Two SIU-crewed ships recently overcame severe weather to deliver vital cargo in “Operation Deep Freeze,” the annual resupply mission to the National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station in Antarctica.The American Tern (operated by Osprey-Acomarit Ship Management) and the USNS Paul Buck (Ocean Shipholdings, Inc.) sailed through rough seas and high winds and around small icebergs to reach McMurdo Station, according to a report by the U.S. Military Sealift Command. The National Science Foundation used two icebreakers, USCGC Polar Sea and Swedish icebreaker Oden, which began work in December to break a channel through 18 miles of ice that separated the open water from the pier. The SIU-crewed ships followed that channel.
“They made it on time and did their job,” noted Larry Larsson, Deep Freeze Project manager at MSC’s Sealift Logistics Command Pacific, speaking of the civilian-crewed U.S. vessels.
The American Tern, a dry cargo ship, arrived at the base Feb. 4 and spent the next few days offloading more than 29,000 tons of equipment, food and other supplies. The ship then spent another three days loading cargo for a return trip to the United States, with a stop in New Zealand. This shipment was to include ice core samples that will provide scientists studying global climate change with information about the composition of the atmosphere hundreds of thousands of years ago.
The tanker Paul Buck had arrived at the station Feb. 1 and pumped off 162,000 barrels of fuel for equipment ranging from generators to helicopters.
Tim Pickering, MSC cargo project officer, said ships like the Seafarers-crewed vessels used in Operation Deep Freeze are vital in keeping the base running. “Air Force cargo planes make hundreds of trips a year to McMurdo, but without the use of ships, it would not be possible to move the large quantities of supplies needed to keep the station operating,” he said.
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