Well that’s the end of that story…until investigations begin.
Press release: 12:30pm AEDT, Wednesday 8 January 2014
Antarctic rescue operations complete
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority can confirm that the Akademik Shokalskiy and the Xue Long have broken free from the ice in Antarctica and are no longer in need of assistance.
The United States Coast Guard ice breaker Polar Star has been released from search and rescue tasking by AMSA’s Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC Australia) and will now continue on its original mission to McMurdo Sound.
At about 730pm AEDT on Tuesday RCC Australia received a message from the Captain of the Akademik Shokalskiy stating that about three hours earlier cracks had started to open in the ice around the trapped vessel.
A short time later the Akademik Shokalskiy began to make slow movements in an attempt to break free from surrounding ice. The Captain reported that at approximately 8pm AEDT they had managed to successfully clear the area containing the heaviest ice and had begun making slow progress north through lighter ice conditions. At approximately 830am AEDT the Akademik Shokalskiy informed RCC Australia that it had cleared the ice field and was no longer in need of assistance. The Captain of the Akademik Shokalskiy passed on his thanks to all those who assisted the vessel and informed the RCC that they will now proceed to Bluff in New Zealand.
Shortly after midnight RCC Australia was advised by the Captain of the Xue Long that, at about 9pm AEDT, it too had managed to break free of the heavy ice and is now making slow progress through lighter ice conditions. The Xue Long advised RCC Australia this morning that it is not in need of assistance and will continue its research mission in Antarctica.
AMSA again offers our thanks to all of the participants in the effort to assure a safe resolution to the situations that emerged following a distress incident experienced by MV Akademik Shokalskiy in Commonwealth Bay on Christmas Day.
In total five ships were involved in the multi-lateral cooperative effort – Akademik Shokalskiy (Russia), L’Astrolabe (France), Xue Long (China), Aurora Australis (Australia) and USCGC Polar Star (United States of America). The national Antarctic programs and other agencies of France, China, Australia, Germany and the United States of America have been engaged in actual operational responses, contingency planning or the provision of specialist data.
“This was a great example of the multi-lateral cooperative nature of Antarctic operations” said AMSA Acting CEO Mick Kinley.
Media Enquiries: 1300 624 633
Source: http://www.amsa.gov.au/media
==============================================================
So, keeping mouth shut would have produced a wildly different outcome.
The onboard meteorologist would have known roughly how long to wait for second wind.
Well done, Anthony. It looks like your forecast from December 31 was spot on.
In a couple of minutes John Coleman was back on the phone to me, he wanted my assessment of the maps. I had looked at what was happening and saw what I thought might be an opening in 7-8 days based on the forecast graphics from WeatherBell, where the winds would shift to offshore in the area where Akademik Shokalskiy was stuck.
@ tchannon. Good point Tim.
…something tells me that, if Turney hadn’t brought his family along, they would’ve been able to wait it out. Some good Antarctic science was lost because of this fiasco, and researchers from Australia, China and elsewhere must be furious to have lost this much time! “Spitting tacks” is the phrase I’ll always remember.
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/somethings_cracking_and_its_not_the_ice_around_the_warmists_ship/
The fun continues, thanks to the University of NSW – now upstaging the University of East Anglia.
From today’s letters in The Australian newspaper (8.1.14):
Report not so cool
THE Australian’s coverage of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition has been regrettable. Your editorial in particular, with its reference to a “botched” voyage and its derisory heading “ship of (cold) fools” (2/1) is an unjustified attack on the reputation and expertise of those involved.
The six-week expedition, a result of two years’ careful planning, involved a number of scientists experienced in Antarctic deep field research as well as a co-leader with more than 30 years of commercial operating experience in the Southern Ocean. It was inspired by Sir Douglas Mawson’s expedition but was neither a tourist trip nor a re-enactment – it was a serious multidisciplinary research program, developed in consultation with the Australian Antarctic Division and other scientific bodies and officially approved. Whilst one of its aims was to investigate the impact of climate change in the region over the past century the team collected a vast amount of data as part of a broader attempt to increase our knowledge of the region.
The fact that such a major rescue operation has been necessary is unfortunate. I understand that the break out of thick sea ice that trapped the Akademik Shokalskiy was the result of a massive reconfiguration of sea ice in the area and could not have been predicted. But the incident does not prove that warnings about the impact of global warming are exaggerated, nor does it justify labelling the expedition an “embarrassing failure” . It is not the first time a ship has been trapped in sea ice. It is to the discredit of The Australian that it seeks to use this particular event to deride evidence-based climate change research and the scientists involved.
Professor Iain Martin, Acting Vice-Chancellor, University of NSW
HA, HA, HA, HA, HA … I’ll stop eventually … HA, HA, HA … I can’t help it … That’s TOO funny!
7 Jan: ABC Australia: Lauren Day: Australian Antarctic Division research behind schedule after Aurora Australis diverted to help ice-bound ship
The director of the Australian Antarctic Division, Tony Fleming, says the delay will affect research projects, other resupply missions and the budget.
Dr Fleming says the Aurora Australis will complete the resupply job at Casey Station before returning to Hobart.
“The incident has delayed our season so we need to do the resupply very quickly and get the vessel back to Hobart and turn around quite quickly to the next voyage,” he said.
“I understand that the taxpayer shouldn’t pay for this rescue mission so I’ll do everything I can to recoup the costs.”
The extra passengers will stay onboard during the resupply mission which is expected to take around five days.
Dr Fleming says while scientists are used to delays in Antarctica, there is a sense of frustration.
“The economic costs will be fuel and food and the charter costs and it’s an ongoing operation,” he said.
“So we don’t know how long the operation will take but we’ll calculate that when the ship gets back to Hobart.”…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-07/antarctic-research-delayed-after-aurora-australis-diverted-to-h/5189466
Dr. Fleming is sounding more & more like Frenot’s “counterpart”!
The rescue mission, which also initially involved the French ship the Astrolabe, has also impacted some Antarctic research programmes, according to Yves Frenot, director of the French Polar Institute.
The rescue mission forced French scientists to scrap a two-week oceanographic campaign using the Astrolabe, he said…
The Chinese have had to cancel all their scientific programme, and my counterpart in Australia is spitting tacks with anger, because their entire summer has been wiped out,” he said…
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/world/a/20607004/us-icebreaker-heads-to-antarctic-to-help-stuck-ships/
The satellite imagery for today is quite interesting. It isn’t that the ice moved out or the volume changed. Like Moses parting the Red Sea, one very large crack in the ice developed on a N-S line from open ocean direct to the Hodgeman Islands (between Watt Bay and Cape de la Motte), probably opening a path very close to both ships.
@ Tim Groves — thanks for that quote to highlight the accuracy with which An-thony performed his major role in:
“… the provision of specialist data.”
WAY TO GO, AN-THONY!
*****************************************
Heh, heh, thank you, Old Ranga, for sharing that farcical bit of humor (at 6:27pm today). The BLATANT irony is lost on Iain M., poor old sod.
Oooo, and they were so CEREAL! Ha, ha, ha, ha, haaaaaaaaa!
“… it wath a therious multidithciplinary rethearch program, … and offithially approved. … one of ith aimth wath to invethtigate the impact of climate change in the region… .” (Poor Auld Iain)
{edited to reflect what I am certain must be the way he speaks}
This apologia by Professor Iain Martin, Acting Vice-Chancellor, University of NSW, is too frikken funny.
He claims “the team collected a vast amount of data”, which we all await with baited breath. If true, those data can only say “Ice! Ice! everywhere, but not a drop to drink”
Meanwhile, thanks to the shifting winds and ice, the Russian and Chinese boats and crews are free of the fast-ice.
[hmmmmm, have we heard a single utterance of relief from the so-called Antarctic explorers, tourists, media, and related flotsam??? Nah, not yet]
Turney and Co. are still mired in the gelid morass of their own making, and we can only hope that competent legal agents are busy filing their briefs for damages
Clay Marley said on January 7, 2014 at 7:12 pm
“The satellite imagery for today is quite interesting. … one very large crack in the ice developed on a N-S line from open ocean direct to the Hodgeman Islands (between Watt Bay and … .”
