About Through Ice & Fire
The wild and desolate expanses of Antarctica have been the setting for many famous exploits and misadventures: a place where every decision has life-or-death consequences.
Legendary explorers such as Shackleton, Mawson and Scott continue to inspire to this day, and their faithful ships, the Endurance, Aurora and Terra Nova are vivid characters in their fateful voyages of discovery.
The first and only Australian-built Antarctic flagship, Aurora Australis, and her crews have likewise secured a place in Antarctic history.
This is the 30-year story of Aurora Australis and of her diverse charges - crew, technicians, scientists, explorers, writers and artists.
Its the tale of a problem-plagued construction, two devastating fires, a crippling besetment in ice and a blizzard-induced grounding in Antarctica. It tells of brave rescue missions of other ships and their grateful crews, and of the heroic administering of medical help while battling life-threatening temperatures and hurricane-force winds.
This is a tale of engineering brilliance, team tenacity and human resilience. It brings polar research to life and unveils stunning scientific discoveries. It transforms the Aurora Australis into a compelling character in Australias chapter of Antarctic history and makes heroes of the men and women who have guided her through the most inhospitable seascapes on earth.
THROUGH
ICE & FIRE
THE ADVENTURES, SCIENCE AND PEOPLE
BEHIND AUSTRALIAS FAMOUS ICEBREAKER
AURORA AUSTRALIS
SARAH
LAVERICK
![CONTENTS For all those touched by the Aurora Australis your stories are hers - photo 2](/uploads/posts/book/213969/images/pub.jpg)
CONTENTS
For all those touched by the Aurora Australis: your stories are hers as hers are yours.
For four generations of Lavericks whove also loved this ship.
And most of all, for the Aurora Australis: a true Antarctic heroine.
Limited General Arrangement Plan of the Aurora Australis
![Courtesy of PO Maritime Services taken from full General Arrangement plan - photo 3](/uploads/posts/book/213969/images/viii.jpg)
![Courtesy of PO Maritime Services taken from full General Arrangement plan - photo 4](/uploads/posts/book/213969/images/ix.jpg)
Courtesy of P&O Maritime Services, taken from full General Arrangement plan.
Antarctica and the Southern Ocean
![Credit Map of Antarctica produced using a base map provided by the Australian - photo 5](/uploads/posts/book/213969/images/x.jpg)
Credit: Map of Antarctica produced using a base map provided by the Australian Antarctic Division.
GLOSSARY
aft | At, in, or toward the stern. |
athwartships | At right angles to the ships keel. |
Beaufort wind scale | The Beaufort wind scale relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea. |
beset, besetment | (Of a ship) Trapped in ice. |
bow | The front or forward part or end of a ship, boat, etc. |
brash | Brash ice is an accumulation of floating ice made up of fragments not more than two metres across. It is the wreckage of other forms of ice. Brash is common between colliding floes or in regions where pressure ridges have collapsed. |
cod-end | The closed end of a trawl net, where the fish are trapped. |
complement | The full number of officers, crew and passengers on board a ship. |
davit | A projecting piece of wood or iron (frequently one of a pair) on the side or stern of a vessel, fitted with a tackle, etc., for raising, lowering, or suspending a small boat, anchor, or other weight. |
diesos | Expedition diesel mechanics, often in charge of station refuelling procedures. |
draught | The depth of water a vessel needs to float it. |
frazil | Fine spicules or plates of ice, suspended in water. Frazil ice formation represents the first stage of sea ice growth, and gives the water an oily appearance. In the open ocean the crystals may form, or be stirred to a depth of several metres by wave-induced turbulence. |
gangway | A platform and ladder or stairway slung over the side of a ship. |
grease ice | A later stage of freezing than frazil ice, when the crystals have coagulated to form a soupy layer on the surface. Grease ice reflects little light, giving the sea a matt appearance. Grease ice behaves in a viscous fluid-like manner, and does not form distinct ice floes. |
haul-out | Behaviour associated with pinnipeds (seals) temporarily leaving the water. Hauling-out typically occurs between periods of foraging activity. |
hove-to | (Also heaving-to). When the ship slows right down in very rough conditions, maintaining just enough speed to keep a comfortable heading (generally into, or near-into, the wind and swell). |
ice blink | A reflection of light off sea ice that is just beyond viewing range. |
Inmarsat C | Communication via satellite, often used for emergencies at sea. |
keel | In traditional wooden ship construction, the keel is simply the long, central wooden beam of a ship from which the rest of the ship is built, by adding ribs, etc. But for modern (steel) ship construction the keel is simply the first module of the hull, and the ship develops from this single module. |
launching ways | The sloping structures (ways) down which a ship slides at launch. |
lead | An open channel through a field of ice. |
mess | A place where service personnel, etc., eat together. |
nilas ice | A thin elastic crust of ice, easily bending on waves and swell and under pressure, thrusting in a pattern of interlocking fingers (finger rafting). Has a matt surface and is up to ten centimetres in thickness. May be subdivided into dark nilas (< five centimetres thick) and light nilas (> five centimetres thick). |
Niskin bottle | A plastic cylinder with stoppers at each end, used to take water samples at a desired depth without the danger of mixing with water from other depths. |
polynya | An area of open water surrounded by sea ice, as can occur in pack ice; of ecological significance when it recurs at the same time and place each year. |
port, portside | The left-hand side of a ship or aircraft facing forward (opposed to starboard); larboard. |
sastruga | A ridge, as in snow or sand, fashioned by the wind into a wave formation. Plural sastrugi. |
starboard | |