IN PICTURES: Endurance breaks the ice
16 Jan 08
Royal Navy Ice Patrol ship HMS Endurance, currently deployed in the South Atlantic, is breaking through the ice and it's all being done in the name of science.
HMS Endurance breaking through the ice North of James Ross Island, the ship is currently transferring scientists from the British Artarctic Survey to Mount Haddington
[Picture: LA(Phot) Kelly Whybrow]
Endurance has been transferring scientists to Mount Haddington where they will be carrying out ice drilling for the next two months.
Endurance's first task when she arrived in the South Atlantic focused on the South Shetland Islands and the difficult to reach James Ross Island in Erebus and Terror Gulf (Weddell Sea). The ship has been operating in dense areas of ice, in some of the most extreme weather conditions on earth.
Embarked on Endurance are five separate scientific teams from the British Antarctic Survey, working on five independent projects, including the sampling of ice cores from the summit of the volcano Mount Haddington.
Each day the teams are flown out from the ship to different locations all over the Antarctic peninsula and returned from their data gathering by two Lynx Helicopters, which are also deployed with Endurance.
See Related Links>>> to view more pictures of HMS Endurance breaking the ice in the Antarctic peninsula
HMS Endurance provides a colourful backdrop as this Chinstrap penguin strikes an apparently practised pose
[Picture: LA(Phot) Kelly Whybrow]
Endurance set out on what is expected to be her longest ever deployment in November 2007. Her function is to support British interests in Antarctic waters, especially around the Antarctic peninsula. In addition she assists the British Antarctic Survey in carrying out its scientific research programmes.
She is fitted with modern hydrographic surveying equipment which is put to good effect in waters which are still largely uncharted, and the data gathered is subsequently processed by the Hydrographic Office at Taunton and drawn into charts that are used by mariners around the world.
HMS Endurance displaces 2,500 tonnes, and is 91m long with a beam of 17.9m. The red hull colour is for easy recognition in the ice, most especially from the air. Powered by twin diesel engines she has a top speed of 15 knots and a long range capability. The ice breaker bow enables the ship to cut through 0.9m thick ice at 3 knots. Her bridge is fitted with some of the most sophisticated navigation and manoeuvering aids in the world.
HMS Endurance's two Lynx helicopters are being used to fly scientific teams from the British Antarctic Survey to locations across the Antarctic Peninsula
[Picture: LA(Phot) Kelly Whybrow]
A Class 1 Icebreaker she was originally built in Norway in 1990 as MV Polar Circle. The RN chartered her in 1991 before she commissioned as HMS Polar Circle on 21 November 1991. She was subsequently renamed HMS Endurance. Her base port is Portsmouth, which is also the ship's affiliated town.
The Ship's motto is "Fortitudine Vincimus" - 'By Endurance We Conquer'. The motto originates from that of the great Antarctic explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton who made history in his ship, 'Endurance' in his expedition south in 1914-15.