{emphasis mine}
And that, the Watt Bay part, proves to me (yes, I realize others here do not even believe God exists, much less had anything to do with it) that it was, indeed, the finger of God. Also, I had (and I think other believers, too) been praying exactly that prayer: that God would part the ice like He parted the Red Sea for the Israelites escaping Pharaoh’s army. Thus, I say, Hallelu Jah. Thank you for sharing that, Mr. Marley.
GOD does have a sense of humor. The “Gore” effect strikes again. AGW propaganda crews’ voyage gets stuck in shifting Summer Ice where there should be none. As soon as They are rescued and gone, the wind shifts, the ice breaks up and the ships can leave. Ha! Ha! And the AGW crowd are still unable to go home as they are stuck on a government ship that still must complete its’ original mission. The chartered ship is on its’ way back to pick up another charter right on schedule. LoL
They did do a great deal of “Climate Science” research. For what little that is worth. Just tooo funny. pg.
for the record, I can’t recall posting the Swedish Tour Operator’s (who booked the “passengers”) page on the itinerary previously:
http://expeditionsonline.com/tour-44/spirit-of-mawson-akademik-shokalskiy
The extra passengers will stay onboard during the resupply mission which is expected to take around five days.
By the time the AA completes the resupply and departs from Casey Station, the AS might have arrived in Australia (or is it New Zealand?) already in time for its next cruise. Our valiant tourists would have gotten back sooner if they’d just remained aboard the AS. Now that’s a measure of poetic justice. =)
disgraceful to the end: AAP does not even mention AAE:
8 Jan: Herald Sun: AAP: Antarctic ice drama over as ships freed
A STRANDED Russian ship, and the Chinese vessel that came to its aid, have finally broken free of heavy ice in the Antarctic…
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/antarctic-ice-drama-over-as-ships-freed/story-fni0xqll-1226797367263
compare with how National Geographic (which has been publishing the photos of AAE doctor/photographer Andrew Peacock) reported the Expedition BEFORE the ship got stuck! not a mention of the Shokalskiy:
17 Dec: National Geographic: David Roberts: Modern Explorers Follow the Century-Old Antarctic Footsteps of Douglas Mawson
Scientists set out to re-create an epic life-or-death trek, using today’s technology..
Last week, a 36-person team led by Chris Turney, an Australian adventurer and climate scientist, set out from New Zealand to retrace the historic journey of a scientific expedition to Antarctica that took place a century ago. The Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013-2014 aims to find the hut of Douglas Mawson, leader of the original Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE), to repeat many of the original team’s observations and, time willing, to locate the South Magnetic Pole, one of the goals of Mawson’s expedition…
It won’t be easy. According to Turney, “Right now there’s a huge ice pack tight to the shore at Commonwealth Bay, three and a half meters thick.” Yet if the team can reach the hut, says Turney, “we’ll replicate Mawson’s work, using the twist of modern technology.”
His team’s scientists hope to record the temperature and saltiness of the Southern Ocean, make censuses of the bird populations, extract drill cores from the land ice, and send drones into the air to map the surroundings of Commonwealth Bay. These data may help to determine how much the climate has changed in what scientists have now proved is the windiest place on Earth at sea level…
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131217-mawson-turney-australasian-antarctic-expedition-south-magnetic-pole/
6 Jan: Conversation: Stephan Lewandowsky: An icebreaker gets stuck in the ice, photos are used to mislead
As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and by now you might have seen dramatic images of passengers on stranded icebreaker Akademik Shokalskiy being rescued by helicopter last Friday after becoming lodged in Antarctica sea ice on Christmas Eve…
An ice breaker gets stuck in ice – we’ve all seen the pictures – and somehow this is an embarrassment to “global warming scientists”…
(Disclosure Statement: Stephan Lewandowsky receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Royal Society)
http://theconversation.com/an-icebreaker-gets-stuck-in-the-ice-photos-are-used-to-mislead-21736
Expedition Fiasco Leader Professor Chris Turney Fibs Yet Again: Now Claims Akademik Shokalskiy Is An “Icebreaker”!
http://notrickszone.com/2014/01/06/expedition-fiasco-leader-professor-chris-turney-fibs-again-now-claims-akademik-shokalskiy-is-an-icebreaker/
About time!
Looks like Australian Taxpayers will get a “reprieve” from footing the $2million (US Dollar Scale) of the “Rescues.”
Although, Guardian and BBC Enterprises’ are “sunk” yet again in terms of scammed money and legally “without a paddle” should “anyone” want to file a criminal complaint. “anyone” applies to the 100+ NYPD perverts who were scamming NYC for “disability benefits.” One wonder what we will see under the ObamaCare Scams” to come.
Tah tah. “Oh the Irony of it all. [sniff sniff whimper whimper]”
earlier version of Lewandowsky:
2 Jan: ShapingTomorrowsWorld: Stephan Lewandowsky: Antarctic Confusions
http://www.shapingtomorrowsworld.org/lewandowskyAntarctica.html
discussion going on here:
7 Jan: ClimateResistance: Ben Pile: Re-Writing Mission History?
Stephan Lewnadowsky has an article at The Conversation, saying that sceptics are wrong, in their pointing and mocking of the failed Spirit of Mawson expedition…
http://www.climate-resistance.org/2014/01/re-writing-mission-history.html
So tourists on a ship have become scientists on an icebreaker.
I also notice that embarassing failure has become a scientific success, incompetent muppets have become skilled planners and detection of ice by getting a ship stuck in it has become valuable science.
So glad my taxes are paying for this tremendous endeavour. I guess in Turneys mind this is up there with the Apollo program.
Prof. Iain Martin of the UNSW needs dragging before the inevitable inquiry into this disgraceful debacle with his comment, “The fact that such a major rescue operation was necessary is unfortunate”.
Unfortunate?!
Nothing to do with fortune, everything to do with studied zealotry, carelessness, incompetence and lack of leadership. What is Martin, an astrologer?
Good grief, would you send a son or daughter to UNSW?
Lol, Prof Martin said
Quote
. I understand that the break out of thick sea ice that trapped the Akademik Shokalskiy was the result of a massive reconfiguration of sea ice in the area and could not have been predicted.
Unquote
Yet humble Anthony correctly predicted the reconfiguration of the Ice that enabled the ships to exit.
Who obviously has the greater Mojo?
Professor Iain Martin, Acting Vice-Chancellor, University of NSW: “THE Australian’s coverage of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition has been regrettable.”
Yes, it’s regrettable that the coverage was accurate, something Warmists are unaccustomed to.
“Your editorial in particular, with its reference to a “botched” voyage and its derisory heading “ship of (cold) fools” (2/1) is an unjustified attack on the reputation and expertise of those involved.”
How much of a reputation can an expert on global warming who gets stuck in record summer Antarctic ice expect?
“The six-week expedition, a result of two years’ careful planning, involved a number of scientists experienced in Antarctic deep field research as well as a co-leader with more than 30 years of commercial operating experience in the Southern Ocean.”
Their two years of careful planning didn’t include obtaining a vessel suitable for the conditions likely to be encountered, nor use of available meteorological data to prevent getting stuck in the ice.
“It was inspired by Sir Douglas Mawson’s expedition…”
Bad idea, then.
“…but was neither a tourist trip nor a re-enactment – it was a serious multidisciplinary research program, developed in consultation with the Australian Antarctic Division and other scientific bodies and officially approved.”
Explain why, then, the media stopped calling the expedition “scientists” and started calling them “passengers,” once they got stuck. (There were tourists on board, too.)
“Whilst one of its aims was to investigate the impact of climate change in the region over the past century…”
Films of the area circa 1912 reveal no ice at the shoreline. It’s a pity Turney couldn’t have observed that the area was currently surrounded by so much ice he had to moor well offshore.
“…the team collected a vast amount of data as part of a broader attempt to increase our knowledge of the region.”
I suspect a half-vast amount of data is closer to the truth. They were obviously there to find evidence that their preconceived notions about global warming were correct.
“The fact that such a major rescue operation has been necessary is unfortunate.”
The fact that you still can’t grasp the fact that the “expedition” was a hideous flop is even more unfortunate.
“I understand that the break out of thick sea ice that trapped the Akademik Shokalskiy was the result of a massive reconfiguration of sea ice in the area and could not have been predicted.”
You understand incorrectly, and attempts to make a silk purse out of this sow’s ear seem desperate.
