Disaster Averted, All Going Well

Today we started work again at 7am. Having moved away during the night, this morning we took up a different position alongside the ice which required teams to go ashore in a steel ‘man-basket’. Today more Caterpillar spares were unloaded and we continued with unloading fuel drums and bladders (flubbers). All went extremely well. The only minor mishap was that one flubber fell off a pallet as it…

By Expedition Co-Leader, Anton Bowring: Private expeditions of this size and scale are rare. In order to achieve this level of operation, you need lots of planning, fundraising and good people handling every aspect of the project. It takes time. From the trustees in London who have the responsibility for proper and diligent management to the part-time volunteer, this is ultimate teamwork. Sinc…

Update from Anton Bowring… “Today has been very successful. By this morning virtually all the sea ice had drifted out of the bay. There was just one floe with an inquisitive group of penguins observing us in the morning sunshine. We manoeuvred the ship slowly to the head of the bay and pushed the bows into the low ice shelf. By driving the ship gently ahead with the autopilot set, the ship has…

More pics available on Flickr…

We have been waiting all day for the ice to drift slowly out of the bay. It has been clearing well but some still remains in the head of the bay. This evening the Belgians arrived and we established contact on the VHF radio. They are already clearing a site with their vehicles so that we have a level base for depositing cargo as it is unloaded. The plan is to try and bring the ship alongside t…

Check out our Flickr account for the latest images from the expedition. We have uploaded lots of stunning photographs taken from the ship off Crown Bay this morning. Plenty of ice, a few moody shots of the team and even a bit of wildlife to enjoy. Check them out here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecoldestjourney/ Or follow the link to Flickr by clicking any of the thumbnails on the bottom right…

The following update was sent to Operations HQ late last night by Anton Bowring, but due to poor comms on the ship only arrived this morning: “We arrived in Crown Bay at about 3pm. We ended up spending most of the afternoon and early evening trying to find out where we can berth. There is a lot of broken bay-ice which is in-penetrable for this ship. So we have decided to lie off until tomorrow.