DEFINITIVE ISSUE

50 years of ships in British Antarctic research

Issue Date: 13th December 1993





1943 saw the beginning of long-term government-funded British Antarctic research with the mounting of Operation Tabarin. This wartime naval operation was set up to discourage the use of Antarctic anchorages by enemy commerce raiders and to strengthen British claims to sovereignty over the Falkland Islands Dependencies. The organising committee appreciated that bases established for political reasons could also provide a platform for useful scientific research and provide valuable meteorological data for naval operations.

The Admiralty chartered a Norwegian sealer, the Veslekari, renamed HMS Bransfield, to take personnel and cargo to Port Stanley from the UK, and SS Fitzroy to assist between Port Stanley and the bases to be established on the Antarctic Peninsula. Unfortunately HMS Bransfield had sailed no further than Portsmouth when it became clear that she was unseaworthy. The troop ship HMS Highland Monarch, bound for Port Stanley was used as alternative transport. However, SS Fitzroy still required support once in the Antarctic. The Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Falkland Islands and Dependencies offered HMS William Scoresby which had been undertaking minesweeping duties in the South Atlantic. No stranger to Antarctic waters, she had been commissioned in 1926 as a Royal Research Ship by the Colonial Office Discovery Committee to investigate the movement of whales, and was equipped with a reinforced bow and scientific laboratory.

During the second year of Operation Tabarin (1944-45) a wooden ship SS Eagle was chartered to help with the relief of the two established bases at Port Lockroy and Deception Island, and and to set up Base D at Hope Bay. However, during a storm whilst unloading stores at Hope Bay, she lost an anchor and collided with an iceberg. In spite of initial fears that she would have to be beached, SS Eagle reached Stanley with the last of the base supplies still on board. The bases established during Operation Tabarin were finally relieved in early 1946 by HMS William Scoresby, SS Fitzroy and MV Trepassey (a wooden diesel ship chartered from the Newfoundland Government). The following year MV Trepassey was chartered again for the relief of bases. During this, she was slightly damaged by fire whilst at Stonington Island, Marguerite Bay.

MV John Biscoe served with the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) between 1947 and 1956. Built in the USA in 1944 and originally named HMS Pretext she had been purchased and refitted under supervision of the Crown Agents. Renamed MV John Biscoe she was accorded the status of Royal Research Ship (RRS) John Biscoe in 1953. As the size of the Survey's operation grew RRS John Biscoe became too small to carry all cargo and she was eventually sold to the New Zealand Government in 1956.

To support RRS John Biscoe, a Norwegian vessel, MV Norsel, was chartered for two seasons between 1954 and 1955. Before this she had served as the supply vessel for the Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition of 1949-52. She assisted in setting up two bases; Anvers Island (Base N) and Horseshoe Island (Base Y). There were plans to purchase her but these fell through after the French took up her charter for the following two seasons.

As a replacement for the RRS John Biscoe, the FIDS bought the Arendal in 1955. Built originally in 1954 by Solvesborg of Sweden for the Arendals Dampskibsselskab of Norway she was renamed HMS Shackleton. Until 1969 her role was as a survey and scientific ship with a secondary role of supporting the RRS John Biscoe only in case of necessity. In 1957 she struck a small iceberg off the South Orkney Islands and suffered some damage necessitating further strengthening. In 1968 Shackleton was given authority to fly the blue ensign and became RRS Shackleton. After serving with the British Antarctic Survey, successor to FIDS, she served the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) as an oceanographic research ship. In this capacity, she visited Antarctica on five further occasions before being withdrawn from NERC service in 1983.

Between 1955 and 1957 the Danish ship, Oluv Sven, was chartered by FIDS to establish a base at Deception Island for the Falkland Islands and Dependencies Aerial Survey Expedition (FIDASE). Built near to the FIDS station, extensive aerial photographic surveys of the Antarctic Peninsula were undertaken by Hunting Aerosurveys Ltd.

