Hello darkness, my old friend
Dusk on the edge of Antarctica and the Royal Navy’s icebreaker and polar survey ship HMS Protector delivers supplies and stores to one of the UK’s key research stations.
With the austral autumn about to begin, Protector paid her final visit to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) base at Rothera – its largest in the region – to offload stores and cargo ahead of the upcoming Antarctic winter.
Visits to Rothera over the past two years have been few, making this Covid-secure stay even more critical to the year-round work of the station team and scientists there.
Among the items delivered by Protector were tonnes of building materials for construction of the base’s new Discovery building to allow BAS to continue their vital research for decades to come and other supplies and kit to support operations from Rothera’s runway/airfield.
Just 22 hardy souls – down from the summer complement of 100 – will spend the winter at the station on Adelaide Island, which lies 1,250 kilometres from Cape Horn, 1,800 kilometres from the Falkland Islands and 14,000 kilometres from the UK.
Learn more about HMS Protector’s adventures at:
https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-l ... RjJ0uchdYI