Now that the 'Ship of Fools' is safe in Antarctica, tough questions need to be asked

The ship’s fools are safe for now, let’s not forget about the working stiffs and the vessel itself that are still in peril.

I foresee lawyers crawling over this fiasco for years to come. It has just about everything.
Buy popcorn futures.

The headline is very misleading. It’s very important to remember the crew are still out there. I’m hoping for a quick thaw so they can get out soon.
The activists and media will be dead keen to divert you from the fact both the ship and crew are still stuck. I bet the rescue attempts decline now the celebs are off,

The real story for me is about the carefully scripted deceptive “reports” offered to us by the warmists fellow travelers, libmedia. Glo-Bull warming fanatics on a “propaganda expedition”get trapped by unexpectedly heavy antarctic polar ice – IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ANTARCTIC SUMMER NO LESS – And the heroic libmedia bravely and heroically dare to manicure away and flush down the memory hole all of the salient details like:
1) No mention that this is an expedition whose main purpose was to “discover” proof of their fanatically held belief in glo-bull warming, but (ironically?) got caught (literally) by their false, illogical assumptions.
2) That the expedition was poorly planned and even more poorly executed, so the warmist fanatic who attempted to do it “on the cheap” put the participants lives at risk.
3) That the trip was intended in part to comemorate an expedition that occured 100 years ago with the full expectation that the polar ice would be greatly diminished from that earlier event and could be used as proof positive that AGW glo-bull warming is real! More irony, or just ignorant fanaticism being unmasked?
Why bother to rewrite history when you can just invent the past you want as it is being made by manicuring, filtering and lying through your lib teeth? Thats our heroic libmedia!!!

I feel very sorry for the ship’s Master who I’m certain is a competent mariner.
Bet they’re all glad to be rid of the ‘scientists’, ‘journalists’, ‘tourists’ and especially the Green politician who is missing her chickens (chooks). Just as well the crew had limited English or some of the passengers might not have made it to safety.

And I wouldn’t be surprised if a good portion of the material they’ve posted at their various sites gets quietly removed.

I repeat this comment from Climate Etc
There are 18 PhD students on this expedition. Six (1/3) work on the Antarctic. The others (2/3) work on the North Atlantic, Australia’s coastal waters, brain injury, Iceland, New Zealand’s North Island, urban climates, pedagogy, the Equatorial Undercurrent, pharmaceuticals, time series statistics, microbiology, and Siberia.

Dr T G Watkins. The Master’s responsibility was to ensure that he was competent: obviously he is not , otherwise he would not have been caught in the ice. This is 2014 not 1914 and we have adequate knowledge of the conditions . The Master has absolute authority to over ride any decision by anyone else which threatens the ship.

Were the journalists and tourists considered to part of the “…85 member team”?

10. Apparently the crew of the Akademik Shokalskiy spoke next to zero English, did this communications barrier contribute to the situation? Was Turney warned that the weather and wind was changing while the second Mawson’s Huts sightseeing tour was in progress, and if he was were those warnings understood/heeded?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

..In most of Russian schools the subject “foreign language” appears in the time-table beginning from the 5th class, and sometimes from the 2nd. Some schools even offer two or more foreign languages. In this case, children usually take English language in the 2nd class, and then in the 5th class they can start with German or French…
http://www.lexiophiles.com/english/languages-learned-at-school-in-russia

…Young people learn languages (mainly English) very actively, however, you may find it difficult to communicate with the older generation if you do not speak Russian….
http://justrussia.ru/page.php?64

I think there were probably at least a few among the crew who spoke a little English or French. Even if they did not speak English, a hand written message, translated from a book (or google translate) or even gestures would get the point across. I mean really, tug on a coat sleeve, point to the sky, point to the ice, point to a wrist watch/time piece and act frantic. How hard can that be?
However from my own experience it take two to communicate when there is a language obstacle to over come and arrogance was a more likely issue not language.

What was the carbon footprint of the trip (including repatriation)?
What was the carbon foot print of the rescue mission (including the failed attempts)?
There are potentially insurance issues if a vessel proceeds to ice bound waters and is not suitably ice strengthened/classed for such a voyage.
Likewise, salvage may become an issue if the vessel needs to be rescued because it is not ice strengthened and is at peril as a consequence of that.

John Boles says: @ January 2, 2014 at 8:43 am
That ship, the AKADEMIK SHOLKOWSKIY seems rather too small to be a decent ice breaker.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
That is just the point. IT IS NOT. Prof Chris(tmas) Turkey went for the cheapest based on his ASSumption the ice was melting away.

Another question for the western MSM, if there was and is no danger to ship and crew,
as they now report.
Why were their comrades and colleges evacuated?
An emergency was called, ships were diverted from their duties to answer a MAYDAY.
Of course I could just wait for Pravda to cover this story, I actually expect a more honest and in depth report from them (Pravda), than I expect form the sponsoring media agencies or my national media org (CBC).
My prediction, this embarrassing fiasco will be covered as accurately as the CRU emails and the subsequent inquiries.
Another blinder well played, old chap.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.global-warming/nnRMMpI-WMs
http://www.spiritofmawson.com/join-the-trip/
Check the two itinerary PDFs. The quote the costs for the berths.

