences, but also survey, geology and glaciology.

Occupied

6 Jan 1956 to the present.

Buildings

Approximately 1.2 metres of snow accumulate each year on the Brunt Ice Shelf and buildings on the surface become
covered and eventually crushed by snow, necessitating periodic rebuilding of the station. This part of the ice shelf is also moving
westward by approx. 700m per year.

The original station, Halley I, was established by the Royal Society on 6 Jan 1956 for the International Geophysical Year (IGY)
1957/58. It was a traditional hut with a pitched roof. FIDS took over the operation of the station on 14 Jan 1959. A new main hut and dog kennels were built close to the original IGY buildings in Feb 1961, by which time the latter were completely covered by snow. Closed early 1968.

Halley II was built Jan-Mar 1967. It was designed with a pitched roof reinforced with steel supports. Halley I and Halley II were both occupied during the 1967 winter, Halley II being known as The Village and Grillage Village. Closed 1973.

Halley III was begun in early 1973. It was built of prefabricated huts housed inside corrugated steel conduits. Halley II and Halley III were both occupied in the 1973 winter. Closed Feb 1984. Site cleaned up in 1991.

Halley IV was established 2 Jan 1983. It was composed of two-storey huts housed inside conduits made from interlocking plywoodfaced panels. Both Halley III and Halley IV were occupied in the winter of 1983. Closed 19 Feb 1992. Site cleaned up during the 1992/93 season.

Halley V was begun in Jan 1989 and was fully operational from 19 Feb 1992. To avoid destruction by accumulating snow the buildings of Halley V are positioned on platforms which are raised every year so that they remain above the ice surface. The Laws building, named after Dr R M Laws, Director of BAS 1973-87, is the main accommodation building. The Piggott building, named after Dr W R Piggott, Head of Atmospheric Sciences Division of BAS 1973-79, contains the space sciences laboratories. The Simpson building, named after Sir George Clarke Simpson, meteorologist on Scott's expedition 1910-13 and Director of the Meteorological Office 1920-38, contains the meteorological laboratories. The Drewry building, named after Dr D J Drewry, Director of BAS 1987-94, provides summer accommodation. Following the example of a new garage installed the year before, the Drewry building is mounted on skis which enables it to be repositioned every year.

Construction of Halley VI is due to start in 2008.

Field huts

The Bob-Pi hut was erected in the hinge zone on 6 Nov 1962. It was used as a depot and staging post for journeys into Coats Land as well as for recreational purposes. Coats Station was established in Coats Land, at Lat. 77°54'S, Long. 24°08'W, 200 miles south of Halley Station on 30 Nov 1964. It was positioned to allow the triangulation of ionospheric measurements to be taken in conjunction with Halley Station and the Argentine General Belgrano Station. It was manned until 18 Mar 1965 when it was removed.

Memorials

N S Mann, 15 Aug 1963: plaque at Halley Station. J T Bailey, D P Wild and J K Wilson, 12 Oct 1965: plaques erected on Survey Point, Vardeklettane, Heimfrontfjella and at Halley Station. M V Mosley, 2 Feb 1980: memorial at Halley Station.

Current Status

Operational throughout the year.

(Info courtesy http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/)

Heading South Again....

2007-12-18T18:08:00.000-02:00

Heading south for another trip to the Antarctic in the RSS Ernest Shackleton. On leaving Scilly I managed to get this photograph of Higher Town on St Martins. Can see the work on the quay progressing and the pontoon in the par.

Arrived in Cape Town on the 30th of November, went to the agents office where i waited for the ship to come in to Cape Town Harbour, took this photograph of the MV Amderma the Russian cargo ship that has been contracted in to BAS to under take the transport of the Larger Components of the new Halley VI base build.

Keeping a watch for the Ice on the 8-12 watch during the morning watch. The First sight of Ice on the way south from cape town, may have seen the video in the earlier posts of that rough weather!

Ice

2007-12-13T19:55:00.000-02:00

Still Rough!

2007-12-10T12:36:00.000-02:00

The Office.

The view out of the office window!

Cape Town to Halley

2007-12-09T13:14:00.000-02:00

Cape Town & Table Mountain

2007-12-02T10:46:00.000-02:00

South Again

2007-12-02T10:20:00.000-02:00

Cape Town SA

Ernest Shackleton, webcam. http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/

Leaving Pompy on the second go!

