RRS Shackleton
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RRS ''Shackleton'' was a
Royal Research Ship A Royal Research Ship (RRS) is a merchant navy vessel of the United Kingdom that conducts scientific research for His Majesty's Government. Organisations operating such ships include; the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Britis ...
operated by the British scientific research organisations the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS),
British Antarctic Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of list of global issues, global issues, and to provide an active prese ...
(BAS) and
Natural Environment Research Council The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is a British Research Councils UK, research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences. History NERC began in 1965 when several envir ...
(NERC) in the Antarctic from 1955 to 1983. She was subsequently operated as a seismic survey vessel under the names ''Geotek Beta'', ''Profiler'' and finally ''Sea Profiler'' before being scrapped in 2011.


History

Built in 1954 by Sölvesborgs Varv A/B at
Sölvesborg Sölvesborg is a locality and the seat of Sölvesborg Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden with 10,024 inhabitants in 2013. Sölvesborg is, despite its small population, for historical reasons normally still referred to as a ''city''. Statis ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
, she was launched as MV ''Arendal'' (III) for work in the
Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...
. She was purchased in 1955 by the Falkland Islands Dependency Survey (FIDS.
British Antarctic Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of list of global issues, global issues, and to provide an active prese ...
(BAS) from 1962) as a supply vessel to re-stock British research stations. After conversion to carry more passengers, she was renamed RRS ''Shackleton'' and sailed to the Antarctic for the 1955/56 season. On 29 Nov 1957 ''Shackleton'', having completed the relief of the FIDS research station on Signy Island, was seriously damaged when she hit an iceberg off
Coronation Island Coronation Island is the largest of the South Orkney Islands, long and from wide. The island extends in a general east–west direction, is mainly ice-covered and comprises numerous bays, glaciers and peaks, the highest rising to . History T ...
and was holed in two places below the waterline. The ship started to take on water and was almost lost. Temporary repairs allowed the vessel to reach the whaling station of Stromness on
South Georgia South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. ...
, more than 500 miles from the accident, where the hull was repaired. She was met ''en-route'' by
HMS Protector Seven ships of the British Royal Navy have been called HMS ''Protector'': * , a 44-gun fifth rate listed in 1749 that served in India and was wrecked on 1 January 1776 by a cyclone near Pondicherry. * ''Protector'', a fireship in service in 1758. ...
, which provided an additional pump and shipwrights to help contain the damage and took off scientists and other passengers. From 1959 scientists from
Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...
's Sub-department of Geophysics regularly undertook research from ''Shackleton'', focusing on the marine geophysics of the
Scotia Arc The Scotia Arc is the island arc system forming the north, east and south border of the Scotia Sea. The northern border, the North Scotia Ridge, comprises (from west to east): Isla de los Estados at the tip of Tierra del Fuego, the Burdwood, Dav ...
. This included two-ship seismic refraction experiments working with ''HMS Protector'', sonobuoy work and magnetic surveys. At
Deception Island Deception Island is in the South Shetland Islands close to the Antarctic Peninsula with a large and usually "safe" natural harbour, which is occasionally affected by the underlying active volcano. This island is the caldera of an active volc ...
in 1966 the ''Shackleton'' met and provisioned
Bill Tilman Major (United Kingdom), Major Harold William Tilman, Commander of the British Empire, CBE, Distinguished Service Order, DSO, Military Cross, MC and Bar, (14 February 1898 – November 1977) was an England, English mountaineering, mountaineer ...
's SV ''Mischief'', the first private expedition to visit a British Antarctic base. ''Shackleton'' joined the rescue of
Deception Island Deception Island is in the South Shetland Islands close to the Antarctic Peninsula with a large and usually "safe" natural harbour, which is occasionally affected by the underlying active volcano. This island is the caldera of an active volc ...
base members when the volcano erupted in December 1967 and again in February 1969. She was withdrawn from service by BAS at the end of the 1968/69 season. following a decision to replace her with a new vessel. ''Shackleton'' was operated by the NERC after 1969, and underwent major conversion to fit her as a
oceanographic research ship Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...
, starting in November 1970 at the shipyard of James Lamont, Greenock. Construction work was completed in 1971 and her first Antarctic cruise with NERC was in 1971/72, continuing geophysical and marine geology work on the Scotia Arc. On 4 February 1976, while taking part in a British economic survey of the
Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...
led by
Lord Shackleton Edward Arthur Alexander Shackleton, Baron Shackleton (15 July 1911 – 22 September 1994) was a British geographer, Royal Air Force officer and Labour Party politician. Early life and career Born in Wandsworth, London, Shackleton was the young ...
(son of the Antarctic explorer
Sir Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarc ...
), RRS ''Shackleton'' was fired on by the Argentine destroyer ARA ''Almirante Storni'' in a precursor to the
Falklands Conflict The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...
. She was withdrawn from service in May 1983 and sold. During her service with NERC the ship carried out cruises in the Antarctic, Arctic, Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, the Mediterranean and Red Sea.NERC Annual Report 1982-83 p78 ''Shackleton'' was renamed ''Geotek Beta'' in 1983. In 1984 she was purchased by Gardline Shipping Limited and renamed ''Profiler''. 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. She was scrapped in New Holland on the
Humber The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Trent, Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms ...
estuary in 2011.


References


Sources

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Further reading

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External links


Pictures
at Cool Antarctica

- Shackleton {{DEFAULTSORT:Shackleton Icebreakers of the United Kingdom Research vessels of the United Kingdom Ships built in Blekinge County 1954 ships