OK, the BBC is straight in there with an outrageous lie:
Andrew Luck Baker who, in his last report, was pretending not to be on the ship (referring to ‘a passenger describes…) now has this to say:
“One of the aims was to track how quickly the Antarctic’s sea ice was disappearing.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25573096

Oldseadog says: @ January 2, 2014 at 9:11 am
…. The Master would have been castigated if he had left them on the ice so that he could save his ship, just as he is being castigated for being caught by the ice.
The prime “no-win” situation.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
His only option would be to have the crew bodily carry the group on board and as there was a 2 to one ratio in favor of the idiots, that would not work either.
The Master was truly screwed with ZERO options.

Every year ships get stuck/delayed in ice for weeks on end. There is nothing particularly unusual about that plain fact. I agree with AnonyMoose says: January 2, 2014 at 8:42 am. You would ordinarily expect those on board to tough it out, just as the crew are doing. it does not appear that conditions are such that we are at an abandon ship scenario.
What is unusual is the reason behind the trip, the comparison with the same/similar voyage a 100 years earlier (which earlier voyage was not performed by an ice breaker), and the misconception of the ice conditions in Antartica and an under-estimation of the dangers posed.
Of course, it is not unexpected that MSM when covering this story are not informing their readers/viewers that Antarctic ice is at a 30 year high. Nor are they explaining that much more ice was encountered on this voyage than was encountered a century earlier with the implication that ice extent in this part of the Antarctic is greater than it was some 100 years ago notwithstanding anthropogenic emissions these past 100 years. That is the story that should be told, but obviously will not be tolds

I’d have like to be a fly on the wall when the captain was having a discussion with his tourists about getting back on the boat and getting the hell out of there. Hopefully he has logged it and can spread some blame.
This is what I hear in my imagination:
Captain: Bring your equipment aboard the conditions are turning against us and we need to move
Expedition leader: I’m sure we will be fine we can pack up at a leisurely pace. This passage was free 100 years ago. The air and ocean have warmed appreciably since then.
Captain: My satellite imagery says different. Get as much of your gear aboard as you can. We are leaving.
Expedition leader: Chill out dude. We are not leaving until all the gear is aboard
Captain: [thinks] I should manhandle them aboard and abandon the gear but the customer is always right. I can hardly cast off without them.
Captain: [says] As fast as you can then

Dr T G Watkins says:
January 2, 2014 at 8:45 am
I feel very sorry for the ship’s Master who I’m certain is a competent mariner.
—
Not sure about that. Wouldn’t a captain worth his salt refused to take directions that put passengers, crew, and ship at risk? He, too, will have some ‘splainin’ to do once he (hopefully) gets home.

I would not wish to criticise the Master at this stage. We do not know the full facts.
As others have pointed out, the Master is responsible not simply for the safety of his ship, but also for his crew and pasengers. Quite obviously, he could not have sailed off abandoning the passengerss/scientists on the ice. Especially since it is far from apparent that the ship is in real peril. It is stuck in ice, for sure. It is being delayed, but as of yet, whilst ice will always pose some dangers, I have seen no reports that the hull is about to be crushed and breached. Presently, it appears to be an inconvenience, and weather conditions may alter and the ice may be swept away thereby naturally freeingb the vessel. The Master has to balance all issues including how much danger would have been posed to those left behind on the ice had the vessel and crew (and all those who wanted to sail) had sailed off, against the vessel being stuck in ice but with all crew and passengers on board and within the sanctuary that the vessel provides. I very much doubt that the Master will be criticised for that decision.
The real issue for him is how much heed was had to advance weather forecasts and should he have aborted the voyage sooner. .

All these questions presuppose that facts and reality are what guide the members of the expedition.

In the words of Indigo Montoya: “science….you keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means…”.

Fairness would have required that the crew be rescued, and the tourists and politicians be left behind

A Ship of Fools or a Ship of Wimps, or both?
If the crew can remain on board and there was no shortage of provisions why did these fools – who have the gall to invoke the Spirit of Mawson – have to be rescued? From What?

AnonyMoose says January 2, 2014 at 8:42 am
Why remove the passengers now? Why not wait a week to see if the expected winds will blow the whole mess out to sea and break up the ice?
On http://www.tvc.ru/news/show/id/26865 it says (Google translate)
DECEMBER 26, 2013
Crew stuck in Antarctic ice “Academica Shokalski” closed up the crack on the casing of the vessel and preparing for worsening weather.
I would say it was to risky to keep the passengers on board. The weather could change very quickly and the situation could get even worse.

Very interesting Pravda.ru article: http://english.pravda.ru/science/earth/31-12-2013/126523-criminal_global_warming_fraud-0/

How much of an involvement did the university of NSW HAVE IN this fiasco, planning, financial, therefore liability?

Ponzi scheme.

In order to assess some of the (excellent) questions posed here it is necessary to better understand what passes for normal in the Antarctic. The link below is in reference to the Sparta, a Russian fishing boat that struck underwater ice and was stuck for 10 days in 2011 until the crew could make repairs and be escorted out of the ice by an ice-breaker. Some similarities here.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2079374/Russian-fishing-ship-trapped-Antarctic-begins-2-200-mile-trip-port-Korean-ice-breaker.html
I certainly wouldn’t bring my wife and 2 kids into such a potentially dangerous area. Maybe my mother-in-law… This strongly suggests they saw the adventure but did not understand the potential danger.
As another aside I worked in a remote area of Northern Canada where we were to be issued insulated flotation suits – the ones that keep you alive in the event you fall through the ice (both flotation and insulation are important). These one-piece devices are very expensive. They also cause you to sweat profusely and end up stinking like your personal body smell. This is why they were issued to individuals – no one wanted to put on a used floater suit worn previously by others. That could be worse than drowning. My point here is that the crew of the Akademik Shokalskiy likely have these suits issued to them while the “guests” are more likely to have cheaper life jackets (to make them feel safe but almost totally useless in Antarctic waters). Otherwise who paid for 54 floater suits that typically cost north of $1,500 each that were never worn?