In 1956 the FIDS commissioned its first purpose-designed Antarctic research ship. Named RRS John Biscoe, she was built by Fleming & Ferguson Ltd, of Paisley. For 36 years she operated in Antarctic waters. In 1979 she was extensively re-equipped, refitted and re-engined and provided with the capability for carrying out biological and oceanographic research. Consequently she operated as a dual purpose supply/research vessel. In 1983 RRS John Biscoe was the first BAS ship to undertake a winter cruise in the Antarctic. This was for the Offshore Biological Programme (OBP). In 1991 she sailed her last season for the British Antarctic Survey after completing one million nautical miles in support of Antarctic research.

From the late 1950s until 1970 FIDS/BAS chartered various ships to support RRS John Biscoe and RRS Shackleton. MV Tottan, originally designed as an escort trawler and later rebuilt as a seal catcher served in the Antarctic by assisting in the relief of the Royal Society base as Halley Bay (1955-58). She was chartered again for the 1958-59 season for the relief of Halley when the base was transferred to FIDS. MV Kista Dan undertook relief for FIDS in 1959-60 and later in 1965-66 season. Her sister ship MV Perla Dan, was chartered for four seasons for the relief of Halley between 1966 and 1970.

In 1970 the British Antarctic Survey (by that date an institute within NERC) commissioned Robb Caledon of Leith to build an ice-strengthened cargo ship, RRS Bransfield. She is still the major supply vessel for BAS Antarctic stations, although she has limited onboard research facilities. She is equipped with a helicopter platform for daylight work only. Although BAS does not own any helicopters, chartered helicopters were operated from RRS Bransfield during the 1984-85 season to lay fuel deposits for aircraft operations. The vessel spends an average of 234 days at sea each year - she usually leaves the UK in late October/early November so as to be in the vicinity of Halley by mid-Decemebr, the earliest time by which ice conditions are likely to be favourable for reaching the ice shelf and discharging cargo. For 21 years the RRS John Biscoe and RRS Bransfield complemented each other throughout BAS's Antarctic operations.

RRS James Clark Ross was launched in December 1990 as a replacement for RRS John Biscoe. Built on Tyneside by Swan Hunter Shipbuilders, she was handed over to (BAS)NERC in August 1991 following sea-trials. This ice-strengthened ship has been designed to be one of the most sophisticated Antarctic research vessels afloat, as well as operating as a personnel and cargo carrier. The diesel electric propulsion system provides a service speed of 12 knots with an endurance of over 50 days, and can drive through level ice nearly 1 metre thick at a constant speed of 2 knots. The ice-strengthened hull and the propulsion, and the ship's systems are designed for extreme quietness to prevent background noise interfering with the sensitive underwater research equipment. Her research complex comprises nearly 400 square metres of wet, dry and environmentally controlled laboratories, workshops, cool and cold rooms, plus a computer and data preparation suite.

Royal Naval Assistance in Antarctic waters

Built in 1936, HMS Protector was a converted net-layer in service as a Falkland Islands Guardship and Ice Patrol Ship. Although she was not ice-strengthened, which limited her capability in Antarctica, she carried two helicopters and gave assistance to FIDS and BAS for 12 years between 1955 and 1967. To replace HMS Protector in 1967 the Royal Navy purchased the Danish-built, Anita Dan. After refitting she was renamed HMS Endurance after the vessel in which Sir Ernest Shackleton sailed to the Antarctic in 1914 and which was fatefully crushed in the ice a year later. Equipped with two helicopters, HMS Endurance supported British interests in Antarctic waters from 1967-1991; she assisted BAS in carrying out its scientific research programmes and was equipped with the latest hydrographic surveying equipment after being refitted in 1985. Known to all as the red plum (due to the unusual colour of her hull for a navy ship) it was felt that after 35 years, her hull was showing signs of brittleness and she was decomissioned in 1991.

As a replacement the Royal Navy chartered the Norwegian vessel Polar Circle to carry out Antarctic duties for one season, after which the Ministry of Defence decided to purchase her. Modifications to Naval standards were undertaken immediately and she now operates routinely in Antarctic waters, under the name of HMS Endurance, once more with the characteristic red hull.

Notes:

Operation Tabarin 1943-45
Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey 1945-1962
British Antarctic Survey 1962-present
British Antarctic Survey became part of Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) in 1967

Text by S Robertson, British Antarctic Survey











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