Peter Kinsella's Antarctic Voyage Diary
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Saturday 3rd February 2001, Balleny Islands (65° 47.4' S 156° 33.1' E)
We spent all night skirting around areas of 90% pack ice and pressure ice and at 0900 hours we were less than half way to Mertz Glacier. Although we could steam through the pressure ice it slowed our progress from 14 knots to 7 knots. We were now in the area between the Balleny Island group and Commonwealth Bay where it is common for a build up of pack ice.
This afternoon was spent at sea in overcast conditions and patches of pack ice as we headed west. Not much to look at outside so we attended more videos and an auction of historical items supplied by the Antarctic Heritage Trust (N.Z.), to raise funds. Tim purchased a great book and I purchased some T-Shirts. Our schedule for the next few days didn't have any landings etc, so since we had such a hectic time over the previous week, we decided to have a "little impromptu play night" with myself, Tim, Gary, Charlie, John and others.
Sunday 4th, Approaching Mertz Glacier (65° 58.7' S 147° 35.6' E) &
(66° 42.1' S 146° 09.4' E)
This morning we turned south to head for Mertz Glacier. With heavy pack ice everywhere we were still doing a lot of heavy ice breaking which slowed us down to 6 knots. Cold outside today, -7șC, but there are patches of sunlight and crab eater seals on the ice. We eventually broke through the pack ice into open water nearer the continent to the south and cruised past hundreds of huge icebergs with unusual and beautiful ice shapes and blue-green colours. At 1600 hours we still hadn't sighted the Mertz Glacier itself although all these icebergs had calved off it. Some icebergs gather into groups when they run aground on banks standing well off the coast. Most of these icebergs show 40 meters out of the water which means that there is another 160 meters under the water.
At 1630 hours we reached the Mertz Glacier, named by Mawson after one of his companions, Dr Xavier Mertz, who along with Lt.Belgrade Ninnis accompanied Mawson on his ill-fated sledge trip. Both Ninnis and Mertz perished on this trip. Mawson's heroic return to the hut at Commonwealth Bay is one of the most incredible survival stories, together with Shackleton's story, of all time. Another Glacier further along is named after Ninnis.
We approached very closely to the huge vertical cliffs and were fascinated at the monolith of white and blue ice, rising vertically 40 metres which was just above the height of the ship. The constant motion of the ocean occasionally carved out numerous blue caves in the icebergs. They looked like great ice grottoes. There were also icebergs which had broken from the glacier tongue and drifted offshore. Many looked fairly recent, not showing any sign of wind or sea erosion. While others have been carved by the elements into indescribable shapes, with fissures radiating a deep indigo blue. The captain put the ship in a cove formed by the tongue of the glacier and 3 or 4 large icebergs which had recently calved off. The view from the glacier of the ship in between the ice cliffs was spectacular. The glaciers and icebergs being 60m or so high out of the water dwarfing our 15000 tonne ship.
While the ship idled in the cove we were all taken on to the glacier tongue by the helicopters where every one went crazy in the snow. Snow fights, triple jump competitions, and we drank Wild Turkey with glacier ice which was approximately one million years old, we were just like big kids. A great moment and the drink was great. The view from the glacier looking down at the ship was indescribable and the helicopter flight to and from the glacier was just like being in the IMAX theatre. The ship departed at about 1900 hours for Commonwealth Bay. It was only 160 kilometres with no ice because the Katabatic winds blow it all away out to sea.We reduced power to one motor and cruised quietly towards the windiest place on earth.