I have the answer to all of these questions.
“I get the thrust of your ‘questions’ and have a question of my own: Why do you hate science and oppose important research into the climactic byproducts of man’s arrogance that what will surely lead to planetary extinctions?”
Same answer of last 17 years (and counting).

I’m hoping Nick Stokes will explain to us simple minded folks that the current ice isn’t the same as ice was 35 years ago when there was less ice, and that he’s not convinced it was even ice that trapped the ship.

what do you expect from a ship of fools …but foolishness!!
the below are from
http://anonymousconservativ.ipage.com/blog/
“As such, it indicates a Liberal who is being made uncomfortable by holding the Liberal position on an issue, in the face of the information you are focusing them on. Much of Liberalism only sustains itself on a deep denial of inevitable truths, as a way of shielding their amygdalae from the stress of cognitive dissonance.”
http://www.anonymousconservative.com/blog/serial-sex-offender-richard-hirschfield-and-the-defective-amygdala/
“It amuses me that when a researcher schooled in the field sees a man with a smaller amygdala, his reflexive response is to use that to explain any deviant, selfish, cruel, narcissistic behavior. Of course, that specific trait is also a hallmark of the Leftist brain, so what does that say?”
these are liberals and they have damage mental faculties. Most of us are aware of the answer to those questions Anthony. They (…the pretend scientists) are not nice …you are. THAT gives them a terrible advantage.

The schedule from the AA’s web site places the ship in Hobart on 8 Jan.
https://secure3.aad.gov.au/proms/public/schedules/voyage.cfm?season=1314

“Of course, it is not unexpected that MSM when covering this story are not informing their readers/viewers that Antarctic ice is at a 30 year high.”
Any attempt to post a comment with a link to the official NSIDC data on Antarctic ice entent gets deleted.
Apparently scientific facts are against the Guardian’s “community standards”.

@ Bob Webber
Let’s hope not!

@Man Bearpig –
The skillz (and time) aren’t there at the moment, but how is this?
https://twitter.com/SemperBanU/status/418817075507761152

oooooops.
Mas Irony.
https://twitter.com/SemperBanU/status/418817858513010688

Lubos fun
http://motls.blogspot.fr/2014/01/my-antarctic-diary.html

I can comment on the suitability – or otherwise – of the Shokalsky, as I have travelled to the Antarctic on a sister ship, the Professor Khromov, which is chartered by Heritage Expeditions of Christchurch, NZ, on an annual basis for exploration voyages, including at least two Ross Sea voyages each year.
The Shokalsky was previously chartered by Heritage, before they settled on the Khromov, and is entirely suitable for Antarctic voyages – provided it is not required to be used as a proper icebreaker: it is ice-strengthened only. On our Khromov voyage we were able to get right through the McMurdo ice channel, by breaking through a thin barrier of old sea ice which had blocked the channel after the departure of the US-chartered Swedish icebreaker which had formed, and kept open, the channel for the large cargo and tanker vessels which resupply the US McMurdo Station and NZ’s Scott Base. We then returned through the ice channel. and came back in again – the master said our three passes through the ice channel would be sufficient to keep it open for 24 hours, and his judgement was spot on – the channel was beginning to refreeze as we sailed out after visiting Scott Base, McMurdo Station, and Scott’s Discovery Hut at Hut Point.
The Russian master of the Khromov was a vastly experienced ice master, and I have no doubt that the master of the Shokalsky would be equally experienced (the Shokalsky has been used regularly for tourist voyages to the Antarctic Peninsula in recent years). I think the comments above by Clovis Marcus and Richard Verney would be right on the button about the problem faced by the Shokalsky’s master, in the light of the expedition’s determination to reach the Mawson Huts with a small and select group (notably including the expedition leader).

Who would have though that, back in the 1990s, pop-synth band Erasure would get it so right with their hit ‘Ship of Fools’? I love the line: “he really didn’t know that one and one are two, and two and two are four.” What a perfect summary of post-modern science.

Charlie Johnson (@SemperBanU) says:
January 2, 2014 at 10:53 am
@Man Bearpig –
The skillz (and time) aren’t there at the moment, but how is this?
—
Thank you Charlie, I should buy Photoshop and learn how to do that 🙂 but then there would be another program stuck on this computer that I would not know how to work.

“Clovis Marcus says:
The headline is very misleading. It’s very important to remember the crew are still out there. I’m hoping for a quick thaw so they can get out soon.
The activists and media will be dead keen to divert you from the fact both the ship and crew are still stuck. I bet the rescue attempts decline now the celebs are off.”
Yes, absolutely. We will remember here that there are still 22 crew aboard the stricken vessel. If they can’t be freed any time soon there is a real danger that the hull could be crushed – there are more than enough historical precedents for that kind of mishap. Our thought should now be with the crew and I’m sure I speak for all when I wish them well and hope for a safe resolution.
No surprise at all to see the ‘scientists’ scarper back to safety at the first opportunity – thank god for those nasty, petrol-fuelled helos, eh? Shambolic and shameful.
Anthony I trust you and your colleagues will keep a ‘weather’ eye on the situation and doubtless continue to offer any data assistance you can to the remaining crew? I fear they may need all the help they can get.

