Surviving Disasters at Sea

Last week, I attended classes for professional mariners at the Maritime College of the State University of New York out at Fort Schyler, near the Throgg's Neck Bridge. The classes were a requirement of my officer's rating in the US Merchant Marine.

As part of the course, we fought oil fires aboard the

remains of a tugboat at a fire fighting training field out on Long Island. The fire chiefs who operate the facility put our class through all kinds of simulated fires, ranging from oil fires on deck, engine room fires below deck, and fires in sleeping quarters. The fires were hot and immensely smokey. It was 80 degrees F outside and the clothing was heavy. But the fundamental lesson that we learned is that if you keep your wits about you, act rapidly, stay low, and use the right tool and have the right people on your team, that these fires can indeed be put out and your ship saved.

The day before (slightly out of order), we practiced abandoning ship and survival at sea while floating in the ocean waiting for rescue. The fundamental lesson of that experience is that if one has hope, and focuses on living long enough to be rescued, one greatly increases the odds that he will survive. Lacking the will to survive and a spirit of cooperation, the odds are that even the heartiest seaman will die of exposure before rescue arrives.

Independent Spirits (Part 4): The Mechanics

Chris, a motorcycle maven back home in Britain and mechanical genius; a veteran of the British base at Rothera on the Antarctic Peninsula. Pictured below tending bar on Christmas Day is Scotty, a fellow British Antarctic veteran and a magician with metal and diesel engines.

Boris (above) and Pato (below) kept everything from falling apart during blows and made steady improvements to the place during the course of the season. Boris is pictured while installing a heater in a Weatherhaven used by visiting climbers. Pato is in the shop fabricating a wooden shelf for the privy.

Independent Spirits (Part 3): The Chefs

Christmas Dinner and Gift Exchange, 2006

Whatever hardships you might think the folks at Patriot Hills might endure, hunger is not one of them. The food is fabulous. Fresh produce and meats are flown in regularly, and I doubt anyone on the Antarctic continent ate as well as we. A devotee of curry, I was in seventh heaven when the Indian Navy expedition arrived and we were treated to one excellent Indian dish after another. Otherwise, lamb, steak, fantastic desserts, and more were the order of the day. I have never dined so well in my life, and certainly not in such excellent company. The chefs were accomplished outdoorsmen of their own. Whether running in the Antarctic marathon, leading an expedition on the last degree to the Pole, ski kiting in the vicinity of the base, or unloading drums down on the runway, the chefs at Patriot Hills were an integral part of the team.

Ronnie, chef, polar guide and world-class kite skier

Gavin, Australian chef, indefatiguable table tennis player, and marathoner

Malin, Norwegian chef, cross country skiier and dangerous "Sequence" player

Kim, now-Australian kitchen hand and enthusiastic rookie roller of fuel drums down on the runway; came down to join her husband Alan who installed and maintained the base's communications systems

Independent Spirits (Part 2)

These four women are so special that they rate a blog entry of their own. Tracy, Katie, Shelly and Liza operated the communications system at the US Amundsen-Scott Station at the South Pole during the 2006-07 system with cheerfulness and aplomb. We communicated with one another frequently whenever an expedition was approaching the Pole or when we were sending a flight their way. They hail from Alaska, Colorado and Massachusetts.

Independent Spirits (Part 1): The Pilots

(Above) My good friends, the nine-man crew of Ilyushin 'Sugar Mike Juliet' - Ukrainian veterans of the Soviet Air Force and a very agreeable and courageous bunch of fellows

Up on Martha's Vineyard we have an osprey nest a few hundred feet from our house. The male and female osprey find one another at the beginning of the season, bear and feed their young, and fly off in the fall. A few years ago, a scientific group decided to figure out where they went in winter and attached collars with radio directionfinding devices. To their surprise (but not my wife's), the pair separate for the entire winter. Our male osprey went down in the direction of Cuba while the female spent the winter in Venezuela. The scientists reported that even had the male and female ended up in the same spot, they probably would not have recognized one another. Yet each year they return to the same nest here on the Vineyard and raise their chicks.

Well, the denizens of Patriot Hills have likewise scattered to the four corners of the earth for the off season. I will not see them this coming year as I will not be going down. Here are some photos of them in the blog for posterity:

Lindsay , an Otter Co-pilot from Vancouver

Dave Leatherdale, veteran Antarctic pilot

Amy and Steve , Otter pilots

'QSL Cards' for my fellow amateur radio operators

For a century, it has been a lovely custom among amateur radio operators to exchange 'QSL cards' to confirm radio contacts between stations. When I returned home from Antarctica I found hundreds of these marvelous cards stashed in a box in a corner of the kitchen, mailed by many of the operators I spoke to while at Patriot Hills and in Punta Arenas. The cards arrived from all seven continents and from most of the US states.

In the spring, I sat down with some of my favorite photographs, developed a card of my own using Adobe Photoshop, and had them printed by my friend Oleg in Russia. This weekend, up here on Martha's Vineyard, the boxes arrived. I promptly sat down with a pen, a box of the cards and the large box of incoming cards and filled in hundreds of them on the dining room table, remembering long, friendly conversations on a cold but beautiful Antarctic nights.

