Academician Shokal cruise. Liner Akademik Shokalsky, cruise company QUARK EXPEDITIONS ice-class vessel. Tourists keep the fleet afloat

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On December 24, 2013, the scientific vessel "Akademik Shokalsky" was blocked in Antarctica by fragments of an iceberg. Several powerful ships came to his aid at once. First, the 3-meter ice was not mastered by the Chinese and French icebreakers, and then the Aurora Australis, with which the main hopes for rescue from ice captivity, could not break through.

Report on the international rescue operation in Antarctica.

There were 74 people on board the scientific vessel "Akademik Shokalsky", including the crew, scientists and tourists. It was on a cruise from New Zealand to visit several places off the Antarctic coast.

Expedition leader Greg Montimer. (Photo by AFP | Andrew Peacock):

The ice-bound Akademik Shokalsky. (Photo by AFP | Andrew Peacock):

An international rescue operation has begun in Antarctica. Chinese and French icebreakers advanced towards the Akademik Shokalsky, but they could not break through the 3-meter ice.

The Chinese icebreaker "Snow Dragon" is going to save the "Akademik Shokalsky". (Photo by Zhang Jiansong | Xinhua | Zuma Press):

View from the Chinese icebreaker "Snow Dragon", rushing to the rescue. Silhouettes of penguins are visible on the ice floe to the left. (Photo by Zhang Jiansong | Xinhua | Zuma Press):

And scientists, waiting for salvation, were engaged in scientific affairs. (Photo by AFP | Andrew Peacock):

Passengers were not discouraged either. When else will you celebrate the New Year in Antarctica? (Photo by AFP | Andrew Peacock):

Passenger of the ship "Akademik Shokalsky" and a local resident. (Photo by Reuters | Andrew Peacock):

Then the main hopes were placed on the more powerful Australian ship Aurora Australis, but it also failed. After that, it was decided to evacuate the passengers by helicopter.

Curious penguins are watching what is happening. (Photo by AFP | Andrew Peacock):

January 2, 2014, Thursday, the long-awaited rescue operation in Antarctica was successfully completed. From the board of the ice-bound Russian ship Akademik Shokalsky, a Chinese helicopter evacuated all researchers and tourists in small groups - a total of 52 people. (Photo by AFP | Andrew Peacock):

By the way, the Chinese helicopter is our Ka-32A11BC. (Photo by AFP | Andrew Peacock):

Passengers wait in line on the Akademik Shokalsky while the first groups are evacuated by helicopter, December 2, 2014. (AFP Photo | Andrew Peacock):

On the "Akademik Shokalsky" there were 22 crew members who did not abandon the ship. They are helped by the American icebreaker Polar Star, which is not a hindrance to many meters of ice. True, he will not arrive in Antarctica until next week. There will be enough food and water for the crew members of the Russian ship for another month. (Photo by AFP | Andrew Peacock):

(Photo by AFP | Andrew Peacock):

The rescued 52 passengers ended up on board the Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis, but the unexpected happened and the Australian ship had to make an unplanned stop: the same Chinese icebreaker Snow Dragon, which also took part in the rescue operation, prevents it from moving on, but in the end he himself got stuck in the multi-meter ice of Antarctica. The icebreaker "Aurora Australis" still managed to find a workaround, and she is now moving towards Tasmania.

Chinese icebreaker "Snow Dragon". (Photo by Reuters):

View from the "Akademik Shokalsky". (Photo by AFP | Andrew Peacock):

UPD. On January 7, the Russian ship Akademik Shokalsky was released from ice captivity. It was not the icebreakers that saved him - they could not get through to the ship - but the weather. The wind changed direction and a wide crack formed in the ice.

From the research vessels of Russia, only beautiful names remained: "Academician Korolev", "Academician Kurchatov", "Academician Shokalsky". Entrepreneurial people have made a fuss and use them for cruises. So the "Akademik Shokalsky" with tourists and several Australian climatologists went to Antarctica to get new data on global warming. But on the 16th day, global warming came to an end and the ship ran into ice.

TOURISTS KEEP THE FLEET afloat

On November 24, 2013, the Russians were informed that the Russian research vessel Akademik Shokalsky was covered with ice near the coast of Antarctica and was asking for help. And soon we learned that "Akademik Shokalsky" has not been serving the benefit of Russian science for a long time. Converted into a cruise ship, it earns money for its Australian operator Aurora Expeditions by making tourist cruises to Antarctica one after another, and there is not a single Russian scientist on board the ship in distress. In 2012, the Akademik made three commercial flights along the same route to commemorate the 1912 landing in Antarctica by Australian explorer Douglas Mawson.

Information agencies reported that the Akademik Shokalsky was carrying out work commissioned by the Australian Antarctic Expedition. In reality, he continued to work for a tour operator who made good money on the desire of a group of Australian climatologists to make a comfortable Christmas cruise with sponsor money. At the same time, tourists who paid for the cruise out of their own pocket went on a voyage on the Akademik Shokalsky. All cabins have been sold. At the same time, the vessel belongs to the federal budgetary enterprise - the Vladivostok-based Hydrometflot, which is subordinate to the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring.