Hi Anthony
I’d add back in the possible conflict of interest of Carbonscape, Crowdsourced by several commenters in the initial thread.
Justa Joe says:
December 31, 2013 at 8:22 am
“This guy has some disturbing conflicts of interest that may have led him to inadvertently cause this massive crisis. It seems fairly obvious that this Antarctic PR tour was planned to promote his side venture in Carbonscape. It’s in Turkey’s best interest to call everything “climate change.” This guy needs to be called on the carpet by authorities in Australia.
Bishophill comments
@Paul Matthews – Dec 31, 2013 at 10:37 AM
” ……expedition leader Turney …has set up a carbon capture company”
Interestingly, JoNova commenter redress December 31, 2013 at 8:51 am · discovered Prof Turney decided to ‘hide/disguise’ his direct involvement by having family, rather than himself, as named shareholders:-
The Carbonscape Holdings share registry. There is a total of 29,553,564 shares on record for this company.
Catherine Ann TURNEY, Ian Stewart TURNEY, LATIMER TRUSTEES 2006 LIMITED 4,730,880 shares ~ 16.01%
Christian Stewart Macgregor TURNEY 382,400 shares ~ 1.29%
James TURNEY 290,581 shares ~ 0.98%
Tim FLANNERY 159,733 shares ~ 0.54%
Directors/ Officers
Nicholas Harold GERRITSEN, director, 10 Dec 2006-
Timothy John LANGLEY, director, 22 Jul 2007-
inactive Benjamin Pak-ping CHEN, director, 28 Nov 2011-
inactive Michael Robert ASHBURN, director, 10 May 2012-
inactive Raf MANJI, director, 28 Oct 2012-
Christian Stewart Macgregor TURNEY, director, 28 Oct 2012-
Company Type: NZ Limited Company
Jurisdiction: New Zealand
In USA SEC would probably take a look but this is NZ.
Eric

I guess these people are not going to get the warmest of welcomes at Casey Base when they arrive since their idiocy interrupted the re-supply of the base.
Incidentally, how about Turney’s blooper in his re-hashed advertisement for punters – promising “hours of complete darkness” at a time when the sun never sets…

Great link re. crew from Ruth Dixon. (9.21am). Sums up the ‘scientists’ exactly.

OLD DATA says
January 2, 2014 at 10:01 am
—-
Great article.
What a world it is when Pravda, has such articles of integrity and the BBC is the purveyor of lies and propaganda.

It’s summer. Why didn’t they wait for the ice to melt?

“””””…..Steve from Rockwood says:
January 2, 2014 at 10:25 am
I certainly wouldn’t bring my wife and 2 kids into such a potentially dangerous area. Maybe my mother-in-law… This strongly suggests they saw the adventure but did not understand the potential danger……””””””
Seems reminiscent of “Jurassic Park” where the idio-maniac promoter, lets his equally stupid grandchildren go out hunting for a T-Rex , with a great big flashlight to get its attention. Then when it finally pushes them over a cliff to safety in a tree, they elect to climb down the tree directly underneath the car, so it can land on them, when it falls out of the tree.
I can attest to the fact that pedestrians really do run down the road directly in front of pursuing cars, just like they show in all the, shot in San Francisco movies. Well some of them prefer getting hit by the trunk of the car, so they cross the parking lot directly behind the car that is backing out, so the driver won’t know what that thunk! was.
Charles Darwin, wrote a book all about critters that give the finger to that buzzing rain cloud overhead, and also the ones that took their place.

No doubt the vast majority involved will have exactly the same first order of business: “get someplace warm.”
Lol.

Frozen, stuffed turkey is always a “must have” item at Christmas.
However, it is not often that such turkeys come with a Ph.D and are professors in Climate Change!
I have no choice but to name next year’s gobbler “Chris Turney”.
Oh, how I larfed!

ktwop says: @ January 2, 2014 at 9:51 am
A Ship of Fools or a Ship of Wimps, or both?
If the crew can remain on board and there was no shortage of provisions…..
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The helicopter could have dropped a care package of Chinese emergency rations and saved a lot of people a lot of trouble. /snark

I raised this issue some weeks ago when the Aurora Australis was ice bound on its first resupply mission to Davis base losing a massive 3 weeks from its precious Antarctic Summer timetable.
But now I would imagine the Australian Antarctic Division programmers have just about torn their hair out as the rest of the season’s shipping schedule must now be in tatters.
The issue is “Is recent record Antarctic sea ice the “new norm?”
I recall Greens leader Christine Milne and climate scientist Will Steffen falling over each other in their haste to get in front of a TV camera to pronounce early bush fires were now the “new norm” after a spell of hot dry weather combined with some high winds and some careless Army activity and shoddy power line maintenance resulted in some devastating wild fires in the Blue Mountains NSW.
However they have been completely missing in action over Antarctic sea ice.
Surely the question must be asked if higher sea ice in the Antarctic is the “new norm” planners must now take this into account when developing timetables for summer resupply shipping and other miscellaneous jollies such as the MV Akademik Shokalskiy fiasco.

