Ice Breaking!

The James Clark Ross went into the pack ice surrounding Adelaide Island this morning. I woke up at 07.00 to feel the engines starting to throb and murmur rather more intently than they did when they were holding position off the pack ice. Peering out my window (if you look under the life boat you can just about see whether you’re in the ice or not) I saw that we had started into the ice. I threw on my outdoor gear (I say that in such a casual way- like it isn't hard work every time!) and flung myself up the stairs leading to Monkey Island. The ship was shuddering beneath my feet; the engines working hard to power our way through the ice.

Pack ice up close

 

The JCR breaking ice

It was fantastic. The pack ice appears deceptively solid with only slow undulations making it clear that water lies beneath the surface. The JCR crunched her way through with a noise like soft thunder, shoving the ice aside. Ahead of us lay cliffs of white, as the bigger icebergs hove into view. Despite sunglasses, the light was brilliant as it was reflected off the ice. Only after some time were my eyes able to pick up the different shades within the white; the hidden blues and greys.

Icebergs lurking in the pack ice

The ice was peppered with different forms of Antarctic wildlife. Up until now, the birds have been the most constant presence. But here on the pack ice the seals predominated. They rest on the bigger slabs of ice, safe for the time being from the predations of killer whales and leopard seals.

Crab Eater Seals looking alarmed by our presence

Crab Eater Seal

I was lucky enough to see a group of Adelie penguins clustering around a hole in the ice. Adelies are appealing, even for penguins. They have a distinctive white ring around the margin of the eye and are considerably smaller than the King and Emperor penguins. Apsley Cherry- Garrard described them as being “...extraordinarily like children. These little people of the Antarctic world.” Apsley appears to have been rather enamoured of the Adelies, and described them as having great individuality. Others have commented on the absurd curiosity of these little birds. In the days of sled dogs this curiosity often lead to a sad reduction in penguin numbers as they waddled forward to investigate the barking, growling, salivating dogs! Cherry-Garrard describes the indignation displayed by one of the little penguins on being rescued from imminent death. The penguin allegedly buffeted his rescuer’s legs with his wings and clung to his trouser legs with his beak.

Adelie Penguins

The Adelies are in the middle of their mating season at the moment. The penguins will take it in turns to sit on the stone nests, incubating the eggs whilst their partners go off to sea. The eggs hatch after 32-34 days and the chicks then stay in the nest for a further 22 days. They will then be left in crèches whilst both the adults hunt.

Adelie Penguins

The findings of George Murray Levick, scientist and surgeon with Scott’s Terra Nova expedition are particularly interesting with regards to the Adelies. His findings were considered so shocking that they were not published with the rest of the scientific papers from the expedition and have only recently come to light. (Thanks to Douglas Russell of the Natural History Museum.) Levick witnessed young male penguins attempting to mate with dead female penguins, engaging in autoerotic behaviour, sexually coercing females and chicks and occasionally killing young chicks in front of their parents. Latter day scientists have confirmed Levick’s findings but suggest that the behaviour results not from the “depravity” of young “penguin hooligans” (Seriously? I love this) but from the fact that young Adelies do not receive much in the way of socialisation before their first mating season. With a limited window in which to find a partner and mate, young Adelies apparently misread cues. And thus a dead female lying on her stomach, appears similar to the position adopted by a sexually available female penguin. Isn’t nature delightful?

Sadly, after about an hour of steaming into the pack ice, we were forced to turn back. Ice was rapidly oozing back into the wake left behind the JCR which indicated that the surrounding ice was under high pressure. It was possible to see red paint left behind on the ice as we cut our way through.

Our wake closes swiftly behind us...

Whilst the JCR is ice strengthened, had we become stuck fast in the ice we might then have been carried onto the rocks that litter the coastline of Adelaide Island. The decision has therefore been taken to head back towards Stanley and unload our scientists and operations personnel. The resupply of Rothera has been pushed back to January, after the next science cruise finishes. It's disappointing, but in the words of Shackleton “better a live donkey than a dead lion.”