| Ship's Diary |
| During her time at sea, HMS Endurance will be sending back regular diaries to keep us all up to date with what is happening on this deployment. Use the links below to read extracts from the diary. |
| Warfare Journal by Lt Russ Abbot |
COMBAT SURVEYING: 60° SOUTHHMS ENDURANCE the Royal Navy’s Ice Patrol Vessel spends over half her time patrolling in the South Atlantic maintaining British interests within the UK Antarctic Territories. Working for various agencies including the Foreign and Common Wealth Office, the British Antarctic Survey and the UK Hydrographic Office, she maintains a vital sovereign presence in the Antarctic and provides those who serve onboard with a unique experience in the Royal Navy.As part of our work for the UK Hydrographic Office I was tasked to take a team of 13, made up from surveyors and engineers, to a camp ashore in Ardley Cove. We were tasked to survey an area of approximately 2.5nm by 3nm from the drying line to depths of 100m. It would be my first military command, even if it would only last 6 days. The survey would be part of a much larger survey, which would be conducted by the ship with her new state of the art multi beam echo sounder (MBES) survey suite. Day 1.
Day 2. It was an early start for all the next day but we were rewarded with fine weather and an almost perfect day for surveying. Both boats slipped from the buoy and started survey operations. All formalities were carried out; including sound velocity dips and a bar check to make sure all the information we were to gather was of the highest accuracy. The survey of Tu Rocks was the first item on the program for James Caird, taking advantage of the fine weather. This involved the SMB approaching the rocks from different directions in a star shape until the rocks either became too shallow or too close. This was conducted with a bowman positioned on the foredeck to indicate via hand signals to the cox’n when the water depth in front of the SMB became too shallow. In fact we found the rocks were almost sheer on their eastern side with depths of 100m recorded only 30 yards away. This meant that the closest point of danger always remained the rock in front of the boat and not the bottom, a small comfort but slightly unnerving in the final metres of the approach. Day 3. That night brought strong winds and harsh conditions for all those staying ashore and sleeping on the boats. Although the following morning did not see any relief from the wind, I decided that survey operations could continue. Nimrod slipped and was tasked with downloading the tidal data and on completion filling in lines that had been left incomplete from the previous year’s survey due to a poor GPS signal. This was a particularly spectacular part of the survey as the boat was able to continue sounding right up to the edge of a glacier due to the huge depths experienced, with no loss in the quality of the GPS signal this time. In the meantime James Caird continued the main survey to enable a greater overlap with ENDURANCE’s survey work which she was due to conduct the next day. Day 4. Wednesday signalled the mid point of the survey and time to re-supply both boats with fuel, oil and water. It also gave the BBC documentary team, embarked on ENDURANCE, the opportunity to come onboard Nimrod and experience a days surveying. The main operation was to lead ENDURANCE into Marian Cove a previously uncharted bay.
The chart showed a depth in the centre of the entrance of 4 fathoms or approximately 9m which we were unsure if it existed or if like the rest of the bay it was deep enough for ENDURANCE to navigate safely. To ensure that ENDURANCE was able to enter Marian Cove without any problems she would follow the SMBs wake into the Cove who would act as a lead to safely transit through the uncharted waters. Progress was slow and measured at first due to high ice concentrations in the entrance to the fjord but Nimrod was able to successfully lead the ship through the shallow areas and into the approaches to the glacier .
That night again brought high winds which continued into the next day. Unfortunately they were too strong for the boats to put to sea so the day was spent on administration. Tidying the camp site, transferring data and of course playing cards. All we could do was hope that tomorrow would bring better weather so that we could tie up the loose ends that were still outstanding on the survey. Day 6. Luckily the next day was fine with fair winds and with it there was a fresh impetus to finish the job. Again we rose early to make the most of the high water. The pressure was now on to finish the survey in one day as we were due for a 0830 pick the next. We made one final trip to in the ever reliable Nimrod across to the tide camp. The shore party were landed immediately, downloading tides and levelling the tide pole to a known datum. Meanwhile Nimrod was busy finishing the survey lines into the jetty at King Sejong. A few confined turns and full asterns later the survey was complete. All that remained now was to construct the coastline using a total station and a few careful measurements. After some swift calculations and accurate observations the jetty had been accurately positioned and would be ready for inclusion on a new chart. As we powered back across Ardley Cove to base camp one last time I could not help but think about how much we had achieved in the last 5 days. We had completed a survey of a previously poorly charted bay making navigation for the many cruise ships that enter it far safer; we had produced a small survey of the King Sejong jetty which was previously uncharted and this combined with the work the ship had completed in Ardley Cove and Marian Cove. However I also felt sad at leaving this part of Antarctica which had been my home for nearly a week, I would miss this adventure, this challenge and the experience of my first military command .
On our return to the ship the single beam data collected in the shallow waters by the SMBs and the multi beam data collected in the deeper waters by the ship were processed and graphically combined. The data was found to be good with a good match between the two data sets. The operation had been a success and navigation in the Antarctic would now be far safer for all forms of craft and user. Lt Russ Abbot RN |
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