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A U.S. scientist joins a British expedition and learns
a few things about royalty and rank
By Brett Arenz, Special to the Sun
“Cheerio.” Did I hear her right? I thought
the English only used that word in Monty Python sketches.
I was standing on the shores of Deception Island having
just said goodbye to Princess Anne or, as she is also
known, HRH (Her Royal Highness).
How did I get into this bizarre situation?
I had the good fortune of traveling with members of the
British Antarctic Survey (BAS) aboard the Her Majesty’s
Service (HMS) Endurance at the end of the 2006-07 austral
summer field season to visit historic sites on the Antarctic
Peninsula.
I study Antarctic fungi as a Ph.D. candidate at the University
of Minnesota, and was in search of molds and wood decay
fungi that inhabit historic wooden structures, artifacts
and soils in the areas we visited.
The HMS Endurance is a Royal Navy vessel used by BAS
as a transport and logistics platform during the Antarctic
field season. It is named after Sir Ernest Shackleton’s
original Endurance, which was crushed by sea ice in the
Weddell Sea in 1915. We required the use of the Endurance,
as there are two Lynx helicopters on board, and the only
way to visit some of these very remote historic sites
is by air.
To meet the Endurance, I had to first fly to the Falkland
Islands via Chile. Though the Falklands are fairly large
(about 12,000 square kilometers), the population is very
small, about 2,000 people, and mostly centered in the
town of Stanley. Only one flight per week arrives from
South America. It was crucial that I not miss mine.
Crossing the Drake
I had never traveled by ship to the Antarctic before and
was looking forward to it, though I was a bit apprehensive
about the Drake Passage, known for having some of the
roughest seas in the world.
The first trip across was actually very smooth, and one
of the officers remarked that it was the calmest trip
he had ever been on. The return journey had a forecast
of six- to 10-meter swells. While they didn’t reach
that magnitude, many fellow passengers were not seen outside
their cabins for that three-day period during the crossing.
The journey was quite smooth in the relative shelter
of the Antarctic Peninsula and surrounding islands.
In the (British) Navy now
As I was neither a British citizen nor a member of the
military, my experience on the ship was of two degrees
of separation. I did struggle at times with the varying
accents of the shipmates, particularly in the lower decks.
And the relatively strict time scheduling of the Royal
Navy threw me for a loop on the first couple days.
The Royal Navy also has some traditions that, as an American,
I found difficult to understand at first. The ship’s
crew consists of four classes or “decks” —
top is the captain, second the officers, third the senior-rate
crewman, and lastly the junior-rate crewman.
All classes eat in separate mess halls, have separate
socializing areas, and are only allowed in the respective
areas if invited by one of the classes. Though this seemed
discriminatory at first, I quickly came to realize that
it is probably the lower decks that appreciate it most,
as the setup allows them to relax outside the presence
of officers and related formality expected.
As a visiting scientist, I found myself somewhere between
these different worlds, and was assigned to share a cabin
and eat with the junior rates, but then to use the officers’
lounge for work and socializing.
Her Royal Highness
Princess Anne was briefly on the ship as she is the official
“patron” of the United Kingdom (U.K.) Antarctic
Heritage Trust and was touring U.K. sites designated as
historic monuments. (For those of you who don’t know,
she is Queen Elizabeth’s only daughter and her official
title is “Princess Royal.”)
Responding to an SOS
I certainly didn’t expect to be involved in any international
headlines during my travels. However, near the end of
my trip and having just left Deception Island a few days
previously, we were soon recalled to render assistance
to the Norwegian cruise ship, the M/S Nordkapp. The ship
ran aground on rocks while attempting to leave the volcanic
caldera of Deception Island.
I was just a spectator to this event, but the ship’s
crew provided significant assistance to the damaged vessel.
British divers inspected the hull (which had a many-meter-long
gash under the water line), while other crew helped with
temporary repairs. We transported many of the Nordkapp’s
crew to King George Island, where they would be flown
to Argentina.
It was a bit surreal to be watching Sky News images of
the HMS Endurance while being aboard the actual ship.
Successful voyage
I found my journey aboard the HMS Endurance rewarding
and enjoyable. I was able to collect research samples
from nine, separate sites and spent three days at the
historic U.S. East Base, where I assessed the deterioration
taking place there. The ship’s crew was very accommodating
and, along with the scientists from BAS, helped me immensely
in accomplishing my objectives.
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Antarctic
Sun
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