Thanks to all of you who called me on the radio or sent me emails while I was down there.

Adam

Departure from Antarctica

Last night's flight with 49 passengers went without a hitch. I was at the threshold for the landing when the beast came in.

The weather looks great today. Mostly clear sky and light winds. The Ilyushin should take off from Punta Arenas this afternoon and arrive this evening. I have dug the valances of my tent out of the snow and ice in anticipation of dropping it at a moment's notice. Now in the process of packing up. Last thing I do at the base when the plane arrives is drop the antennas, unplug and box the radios, and off we go.

Have a day of debriefing and a staff dinner before departing Punta. Will send my flight arrival information when I learn it.

Adam

Storm

Last week we were smacked with the first Antarctic storm of the season. For all intents and purposes, the camp was shut down for four days. Even the young hotshot pilots - who are here to rack up flying hours in Twin Otters in hopes of a job with an airline some day and will it seems do anything to get into the air - wouldn't consider going out of the dining tent.

So for four days, it was indoor activities only around camp. Clean up paperwork, repair some of the machinery, cook dinner, catch up on some missing sleep, and yes, drink some Chilean wine, play card games and engage in lengthy conversation. Happily for me, one of our guests was a nuclear physicist from San Diego who has spent the last thirty years on fusion research and is an active ham radio operator. We had plenty to talk about and radio equipment to play with. No need to suffer in Antarctica, at least here at Patriot Hills.

The storm was comprised of a heavy snowfall, followed by sixty knot winds. After a day or so, the snow formed into corn (hard round snow crystals) which felt like small buckshot against any exposed skin. At night one slept amidst this wonderful racket, the tent being machine- gunned by the corn snow while at the same time shaking like an old airplane straining to take off on a runway with potholes. That is about the only way I can describe the experience, except to say that throughout the night, I was certain that I was soon to go the way of Dorothy and Toto.

One morning during the storm, our high frequency wire antenna snapped in the wind, and I went to the downwind end of the camp to inspect the damage. This necessitated a two-minute upwind return leg back to the Comms box in the lethal sixty knot breeze. One of my friends caught me in his camera as I stepped in the door. The expression on my face, in case you are wondering, is awe.

See you later.

Korean Expeditioners Visit Patriot Hills

South Korean amateur radio operators Hankyoo Yoo HL1TJF (left) and Jongwoo Park HL1TR (right) visited me at Patriot Hills as members of KoreaMet, the 2006/2007 Korea Expedition for Antarctic Meteorites. While visiting, they briefly operated the Patriot Hills station as KC4/HL1TR and KC4/HL1TJF in communication with my friend and their colleague, Kim, HL8KSJ (DT8A,DS4NMJ), the radio operator at King Sejong Base on King George Island. I have set Jong and Yoo up with an HF rig and dipole and they hope to get on the air with 40 and 20 meter SSB from their expedition campsites in the Pirrit and Martin Hills, Antarctica, during the month of January, although their time will be extremely limited. QSL via Adam, K2ARB.

I have also received visits this season from Bill NA5P, and Kurt KE6WWB, both came to Antarctica to climb Mt. Vinson, the tallest peak in Antarctica.

The other night around 3AM, I found myself handling a flight of Russian helicopters down the Antarctic peninsula toward Patriot Hills. I was working a handoff with the British base at Rothera when I found myself conversing with radio operators from two other Antarctic bases with an interest in the flight. It took a couple of seconds to realize that they were my ham radio pals Oleg R1ANF, at the Russian base at Bellinghausen, and Mike VP8DJB, at the British Base at Fossil Bluff. Only in Antarctica!

As for my own ham radio activities, which are limited to late at night to avoid conflicts with work, the propagation to North America has improved dramatically during the last two weeks although it remains weak to Europe. As the workload decreases toward the end of the season, I hope to be able to be on the air more frequently during times when European openings are likely.

73 and HNY to all!
Adam
KC4/K2ARB, CE8/K2ARB, VP8DKF

The Russians Are Coming!

Those years of suffering in Mr. Reilly's high school Russian class came in handy this week.

The day before yesterday, two Mi-8 military helicopters dropped in (literally) as the advanced party for a group of Russian officials who were on their way to visit the American station at the South Pole. As the closest thing to a Russian speaker here at the base, I spent a great deal of time with the crew, who ate and socialized with us for two days.

Last night the VIPs arrived aboard and Antonov 47. They included, among others, Arthur Chilingorov, Deputy Chairman of the Duma and a major figure in Russian polar exploration for over three decades, and Dr. Alexander Bedritsky, president of the World Meteorlogical Association. I had a chance to chat with them as well as a good number of their associates. Unfortunately, a planned ham radio operation by one of the members of the group did not come to pass, as the party was far behind schedule due to highwinds (up to 60 knots) at our location.

The photo above is with Mr. Chilingarov. In case you cannot tell us apart, he is the one with the warmer hat...