“But the incident does not prove that warnings about the impact of global warming are exaggerated, nor does it justify labelling the expedition an “embarrassing failure”
Well, since there’s been no “global warming” for over 17 years, I’d say the warnings are moot, the climate models are a similarly embarrassing failure, and your continuing to push the meme merely adds you to the list of embarrassed parties in perpetuity.
“It is not the first time a ship has been trapped in sea ice.”
Not only that, it’s not the first time a voyage to Antarctica named after a British explorer has been a disaster. The ship carrying the “Spirit of Shackleton” tour of 2007 went to the bottom when it struck sea ice, something that AGW devotees claim will be in short supply in the future, based on climate models that have been shown to overestimate warming by a factor of four.
“It is to the discredit of The Australian that it seeks to use this particular event to deride evidence-based climate change research and the scientists involved.”
It is greatly to the credit of The Australian that it derides the failure of a climate expedition that apparently didn’t know that Antarctic sea ice is almost 3 sigmas above average. AGW-based climate science is not based on evidence; it’s based on failed models, failed statistical methods, and Lysenkoist pseudoscience, including attempts to silence critics and evade FOIA, plus refusals to provide underlying data and methodology for pal-reviewed pro-AGW papers.
Lots of losses – time, money, egos, etc…..thankfully no loss of life….
Ϟ Jorge Kafkazar, Engineer Extraordinaire, strikes again! Great point-by-point smack down of Poor Auld Iain (at 8:41pm today). ☺
(And, yes, I agree — not a “slosher,” a flow-er.)
still stuck in the Travel section:
8 Jan: SMH; Andrew Darby: Antarctic escape: Akademik Shokalskiy, Xue Long break free from pack ice
The fortnight-long Australian-led operation to rescue two ships trapped by pack ice at Commonwealth Bay in Antarctica is over, after the vessels freed themselves…
The Shokalskiy, whose 52 rescued passengers were transferred to the Australian ship Aurora Australis, advised AMSA that it was headed for Bluff, New Zealand, where it was due for another tourist cruise***…
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/antarctic-escape-akademik-shokalskiy-xue-long-break-free-from-pack-ice-20140108-30gtb.html
in the Technology/Sci-tech section! nice little pr stunt for CSIRO, complete with unnamed “film crew”:
8 Jan: SMH: Ben Westcott: CSIRO ‘apologises’ for lack of research on dragons
The CSIRO has promised to step up its dragon research program, after a seven-year-old girl wrote asking them to make her a dragon…
Mrs Lester said she had hoped they’d write back and say it can’t be done, but the CSIRO had another idea.
In a tongue-in-cheek statement released on Monday, the CSIRO apologised to the nation for their lack of a dragon research program…
“This morning when the film crew left, Sophie said ‘I forgot to tell them they can come back when we have a dragon’,” she said. “I told her they can’t do it now, it might be very long time but they’re looking into it.”
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/csiro-apologises-for-lack-of-research-on-dragons-20140108-30ggg.html
the funny thing is CSIRO has not had a word to say about the AAE Expedition, but they made the MSM with this:
28 Dec: Hobart Mercury: CSIRO tells Tasmania to brace for fire and drought conditions
AS global warming progresses, Tasmanians must brace for more drought and extreme bushfire conditions…
Lead Author Wenju Cai said a positive IOD had been associated with major wildfires in southeast Australia, coral reef deaths around Indonesia, and increased malaria outbreaks in East Africa…
http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/csiro-tells-tasmania-to-brace-for-fire-and-drought-conditions/story-fnj4f7k1-1226790905851
yet note this is CSIRO big-wig, Penny Whetton, partner of Janet Rice, the Greens Party Senator-elect for Victoria, who was on the Shokalskiy:
Wikipedia: Penny Whetton
Penelope Whetton (born 5 January 1958) is a climatologist and an expert in regional climate change projections due to global warming and in the impacts of those changes…
In 1989, she joined the Atmospheric Research division of CSIRO (later becoming CMAR CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research). Whetton became a research leader in 1999 and a research program leader in 2009.[3] She was a Lead Author of the IPCC’s Third Assessment Report, and of the Fourth Assessment Report which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (jointly with Al Gore).[4] She is currently a Lead Author of the yet to be released Fifth Assessment Report…
Whetton lives in Footscray, Victoria with her spouse Janet Rice, a Greens politician and former Mayor of Maribyrnong, and their two sons. In 2003, Whetton underwent a sex change.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Whetton
The BBC leaps to the defense of the good prof Martin
Quote
One of the AAE’s co-leaders, Greg Mortimer, told the BBC World Service’s Discovery programme what he suspects happened.
“[We had] an enormous area of very old ice (frozen sea ice of 10-15 years of age), which was to the east of where we were, and to the east of the famous Mertz Glacier.
“All of a sudden, the mass of ice was just spat out to the west, like a cough-ball if you like.
“It was a massive area of ice hundreds of square kilometres in size, and we just happened to be there at the time.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25647689
Unquote
Now that explains why it was not predictable, lol
“I understand that the break out of thick sea ice that trapped the Akademik Shokalskiy was the result of a massive reconfiguration of sea ice in the area and could not have been predicted. But the incident does not prove that warnings about the impact of global warming are exaggerated, nor does it justify labelling the expedition an “embarrassing failure” ”
Sea ice amount and “reconfiguration” is mostly due to local climate and circulation in ocean and atmosphere. If they can’t predict that in the next 24-48 hours they simply should not be there in the first place.
8 Jan: BlueMountainsGazette, Australia: B.C. Lewis: Lawson man’s Antarctic escape
It wasn’t quite the trip to the Antarctic that Dr Ben Maddison of Lawson was expecting.
The academic and adventure guide was one of 52 expedition members on board the Russian chartered ship the Akademik Shokalskiy when it became trapped on the ice on Christmas Eve, near Mertz Glacier in Commonwealth Bay, attracting international media headlines…
Dr Maddison, a polar history specialist, spent his days waiting for rescue helping run a program of art classes and Russian lessons, even finding the time to stage the 2014 Antarctic Writing Festival on the ice.
He said the trip’s website had registered over half a million hits and “last I heard there have been more than 13,000 press items since we got beset on the ice… it is history making”. The expedition even unwittingly becoming part of the debate about climate change.
Dr Maddison’s voyage was part of a five-week landmark trip celebrating the centenary of the first Australasian Antarctic expedition led by Mawson… He was on board to deliver history lectures and said he would use the experience to deliver lectures about escaping the ice and look at “how ships beset in Antarctic ice escaped – or not”…
Dr Maddison was trying to bring the unsung working class heroes of the polar regions to the world’s attention and did an early launch of his book Class and Colonialism in Antarctic Exploration 1750-1920 about the issue…
http://www.bluemountainsgazette.com.au/story/2009312/lawson-mans-antarctic-escape/?cs=12
given the Australian Antarctic Division celebrated the Mawson Centenary in 2012, this entire Turney/AAE fiasco is even more bizarre:
Austn Govt: Australian Antarctic Division: AA Magazine: Issue 22: Mawson Centenary Special, 2012
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-us/publications/australian-antarctic-magazine/2011-2015/issue-22-2012
According to the ABC it was melting ice (The ice that was supposed to be not there due to AGW of course) that freed the ships. On Channel 10 news tonight, the cause of the ships becoming free is now correctly attributed to a change in weather and wind direction.
should have made it clear Dr. Maddison is still with the Aurora Australis:
– The Aurora Australis will head towards the Casey base to complete a resupply before heading to Australia. Dr Maddison said he was enjoying being a “five-star refugee”. They are not expected to arrive back in Australia until January 18 at the earliest.
“But the incident does not prove that warnings about the impact of global warming are exaggerated, nor does it justify labelling the expedition an “embarrassing failure”
But it raises some serious questions when Antarctic is not warming up and now has record seaice?
An “media” expedition to prove global warming in Antarctic that gets stuck in pack ice, and ends up being recued by heli, is an definitely “embarrassing failure”
“All of a sudden, the mass of ice was just spat out to the west, like a cough-ball if you like.” (Mortimer — laughs courtesy of Grey Lensman)
Sure, dude. Whatever you say. Like this, huh?
