Into the Realm of the Ice Bear
Part Two By Brian Spencer
It took us all night to sail north with the G Expedition in order to meet the polar ice flow , a weird fog shrouded bleak mass with no other humans for at least a thousand miles . Even Ursus Maritimus , ( ice or polar bears ) were not around , so it was decided to land on the ice and take a short stroll . Captain Nesterov edged the G Expedition deep into the ice , relying on its recently re-enforced steel bows . The ship reverberated with the sound of ice against the hull and the occasional rumble of bow thrusters .
Roald Amundsen . Arctic explorer .
By now we were almost as experienced at boarding the Zodiacs as members of the Special Boat Squadron and the sudden thump as we rode up on to the ice was of no consequence . To stand on the flow was a strange experience . There were no waves and below us were thousands of feet of icy cold sea water and to make matters worse , our mother ship and safety seemed to have disappeared . Fortunately it was only hidden by a mini-ice berg , but it was strange to feel out of touch with safety and comfort . For all we knew there was a bear just waiting round the next corner .
The guide in charge of each boat was armed with a huge flare pistol as the first line of defence against bear attack . If that failed there was a high-powered rifle to bring home the point that we did not welcome the immediate presence of a hungry bear . Fortunately and because the landing area was carefully checked , the use of either flare gun or rifle was never needed .