Gallery of log for Antarctic Exploration
My pick of streets is Heard, as Heard Is is the closest I have been to Antarctica.
In January 1997 I went to the Kergulen Plateau on a scientific survey. Tony Bullimore had just been rescued from a similar area and as he came back in HMAS Adelaide to Fremantle we headed out in RV Rig Seismic.
The trip was uneventful as far as sightings of things with the exception of many fabulous albatross. No icebergs, seals, whales, penguins etc. I do remember seeing a 44 gallon drum floating in the middle of nowhere. That caused some excitement as did the 10-12m waves! I didn’t know I had a bar fridge in my cabin until it broke loose and took the cupboard door with it and ended up on the other side of the cabin (where I tided it up with rope to the table and left it for the rest of the trip).
I did get an official tour of Heard Island, which consisted of a trip to the bridge to see a green dot on the radar screen and of course a cup of tea and a biscuit. Anyway enough about me.
Captain John Heard, an American sealer on the ship Oriental sighted the island on 25th November 1853 en route from Boston to Melbourne, officially reported the discovery on December 24th December and had the island named after him. Although, Peter Kemp, A British sealer, was the first person thought to have seen the island on the 27th of November 1833 from the brig Magnet during a voyage from Kerguelen to the Antarctic, and was believed to have entered the island in his 1833 chart.
This information and lots of very interesting things about Heard and the nearby MacDonald Islands can be found at http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/heard_island/heard.html.
By the way Heard Island has Australia’s only active volcano – Big Ben.
In January 1997 I went to the Kergulen Plateau on a scientific survey. Tony Bullimore had just been rescued from a similar area and as he came back in HMAS Adelaide to Fremantle we headed out in RV Rig Seismic.
The trip was uneventful as far as sightings of things with the exception of many fabulous albatross. No icebergs, seals, whales, penguins etc. I do remember seeing a 44 gallon drum floating in the middle of nowhere. That caused some excitement as did the 10-12m waves! I didn’t know I had a bar fridge in my cabin until it broke loose and took the cupboard door with it and ended up on the other side of the cabin (where I tided it up with rope to the table and left it for the rest of the trip).
I did get an official tour of Heard Island, which consisted of a trip to the bridge to see a green dot on the radar screen and of course a cup of tea and a biscuit. Anyway enough about me.
Captain John Heard, an American sealer on the ship Oriental sighted the island on 25th November 1853 en route from Boston to Melbourne, officially reported the discovery on December 24th December and had the island named after him. Although, Peter Kemp, A British sealer, was the first person thought to have seen the island on the 27th of November 1833 from the brig Magnet during a voyage from Kerguelen to the Antarctic, and was believed to have entered the island in his 1833 chart.
This information and lots of very interesting things about Heard and the nearby MacDonald Islands can be found at http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/heard_island/heard.html.
By the way Heard Island has Australia’s only active volcano – Big Ben.
Rated: for Overall Experience.
