News in this edition:

15-01. Shackleton re-enactment group reaches King Haakon Bay.
15-02. Solo Port Lockroy winterer prepares for departure.
15-03. 'Petrov' returning injured yacht crew member to Ushuaia.
15-04. Coming events.

IN READING PLEASE NOTE: This newsletter is being produced in the interest of improved information sharing in the Antarctic community. Inclusion of information in it should not be taken to imply endorsement, by the publishers of ANAN News, of any company, program or associated activity that is listed, nor that the activity has necessarily completed all environmental impact assessments required under the legislation of the 'home' nation.

The four member 'Shackleton 2000' expedition, which is re-enacting Sir Ernest Shackleton's famous 1916 open boat journey, arrived at King Haakon Bay, on the south coast of South Georgia on 12 February after a two-week voyage from Elephant Island in their boat 'James Caird II'. The four are now understood to be preparing for the last phase of their venture, the crossing of South Georgia from King Haakon Bay to the former whaling station at Stromness on the north coast.

Difficult weather and wind conditions were encountered by the 'James Caird II' after it set course from Elephant Island for South Georgia on 30 January, the crew having to work the boat to windward over the first few days. After that however, the wind gradually backed to the north, then north-west, and progress towards the north-east improved, the best day's run on the 1100 km journey being 160 km.
In the last few days prior to arrival at South Georgia winds of around sixty knots were experienced and the party also had to contend with a signficant number of large icebergs just south-west of the island. Together the high winds and icebergs were reported to have made the approach to King Haakon Bay particularly difficult, however Shackleton's former camp at Peggotty Bluff near the head of the Bay was eventually reached safely early on the afternoon of 12 February. Three previous attempts in recent years by other expeditions to undertake Shackleton's journey across the Scotia Sea had all been unsuccessful.

The expedition support vessel, the twenty metre sailing vessel 'Dagmar Aaen', shadowed the 'James Caird II' during the journey from Elephant Island in case assistance was needed. A crew from German television on board filmed the boat crew as they made their way towards South Georgia for a documentary on the 'Shackleton 2000' project.

The German company Hapag Llyod's tour vessel 'Hanseatic' is due to pick up Arved Fuchs, Martin Friederichs (both from Germany), Sigridur Ragna Sverrisdottir (Iceland), Henryk Wolski (Poland) and the 'James Caird II', from South Georgia sometime in the period 27-29 February and transport them to Rio de Janerio, Brazil. Arrival there is expected on 6 March. 'Dagmar Aaen' is expected to sail from South Georgia to the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) at the end of February and then to Ushuaia, Argentina, from where it is expected to conduct filming for a second TV documentary about Cape Horn prior to returning to Germany.

Fuchs and his group and their boat originally left Ushuaia on board the 'Hanseatic' on 6 January. They were eventually deployed at Hope Bay at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and commenced their journey from there on 19 January, arriving at Elephant Island on 29th and leaving there the following day for South Georgia (ANAN-14/04, 2 February 2000).

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Australian Trevor Robertson, who wintered at Port Lockroy on Wiencke Island just west of the Antarctic Peninsula in 1999 on his twelve metre yacht 'Iron Bark II', is preparing to leave his anchorage after a summer spent assisting with biological and other work in the Lockroy area. Indications are that after departure Trevor will sail 'Iron Bark II' north along the Antarctic Peninsula before setting course for the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) where arrival is currently anticipated sometime in early March. Trevor is believed to be the first person to winter at Port Lockroy since the British closed their station there in 1962.

In the three months from the opening of the 1999-2000 season until 16 February, Port Lockroy had had a total of eighty visits by tour vessels, and twenty-six visits by sixteen different yachts. It is anticipated that between fifteen and twenty further tourist ship visits and a handful of yacht visits will occur before the season concludes around 15 March when Dave Burkitt and Rod Downie, who have being working at Lockroy over the last few months, leave on the British Antarctic Survey research vessel RRS "Ernest Shackleton". The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust which operates the restored station at Lockroy, anticipated last October that a record number of visitors would visit Lockroy this season (ANAN-6/07, 13 October 1999). No details are yet available however on actual visitor numbers for the season.

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The tourist vessel 'Akademic Boris Petrov' is returning an injured person from the yacht 'Alderman' from Port Lockroy on Wiencke Island west of the Antarctic Peninsula to Ushuaia, Argentina, after the crew member injured a leg while walking on Pleneau Island on 10 February. 'Petrov', which is under charter to Australian company Peregrine Adventures, is currently due in Ushuaia on 19 February.

Immediately after the accident on Pleneau, the skipper of the 'Alderman', Richard Wakeford, sailed the short distance south to the Ukrainian station Vernadsky in the Argentine Islands and requested medical assistance to assess the patient's condition. The recommendation was made that the patient be repatriated to South America, and contact was subsequently made with the insurance company concerned. Arrangements were quickly made by the U.K. based insurance firm for a medivac flight to be provided by a private air operator from Chile's Marsh station on King George Island to Punta Arenas, Chile.

'Alderman' attempted to travel the 350 km north to King George Island from Vernadskiy via the relatively narrow Nuemeyer Channel between Anvers and Wiencke Islands however ice conditions barred her way. After several attempts she turned south to Port Lockroy and it was from there that the request was made on 16 February to Bill Davis, Expedition Leader on 'Petrov', for assistance in carrying the patient back to Ushuaia. As 'Petrov' was leaving Lockroy that evening and was bound directly for Ushuaia where it was due in just over two days, it was decided that it was preferrable the repatriation occur on 'Petrov' rather than via King George Island as the latter operation could have taken a week or even more.

The fourteen metre 'Alderman' originally left New Zealand in October with a five person British crew bound for the U.K. via the South Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. En route the decision was taken to visit the Antarctic Peninsula and she spent time in both Puerto Williams, Chile, and Ushuaia, taking on stores and preparing for the voyage south. 'Alderman' left Ushuaia for Antarctica early in January arriving at the Melchior Islands in Dallmann Bay on 31 January. From there she headed generally southwards visiting Culverville Island, Paradise Bay, Port Lockroy, and the U.S. station Palmer on Anvers Island, before arriving at Pleneau Island on 10 February where the accident occured.

Richard Wakeford, currently plans to travel north from Port Lockroy with his three remaining crew members to Deception Island and other sites in the South Shetlands, then head for the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) with arrival anticipated sometime in the first half of March.

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25-28 June 2000. IAATO annual meeting. Hobart, Australia.

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