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After lunch yesterday, with our LIPS system mostly repaired, we moved back in to Mawson. The fuel hose deployment was underway and we proceeded to tie up using two lines running across West Arm to the permanent bollards there. These lines were used to steady us, rather than tie us in position as the ship used its thrusters to hold us still. The fuel line floated on the water across the harbour, over the rocks on West Arm and then back into the water and out to the ship. This was a completely different setup to what we have done in the past at Mawson – usually we can just go into Horseshoe Harbour and run a short hose from ship to shore – but the iceberg blocking the harbour entrance ruled that out for us this year. After more setting up and testing with air to make sure there were no leaks in the fittings or hoses we started pumping at about 6pm. Later in the night we were treated to a fantastic bright green aurora in the night sky during the fuel pumping, and seals playing around the fuel hose. The temperature dropped rapidly and the water began to refreeze turning the harbour first shiny and then slushy, keeping the people in boats busy clearing ice away from the fuel line. The operation went very well until a bit before 1am when the wind came around to the south and increased to over 32 knots. The ship was no longer able to hold position and keep the fuel line attached so we stopped pumping and released the fuel line. The ship then returned out to the ice for the night – leaving our friends at Mawson to remove the hose from the water and secure it overnight. We commenced packing up the fuel hose again this morning, using our helicopters to transfer the necessary people and equipment in from the ship as we were still parked out in the ice waiting for the wind to drop enough for us to return to Mawson and start moving cargo ashore. Cheers, Nicki, Rob and Peter.
Map
A map showing Australia and Antarctica. The map shows the journey of one voyage that has occured in the season, with each route highlighted in a distinct colour.