You can say that again, Santa Baby (LOVE that name!… and the Eartha Kitt version of the song: “I wanna yacht and that’s not a lot, …” #(:))
“A “media” expedition to prove global warming in Antarctica that gets stuck in pack ice and ends up being rescued by heli, is definitely an “embarrassing failure.’
In one line — nice!
If the outcome of this pseudo-scientific Antarctic escapade is a full opening of informed debate about the science of global warming or catastrophic anthropogenic climate change, that is a good thing.
UNSW could be well served to be the academic institution to stand up and sponsor open debate. Its reputation could be re-gathered by doing so.
this AAE expedition was obviously just a media opportunity – certainly the media was included in the select group who went to Cape Denison where they cleaned up the huts/did a zillion scientific experiments in 12 hrs etc. however, it’s becoming clearer by the minute that mawson’s centenary was officially celebrated a year ago:
20 Dec 2011: Douglas Mawson centenary trip to Antarctica frozen as cold reality sets in
ONE hundred years after Douglas Mawson’s first Australian-led Antarctic expedition was almost defeated by thick pack ice, the same problem has stumped those seeking to follow in his wake. Unusually dense ice floes off the coast of East Antarctica, and particularly Mawson’s landing spot of January 1912, Commonwealth Bay, have in recent days repelled private expeditions seeking to commemorate the centenary of the historic event…
http://article.wn.com/view/2011/12/20/Douglas_Mawson_centenary_trip_to_Antarctica_frozen_as_cold_r/#/related_news
14 Jan 2012: ABC: The ‘A’ factor
Posted by Karen Barlow, ABC:
Heavy fog has rolled in during air transport for the Mawson centenary commemorations and we are now grounded on the Aurora Australis.
Half the landing party is over at Mawson’s Huts while the rest of us remain on fast ice 20 kilometres away.
I was actually on an aborted flight. I almost made it.
Amid much excitement, ABC Producer Ben Hawke, AAP journalist Lloyd Jones, the CSIRO’s Steve Rintoul and myself boarded the squirrel just after 2pm…
The Mawson centenary commemorations can’t happen without us. The Antarctic Division’s Tony Fleming and historian Tom Griffiths are supposed to be officiating the event.
This journey to follow in Mawson’s footsteps is not over yet.
http://blogs.abc.net.au/news/2012/01/the-a-factor.html
The volume and area of global sea-ice is close to or at an all-time record, since reliable satellite observations became possible and the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has substantially increased over this same period?
Correlation between two variables does not necessarily mean that a cause and effect relationship exists between them; however, this does remain a possibility.
Perhaps, at any enquiry into the unfortunate and unforeseen entrapment of the Akademik Shokalskiy and the Xue Long, in Antarctic sea-ice, Professor Turley or Professor Martin could explain whether there is any correlation between the increasing atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and the increasing area of sea-ice.
The apparent possibility that carbon dioxide promotes cooling of the Antarctic by some unsuspected mechanism should be properly investigated, by physicists, to ascertain its nature, thereby permitting incorporation of its mathematical simulation into the various seriously flawed computer models of the development of the world’s climate, under increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
What level of carbon dioxide would be required to promote growth of the Antarctic sea-ice, sufficient to encroach upon New Zealand?
At current rates of increase in concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, how many years would it take for this to become an imminent threat?
On an unrelated note, why have recovering substance-abusers, undergoing treatment for drug addiction suddenly started talking about going “cold Turley”?
Its quite funny how this is being reported by the Australian government broadcaster – they are reporting that a Russian ship was helped by the Australis, and that an effort would be made to recoup the cost of rescuing the Russian ship.
If I was a Russian I’d be pretty pissed off at this attempt to shift the blame to the Russian captain.
Looks like Aurora Australis is having problems getting into Casey Station:
http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/
It’s NOT seaice…that doesn’t exist anymore due to Catastrophic Anthroplogical Global Warming.
This Was an Iceberg…one of the B00Bs …Chris turley said so.
No B09B.
( am not making this up)…
So unlike the Titanic that hit an iceberg in the dark, these latter day Captain Smiths hit an iceberg in the 20 hours a day of full sunshine with modern navigational equipment and sattelite communications.
admittedly they did refuse the poor Russian Captain’s orders to leave on time.
As such the expedition has been renamed Spirit of Dawson’s Creek instead of Spirit of Mawson.
captain said “Leave!!!” And they said “Whatever!”
And Mawson did crawl out from his grave and complain.
Time the UNSW had a full enquiry into what this bunch of warmies posing as scientists complete with propaganda arm was doing spending taxpayer $ on pseudo science?
Bloody bunch of ice Deniers!
@Janice Moore:
…And that, the Watt Bay part, proves to me (yes, I realize others here do not even believe God exists, much less had anything to do with it) that it was, indeed, the finger of God. Also, I had (and I think other believers, too) been praying exactly that prayer..
Please thank your God from all of us for getting the ship trapped in the first place…
Mike Kelly says:
January 8, 2014 at 12:36 am
“Looks like Aurora Australis is having problems getting into Casey Station:”
Not according to these pages. Nearly there now.
“We are now only hours away from Casey and the commencement of Casey station resupply part 2.”
https://secure3.aad.gov.au/proms/public/schedules/display_sitrep.cfm?bvs_id=19322
https://secure3.aad.gov.au/proms/public/schedules/VoyageTrackSingle.cfm?bvs_id=19322
I just prepared my GIPA (freedom of information) request to UNSW. We will see just how ” well prepared ” they were.
This whole incident can be viewed as an outstanding example of media bias, manipulation, censorship, deception and downright lying to the public. Anyone wishing to inform themselves about the new Stalin-ism when it comes to reporting inconvenient facts such as this fiasco, only has three elements to consider; the BBC, the Guardian and reality. Draw a timeline from December 2013 to January 2014. Plot every significant development that was proven to have happened to, around, and on this ship. Now look at how the BBC and the Guardian actually reported, lied about, or just plain ignored every embarrassing event. It’s a real eye opener. “Comment is Free”? More like “Censorship is Frantic.”
Re: “Looks like Aurora Australis is having problems getting into Casey Station:”
Maybe all is OK, they spent about 7 hours in that little bay near Casey and now seem to be circling around: “Looks like Aurora Australis is having problems getting into Casey Station:”
http://kirrawee.net/images/20140108_1023.JPG
Hopefully the rescue cost comes out of their budget. They also owe the nations who have had their research stuffed big time-should also come out of their budget. Oh dear, they will just have to close the propaganda unit down.
The Akademik Shokalskiy is a Russian ship under a Russian master. The ship was chartered for an expedition in the Antarctic summer, as permitted by her ice class. Weather and ice conditions were worse than had been expected/hoped for, and the ship was stuck. This is not unusual.
In the coming months and years the cost of assistance and rescue will be settled in and out of court. A similar case, the Magdalena Oldendorff, was stuck (through the winter) in pack ice in 2002 and the cost of rescue operations is still not settled.
Perhaps the shipowner in this case will try to recoup some of the cost from the charterer, on the grounds that scientific activities crucially delayed the return to open waters. This might not hold up, as the ship is said to have had hull damage 1,8 m above the waterline. If correct this is probably the reason the captain allowed the ship to get stuck. Better to stay and repair in the relative calm of the pack ice than going out onto stormy seas with a leak in the hull.
Whether the passengers on board were climate scientists or little old ladies is irrelevant. Where the passengers wanted to go and at what time is irrelevant. The captain makes the desisions and bears the responsibility, and the shipowner and insurance companies bear (most of) the cost.
“AP says:
January 8, 2014 at 2:11 am”
Please post their response, but don’t hold your breath!
p.g.sharrow says:
January 7, 2014 at 7:46 pm
GOD does have a sense of humor….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
She sure does because the crack near Watts Bay is another piece of evidence about where they are.
Almost every day now we see and hear claims of media bias, deliberate media distortion of facts or the deliberate failure [ sins by ommission ] to report the true facts.
And those claims of deliberate media bias and accusations of deliberate dis-information and deliberate spinning of news and the censoring of those who do not toe that media outlets agenda are now coming from every quarter of society.
And we are once again seeing the media distortion in the wide spread disinformation and straight out lies in the reporting on the Turney Turkeys Ship of Fools debacle a lot of it without doubt quite deliberate as the information is there for all to see as the internet so prominently and openly publishes
But in reality has anything much changed with the media ?
