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Refuelling day dawned with the katabatics putting on their
usual show, with speeds hovering around the 30-35 knot mark. The high
winds did not stop Field Marshall Sprunk, the refuelling maestro,
marshaling the troops both on the ship and ashore to make ensure that
when the conditions were right we were ready to crack on.
Play was suspeneded until around 1000, when the wind began to back off
to a more pleasant and workable 20 knots. As you would expect,
refuelling is one of the more complicated and risky operations we
undertake as part of our operations in Antarctica. As such there are a
plethora of checks, policies and procedures involved in managing this
evolution. These have been refined, refined again and refined a little
bit more over the 60 odd years that the AAD has been shipping fuel
ashore in Antarctica and the sub Antarctic. Our personnel are also
trained and briefed extensively back at Kingston in pre-departure
training, as well as on the ship, on how to conduct this operation. This
is all part of the commitment we make to protecting the Antarctic
environment and ensuring that there is little or no impact from the
transportation of over 2 million litres of fuel each year to our stations.
The operation itself involves the rolling out of around 400m of lay flat
hose across Horseshoe Harbour and connecting the ship's fuelling point
to the shore point. Sounds a lot simpler than it actually is and
involves a lot of people to make it happen. The deployment phase
commenced at 1039 with the three Iflatable Rubber Boat (IRB) crews doing
a great job to get the hose around the ship and connected up. With
everything hooked up and tested, and with some help from the ship's
engineering team, the Special Antarctic Blend (SAB) began flowing at
1217. By 2031, 454,000 litres of SAB had been pumped ashore into the
Mawson fuel farm, the hose 'pigged' and packed away. For those that are
interested, and I know you all are, the pig is a missile shapped piece
of dense foam that is shot down the fuel hose to clear the line of any
fuel before it is disconnected.
All in all total refuelling time from go to woe was 9 hours 52 minutes,
I hate to say it but I will, another record breaking performance for the
V3 and Mawson teams! Any disputes with the record see the rules
mentioned in a previous SITREP. Fruit buns all round again!
This morning winds are favourable so we are getting stuck into getting
the cargo ashore. We still have a lot to achieve, but the sun is shining
and the winds are favourable - doesn't get any better than this!
And now for another onboard roundtrip project expose, thanks to Ray and
Davor, the Geosciences Australia team:
"Geoscience Australia is conducting absolute gravity observations at
Davis and Mawson to establish accurate gravity reference points for
future gravity surveys. These absolute gravity observations are the
first such measurements undertaken at any of the Australian Antarctic
bases and will not only provide an accurate datum for future gravity
work but will also enable gravity surveys already conducted in
Antarctica to be tied to the same datum, thus allowing past and future
gravity surveys to be accurately merged and combined. Gravity surveys
are used to map small variations in the Earth's gravity field. These
small variations, which are due to variations in the density of rocks,
can be used to interpret the geology beneath the Earth's surface. Repeat
absolute gravity observations at stable reference points, such as those
being established at Davis and Mawson, can also be used to study
movements of the Antarctic continent."
Since I have retired from the Dessert campaign, due to a desire to be
able to fit through my cabin door, Simon and George have agreed to
provide comments from the frontline. Last night's Danish were apparently
very good and ranked highly, but still not on a par with the current
leader, Banana and Caramel Self Saucer, but up there. By all reports a
good all round effort by Ken. Rumour heard in the cafe this morning, and
I must say it is the 'big' issues that matter, was that there were no
more bananas on board so a repeat performance of the crowd favourite
looks highly unlikely. Damnation! Not that I would be eating it
anyway.......
All aboard continuing to enjoy the hospitality of Duk and the Mawson team.
Regards
Rob, Simon and George.
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.