The Antarctic epic "Academician Shokalsky" once again reminded of the sad fate of the disintegrated Russian scientific fleet. This ship was named after the outstanding Russian geographer and oceanographer Yuli Shokalsky. It was built in Finland in 1982 and equipped with the most modern scientific equipment at that time. But then the ship was overhauled into a tourist liner with the famous Amundsen suite. On board are two expensive restaurants with a daily changing menu, a saloon and a bar with a wide selection of wines. "Akademik" works in the Arctic in summer, in winter it is transferred to the Antarctic summer. The thirteen-day cheapest cruise to the Kuril Islands on it will cost from $8,450 in a triple cabin without amenities, that is, with only one washbasin, and you will have to pay $12,050 for sailing in the captain's suite. Exactly the same business, far from scientific research, is carried out by other former flagships of the Soviet oceanographic fleet, such as Akademik Vavilov and Akademik Ioffe.

It is possible that soon the "Akademik Shokalsky" will be sent for another repair and will be given some new loud English name. As it happened with the similar vessel "Professor Khromov". Now the operating company Ocean Adventures has renamed it the Spirit of Enderby, and they suggested forgetting about Professor Khromov. "Our chefs will delight you with international cuisine made from the freshest ingredients," the cruise dealers promise. At the same time, the Spirit of Enderby still continues to be listed as a Russian research vessel.

But the "Akademik Shuleikin" turned into a Polar Pioneer with 29 cabins for 54 people. Swimming on it to Antarctica in a double room will cost at least $ 8,700.

IN THE TRAILS OF THE "MAN-EATER"

The journey of Australian tourists on the "Akademik Shokalsky" was also not cheap. According to the Daily Mail, it cost 900,000 British pounds. Australian Antarctic researchers have declared it their goal to obtain new data confirming global warming in Antarctica. The ship was also boarded by a member of the Australian Parliament from the Green Party, as well as journalists from the Guardian and the BBC, promoting the theory of global warming. But on the 16th day of the journey, global warming came to an end and the ship ran into ice. The conquerors of Antarctica obviously could not appreciate the seriousness of their situation and cheerfully reported that the wind should soon drive the ice away from them. However, this Antarctic summer turned out to be somehow wrong, the ice, instead of melting, as it should at this time of the year, on the contrary, grew, impressive hummocks appeared around the Akademik.

Perhaps it was not worth the participants to dedicate a cruise to the memory of Sir Douglas Mawson and follow in his Antarctic footsteps, given how Mawson's fateful Antarctic epic ended. In December 1912, one of the expedition members fell into a deep ice crevasse, most of the supplies, the tent and the best dogs were lost with him. Mawson and his companion, champion skier Javier Mertz, had to travel 300 miles to base camp with only a week and a half of food left. Renowned historian David Day, in his nonfiction book, recounted how Mawson and Mertz ate all the remaining dogs, unknowingly poisoning their livers. According to one version, Mertz went crazy and died, according to another, as Day describes it, Mawson deliberately killed his companion and ate him, only this allowed him to reach the goal barely alive. There was no other way for him to survive.

CLIMATE DID NOT OBEY PROFESSOR

If you look at photographs of Antarctica at the beginning of the 20th century, made including by Mawson, then this part of Antarctica was covered with ice to a much lesser extent than it happens in the 21st century. Then in the bay where the Akademik Shokalsky got stuck today, there was not a single piece of ice. Now, three icebreakers, which themselves were under the threat of ice captivity, could not break the ice thickness.

Australians vainly assure the public that the current ice is still the result of global warming. They do not say that in reality the area covered by ice in Antarctica has reached two million square kilometers, which is much more than in 1981 and 2010. But climatologists, including those who were on board the ship, have recently stated that by the summer of 2020 the Antarctic waters will be completely free of ice. But this summer, the area of ​​ice cover has increased by almost 30 percent compared to last year.

The Daily Mail writes that all the blame for the catastrophe of the expedition lies with its leader, Chris Turney, a professor at the University of South Wells. A geographer by training, he argues that carbon dioxide emissions will lead to a climate catastrophe and must be curtailed immediately. He made a brilliant career on this hypothesis, made connections with influential politicians. At the same time, he is the main shareholder of Carbonscape Holdings Ltd, which develops and implements methods to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

When the Russian ship sent the SOS, it was only two nautical miles from clear water, seven days later the sea moved 20 miles. In some places, the thickness of the ice reached five meters. It seems that all the ice of Antarctica has gathered around the Akademik Shokalsky. Disputes began among tourists and scientists, someone blamed the enterprising professor for what happened, who led the ship into an ice trap and neglected the critical ice situation that was developing in this area. The Russian crew of the ship had only to obediently follow the instructions of the cruise organizers. Another indication that these scientists did not know much about the Antarctic ice was their belief that one of the icebreakers was about to break through to help. But they were not able to break the ice, which reached more than three meters in thickness. On January 2, 52 passengers of the Akademik Shokalsky were delivered by helicopter from a Chinese icebreaker to a floating ice floe, and from there they were transported to an Australian ship. And the Russian crew will have to stay on board their ship, possibly for a few more weeks. The captain intends to wait until the ice breaks. There is another option - to use the help of a powerful American icebreaker. It is said that a sufficient supply of food remains on the ship and the Russians will not have to starve.

Nikolai Ivanov

Photo WIKIPEDIA