Stuck Antarctic ship close to rescue

[Jimbuna]

Russia, China, Australia, France...all co-operating to free a ship in danger of being crushed.

Restores a little of my faith in humanity :sunny:

A scientific mission ship, trapped in dense pack ice off East Antarctica since Christmas Day, is close to being rescued as a Chinese icebreaker nears.

The crew can see the Snow Dragon icebreaker, which will try to cut a path through the ice allowing the research vessel to reach open water.

The Russian Academic Shokalskiy ship has 74 on board and is being used by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25523952

[Gerald]

Nobel action. :salute:

[AVGWarhawk]

Snow Dragon....cool name for the ice breaking vessel.

[Jimbuna]

Snow Dragon....cool name for the ice breaking vessel.

It'd be cool if it were a Greanpeace ship that was first to come to the rescue :)

[AVGWarhawk]

It'd be cool if it were a Greanpeace ship that was first to come to the rescue :)

Busy whale chasing I guess.

[Jimbuna]

Busy whale chasing I guess.

Or most of the activists still in Russian prisons :)

[Aktungbby]

Restores a little of my faith in humanity:up:

[Sailor Steve]

At the risk of losing everything I have here at Subsim, moderator status and maybe even getting banned. I have to ask...

WTF are you talking about?

[Catfish]

^ Ok i thought to know a bit about the german language, but i am afraid i cannot help you either .. :hmm2: :)

[Madox58]

WTF are you talking about?
:o :hmmm: :haha: :huh: :har: :D :har:

I think I said the same thing, sort of, with a Stewie image not long ago.
:D

(I think some bogging is going on somewhere or a bad batch of Hamm's)

[Aktungbby]

:yeah:

[Sailor Steve]

So you don't trust China's motives in getting involved in this? You could have just said so, and I wouldn't have said anything. I'm sure some here feel the same way. On the other hand the ship's crew may have acted without orders, trying to help fellow mariners. I don't care to guess one way or the other.

[Aktungbby]

Whew!

[Stealhead]

I bet that trapped ship has a large supply of Hamms aboard.A dedicated Hamms man can sense these things and gets a little woozy at the thought of Hamms going into the deep to be consumed by whales and giant squid.

[Sailor Steve]

Sailor Steve's way...
Not in the least. No one has to do anything my way. I'm not telling you what you must or must not do, I'm just another guy complaining that I can't understand half of what you say, and you seem to think it's funny that way.

You like playing the class clown, fine. Not my business. You like your fake German and nonsensical references, fine. You like spamming the forums with drivel, fine. Not my problem anymore. The only thing I can do at this point is ignore you.

Bye.

[Stealhead]

Interesting the Chinese ship MV Xue Long (Snow Dragon) was built in the Ukraine in 1993 it is the only research ship that the Chinese have that is also an icebreaker.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Xue_Long

[Tchocky]

This thread makes for weird reading now that all the posts have been edited.

For a minute there I thought Sailor Steve was having a stroke

[Jimbuna]

The posts have been edited by the original author and whilst I could reinstate them to their original content I don't see what would be gained.

I'm confident you can read between the lines though....and no, Steve wasn't having a stroke :)

[Mr Quatro]

Now the ship is still trapped and the Chinese Snow Dragon is just 12 miles away unable to make progress with nine feet of ice in the way and the ship is down to just two weeks of food left (frozen food I suspect :woot:) for 70 passengers with another ship from Australia due any day now.

Should the rescuers charge for this rescue?

I think many in the United States should be charged the mountain climbers with little experience, the sailors that go out in rough weather etc. or at least pay National Park insurance at the entrance gate.

[Stealhead]

Now the ship is still trapped and the Chinese Snow Dragon is just 12 miles away unable to make progress with nine feet of ice in the way and the ship is down to just two weeks of food left (frozen food I suspect :woot:) for 70 passengers with another ship from Australia due any day now.

Should the rescuers charge for this rescue?

I think many in the United States should be charged the mountain climbers with little experience, the sailors that go out in rough weather etc. or at least pay National Park insurance at the entrance gate.


I disagree unless the persons involved go into their situation via complete negligence and then in the case of a commanded situation the responsibility lies solely with the ones in charge.Again though it would have to just be utter negligence.

the other problem is that few people would be able to pay the actual cost of a typical rescue anyway.

People should help other people in need money should not be an issue when a human life is at hand.The ones that take the risks accept this as part of the job for example the USAF ParaRescue motto is "That others may live".The Us Coast Guard motto "Semper Paratus" (Always Ready).

http://www.uscg.mil/history/faqs/semper_paratus.asp

[TorpX]

I have no opinion on Hamms, and couldn't really get the inside(?) jokes.

However, I have a question for the Subsim Admiralty. On the TV news they said that the trapped ship is frozen in ice 10 ft. thick. I don't know, but it seems to me that it would be very difficult to free the ship now. So, do you think they have a backup plan ready? Like using a helicopter to take the people off?

[Jimbuna]

A rescue operation might not be needed now.