I suspect not.
I suspect that blatant bias, deliberate distortion of the information and facts, straight out lies at times, the deliberate and whole sale spinning of news items and everything else that the media is being accused of today has always been a part of media’s arsenal of misinformation, disinformation and agenda promotion.
One thing certain is that the various media outlets and occasionally the bulk of the media together have always had some sort of on going agenda aimed at something or somebody or aiming to achieve it’s owner’s or editor’s personal agenda’s or political aims.
What has happened is that within only the last decade, in a period of arguably no more than about a dozen years, the whole media world has been upended by the total pervasiveness of the internet and World Wide Web and the flowering of the new types of almost instantaneous world wide communications that allow the immediate checking of any media claims as to whether they are accurate, spurious, distorted or straight out lies or otherwise in the news and articles. And now the widespread use of opinion pieces which themselves are nothing more than some gross spinning of some agenda driven cause by those same opinion writers.
Consequently and due mostly to the Main Stream Media’s long held and quite arrogant assumptions that it is unchallengable by anybody that it regards as inferior, and thats most of us, to it’s own selfie percieved and lofty elevation in the affairs of men, assumptions that held until the advent and wide spread penetration of the internet and WWW into our lives a dozen or so years ago, the media is now being not only just challenged but is being roundly castigated and is being held in increasing contempt by an increasing portion of the populace as it has been found to be not only giving highly inaccurate distorted and grossly spun reports on news and events but is being increasingly seen and increasingly believed by ever larger parts of the populace to be deliberately distorting news and the reporting of events to fit with the various media outlet’s own agenda’s and aims and the reporters and editors own personal beliefs and ideologies.
When that happens as it has for large sections of the global media as the internet in it’s all encompassing embrace of global communications is now being used to uncover the more nefarious actions off the global media, then it becomes a very slippery downhill slope to eventual oblivion for those sections of the media who refuse or fail to recognise their world has changed dramatically in the last dozen years .
And changed in ways that if they are to survive at all they will have to completely rethink their ethics and morals and their agenda driven actions and reporting attitudes to news and events of every type and calibre.
The alternative is for most of today’s agenda driven and quite dishonest and ethically lacking as well as deliberate or totally incompetent or complete lack of fact checking accuracy in reporting by the majority of media outlets, is for them to be just wiped right out by more nimble and more honest and more ethically and accuracy orientated news reporting up and comers in the years ahead. .
Thanks to the internet, like Salome’s seven veils, the old established MSM news media has had it’s long held allure and mystique stripped from it by the Internet and it is becoming clear that instead of a very attractive media maiden that can be trusted implicitly under those veils there has been a very ugly, twisted, corrupt and lying old media hag hidden under those veils for the many decades past.
James (Aus.)
“What is Martin, an astrologer?”
No.
“Professor Martin graduated from the University of Leeds in 1987 and following early clinical posts was appointed to the staff of the University’s Department of Surgery, where he remained until moving to New Zealand in 2000. He was appointed Professor of Surgery at the University of Auckland and served in a various roles in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, including Head of Surgery and Head of School, before being appointed Dean in 2005. He took up his position as DVC (Strategic Engagement) in September 2011.
Professor Martin’s clinical and research interests focused on gastrointestinal disease, in particular cancer. At the University of Leeds he was very involved with the introduction of laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery in the early 1990s. Professor Martin has also been heavily involved with medical education, the Australian Medical Council and Medical Deans Australia & New Zealand.”
Not exactly the qualifications that one would expect for a enable man to defend the indefensible with any conviction.
jorgekafkazar says:
January 7, 2014 at 8:41 pm
—————————————-
Masterful rebuttable.
Yeah, it will be interesting to see the “pack” of scientific articles that come out of this successful reasearch expedition. Measuring the angles of the pieces of pack ice doesn’t count. Afterthought dropping off of a few desperate biologists on some tiny islands to scrape some lichens and seabird poop off doesn’t really count either. I know Nature will welcome whatever papers these guys think up.
jorgekafkazar says: @ January 7, 2014 at 8:41 pm
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Anthony this rebuttal deserves a page of it’s own for future reference.
I’m sure we will see the “official scientific” report from this junket in about 2 years. By then most of the consensus media will have pushed this failed voyage down the memory hole, and the report will receive scant coverage. (Not that there will be anything of any value in the report, other than a plea for continued funding.)
Just curious – there is a woman taking a leading role in the raucous Shokalskiy New Year’s Party youtube video. Could she be climate scientist and IPCC Lead Author Penny Whetton, by chance?
DanJ:
In the attempted PR damage limitation in your post at January 8, 2014 at 2:40 am you write
So according to you the Akademik Shokalskiy stayed in the ice merely as a convenience because it was probably “Better to stay and repair in the relative calm of the pack ice than going out onto stormy seas with a leak in the hull.”
OoooKaaay. Perhaps you could explain why the Akademik Shokalskiy made a distress call which required other ships to abandon what they were doing – with resulting severe disruption of Antarctic research work – so they could respond to the declared emergency.
Clarification of this matter would be welcomed by those of us who remain to be convinced of your excuses for the fiasco.
Richard
richardscourtney says:
January 8, 2014 at 7:12 am
DanJ:
Richard, we might also add that being stuck in pack ice for any ship has a high risk of being lost. No one would choose such a convenience for repairs.
Janice Moore says about jorgekafkazar’s crushing critique @8:41pm yesterday:
“Great point-by-point smack down of Poor Auld Iain (at 8:41pm today). ☺”
Yes, a perfect rebuttal. Only someone completely ignorant of the completely failed expedition could accept the MSM’s spin on it.
The itinerary of the cruise operator is interesting:
• To repeat the original scientific experiments conducted by Mawson’s AAE 100 years ago
• To spread the word of the value of scientific endeavor to as wide an audience as possible
• To complete the program in a safe and environmentally responsible manner
FAIL…
Mike Kelly says:
January 8, 2014 at 2:33 am
“Looks like Aurora Australis is having problems getting into Casey Station:”
There may well be further problems on this. I think that the weather is now preventing the re-supply operation from starting. They appear to be cruising back and forth just offshore, probably until the weather subsides enough to allow the off shipment to start.
http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:109.7337/centery:-66.21252/zoom:8/mmsi:503043000
DanJ says:
January 8, 2014 at 2:40 am
“… as the ship is said to have had hull damage 1,8 m above the waterline. If correct this is probably the reason the captain allowed the ship to get stuck.”
Are you asserting that the starboard hull damage 1.8 meters above waterline happened before the hull was firmly gripped by the ice causing the ship listing to starboard?
How do you think it happened? What forces caused the shell plating to rapture? Did the ship hit an iceberg prior to getting stuck? Please advise.
For what it is worth the Voice-of-Russia said
Which may help with determining where the ships were.
Gary Pearse and Colorado Wellington:
Thankyou for your excellent additions to the point I made in response to one of the silly excuses provided by DanJ.
That anybody could make such a daft suggestion as DanJ made demonstrates the desperation which the fiasco has given warmunists.
Richard
Latest update from the ship. Looks like their approach to weather futures is a bit more professional than some of their (now) passengers!
https://secure3.aad.gov.au/proms/public/schedules/display_sitrep.cfm?bvs_ID=19323
“We arrived in Newcombe Bay at Casey last night at 11.30pm and by a couple of minutes after midnight we had our first barge run of the shift. The transfer of 6 passengers ashore to stay for the duration of the resupply in the hope of completing the shore based components of their projects. The Navy vessel ‘Wyatt Earp’ was discharged and the hydrographers were able to conduct five and a half hours of work before the weather stopped their progress. The barge transferred five loads of cargo ashore and backloaded four loads of RTA ‘return to Australia’ cargo to the ship before operations were called to an end due to the approaching windy conditions. Thanks to the Bureau of Meteorology forecasters who do a fantastic job of monitoring the weather conditions for us, particularly the winds. Their ability to do this so accurately enables us to maximise our cargo movement opportunities with the knowledge that we will be advised when to shut down operations with sufficient time to retrieve the ‘Wyatt Earp’ and barge safely. Once snow flurries begin on the bank at Casey it is time to pack up and in the case of the ship move out of the harbour. These flurries indicate that wind is coming and it will not be long before you are at it’s mercy. We are now bobbing around in the swell outside of the harbour waiting for the winds to abate.”