BBC’s reporting of above fiasco:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25573096
“Despite being trapped, the scientists continued their experiments, measuring temperature and salinity through cracks in the surrounding ice.
One of the aims was to track how quickly the Antarctic’s sea ice was disappearing”
How fast the ice is disappearing? Are you kidding me?
Propaganda at its most in your face and up-is-down, war-is-peace as you can get.

I have my own question:
Did the Guardian’s Laurence Topham reach for a banana or for a peanut butter milk shake first?

hmmm…another possible excuse for the warmies –
“The science is (has) settled
….
around our ship”….

The ship Akademik S from pictures seem to be somewhat tilted. Ship in trouble could explain the evacuation hurriness. If the ship was ok they could have waited, still two months left of melt season and winds would have dispersed the ice eventually.

“For a moving tale of a real expedition in this area I highly recommend:
South: The Story Of Shackelton’s 1914-1917 Expedition By Sir Earnest Henry Shackelton”
We can be sure that this Turkey Turney character has read enough of these stories of polar explorers to have come to the conclusion that the hardships of these ventures are what makes for the status of hero.
Here’s where it turns pathological- =
Subconsciously, he had the kernel of thought, that if and when the trip were to run into some sort of life threatening episode, he too could go down in history as a legend of polar exploration. Possibly they could go ashore, leaving the ship waiting for an extended period
-then when the global warming melted the ice, the ice would paradoxically surround the boat.
Then, if the ship were to steam off, for fear of impending Global Warming meltoff-and refreeze –they could be stranded to freeze and die heroically for their cause!! – All the while leaving behind diary blogs of their plight.
Sort of a MSbProxie -= becomes MSbpsGWP –Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxie .
Munchausen’s Syndrome by pseudo-scientific Global Warming Proxie
It is not uncommon for the Munchausen types to even put the lives of their own children at risk.
What a bigger polar explorer he would have been if this had turned into threat of a grisly scene -combining the scenes of the outcome of Jonesville with the scene at the summit of Mt Everest, which is still littered with hundreds of frozen corpses.–
And then brazenly to make videos of it happening while giving it the twist of how brave they are singing and boozing like kids on Spring Break .
MSbP perpetrators are willing to fulfill their need for positive attention by hurting even their own child(ren), thereby assuming the sick role by proxy. At times, as on this “trapped in the ice by Global Warming”, they are also able to assume the hero role and garner still more positive attention, by appearing to care for and save their child (along with the drunken childlike tourists).

I’ve read through the PR put out by Turney on the team’s website, as well as the PR surrounding the greater Australian agency (AASP) that sees this fiasco as part of it’s charter. From what I have read the AASP has “drunk the kool-aid” and is fully on board with the CAGW religion and is therefore not out to determine scientific truth, but rather to gather as much proof as possible supporting the meme. However, at one point in this “explanation” of their organizational mission I read the following: “As well, there will always be logistical and budgetary limits on the amount of science that can be supported by the Australian Government in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, which will vary from time to time in line with government priorities. Therefore, there will be a need to prioritise within and across themes. Field work in these remote, challenging and dangerous environments is expensive, and requires SIGNIFICANT LOGISTICAL SUPPORT, and CAREFUL PLANNING and coordination.” (I’ve added the CAPS to their propaganda.)
With this statement in mind, Anthony I think you should add this question to your list of questions:
On your website you listed these as the primary research goals of your summertime cruise down south to Antarctica:
“We are going south to:
1. gain new insights into the circulation of the Southern Ocean and its impact on the global carbon cycle
2. explore changes in ocean circulation caused by the growth of extensive fast ice and its impact on life in Commonwealth Bay
3. use the subantarctic islands as thermometers of climatic change by using trees, peats and lakes to explore the past
4. investigate the impact of changing climate on the ecology of the subantarctic islands
5. discover the environmental influence on seabird populations across the Southern Ocean and in Commonwealth Bay
6. understand changes in seal populations and their feeding patterns in the Southern Ocean and Commonwealth Bay
7. produce the first underwater surveys of life in the subantarctic islands and Commonwealth Bay
8. determine the extent to which human activity and pollution has directly impacted on this remote region of Antarctica
9. provide baseline data to improve the next generation of atmospheric, oceanic and ice sheet models to improve predictions for the future
http://www.spiritofmawson.com/the-science-case/
Question 12.) Could you please provide us with a copy of the “careful ‘research’ plan” that you surely must have developed to accomplish all 9 of your goals while you “cruised” around in the ice floes and right up onto the ice sheet off the coast of Antarctica? Please highlight in your plan how you also planned for avoiding getting trapped in this extensive ice sheet. After all, your parent organization claims that, “For the past decade, Australia has been one of few nations undertaking major field research programs on Antarctic sea ice characteristics and processes and their potential response to climate change.” Therefore, surely you must have known about the significant INCREASE in ice coverage over the ocean near Antarctica’s shoreline!
For each of the 9 goals surely you must have developed structured plans including scientific methods, experimental plans, equipment requirements, time to complete your analyses, storage facilities for samples etc as well as a detail safety plan. Please include in these plans the justification for including your wife and children as well as the other “tourists”.

