After spending several days hiding out in a protected bay in the South Shetland Islands – one hundred miles off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula – the wounded ship M/V Ushuaia, run aground along the Peninsula ten days ago, is reported to have safely crossed the Drake Passage under her own power and is headed for dry dock and repairs in Punta Arenas.
Today’s report says there was no evidence of a continued leak from its damaged hull as it sailed. Antarpply Expeditions, the owner of the ship, insists the Ushuaia will be ready to continue its Antarctic season as early as December 28, January 7 at the latest. That, of course, depends on the severity of the damage caused when the ship ran on the rocks near Wilhelmina Bay. Updates to follow … thanks to our friends at IAATO (International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators) for the heads up.
One of the things I love most about Antarctica is that every day is different. And long. Even in these early days of the austral spring, it gets only dusk-like for a few hours in the early morning. Today we are east of Adelaide Island and will return back northwards in a day or two; for the next month we’ll be exploring the Peninsula before heading out to South Georgia and the Falkland Islands in January. Already during the past five days we’ve seen thick pack ice and big rolling seas, bright shiny sun and one very fierce storm – most of that day was spent fighting into a hurricane force gale wind, which topped one hundred miles per hour on occasion and averaged more than fifty miles per hour.
The one thing that seems, unfortunately, to be becoming a staple of each Antarctica summer is news that one tourist ship or another has gotten into trouble. Last year, we were the first on the scene to witness the sinking of the “Explorer” and rescue of its lifeboat-bound 154 passengers. Yesterday around noon we heard – almost simultaneously via radio, sat phone and email, proving once again that it is a small, small world – that the Argentinean ship “Ushuaia” had run aground near Wilhelmina Bay. Though we were only about thirty miles south of the accident at the time, it appeared there were other ships closer by to lend a hand and that a pair of Chilean Navy ships was on the way to offload its passengers.
While it appears that all 122 on board are safe and that the ship will not sink, there are big questions about the after-effects: It’s reported the hull was torn and that oil has already leaked into the pristine bay. Although containment booms were deployed, they are never one hundred percent efficient. In my years of traveling the world’s coastlines, one privilege of coming to Antarctica is that it is the one place on earth where you see virtually no evidence of man’s polluting. That will change if the increasing numbers of ships coming to Antarctica each year keep running onto the rocks, or worse.
During the next few days we’ll invariably learn more about the hows and whys of the “Ushuaia’s” accident. What I’m most interested in is what the treaty nations that govern the continent take away from this now seemingly inevitable annual wreckage. While I’m not sure exactly how to avoid future accidents — perhaps by putting even more limitations on who can come to Antarctica and by what means? — I believe somehow change has to be instigated. (During the 2007-2008 season a new record for visitors was set, over 46,000 by ship and airplane.)
Antarctica, December 4, 2008: The MV USHUAIA, has run aground.
links: NY Times news
NY Times: Andy Revkin’s Dot Earth
check back, I’ll be regularly posting images and reports from Antarctica until mid January 2009…
JB
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