Professor Iain Martin, Acting Vice-Chancellor, University of NSW is talking very amusing drivel, but it’s to be expected; he should have been honest and said “…shame on the Australian because their story could be detrimental to UNSW’s case once Dr Tony Fleming et al make a legal effort to recoup costs.”
No matter how rich the gravy train is, I doubt that one Christopher Turney can afford to pay the Australian Antarctic Division back on his own, so the buck should stop with his current employers at UNSW.
Which would mean it’s only New South Welsh tax-payers who have to foot the bill.
Mr. Turkey is telling fairy tales again Anthony.
According to the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping the Akademik Shokalskiy is under:
They even have 2 other which they have described as:
Furthermore there were 26 paying tourists & 22 scientists on board.
RichardLH says:
January 8, 2014 at 8:31 am
Latest update from the ship…. We are now bobbing around in the swell outside of the harbour waiting for the winds to abate.”
>>>>>>>>>>
I wonder if the peanut banana milkshake man is getting seasick
Gail Combs says:
January 8, 2014 at 9:06 am
“I wonder if the peanut banana milkshake man is getting seasick”
He is most definitely going to have to make do with his new “Tourist Scientist” status. They may well now get back to Australia later than the ship they WERE on 🙂
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25647689
“And the 52 scientists and tourists from the expedition will not even be going ashore.
They will remain on board the Aurora until the vessel is ready to depart for the Tasmanian capital.
The Australian Antarctica Division said that unscheduled extra visits to the base would only interfere with the tightly time-tabled plan of operations at Casey.”
Why send an ice breaker when what you need is for the winds to change. Sort of sums up this reaction to the global slightly warm spell. Except that the warm is a good thing that isn’t likely to last.
UNSW has today published an FAQ on the ‘unfortunate’ incident:
http://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science/antarctic-expedition-frequently-asked-questions
It is an academic masterpiece in not answering the (interesting) questions.
I’m sure someone will have mentioned this before; Professor Turney did his first degree in Environmental Science at the University of East Anglia (UEA):
http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Chris-Turney/631180183
Am I surprised?
There is one positive on this. The Akademik Shokalskiy got rid of its ‘sci-fi tourists’. And was better off for it.
They knew it beforehand:
http://expeditionsonline.com/tour-44/spirit-of-mawson-akademik-shokalskiy
PLEASE NOTE CAREFULLY:
In mid February 2010 a massive iceberg collided with the floating tongue of the Mertz Glacier, just west of Mawson’s Huts. The collision precipitated the calving of another massive iceberg called C28, measuring 78km long and 35 km wide. C28 is now grounded at the entrance to Commonwealth Bay. It provides both an obstacle to accessing Commonwealth Bay and a great opportunity for scientific study. Since 2010 it has not been possible to access Mawsons Huts by sea so there is some chance that we will also be stopped from accessing the huts. However we do have remote controlled drones and over-ice vehicles onboard our vessel to improve our chances of access.
It is important that you aware that this is not a regular tourist voyage to Mawsons Huts. The heavy ice around these massive stranded icebergs does create a significant obstacle to our access to the huts. There is a real chance that we will not be able to get to the huts. We will not know the outcome until we are in position in Commonwealth Bay. If you need to be sure you will get to the huts then this is probably not the voyage for you. In other words the outcome is highly uncertain, although we are quietly confident of success. It is a true scientific adventure in the best sense of the word and in the spirit of Mawson.
– See more at: http://expeditionsonline.com/tour-44/spirit-of-mawson-akademik-shokalskiy#sthash.4bWaHbPx.dpuf
An tis was the plan:
Day 9-10 – 15 to 16 December 2013
Working In Sea Ice Towards The Antarctic Coastline
Each winter the sea around Antarctica freezes for several hundred kms out from the coast and in early summer the ice is persistent along the East Antarctic coastline. We anticipate it will take 1 to 2 days to work our way across this beautiful icescape, which is a critical habitat for diatoms, krill, minke whales, and crab-eater and leopard seals.
Days 10-18 – 17 to 24 December 2013
Commonwealth Bay And East Antarctic Coastline
We hope to arrive at the fast ice edge in Commonwealth Bay on 17 December and commence our science work and over-ice approach to Mawsons Huts in earnest. Of course our progress will be dominated by weather considerations, but ideally we would moor the vessel against the fast ice edge so that ice and ocean studies can begin and we can send our airborne drone out to view the route towards Cape Dennison and Mawsons Huts. Once a route is determined we believe we will need to use our over-ice vehicles ( Argos) to mark a route then commence transporting scientists and passengers to the coastline as weather and ice conditions allow and the route is safe.
We also expect to move the vessel along the coast to other sites in the region such as Cape Jules, Port Martin and perhaps the French station of Dumont D’Urville.
Days 19-20 – 25 to 26 December 2013
Terre Adelie And South Magnetic Pole?
A truly white Christmas and Boxing Day, making our way towards the South Magnetic Pole, if ice conditions allow. The magnetic pole wanders approximately 7 nautical miles per year and is now in the open ocean north of Dumont D’Urville.
Day 21 – 27 December 2013
Out Through The Sea Ice
Out through the sea ice to complete the ice components of our science programme This takes us back into the realm of the giant albatross. – See more at: http://expeditionsonline.com/tour-44/spirit-of-mawson-akademik-shokalskiy#sthash.4bWaHbPx.dpuf
Hey, Dodgy Geezer (re: 1:51am today) — You got it! I just thanked God (the one and only) for allowing all this to happen. Got anymore requests? #(:))
Oh, and I just thanked God for creating you and that you posted what you did. Otherwise, I would not have had the opportunity to post this!
bladeshearer –
i haven’t watched the NY video u mention, but there’s a pic of Whetton here, & others online, if u want to compare:
http://www.csiro.au/Organisation-Structure/Divisions/Marine–Atmospheric-Research/PennyWhetton.aspx
interesting bits from the UNSW FAQ which, at the bottom, shows it is compiled by
The AAE Team
On board the AAD icebreaker, Aurora australis
6 January 2014
(ALSO NOTE: THERE IS NO MENTION OF THE MEDIA BEING AMONG THE SELECT GROUP TO VISIT MAWSON’S HUTS)
“Importantly, many of our projects had numerous international partners.”…
Who are the national and international partners of the AAE?
The science team members are all world experts in their fields. Details of the institutions can also be found on our website and include UNSW, Australia, and the universities of Victoria (Wellington, New Zealand), Exeter (UK), and Wisconsin (USA) as well as numerous other international research organizations, such as Landcare Research (New Zealand), National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (USA), Sydney Institute of Marine Sciences (Australia) and Scripps Institute of Marine Sciences (USA)…
Our final day’s work on the continent lay to the east in the Mertz Polynya. Here the sea ice cover is considerably less of B09B and open water is present where the tongue of the glacier had once been…
We are now working up the samples and data and INTEND to publish our findings over the next 12 months…
Now this is really funny! Turney’s Turkeys are confined to the ship!!!
“The AAE is only making a short stop at Casey before heading for Hobart.
And the 52 scientists and tourists from the expedition will not even be going ashore.
They will remain on board the Aurora until the vessel is ready to depart for the Tasmanian capital.
The Australian Antarctica Division said that unscheduled extra visits to the base would only interfere with the tightly time-tabled plan of operations at Casey.
These operations will be largely focussed on off-loading food, scientific equipment and fuel supplies to power everything for the coming winter in this part of East Antarctica.
In other words, the Aurora crew will be resuming the work they had to drop when they were called by the Australian maritime authorities to assist in the rescue of the Academik Shokalskiy and the AEE in Cumberland Bay, about three days’ voyage away.”
Antarctic Continent, so close and yet so far away…
@richardscourtney & others,
Not making excuses for anyone and I never said the captain stayed in the pack ice “merely as a convenience”, but rather that it might have been the lesser of two evils with a ruptured hull.
All this is speculation of course. I don’t know how the captain reasoned, nor do I know at what time the hull was damaged, any more than you do. Fortunately we are still allowed to speculate on the course of events. It is quite possible the hull was ruptured as the ship worked to break its way through ice floes of varying thickness. An ice strengthened research ship might not be especially strong two meters above the waterline and a protruding ice edge might hit the ship’s side hard in a squeeze. At Jo Nova’s site a passenger is quoted describing the ship as making “very slow progress… oscillat[ing] between hardly moving to suddenly being jolted sideways with a crunch”.
