| 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. |
| A Stormy Life |
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Well, it certainly turned out to be a stormy few days for HMS ENDURANCE and her Ship’s Company!
Having ‘left the wall’ (the Docks of Portsmouth) we knew the clouds were telling us something. The Meteorology Officer (Robbie our HM3 Officer) looked up from his charts and told us that he had never seen weather like it in the Bay of Biscay. “It’s going to be a bag of spanners” said the Executive Officer. “So quite lumpy then, Sir” I said with a wry smile, as I went below to check on my medical stores. “Best check on the medicine for seasickness, and have a few boxes ready for later” I thought as we headed out into the Channel and away from home. By mid afternoon on the 31st October we were away from the shelter of any large land mass, and heading towards the famous Bay of Biscay. The stuff of legend, with its claims to some of the roughest seas and highest winds north of the equator. Fortunately for us HMS ENDURANCE was selected and built as a fine ‘sea-keeper’. In other words, her hull shape allows her to move steadily through rough water, and her strength allows her to break ice – something I’m sure we’ll show you later. However, ships move in very different ways, depending on how the waves behave. So if a wave comes towards the ship from the front, the ship moves up and down along its length – or ‘pitches’. However, if the wave comes from the side, the ship swings from side to side – or ‘rolls’. When you live in a ship, most people find it very difficult to work and sleep when the waves come diagonally from behind the ship – as this makes the ship move in a ‘cork-screw’ like fashion, and it is this movement, a combination of pitching and rolling, that can make you feel very unwell indeed. As I sat down in my Doctor’s Office I realised that the weather had become a little more lively (with gusting winds of 55 knots) – and the familiar ‘cork-screwing’ of a ‘Quartering’ sea had started. With this came a knock on the door. “Doc, got anything for seasickness?” “No problem” as I closed the door behind the patient and sat him down as any Doctor does. No sooner had he stood up with his medicine and opened the door, the ship rolled hard and the door opened quickly to reveal a queue of 5 more patients! Well better get busy here then – it’s going to be a long day. As the weather closed in and the sky darkened, HMS ENDURANCE tenaciously sailed through the storm – and with grim smiles many of the Ships Company came to visit the Doctor that day, before returning to their duties knowing that the adventure is always worth the ups and downs. Click here to see the storm from the Bridge window (remember the window is some 20 metres above the water normally):
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