Dodgy Geezer says:
January 2, 2014 at 1:00 pm
“If, however, there was BBC funding, or some other grant or university funding, then you can certainly ask questions intended to ascertain whether this was a right and proper use of taxpayer funds, and whether due care and attention was paid to the dangers…”
If it was BBC funded, it was perfect use of the money, because the wasted money will now not be used to produce other propaganda films; and this one just caused a certain blowback for the BBC’s agenda.

If you watch the videos that this turkey Turney has been putting out, it reminds us of those old videos that Steve Irwin used to make where Irwin would chirp away in that Australian accent about how safe his infant baby was, held in his left hand, as he fed a huge hungry saltwater crocodile with his right hand.

What a fiasco wrapped in ice cold irony. These naive fossil foolers got stuck while on a fossil fueled ship, nearly got rescued by a couple of fossil fueled ice-breakers, got rescued by a fossil fuel powered helicopter and are now cheerily being warmed by fossil fuels. What if the rescuers said that they are indeed listening to their advice on acting now and decided to leave them stuck in freezing sea ice?
These people are a bunch of spoilt, privileged, bastards who have no care in the world about those who risked their lives under harsh conditions to rescue their sorry arses. I do hope they are acting now over the 22 members of crew left behind. Please note that I am toning down the language I had prepared earlier.

Of course most Americans don’t know that this is a global warming scam gone wrong, yet.
Frozen Out: 98% of Stories Ignore That Ice-bound Ship Was On Global Warming Mission
By Mike Ciandella | January 2, 2014 | 12:43
1262 576 Reddit56 180
A A
Mike Ciandella’s picture
A group of climate change scientists were rescued by helicopter Jan. 2, after being stranded in the ice since Christmas morning. But the majority of the broadcast networks’ reports about the ice-locked climate researchers never mentioned climate change.
The Russian ship, Akademic Shokalskiy, was stranded in the ice while on a climate change research expedition, yet nearly 98 percent of network news reports about the stranded researchers failed to mention their mission at all. Forty out of 41 stories (97.5 percent) on the network morning and evening news shows since Dec. 25 failed to mention climate change had anything to do with the expedition.
In fact, rather than point out the mission was to find evidence of climate change, the networks often referred to the stranded people as “passengers,” “trackers” and even “tourists,” without a word about climate change or global warming.
Chris Turney, the expedition’s leader, is a professor of climate change at the University of South Wales. According to Turney’s personal website, the purpose of the expedition is to “discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south.”
Twenty-two crew members stayed with the ship for the time being, as the scientists and researchers were rescued. According to CNN, the ship has enough supplies for “a very long time.”
Three rescue attempts had been thwarted by growing levels of sea ice and weather conditions.
“Outside, blizzard conditions packing an abnormal amount of ice in to the area for this time of the year, summer in the Antarctic,” ABC News Correspondent Gio Benitez reported on “Good Morning America” Dec. 31.
On Jan. 2, all 52 passengers were airlifted to a nearby Australian icebreaker ship which had tried, and failed, to plow through the ice and free the Akademic Shokalskiy, on Dec. 30. “Good Morning America” said on Dec. 30, that “the ice could be as thick as 13 feet.”
According to Fox News, Turney admitted “we’re stuck in our own experiment.” They reported on Dec. 30, that a statement from the Australasian Antarctic Expedition said, “Sea ice is disappearing due to climate change, but here ice is building up.”
There was only one news story out of 41 that mentioned climate change. That was CBS “This Morning” Dec. 30. “Despite being frozen at a standstill, the team’s research on climate change and Antarctic wildlife is moving forward,” CBS News Correspondent Don Dahler said. That night, all three evening news programs still failed to make any mention of the group’s climate change research.
The MRC’s Business and Media Institute was unable to view a copy of CBS “Sunday Morning” for Dec. 29, so that broadcast had to be excluded from the tally.
Before their ship got stuck in ice, the researchers were following the trail of the explorer Douglas Mawson, who was stranded in Antarctica for more than a year, beginning in December 1912, according to the website about the expedition.
About the Author
Mike Ciandella is Staff Writer/Analyst for the Business &Media Institute Click here to follow Mike Ciandella on Twitter.
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mike-ciandella/2014/01/02/frozen-out-98-stories-ignore-ice-bound-ship-was-global-warming-missi#ixzz2pHW2FU59

Eric Ellison says:
January 2, 2014 at 11:35 am
Some clarification is needed on my original post @ Jo Nova.
Chris Turney does hold shares in Carbonscape…….but appears to have only become officially involved at an administration level in October 2012. The company was registered in 2006.
Their website is: carbonscape.com/‎
My point about Chris Turney claiming to have been involved in the “setting up” of the company, still stands. Why did it take 6 years for him to become a director, if he was one of the major players?
” To do something positive about climate change, he helped set up a carbon refining company called Carbonscape which has developed technology to fix carbon from the atmosphere and make a host of green bi-products, helping reduce greenhouse gas levels.”
[http://www.spiritofmawson.com/aae-leaders/]
The website has not been updated with details of the two new directors appointed in 2012.

Thanks Alan…I haven’t watched it all yet, but it’s an interesting video so far. Very high quality too.

The Rapture Is upon Us:
          Harold Camping, Marshall Applewhite, Chris Turney.

Well, the fools are safe. The ship, not so much.

What amazes me is that we’ve had warmists trying to kayak to the north pole (fail), sail the Northwest Passage this summer (fail) and now warmists studying warming in Antarctica(fail). So far as I know, no deaths from their stupid stunts (yet). God protects fools and little children I guess.