Also have not seen anything indicating that the ship was listing enough to cause hull damage while frozen in, but perhaps you’ll help me out here?
Anyway, we’ll know the cause of damage and event timeline soon enough and I’m happy to be corrected if proven wrong.
Regarding culpability, it most definitely is the captain of a ship who is responsible. If the charterer wants to go someplace dangerous – then he must say NO. If his passengers fool around ashore and causes the departure to be delayed – then he has left his margin of safety too thin. Conversely, the leader of a polar expedition today is not an authority on the ship, but a passenger. He has no responsibility for the ship’s safe handling. The era of Nansen and Amundsen in command at sea and ashore is long gone.
As a practical or a moral issue, I agree with most posters in this thread. Still, unless there was an agreement beforehand between shipowner and charterer regarding emergency costs, I can’t see the expedition being charged for the rescue operation anytime soon.
DanJ:
Thankyou for your post at January 8, 2014 at 1:26 pm which is addressed to me and others in reply to my post at January 8, 2014 at 7:12 am and their supporting comments on it.
Your reply says
It is reassuring to know you are “not making excuses” but it seems you have made an oversight.
I remind that my post
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/01/07/akademik-shokalskiy-and-the-xue-long-have-broken-free-from-the-ice-in-antarctica-and-are-no-longer-in-need-of-assistance/#comment-1529324
said to you
Unfortunately your reply has made no attempt to answer the request for clarification Indeed, your reply does not mention the distress call.
Clearly, you addressing other matters and not the request is an oversight and not an obfuscation because you are “not making excuses”. So, I hope you will now answer the request which was the only point made in my post.
Richard
@richard,
The Akademik Shokalskiy made a distress call because they were getting stuck in pack ice – in the Antarctic – in a blizzard – with a passenger ship – with a ruptured hull. It was the only thing to do. Is this not self-evident?
I did not answer your question because it seemed to be based on your misreading of my post. Regretfully, I do not see your point even now.
Regards,
Daniel
DanJ:
Thankyou for your reply to me at January 8, 2014 at 2:49 pm which answers my question.
It says
OK. I will spell out my point.
There is a dichotomy between your original suggestion; i.e.
and your present suggestion that
As Gary Pearse says in his post at January 8, 2014 at 7:25 am
As you now say, the distress call was because “they were getting stuck in pack ice”. This does require a distress call because – as Gary Pearse says – this “for any ship has a high risk of being lost”.
But you originally suggested “the captain allowed the ship to get stuck”. He would not deliberately endanger his ship to a degree which required a distress call.
And please note that there is no suggestion the hull was ruptured, only that the hull’s shell plating was ruptured 1.8m above the waterline. If there were a ‘balance of risks’ then getting stuck in pack ice was clearly a greater risk than taking to open water with damaged plating on the hull.
Simply, getting trapped in the pack ice clearly requires a distress call, but sailing away from the ice with damaged hull plating doesn’t require a distress call.
I responded to your original suggestion by asking why you thought a distress call was needed.
You now say you think the ship had “a ruptured hull” and “they were getting stuck in pack ice”. Perhaps you did originally think the hull was ruptured and that would require a distress call, but it would not explain why – as you originally suggested – the captain would choose to get stuck in the ice.
Richard
Richard,
As I originally said the damage was 1,8 m above the waterline, so mentioning a ruptured hull was careless wording on my part.
There is no contradiction between the captain hurrying to get out of the ice first, and then staying put after suffering damages. Going out into stormy seas with damaged hull plating in a blizzard with the wind driving ice floes at you is not a safe place to be either. The balance of risk involved is complex and cannot be settled from your armchair or mine. Time will tell how events transpired. Until then we are allowed to freely speculate, even on a blog post.
Regards,
Daniel
out-of-date because the writer still thinks the Polar Star is off to rescue the Shokalskiy & Xue Long. seems he wrote it earlier than the date published. however, very interesting detail:
9 Jan: Australian: Anthony Bergin: Saga of Shokalskiy breaks ice on much-needed polar conversation
(Anthony Bergin is deputy director, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and honorary fellow, Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Co-operative Research Centre)
It’s interesting that the voyage isn’t part of the official Australian Antarctic Science Program, and was taking paying passengers. The cruise is badged by its operators as the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, appropriating the name of the Australasian scientific team that explored part of the cold continent between 1911 and 1914, led by Douglas Mawson. It’s a bit like stealing the term Anzac for a tourist visit to Gallipoli…
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/saga-of-shokalskiy-breaks-ice-on-muchneeded-polar-conversation/story-e6frgd0x-1226797645337#
DanJ:
re your post at January 8, 2014 at 4:20 pm.
It is the second time you have implied that I was objecting to speculation.
I was not. I was objecting to your unfounded implications that the fiasco was all the fault of the experienced ship’s captain when it was certainly the fault of the incompetent tour guide; i.e. Turney.
Richard
DanJ says:
January 8, 2014 at 1:26 pm
Dan, I have not seen anything in the reports of the departure indicating that the captain ”stayed” in the ice. Did you?
All the reports I read so far are consistent with the assumption that Captain Kiselev tried to get his ship out but it was too late. The wind driven ice had already closed in on them.
Dan, you did not respond directly to me but since my post had the only reference to listing I assume that “you” in the question above means me (included in @richardscourtney & others). Am I right?
If so, you seem to continue this muddled argument about cause and effect. You say that you have not seen any suggestions that the listing caused the hull damage. I have certainly not made any such suggestion.
I wrote:
Are you asserting that the starboard hull damage 1.8 meters above waterline happened before the hull was firmly gripped by the ice causing the ship listing to starboard?
I presume that the slight listing—visible in the pictures and reported by the Xue Long helicopter pilot—was the result of lateral forces on the hull strong enough to lift the hull on side and push the ship over to the other. Forces of moving ice so thick that they are impenetrable to lighter icebreakers. Forces that can completely crush a ship’s hull, let alone cause a plating rupture so minor that it can be repaired by the crew at sea (as it were).
I said the ice pressure caused the listing. I did not say the listing caused the rupture. I consider it quite possible the ice pressure on the hull of the stuck ship caused the rapture. The listing is a symptom, not a cause.
That is the entirety of my current thinking. Based on the information I’ve seen to date—and I searched original Russian sources as well—I don’t know what and when caused the plating rupture.
It was you who originally suggested that the “hull damage” happened before the ship got stuck in ice and ”this is probably the reason the captain allowed the ship to get stuck”.
I questioned your enterprising guesswork. That’s all. Feel free to speculate all you want but be ready to defend your statements.
Colorado Wellington:
re your post at January 9, 2014 at 12:03 am.
Game, Set, and Match.
Richard
I am betting that they they sailed in a normal ship rather than an ice breaker so they could garner more headlines about the loss of ice if they had had a successful voyage.
When the Russians are building the biggest nuclear ice breaker ever, for the Arctic, you know that ice is going to be a problem for a long while yet.
@richardscourtney
I think so, Richard, but I’m afraid it will end up being one of those encounters where one competitor leaves the court while the ball is still in play, muttering “I won, I won” while his opponent and the spectators watch in disbelief.
The ironic part of this exchange is that I believe Dan was correct in his initial post that the ship’s master has the primary responsibility, even though—as Dan seems to agree—from “a practical or a moral” standpoint it is the loudmouth Turney and his gaggle who got the ship in a dangerous situation by their incompetent and undisciplined behavior. It will be educational to follow the legal wranglings but I’m afraid that Captain Kiselev and the ship’s owner will end up suffering the consequences of Turney’s self-serving actions.
Dan would have done better if he didn’t muddy his opening post with his wild speculations that the hull damage happened before the ice gripped the ship and was the reason why the captain purposely allowed the ship to get stuck in ice. There is nothing supporting it in the records I’ve seen. It doesn’t make sense from the departure time sequence point of view. It wouldn’t make sense as the master’s decision. So why the speculation?
Heeding the counsel of William of Ockham would have served Dan’s credibility well.
