Dispatches From a Cold Place: A Journey Begins...

posted in retrospect when internet existed and speeds didn't cause me to have a meltdown and give up!

Leaving The UK...from Immingham:

6th - 10th November 2012

Typical Immingham sunset no doubt

All journeys have to start somewhere.

And mine starts in MingMing. Not a terribly interesting place and one definitely better to leave from than find oneself arriving in. Like most heavy working ports it seems a most "wretched hive of scum and villainy", but did provide a beautiful sunset for the night I departed.

Leaving Immingham

We headed straight out into the North sea on a cold a rainy Tuesday morning passing through the enormous lock gates of the docks into the Humber...the gargantuan estuary that is an artery for so much of what comes into the UK from all corners of the globe, passing ships from Russia, China, Panama, Turkey, Spain and being dwarfed by the massive tankers and cargo ships, stacked the height small tower block with the bridge peaking out from above the topmost containers.

The first few days gave me a chance to unpack, find my way around the ship, get to know the crew and discover if I have a decent set of sea legs (thankfully it seems I do...no need for the Hyoscine patches and dry eyes and mouth they bring).

Ships have always seemed a slightly magic place to me. Floating towns with their own families (deck crew, engineers, chefs & stewards and officers), places and even language...I no longer have a room, but a cabin; the kitchen is a galley and dining room a mess room; I neither go to sleep nor wake up, 'I turn in' and 'turn to'; the floor is the deck and ceiling the deck-head...and of course left and right have no place on board!

From here down to Cape Town it'll just be me and the crew on board, picking up the 'passengers' destined for the Antarctic in Cape town...a journey of about 1 month. We shall skirt the coast of the UK, calling in at Portsmouth for some cargo then head out into the channel, through the Bay of Biscay, past the Canary Islands, across the equator (more on that and the strange ritual that goes with it later no doubt) then down Africa to Cape Town. From there it is just a short hop across the (notoriously rough) Southern Ocean, getting to Antarctica just after Christmas.

Ernie

The RRS Ernest Shackleton - A Ship with gender identity issues:

She is of course named after Shackleton the Antarctic hero of days gone by, who was indeed very much a man. Never-the-less when referring to the ship, Ernest is definitely a she - I checked with the Captain!

And quite quite lovely she is too.

Technically she is a purpose built (in Norway) 80m long, 4,028 tonne, double hulled, ice strengthened logistics vessel, with a helipad, ROV facilities, dynamic positioning (4 thruster and an Azimuth engine) and some basic lab facilities...or DnV +1A1 ICEBREAKER ICE 05 EO HELIDK ICS DYNPOS-AUTR W1 (Research/Survey/Cargo)...but in reality she is a short, fat cargo ship that's good in the ice! Some would argue she's not the best looking vessel out there and being pretty heavy up front with a bow like a brick wall she does not ride the waves very smoothly when the sea is coming from the front...but on the whole she is utterly loveable.

Anyway, enough of me rambling on...here are some photos, for a brief guided tour of Ernest...if you're desperate to know more about her try here - BAS Ships Fact Sheet.