RRS Shackleton

RRS Shackleton was a Royal Research Ship operating in the Antarctic from 1955 to 1992. She was then in service as a seismic survey vessel, Sea Profiler, until being scrapped in 2011.

This article is about the Royal Research Ship built in 1954. For former Royal Research Ship launched in 1995, see RRS Ernest Shackleton.

Sea Profiler awaiting scrapping in 2011
History
United Kingdom
Name: RRS Shackleton
Namesake: Ernest Shackleton
Operator: Falkland Islands Dependency Survey / British Antarctic Survey / NERC
Builder: Solvesborgs Varv A/B at Sölvesborg, Sweden
Yard number: 41[1]
Launched: 11 November 1954[1]
Completed: February 1955[1]
Acquired: 1955
In service: 1955
Out of service: 1992
Refit: 1971
Panama
Name: MV Sea Profiler
Operator: Gardline Shipping Limited., Great Yarmouth
Acquired: 1992
Identification:
Fate: Scrapped in 2011[2]
General characteristics
Type: Research ship
Tonnage: 1,082 GT
Length: 65.78 m (215.8 ft)
Beam: 11.08 m (36.4 ft)
Draught: 4.66 m (15.3 ft)
Propulsion: MAN 6-cylinder diesel, 785 BHP at 275 RPM, Kamena reversible pitch propeller[3]
Speed:
  • 9.7 knots (18.0 km/h; 11.2 mph) (maximum)
  • 7.8 knots (14.4 km/h; 9.0 mph) (average)[4]
Endurance: 28 days
Complement: 31 berths
Notes: [5]

History

Built in 1954 by Solvesborgs Varv A/B at Sölvesborg, Sweden, she was launched as MV Arendal (III)[6] for work in the Baltic. She was purchased in 1955 by the Falkland Islands Dependency Survey (British Antarctic Survey from 1962). After conversion to carry more passengers, she was renamed Shackleton and sailed to the Antarctic for the 1955/56 season.[7]

In 1957, Shackleton struck an iceberg off the South Orkney Islands and was nearly lost.[8] Temporary repairs allowed the Shackleton to reach South Georgia, more than 600 miles from the accident, while all unnecessary passengers and crew were rescued by HMS Protector.[9]

At Deception Island in 1966 the Shackleton met and provisioned Bill Tilman's SV Mischief, the first private expedition to visit a British Antarctic base.[10] Shackleton joined the rescue of Deception Island base members when the volcano erupted in December 1967 and again in February 1969.[11]

In 1968 Shackleton became RRS Shackleton and was rebuilt in 1971. On 4 February 1976, while taking part of a British economic survey of the Falkland Islands led by Lord Shackleton (son of the Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton), RRS Shackleton was fired on by the Argentine destroyer ARA Almirante Storni in a precursor to the Falklands Conflict.[12]

After the British Antarctic Survey, she served the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) as an oceanographic research ship and visited Antarctica on five further occasions, before being withdrawn from NERC service in 1983.[13]

Shackleton was renamed Geotek Beta in 1983, and Profiler in 1984. She was ‘retired’ from the South Atlantic in 1989 and reconfigured as a soils and high resolution seismic survey vessel, operated by Gardline Shipping Limited. They renamed her Sea Profiler in 1992.[14] She was scrapped in New Holland on the Humber estuary in 2011.[2]

Sources

Fuchs, Vivian (1982). Of Ice and Men. Oswestry: Anthony Nelson. ISBN 0-904614-06-9.

References
  1. "Arendal (5321576)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  2. "CARGO VESSEL: End of the road". Ships Monthly. Kelsey Publishing Ltd. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  3. "Royal Research Ship Shackleton". The Polar Record. Scott Polar Research Institute. 8 (53): 180–181. May 1956. doi:10.1017/S0032247400046210.
  4. "MV Sea Profiler". Marine Traffic.com. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
  5. "MV Sea Profiler". Gardline Marine Sciences. Archived from the original on 16 April 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
  6. "Fleet over the years". Arendals Dampskibsselskab. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
  7. Fuchs (1982) page 142
  8. Fuchs (1982) pages 188-90
  9. "Antarctic Ship Aided; Scientists Taken Off British Vessel Damaged by Floe ", The New York Times. 2 December 1957. Page 6. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
  10. Fuchs (1982) page 287
  11. Fuchs (1982) pages 291-92
  12. "Falkland Islands (RRS "Shackleton")". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 5 February 1976. col. 1414–1417.
  13. "50 years of ships in British Antarctic research". Falkland Islands Philatelic Bureau. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
  14. "28 Aug - One of those weeks..." British Antarctic Survey. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2009.

Pictures at Cool Antarctica

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