2007-09-17T16:19:00.000-02:00

Photo by John Perkins From the Sky Tower in Portsmouth

Falmouth Dry Dock

2007-09-17T15:10:00.000-02:00

Falmouth Dry Dock
click the picture to see more

Divers Down

2007-09-17T10:03:00.000-02:00

Divers Down

Portsmouth JCR

2007-08-31T16:53:00.000-02:00

The James Clark Ross (attempting to get some tax days by hook or by crook!)

The James Clark Ross

Portsmouth

2007-08-09T16:03:00.000-02:00

Well I am not exactly down south, in fact I am stuck on a ship in Portsmouth docks. I am on the James Clark Ross which is due to have sailed for Greenland on the second of August. We are still alongside now waiting for the engines to be fixed. They have be en making good progress and we are due away now on Saturday the 11th. I have posted a few photos of what we have been up to in dry dock.

Time Lapse 23/06/2007

2007-06-24T11:13:00.000-02:00

Gig Rowing

2007-06-13T13:42:00.000-02:00

Foggy Day

2007-06-12T10:37:00.000-02:00

Time Lapse

2007-06-09T21:11:00.000-02:00

St Martins, A New Web Cam

2007-06-09T07:00:00.000-02:00

I have been working toward a new web cam view on St Martins, maily so i can keep an eye on home when i am at sea!

The camera has been up and running since the first week in May and is now positioned over the Quay at Highertown.

I am hoping that (with a lot of help!) I will be able to provide a live feed of streamed video on the Internet some time in the not to distant future!

Hope that you like it..

http://www.carronfarm.co.uk/webcam/

Home Again

2007-05-08T16:10:00.000-02:00

Gigs 2007

Brazilian Coast

2007-04-06T00:57:00.000-02:00

Heading north to Vigo in Spain and then on to the UK.
Not much to look at apart from the sea and a few fishing boats.
However today we came across an oil expectoration field and a drilling ship.

Headding North from the South!

2007-04-02T16:31:00.000-02:00

March 23rd 2007

Well this is the last of the

Antarctic scenery for this trip,

next stop will be the Falklands
on the 26th of March.

After that it is North bound
and Vigo in Spain. Then homeward bound to
the UK.

The last of the navigation in the ice
after leaving the Lemaire Channel and
heading north to the Falklands.

(Caption Competition?!?)

Any lengths to capture
that last photo ?!

                                Albatross!

Vernadsky & Lemaire Channel

2007-03-31T13:55:00.000-02:00

We sailed from Rothera to Vernadsky
on Thursday the 22nd of March. We called
in at Vernadsky for the morning, to
help service some met equipment.

Cheif officer of on the Vernadsky mission!

After a morning of exhausting work,
(well so they would have us believe!)
the intrepid explorers returned to the
ship and we continued on our way north
through the Lemaire Channel. Where there
were some stunning view that no photograph
could entirely do justice to the views!

Rothera Tour

2007-03-30T18:15:00.000-02:00

Snow Cat ride to the top of the hill.

Let loose on Skidoo's!

Jenny Island

Sled for winter expeditions

Got Pat the R/O to capture
me on camera just to prove
I really was here!!

A Tour of the (almost finished) New Accommodation at Rothera

Not a bad view!

Some More Rothera

2007-03-24T16:23:00.000-02:00

    The monument at Rothera Point

                    Jenny Island

Ernest Shackleton, taken from the monument at Rothera Point just before sunset on 21/03/2007.

Antarctic Heroes!

Rothera Research Station

2007-03-22T13:55:00.000-02:00

Lat:67°34' S, Long: 68°08' W, Rothera Point, Adelaide Island.

The two picture above are courtesy of the BAS website http://www.antarctica.ac.uk

Set sail on the 15th of March heading for Rothera on the peninsular. The weather was not as good as it could have been storm force 10 winds were encountered.

Drakes Passage and a little bit of wind!

Gently rolling in a stiff force 10 breeze.

Arrival at Rothera, Adelaide Island
on Monday 19th of March 2007.

Flying South

2007-03-21T19:49:00.000-02:00

I left home on the helicopter and started my journey down south my last view of home for maybe 4 months.

Set off from Brize Norton and headed to Ascension Island, after 8 hours in the air we got an hours stop in the cage!

Playing spot the crew at Ascension!

An escort into Falkland air space!

Arrival in the Falkland Islands was on the 9th of March and we joined the ship on the following Sunday which was the 11th.

Antarctica

2007-03-15T15:40:00.000-02:00