I wouldn’t’ve let them off till they promised not to mention AGW for one year.

Don’t be frightened to call these climate gate liars what they really are .” FRAUDS ” . When you make false and misleading statements on purpose that are always wrong for loot ,that is fraud . Big money= big fraud . It is time it was stopped , Notice the volcano smoking ??

Every expedition after this wherever , the group sitting around the table will say let’s hope it doesn’t turn into a Turney.
somebody needs to do a wikapedia page , doing a Turney.
Turney , an expression used to signify an expedition already doomed from the start……..

The “fools” are safe but the ship is still stuck in the ice together with it’s crew.
They are still in a very dangerous situation.
So please don’t drop the subject until the crew and the ship are safe.

*Didn’t mean for this to be so long. Just think the info here is important to the truth.*
Just got back from screen capping and copying URLs (instead of just cutting and pasting out key points) from http://www.spiritofmawson.com/blog/. We just never know these days when website pages will disappear. Right?
Not only does it detail all the sea ice they had to “grind through” (interactive map of the trips progress -https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=z8QYRx-LCqEw.kFHpO8ktLaqI) in order to get anywhere CLOSE to the continent in the first place, but in the days BEFORE they got stuck in the ice for good, REPEATED posts on the blog by passengers demonstrate that the ice-fast ice-shore ice-was breaking up over and over again!!
Again, for Chris Turney to PRETEND after the ship got fatally stuck, to be shocked or surprised about all this ice suddenly showing up where it had not been before is ludicrous! It was there when they sailed in, it was breaking up and moving the whole time they were there, and Chris Turney admits on Dec 19th that he knew they were “between two low pressure system circulating the continent, promising fine, stable weather for at least the following two days. Unfortunately this is something of a double edged sword. We have been having extraordinary warm weather; so much so the fast ice – purportedly meaning the sea ice is locked ‘fast’ to the land – can spectacularly break out along the edge at any time.”
Not only that, but the ship ITSELF was breaking up fast ice on on shore!
*Dec 17th-Sean Borkovic-
“We reached a point when the ship veered suddenly to port aiming directly at the ice sheet. Just like that we ploughed into the fast ice in an effort to ‘park’ the ship so we could disembark. As we were rattled and shook by the manoeuvre it seemed crazy and bizarre yet it was not enough. We did not penetrate too far and instead of wedging in tight it instead cracked off several floes of ice. It took 12 goes before we had a suitable ‘berth’. ”
*Dec 18th- Robbie Turney-
“Later in the afternoon we took the Argos along the fast ice. We got half way before we realised it was too late and that we should head back. Although when we got back there was a large crack in the ice, 3 metres wide. It was too big for the Argos and Quad Bikes so we had to wait until the ship could barge its way to us. We were there for about an hour waiting in the five degree heat. Luckily there was no wind chill.”
*Dec 18th- Steve Lambert-
“Early evening as everyone on the ice was heading back to the ship, the cracks in the ice widened, separating them from the ship. Our obliging captain, Igor, manoeuvered the ship to a new spot, so that they could safely board.
Christmas Trees, decorations and lights are now up in the bar and dining room, We are festive. The Aussies have loved reminding our Pommie friends on board of that we have reclaimed the Ashes.
…9pm. Just at the end of dinner – the ice sheet that we were on all day has had a massive fracture and disintegrated into numerous sheets with large areas of water in between! Good thing that we are all on board, as well as all of the scientific equipment and vehicles.”
*Dec 19th-Ian McRae-
“The fast ice, the frozen ocean attached to the distant land, is rapidly breaking up and as we walk, cracks appear and occasionally we sink down to our knees to the ice below or, sometimes, to water. The surface we were walking on yesterday is now floating out to sea as pack ice and there is a danger that we could float out with it.”
Turney wraps up the 19th-20th on his entry on Dec 21st- (Note he acknowledges that he knew on or around Dec 19th that they are between low pressure systems and that stable weather might only last a couple of days)
“The weather forecast was excellent. We were between two low pressure system circulating the continent, promising fine, stable weather for at least the following two days. Unfortunately this is something of a double edged sword. We have been having extraordinary warm weather; so much so the fast ice – purportedly meaning the sea ice is locked ‘fast’ to the land – can spectacularly break out along the edge at any time. A timely reminder was during the evening we relocated. The Shokalskiy suddenly found it was in a mass breakout of ice. In just half an hour, an extensive area of ice (some of which we had been using for the Hangout on Air earlier that day) had broken up and was moving away from Commonwealth Bay with haste. Large pieces of ice, in the shape of shattered glass fragments – albeit large pieces – surrounded our vessel. There was no danger to the ship but it was a timely reminder how quickly things can change in this environment. You can never take anything for granted in the Antarctic! ”
By the 23rd, according to the Janet Rice site-they were surrounded by ice -http://www.janetrice.com.au/?e=98
“The ship is making very slow progress through pack ice. There is a narrow channel that we are inching our way along – it of course is pretty frozen in itself. There are icebergs on either side of us, some kilometres away – hard to tell exactly how far. We oscillate between hardly moving to suddenly being jolted sideways with a crunch as the ship bashes and barges its way through.”

They are not rescued yet.
The Aurora Australis webcams show no open water extending as far as the horizon and its heading direction has been changing throughout the day, as in, they are searching for a way through the thick ice.
The story would get even more bizarre if the Aurora got stuck just like the ice-hardened Russian ship and the Chinese ice-breaker before them. The French surrender upon first contact MO ice-breaker has made them look like the smart ones down there.

