Four days at sea

Sunday, January 24

To begin with, Samuel is giving us a lecture on Wintering in Antarctica, a subject on which he is, of course, an expert. 

We also get to see a documentary, a re-enactment of the fateful 1912 Mawson expedition where Ninnis and Mertz both perished and Mawson just barely survived.

A documentary about Orcas in captivity is also shown today, but I have to leave part way through as I find it a bit distressing.

Late in the afternoon, Huw gives us another history lesson.



Monday, January 25

The first lecture of the day is 'Captain Scott Hero or Villain', delivered by Huw, the story of the ill fated last expedition. Captain Scott is reported to have said: Using dogs would only inflict pain on the animals. Captain Scott just scored a few Brownie points with me!

This is followed by Samuel's lecture on Antarctic seals. Very interesting. But how to remember it all. 

In the afternoon, there is a documentary called Last Ocean. It is about the Ross Sea, about the research done on the wildlife and how suddenly a New Zealand fishing vessel turned up to catch hundreds of Toothfish, soon to be followed by many vessels from other countries. Toothfish are a very large fish and very little is known about its life cycle, in fact, no young ones have been spotted. How anybody can talk about sustained and responsible fishing in this case is a complete joke.

We're putting the clocks forward by one hour tonight.



Tuesday, January 26 - Australia Day

The first lecture of the day is the story of the 1957/58 Commonwealth Trans Antarctic Expedition led by Vivian 'Bunny' Fuchs - the first successful overland crossing of Antarctica via the South Pole. 

In the afternoon, we get to see 'Longitude' part I. It is the story of John Harrison, a self-educated English carpenter and clock maker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought after device for solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea.

At the bar tonight, we have the Australia Day hat parade.

And the winner is our Kiwi doctor, Suzi Hamilton.

Wednesday, January 27

It is a balmy 6° C, the sea is quite calm and we have another 240 nautical miles to go.

We start the day at the 'movies', watching part II of Longitude. In the afternoon, Rodney gives us a presentation on Campbell Island where we will spend two days. It looks a very beautiful and diverse place and definitely something to look forward to.

This is, once again, followed by quarantine procedures.

Four days at sea and never a dull moment!