Kiwi naval officer joins US Antarctic supply operation
A New Zealand naval officer will sharpen his ice-breaking skills aboard a US Coast Guard ship helping to deliver supplies to Antarctica.
Lieutenant Commander Paddy Baker will join the crew of the cutter Polar Star on a six-week mission to cut a path through miles of thick ice.
The ship, which docked at Lyttelton yesterday, will leave the port on Tuesday to pave a route through McMurdo Sound, cutting ice for 12 hours a day so cargo and fuel ships can reach New Zealand’s Scott Base and the US-run McMurdo Station.
Baker, a specialist navigator, is joining Operation Deep Freeze as an observer to learn about the demands of sailing in polar waters ahead of the ice-strengthened HMNZS Aotearoa, the New Zealand Navy’s largest ship, becoming operational in 2021.
‘‘As a specialist navigator one of the things that we are looking more and more at is ice navigation, so it will help me in the future,’’ Baker said.
‘‘I’m an observer so I’ll be helping them out when I can in my field, but really the whole thrust of it is that we have a new tanker coming, the Aotearoa – she’s going to be ice-strengthened to be able to do the run down to McMurdo.
‘‘We’ve never actually done that kind of operation before so we need to know how we would operate with an icebreaker.’’
Baker, who until earlier this year was posted to the frigate Te Mana, said he was looking forward to exploring the freezing regions of Antarctica. ‘‘I did a secondment with the Royal Navy and went down to South Georgia, which is about as close as I got,’’ he said.
‘‘But that’s still just outside the Antarctic Circle so it will be really good professionally and personally to go down there and spend some time and hopefully have a look around the [historic polar exploration] huts.’’
He and the rest of the Polar Star’s crew will face tough conditions on their 3900-kilometre journey south, having to endure rough seas and the relentless sound of smashing through thick ice.
The ship’s captain, Michael Davanzo, said the icebreaking operation played a ‘‘key role’’ in helping scientists and was a challenge for the crew.
‘‘There’s something about the remoteness and the desolate beauty down there and the challenge of working in those conditions.
‘‘It’s a good opportunity to test your skills – it takes a lot of patience with icebreaking.’’
In a gentle warning to Baker about what to expect, he likened the experience of smashing through thousands of tonnes of ice to bouncing over a road’s rumble strips all hours of the day.
‘‘That’s one of the challenges for the crew, trying to get to sleep with all the noise and the challenges of maintaining the ship, because it takes a beating when we go there.’’
The Polar Star was last in New Zealand in February when she returned from a similar operation.
The crew helped authorities maintain cordons during the Port Hills fires, and during this visit hope to take part in a tree-planting project as part of the rejuvenation of the land.