By all means blame the master of the ship but what the heck was Mr. Turkey thinking? Doesn’t he have access to the computer model weather forecasts? 😉 The models surely told him that the waters were ice free and almost boiling. Can he not see the satellite imagery showing open water all the way to the solid coast? Questions are now being asked about why Mr. Turkey could not see these settled things?
As for the tourist passengers I do hope they have learned an embarrassing lesson. You have been had, you are a bunch of suckers. Put your tail between your legs and stop yapping about global warming………….which has stopped.

“Richard. says:
January 2, 2014 at 3:09 pm
Every expedition after this wherever , the group sitting around the table will say let’s hope it doesn’t turn into a Turney.
somebody needs to do a wikapedia page, doing a Turney.
Turney , an expression used to signify an expedition already doomed from the start……..”
So instead of the Gore effect, we’ll have the
power of a Turney…

Gail Combs on January 2, 2014 at 9:10 am says:-
“…… Prof Chris(tmas) Turkey went for the cheapest based …”
Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha …
That really cracks me up.
Didn’t she mean ‘baste’ ?
I’m off again.

andrewmharding says:
January 2, 2014 at 2:45 pm
…. only demonstrated that Antarctica now and in the days of Mawson, is not significantly different!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Yes it is. On the three summers Mawson expedition sailed there in wooden boats it was Ice Free or nearly so. (1929/1930)
See Anthony’s thread HERE
Sort of makes you wonder about the Hokey Schtick and data fiddling especially when you combine it with this data from the USA link

It would appear that the Global Warming dilettantes have escaped with their delusions intact. What will it take to get them in touch with reality? “Quem deus vult perdere, dementat prius”, (Whom the gods would destroy, they first drive mad.)

ManBearPig-
I have your photoshopped “Ship of Fools” flag ready…where can I send it? 🙂

a) For any negligence case, the outcome has to have been “reasonably foreseeable”. Given that Commonwealth Bay has been covered in sea ice for three years, I’d say that negligence wouldn’t be difficult to prove. Christmas Turkey, your goose is cooked.
b) I think the Sherwood article in Nature was timed to coincide with the expedition, in order to ramp up the scare in a crescendo of alarmism. There is a lead-time on getting these articles reviewed and published.
c) Further question: Why did climate “scientists” on this expedition not have the latest weather data and forecasts available to them, and why did they have to “phone a friend” days into the saga to get these forecasts?
Negligence, negligence, negligence.

Listened (watched) ZT’s video (1.56pm) and it is obvious he is a ‘Londoner’ probably S.E. of the river. English, obviously, but surely he can’t be yet another product of the Uni. of East Anglia.
A quick google, Bing actually, confirmed my suspicion. Exeter as well, Met Off HQ.
What a small world is CAGW.
Relying on the new Aussie gov. to bail them out. C’mon Tony Abbot show us your speedos are not just for show.
Watching the cricket in Sydney with a smallish G+T!

Sorry. He of course is Turn(k)ey.

Evening US mainstream TV news had a short story about the rescue (can’t remember which network). To paraphrase: “They were never in any real danger- they had plenty of food, water and fuel.” And then the clip of singing in the tent.

First off; they were not going to Mawson Station which is in MacRobertson Land about 1000 miles west – common mistake of the uninitiated. Second, there is nothing wrong in using a ship of this kind for a trip to Antarctica; the commercial companies charter several of them to take tourists to the Ross Sea, Antarctic peninsula etc. They all have Russian crews and captains who are the most experienced ice navigators, bar none. The critical issue is to heed their advice. In this case the Shokalskiy’s captain knew that the weather was changing and set a deadline for departure to reach open water – then only two miles away. But Turney’s mob, either from inexperience, incompetence or hubris – sounds like a mixture of all three from reports I have heard from pax on the ship – fumbled their return and so the window of opportunity closed. One experienced Antarctican on board has said that had the ship left by the captain’s deadline, they would have got out OK. So now he is wearing the consequences, and I feel truly sorry for him and his crew. I have sailed on many Russian icebreakers and ships similar to Shokalskiy and the captains are invariably both pleasant and supremely competent. A third factor that no one has mentioned is that Shokalskiy is chartered to Heritage Expeditions for a trip to the Ross Sea beginning at Bluff, NZ on 17 January. It’s highly unlikely she’ll make it, so there will be another 50 disappointed tourists, a furious CEO of Heritage, a huge insurance row….and incidentally, presumably Shokalskiy is still under charter to the AAE…are they paying for this??

Was Turney warned that the weather and wind was changing

Typo, “was” should be “were”.
[Fixed. Thanks, Jeff. ~ mod.]

GAZ says:
January 2, 2014 at 1:03 pm
I have my own question:
Did the Guardian’s Laurence Topham reach for a banana or for a peanut butter milk shake first?

Um, the banana is part of the milkshake. Try it, you’ll like it.

Man Bearpig says: January 2, 2014 at 10:05 am
That quick blend you wanted.

May I humbly recommend the ORIGINAL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Fools_%28film%29
And point out that Micheal Dunn is MARVELOUS as the Narrator? AND, the movie is much more serious than THIS SHIP OF FOOLS EVER COULD BE?
Max