Instead of standing on the reasonable and defensible part of his initial contribution, he chose to become known for making wild, unsupported and unreasonable speculations, his unwillingness to address and reconsider them, and, last but not least, a silly assertion of his right to speculate that nobody questioned.
His choice—he had plenty of opportunity. In fact, he still does, even as most spectators have already left the court.
@richardscourtney
I wrote the above in a hurry—as my grammar errors and typos suggest—and I failed to include a thing important to me:
Thank you for your 2 hat tips, as well as the perseverance and effort you put into this thread. I’d like you to know it was your original response to Dan and his failure to respond fully to your well-reasoned points that made me want to join in and continue the debate.
pat says:
January 7, 2014 at 8:02 pm
6 Jan: Conversation: Stephan Lewandowsky: An icebreaker gets stuck in the ice, photos are used to mislead
One can’t make this up!
Lewandowsky: Akademik-Shokalskiy ship is an ice-breaker!
Then to a story in the Antarctica posts sea ice extend of the Arctic!
Lewandowsky:
“An ice breaker gets stuck in ice – we’ve all seen the pictures – and somehow this is an embarrassment to “global warming scientists”.”
This is such a blatant example of how this person understands reality.
Next paper is about conspiracy theorists not calling Akademik-Shokalskiy an ice-breaker! Lol
@Colorado Wellington, richardscourtney
Thank you CW for your thoughtful and measured reply. Sorry to have misrepresented your claim regarding the listing ship. Do provide updates in these pages if indeed you read Russian and find events better explained there.
So we have three issues:
1) Did the ship suffer a rupture in the hull while moving through the pack ice, or when she was stuck and squeezed by the ice? I think it is more likely it happened underway, and have some support in the passenger’s account as quoted previously.
2) Did the captain choose to stay put after suffering a rupture to the hull, rather than going out into the open sea? This is the speculative part, and I have seen no description of events to support it. We do not know the alternatives before the captain, or his reasoning. Time will tell.
3) Is the expediton or the captain to blame for the emergency? The master of a ship is responsible always. If the expedition fooling around ashore and returning late is enough to endanger the ship, then the captain has kept his margin of safety too thin. The expedition members are amateurs in polar work, and delays and mishaps are likely. The captain is the professional and must take that fact into account.
This is not to belittle the captain. The weather apparently deteriorated faster than had been expected. With his ship in an emergency, he did everything right. No loss of life, limb or ship. Everyone healthy and well-fed. You don’t get to be master of a Russian polar research ship by mistake, and he’ll no doubt put this experience to good use later.
As a moral and practical matter we’d like to have the expedition’s lack of discipline reflected in the appropriation of rescue costs. It is still unlikely we’ll see 500 years of maritime law stood on its head for a trivial case like this. Unless there was an agreement beforehand between the shipowner and the charterer assigning responsibility, risk or cost, the shipowner and insurance companies will bear most of the cost.
Regards,
Daniel
Dan,
Thank you for your reply. With the 3 issues organized as above I think that:
1. You could be right that the plating damage happened as the ship was still moving through ice. Not knowing the shape, location and nature of the plating rupture makes it impossible to deduce much. I think it’s slightly more likely the rupture happened after the hull was firmly gripped by ice but I would not be surprised if you guessed right (as you likely would not be in the reverse case).
2. I have not seen evidence of intentionally getting stuck in the ice, either. I agree that any musing about the captain’s decisions is purely speculative.
However, I think it’s unlikely the captain chose to get stuck for the reasons Richard and Gary brought up. There are just too many instances of hulls compromised and ships sunk after being stuck in pack ice. The Russians have very broad experience with shipping through ice along their Arctic Ocean shore but I find it hard to believe the captain would have risked it given any reasonable chance of escaping the pack ice—even if he knew about some plating damage.
And since we are speculating: Did you consider when the captain actually could have learned about the rupture? I don’t remember reading anything about it until after the ship was already immobilized. I also found no plating “repair” photos except a heavily recycled picture of a sailor inspecting what could have been an older patch high on the port side near the bow, but nothing involving the starboard side. Unless the plating rupture was somehow detectable from within the ship during its escape attempt—in blizzard conditions—how would the captain even know there was a minor damage on the outside of the hull?
3. As I said earlier, I agree with you on this point. On high seas, the captain has complete control and the last word. That’s why I expect that despite his irresponsible actions Christopher Turney will get away with no financial repercussions. If deposed or communicating through counsel he will be happy to assert that there was no difference between him and any little old lady on a Royal Caribbean cruise. He will escape the financial consequences and that’s one more reason for the public to mock him mercilessly because it’s about the only payback he gets—besides the contempt of the icebreaker crews and the real Antarctic scientists whose annual research programs he so royally screwed up. And he won’t be able to charter another research ship under his leadership—without a prohibitive insurance premium at least—because of his amateur performance aboard the Shokalskiy that he so helpfully broadcast to the whole world. I sense that a Spirit of Shackleton expedition sequel is slipping from his grasp.
***
I understand Russian just well enough to read through an article. I did listen to an audio with captain Kiselev—following a transcript—and he seemed like an even-keeled professional with a manner of speaking strikingly different from the manic drama queen that was just “rescued” from his ship. There is plenty of corruption and incompetence in Russia—as the natives themselves would remind us—but I agree that the captain must be a competent mariner. As you pointed out, given the unforgiving Antarctic environment this was a minor kerfuffle that ended extremely well. All the tourist adventurers got their ice cream and I think the Chinese even helicoptered their matched baggage to their “connecting cruise” to Casey. That’s better than an average experience on domestic airlines.
Regards and see you next time,
Colorado Wellington
DanJ says: @ January 9, 2014 at 2:10 pm
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The ship ended up stuck because the passengers did not return to the ship in a timely fashion as ordered by the captain.
They managed to swamp an Argo and it had to be towed.
This was discussed in another set of comments in an older update about the Akademik Shokalskiy here at WUWT.
So much ocean and so little to do. No air time to blog how well our important science is going as the ship keeps turning round and round with us still on it. Nothing to do but sit and wait. Can’t even go ashore even if we do get to stop close enough to shore. I think the captain might be cross with us for some reason.
http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:109.7337/centery:-66.21252/zoom:8/mmsi:503043000
As the real(tm) scientists note
https://secure3.aad.gov.au/proms/public/schedules/display_sitrep.cfm?bvs_id=19324
“We are currently in the classic ‘hurry up and wait’ mode. For those not familiar with this term it means we are ready to commence work but circumstances do not allow it to happen – in this instance, the weather.”
Let us all hope that the weather calms down enough that the interrupted re-supply to Casey gets completed soon.
@ Colorado Wellington
Again, you make a good analysis of events. It does seem nothing has backed me up on my idea that the captain chose to stay put. Also looked at all available images but found no rupture to the hull, signs of weldng or other repair. Can not be very large. Hard to tell how and when they noticed the damage but a bump violent enough to cause a rupture might have the captain send someone to check. I assume the dash to get out of the ice caused them to push the ship harder than usual.
On the lighter side, I looked at the history of the 10 ships of the Akademik Shuleykin class. They enjoy a good reputation still and only one of them has been scrapped. They were built in Finland for the Soviet Union. The most important hydrographic research for the Soviets was mapping the northern oceans and the Arctic for the benefit of their nuclear submarines. That included measuring lots of temperatures and currents at varying depths to find the layers where the submarines could move quietly. There must be a great database of ocean temperatures somewhere, but I guess it won’t be available for civilian science any time soon.
The ships were also well-equipped in radio and did signal intelligence work, as well as meticulously recording all movements of NATO ships. Most sought after were American sonobuoys, dropped by airplane into the ocean to listen for subs. Apparently they managed to pick at least three of these out of the water back in the day, and the KGB was happy!
Regards,
Daniel
Re-supply at Casey is again underway now the weather has improved.
@DanJ
Interesting info on the original purpose of the Shuleykin-class ships. I knew it was military—all significant scientific investments in the Soviet Union had a military angle—but I did not know the details. Are there references available online?
I knew these ships were contract-built by the same shipyard in Turku that produced some special ships for the Soviet Union in the early 1950s to satisfy Finnish war reparations—the consequence of WWII conflicts that started with the November 1939 Soviet attack on Finland, resulting in heavy casualties and territorial losses but thanks to the country’s tough resistance and military victories also preventing full occupation and annexation by its totalitarian neighbor.