However, a BBC correspondent on the Russian research vessel says big cracks have appeared, raising hopes that it may even be able to move on its own.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25540040

[swamprat69er]

Maritime law says that if there is a ship/boat in trouble and you hear the distress call you gotta respond to it. (Go do what you can without putting yourself in jeopardy.) The Chinese went. I can't see any ulterior motives in this other than possibily making some money.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_law

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distress_calls

[Jimbuna]

Maritime law says that if there is a ship/boat in trouble and you hear the distress call you gotta respond to it. (Go do what you can without putting yourself in jeopardy.) The Chinese went. I can't see any ulterior motives in this.

Precisely :yep:

[Aktungbby]

The Chinese went. I can't see any ulterior motives in this other than possibily making some money.

Precisely :yep:

A YEN FOR COLD CASH PERHAPS?:x:timeout:

[Jimbuna]

A YEN FOR COLD CASH PERHAPS?:x:timeout:

If you are going to quote me you would be well advised to match said quote to the actual text I am responding to.

[swamprat69er]

Rescue efforts stopped due to weather.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25546462

[Jimbuna]

That's three attempts now...if the temperature drops further it might be easier to walk to the vessels attempting the rescue :)

[Wolferz]

Air rescue up next.

'Get to the choppa!'

[Jimbuna]

It's beginning to look like the Chinese rescue ship Xue Long may be stuck and in need of help :doh:

A rescue mission for a ship stuck in ice in Antarctica is under threat as reports have emerged that one of the assisting vessels may itself be stuck.

Fifty-two passengers and four crew members were due to be evacuated by helicopter from China's Xue Long ship as soon as conditions allowed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25558276

[Wolferz]

Time to get an ice breaker out of the great lakes?

[Jimbuna]

Starting to look that way...there's enough nationalities out there to have a UN reunion to welcome in the new year.

[swamprat69er]

Time to get an ice breaker out of the great lakes?
Now what are they going to do with a truck axle shaft with a piece of steel sharpened and welded to the end? They will have a lot of chopping to go through 10' of it.

[Jimbuna]

A huge US icebreaker, the Polar Star, should be in the area in a week to 10 days. We are told that the Polar Star can slice through sea ice six metres thick.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25557017

[Oberon]

This'll probably be Polar Stars first big op since her re-activation then. Wouldn't hurt to have one of Russians nuclear powered breakers head down there too, just in case, they're usually pretty good at what they do.

[Gerald]

This'll probably be Polar Stars first big op since her re-activation then. Wouldn't hurt to have one of Russians nuclear powered breakers head down there too, just in case, they're usually pretty good at what they do.Rgr that.

[Jimbuna]

This'll probably be Polar Stars first big op since her re-activation then. Wouldn't hurt to have one of Russians nuclear powered breakers head down there too, just in case, they're usually pretty good at what they do.

A great opportunity to show the rest of the world the big guns can work in unison if they share a common interest.

[TarJak]

Rescue at last: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-02/rescue-helicopter-arrives-at-stranded-antarctic-ship/5182632

[Jimbuna]

Rescue at last: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-02/rescue-helicopter-arrives-at-stranded-antarctic-ship/5182632

But not for all:

The 22 members of the Russian crew will remain on board the vessel.

[Jimbuna]

Both the Russian and Chinese vessels are now free.

The Russian research ship Akademik Shokalskiy and Chinese icebreaker Xue Long have broken free from Antarctic ice where they had been stranded for several days.

The Russian ship's captain said a crack had appeared in the ice after a change in wind direction.

The Akademik Shokalskiy got stuck on 25 December. It has a Russian crew of 22.

On Thursday, the Xue Long's helicopter ferried 52 passengers from the stranded Russian ship to an Australian vessel.

The Xue Long then became stuck itself on Friday.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25635690

[Stealhead]

This and the recent news that Russia is planning two specialist Arctic brigades it makes me wonder if soon will the big concern be having an ice breaker gap?:hmm2:

[Jimbuna]

I certainly think Russia mean business in the area but others will soon follow as resources become more scarce.

I'm not sure who will have the finances, possibly only the Chinese.

An international base such as in space wouldn't be too much to ask for if a common agreement could be negotiated...would it?

[Stealhead]

Hard to say on an international base being agreed to.I think as time goes by having control of any resources will trump such agreements.Right now with current technology there is little need to form a control of resources stance to dominate.If we last long enough to reach the point where gathering interstellar resources is possible agreements like the ISS will be a thing of the past.

It has and will always be about control of resources.I do not see humanity dropping that any time soon.I think by the 2030's nations will actual start fighting over things like economic exclusion zones.Sabers are already being rattled over just this sooner or later those sabers will be removed from their scabbards.

[Jimbuna]

Hard to say on an international base being agreed to.I think as time goes by having control of any resources will trump such agreements.Right now with current technology there is little need to form a control of resources stance to dominate.If we last long enough to reach the point where gathering interstellar resources is possible agreements like the ISS will be a thing of the past.

It has and will always be about control of resources.I do not see humanity dropping that any time soon.I think by the 2030's nations will actual start fighting over things like economic exclusion zones.Sabers are already being rattled over just this sooner or later those sabers will be removed from their scabbards.

In that we can both agree :yep: