Post the Thirty-Eighth

Mooring the ship.  At Mawson it can be done.  Horseshoe Harbour is deep enough, and the enclosing shoreline close enough that the Aurora can run lines ashore, and be much more secure than if she were at anchor.

Which is good if you're operating in an area replete with opportunities for putting holes in ships.

Which the Aurora is.



So once the wind had died down sufficiently, the skipper carefully navigated his way around the tip of West Arm (where he had been sheltering) and into Horseshoe Harbour.

Cautious.

Awaiting the ship at the various mooring points were members of the mooring party.  Each mooring point had a bollard, of which there where positioned 6 ahead of the ship, and 3 astern.

Sittin' on the dock of the bay...

With that configuration in place, the ship should be able to withstand winds in excess of 70 knots.

The wind on this evening was at around 20 knots, which is quite enough to make the -3°C temperature much, much colder.

Another mooring point.  Another bollard.  Another group taking shelter from the wind.

These mooring parties had to be well protected against the cold.  Very well protected.

Eventually the Aurora was in position, and the process could begin.  I don't have any photos of the process because it was too cold and I am too lazy.  Plus I was busily writing the previous blog post!  But the method is that crews in Zodiacs run hawsers (that's a nautical term for 'thick bit of string') out to each of the mooring groups.  Those groups then haul ashore the mooring cables and put them over the bollards.

Crew members aboard the ship then make the lines fast.

The people on shore weren't the only ones watching the spectacle of a very big, very expensive ship encircling itself with rocky coastline.  Some of the passengers were on the monkey deck (weird) to observe the festivities.

Mooring.  Now a spectator sport.

All in all the process of running the hawsers out and getting them affixed to the bollards took about 3 hours, which I'm led to believe is quite a good time.  Sometimes it can take twice that long.

When I'd heard the ship was moored I popped out to take some photos, and was greeted by a spectacular sight - a solar pillar.

It could be a lightsabre.  Probably only a solar pillar, but possibly a lightsabre.

Apparently these things are caused when sunlight at sunset strikes floating ice crystals in the air.  Which can happen quite a bit in Antarctica, you'll no doubt be surprised to learn.

Mawsonites had apparently been treated to a few of these lately.

Definitely a solar pillar.  Shame.  A lightsabre would have been cool.

And, secure in the bay, was the ship, with her lights twinkling across the water.

Just like a Christmas tree.  A big, metal, orange Christmas tree.  That floats.

I went for a walk on the following afternoon to get some photos of the mooring hardware because I thought perhaps you might be interested.  And even if you aren't interested, I certainly am.  So there.

Here then, is a cable attached to a bollard.  Bollard No. 6, in fact.  In case you were curious.

Bollard No. 6.  Less popular than Chanel No. 5.

During the night, as the cable had been dipping in and out of the water, some icicles had formed.  Cool, no?

Yes, cool.  Very cool.  Freezing, in fact.

And it would seem that different types of cables generate slightly different icicles, as these next two photos (should) demonstrate.

Yellow and black.  Tigerland icicles.

At least, they look different in real life.  I promise!

They are different.  They are, they are!

And just for fun, I had walked around onto West Arm to get a shot of the ship moored in the harbour with the station in the background.  Weee, what fun!

Actually, I quite like this shot.  Which is just as well, because the wind was still blowing at over 20 knots, and the tears of pain I was crying had turned into daggers of ice.  (Possibly an exaggeration).

More prettiness.  (Or should that be, moor prettiness?)

And for illustrative purposes, here is a closer shot of the helideck and the trawl deck.  The end of the helideck is where I was able to get those photos of Tasha's krill trawling efforts.

The blunt end.

And that's it for the mooring of the ship.  Sorry if you found it boring.

To make up for it, the next blog post will have some other photos that I took on my odyssey around the station - some quite interesting and varied photos.  Tune in then!