Article
BAMOS October 2021
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Top left : The wooden ‘ steam yacht ’, SY Aurora , in Antarctica © State Library of NSW . Top right : Kista Dan helped establish Australian stations in Antarctica and sub-Antarctica © Phillip Law 1954 . Bottom left : The Magga Dan and Thala Dan at Mawson © William Young 1961 . Bottom right : Nella Dan in ice © Australian Antarctic Division 1977 .
“ Nella Dan got blown ashore in a rapid change of weather that blew the ship ashore whilst it was refuelling the station ,” Mr Reeve said .
“ She was a small vessel with only a single propeller and no thrusters , and a dragging anchor in that situation makes it very difficult very quickly .
“ I was still fairly junior in those days but I know there was a lot of heartache and financial calculation being done , and I ' m afraid the owners of the ship reached the conclusion that they couldn ' t tow it all the way back to Singapore for repair and they had to take it offshore and sink it , which was a sad day for many people . There were a lot of tears shed .”
With a rebuilding program underway at Australia ’ s Antarctic stations in the 1980s , ANARE needed a ship with a large cargo capacity to transport supplies . The MV Icebird was custommade for the job and entered service in 1984 .
In 1996 it was renamed MV Polar Bird by new owners , and worked for a short time alongside the first purpose-built research and resupply vessel for the modern Australian Antarctic Program — the Aurora Australis .
Launched on 18 September 1989 , the Aurora Australis provided “ an amazing new world-leading capability ”.
“ All these capabilities that people had dreamed of for some time and all these things we wanted to do we could now do
and plan to do and work out ways to do new things that we hadn ' t ever done before ,” Mr Reeve said .
“ Those early science voyages were just a buzz with people blinded by the science and the interest in what they were doing and the capabilities of the ship to do all this amazing research . It was a very exciting time .”
Australia farewelled the Aurora Australis in 2020 after 31 years of service . The ship carried more than 14,000 expeditioners on over 150 scientific research and resupply voyages .
Australia is now looking forward to welcoming the world ’ s most advanced scientific icebreaker — RSV Nuyina .
After 100 years of building our polar knowledge and technology , Australian Antarctic Division Director , Kim Ellis , is excited by the promise the new ship holds for Australia ’ s Antarctic science program .
“ It ’ s a truly remarkable ship ,” Mr Ellis said .
“ It ’ s a Swiss army knife of maritime capabilities . It will be the most complete and powerful scientific research vessel in the ocean when it arrives here , and it will revolutionise the way we deliver station support and science in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica .”
This article was originally published at the
AAD . Read more about
RSV Nuyina .