Stanley to the Humber
12 May, 2009 RRS Ernest Shackleton
Greetings once again, it has been quite a while since we you heard from us. Much water has passed under the hull since then and we are currently heading for Bergen in Norway for our North Sea stint.
When you last heard from us we were about to arrive in Stanley in The Falklands. This we duly did and spent a few days in port working a bit of cargo and trying to coax the FIDS off the vessel. We eventually managed to get them off and on their merry way. Quite a few of them were heading for further travels through S.America. We hope they all enjoyed their new adventures.
On Sunday the 29th of March we left Stanley headed for the island of Tenerife. In between lay a vast stretch of ocean that steadily grew warmer and warmer. We were all grateful for some better weather and Dave Bailey, the purser, wasted no time in organising a barbecue or two on the weekends. A nice change to be able to sit on deck in the evening and watch the stars.
As we crossed the equator we were joined by flocks of Boobies a sea bird whose main point in life seems to be to deposit droppings on the Bo’ sun’s newly painted decks. He was seen muttering quite a bit and not ovelry impressed.
We arrived in Tenerife on Saturday the 18th April. Our stop was all too brief mainly for a Brunvoll engineer to effect repairs to our Azimuth Thruster and for a small exchange of crew. We managed to get an afternoon and evening in port at least, an opportunity that the lads grabbed with both hands. Early on Sunday morning we once again headed out to sea, this time bound for Grimsby.
The passage across Biscay was thankfully calm and we arrived in Grimsby on Sunday the 26th April. Offloading commenced on Monday and was completed by Tuesday.
The vessel then moved to Immingham for a lay-up while repairs were affected. These included the replacements of one of the Auxiliary generators. Further work on the thrusters and Engine cooling fans and the replacement of some bridge equipment was also completed.
We also bade farewell to Derek Forward our Chief Engineer who retired from Bas service and his wife Pauline who had accompanied us on our trip north. Derek had been with BAS since 1989, no small slice of a man’s life. David Blake said a few kinds words and handed over a lovely painting of icebergs and sea ice as a parting gift. We wish them both well on their next adventures in life
We departed for DP trials on Sunday evening the 11th of May.The trials were duly completed on Monday evening and all the non-crew personnel were disembarked too a launch off the Humber and we turned North towards Bergen.
We should arrive on Wednesday the 13th May. We will then commence preparations for our first job of the season off the Norwegian coast.
See you next time with Tales of Norway
Compiled by: P.O’Hara