Into the Ross Sea

James Clark Ross, Rear Admiral of the Red of the Royal Navy, was the real McCoy. He warmed up (pardon the expression) for the Antarctic in a series of Arctic journeys, discovering the North magnetic pole in 1831. When it came time to send a British expedition to Antarctica he was the obvious choice. He sailed through the pack ice in January of 1841, and I mean sailed. Later explorers in steam-powered boats held Ross in awe as his accomplishments took place in the age of sail.

We have aboard the Mawson his great, great, great granddaughter, Phillipa, who delivered a most interesting lecture on her ancestor.

His branding likewise took the cake. We are now sailing into the Ross Sea towards Ross Island and the Ross Ice Shelf. Mt Erebus, an active volcano named after one of Ross’s ships, rises up from Ross Island.

Last night Lester and I began sighting good sized bergs from our 8th deck perch in the Mawson’s Observation Lounge, where, by the way, a nod to our most charming Indonesian hostess brings a rather nice glass of grappa.

We crossed the Antarctic Circle yesterday so it’s adios to darkness at night.

Our expedition leader came on the ship-wide intercom this morning while Lester and I were wrapping up another good night’s sleep to advise that we would be “hitting the big ice berg – oops, I mean passing the big berg” after noon today. He had earlier advised us that a berg 60 km across had busted off of Ross’s Ice Shelf and its position might allow an interestingly close passage between the berg and Cape Adair.

You can see it here on a satellite image.

Sure enough, soon after I finished polishing off a bowl of first rate tomato bisque the Big Berg swam into our ken. It really is about 45 miles across, so no camera, even one set to panorama, could hope to capture it.

It’s about 30 F, but with a wind that about flays the flesh off you. Lester and I bundled up and took a turn around the deck.

Leonard turned 79 today and one of the ladies we’ve met is organizing a happy birthday dinner in the intime (pronounced “en teem”) dining room up on the 8th deck high above the Sea.

The expedition team is planning a Zodiac landing at Cape Adair for tomorrow afternoon, so the next post should have some pics of the Frozen Continent.