What Really Happened to the ‘Berserk’?
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AntarcticPilot
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And displays a total lack of understanding of the Antarctic Treaty or rather, the Environmental Protocol, which DOES ban landing on Antarctica without permission from a Treaty nation (usually the flag nation of the vessel concerned). In this case, being Norwegian citizens, they would have required permission from Norsk PolarInstitutt, just as a British flagged yacht should approach British Antarctic Survey in the first instance (I think it's actually the Foreign Office who give permission, but they act on advice from BAS). Anchoring and sailing through Antarctic waters are covered by the International Law of the Sea, but tying up to land (which would be very ill-advised in that area because of the likelihood of sea-ice drifting against the vessel) is solidly and definitely illegal, for very good reasons. In Antarctica (all land, including fast ice and ice shelves, south of 60 degrees south), the Antarctic Treaty trumps everything.
I should note that for well-equipped and planned expeditions, permission is usually granted without difficulty, though it is always made clear to people that there is NO guarantee of any form of Search and Rescue, nor are stores or fuel normally available. There are areas in Antarctica where access is almost totally banned, usually to avoid damage to extremely sensitive environments, but these are well publicized by the Antarctic Treaty Organization. Permission to land is given for specified landing places; you can't get blanket permission to land anywhere. Obviously landing under emergency conditions is different, but an investigation into the conditions should certainly be expected.
Obviously, I am sorry for the loss of the crew and for the lack of any resolution for their families and friends. But sailing in Antarctic waters IS dangerous, and being immobile and close to land is a recipe for disaster - read any of the accounts of expeditions in the heroic age, where ships better able to withstand sea-ice than a yacht were forced to cast of hastily to avoid being crushed by ice; several expedition ships were destroyed in that manner. This is speculation, but I would guess that they saw sea-ice drifting down on them, hastily cast off their lines, and then were trapped and crushed by the sea-ice. The water is at freezing point (slightly below zero because it is saltwater) and survival in such conditions without having donned full survival suits is measured in minutes - and only hours in a survival suit.
newtothis
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"Christopher Keyes interviewed Andhoy and his lawyer, Gunnar Nerdrum Aagaard..."
...was as far as I could be bothered going with that story.
dgadee
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I saw a video he made. Never been able to find a copy.
AndrewfromFal
Active member
Seems an utterly self serving account, and attempt to shirk his responsibilities; littered with half truths and outright BS. A glaring example of this was when he said that the Steve Irwin was only a small boat, and then mentions it had a helicopter. Err right mate...
Setting aside the fact he went a pristine wilderness without permission, the fact that he and his buddy got the last flight of the season out when they abandoned their attempt tells its own story about the wisdom of being there at that time of year.
Setting aside the fact he went a pristine wilderness without permission, the fact that he and his buddy got the last flight of the season out when they abandoned their attempt tells its own story about the wisdom of being there at that time of year.
bedouin
Well-known member
It takes a certain gift to be able to give your side of the story and still come across as if you were in the wrong.
JumbleDuck
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As I read it they rocked up without permission, planned to use Shackleton's hut if the weather turned bad as if it was a bothy, tried to use the NZ base for dental care and relied on the American to get them out and then later acted all surprised that the stuff they had left in and around Shackleton's hut had been removed. What a bunch of yahoos.
Davy_S
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I wonder if it is the same skipper who sailed an Albin Vega called Berserk to the Antartic?
BobnLesley
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Admittedly my opinion's based on only a single meeting (perhaps an hour and a half in his company) but I would venture that Jarle Andhoy is perhaps not quite the full shilling and also something of a stranger to the truth; good enough company in the bar, but I certainly wouldn't sail to Antarctica or indeed more temperate destinations with him.
BobnLesley
Well-known member
Yes
Mark-1
Well-known member
Yes, but the book was written by David Mercy, a crew member, not Jarle and is quite good.
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Mark-1
Well-known member
The bureaucratic requirements were irrelevant to the events that led to the accident.
Eh? By his own admission the bureaucratic requirements were impossible for him to fulfill so if he'd followed them he wouldn't have been there and nobody would have been inconvenienced or deaded.
Seems to me it's entirely plausible the Berserks felt obliged to leave - perhaps more so with the presence of a warship - of course they did, they shouldn't have been there.
Eh? By his own admission the bureaucratic requirements were impossible for him to fulfill so if he'd followed them he wouldn't have been there and nobody would have been inconvenienced or deaded.
Seems to me it's entirely plausible the Berserks felt obliged to leave - perhaps more so with the presence of a warship - of course they did, they shouldn't have been there.
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penfold
Well-known member
There's no such thing as a safe anchorage in Antarctica, that's just delusional. The only 'safe' way of weathering polar storms driving ice before them in a vessel that small would be to careen it.
Stemar
Well-known member
It pains me to say it but, just once in a while, bureaucratic requirements are put in place for good reasons.
And, I suspect, be prepared to spend an Antarctic winter aboard.
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
That's the bottom line - you MUST be ready to overwinter if things turn pear- shaped. And you can't rely on anything except your own resources. If you aren't ready to do that, you shouldn't be there, especially not in the Ross Sea, which has a very short (and sometimes non-existent) season when it is navigable except by ice-breakers. They were actually lucky to get to Ross Island. The Antarctic Peninsula is more forgiving, but even there you can be beset by ice, and there is a long list of expeditions that were forced to overwinter.
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
How practical was their plan to ride a couple of ATVs to the pole and back? It sounds a bit simplistic to me, but then I think it's been a heavy snowfall when you can see any of the grass in the garden, even the tips.
Stemar
Well-known member
It probably sounded brilliantly simple around closing time in the pub
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
Not a practical proposition, though the NSF's office of polar programmes does ( or at least, used to) maintain a tractor road from McMurdo to the Pole. However, there are issues around carrying fuel, food and camping equipment - you certainly won't obtain any consumables at Amundsen-Scott base; you'll be "welcomed" with an official statement to the effect that you're not welcome (they're generally hospitable once that's over)! Off the tractor road, you'll encounter crevasses and all the other hazards of polar travel, potentially including soft surfaces, sastrugi (imagine a ploughed field made of concrete), blizzards and lots more.
Far better planned and equipped expeditions than this have failed to make it from Ross Island to the Pole; see, for example, Monika Christensen's expedition which was forced to turn back by a combination of circumstances - Monika shared my office for a while, and one of her companions was also a colleague with whom I have co-authored papers.
ProMariner
Active member
Enjoying this thread, thanks, do not know enough about Antartica. I like an adventure more than anyone, and I admire his tenacity to keep the memory of his friends alive, but in this case, I find myself even more re-assured that Antartica is being protected from just any adventure tourist with a couple of weeks and some spare money.
And a big thanks to those who took the time to clean up after these guys, it makes me shudder to think they would use Scott's base as a fuel store, and leave plastics lying about, not counting all the fuel and contaminates in the wreck.
Question, is there any good way to experience these wildernesses, without wrecking them? Maybe there are some places we need to only experience through technology and prose.
And a big thanks to those who took the time to clean up after these guys, it makes me shudder to think they would use Scott's base as a fuel store, and leave plastics lying about, not counting all the fuel and contaminates in the wreck.
Question, is there any good way to experience these wildernesses, without wrecking them? Maybe there are some places we need to only experience through technology and prose.
penfold
Well-known member
There are polar cruises which have visits ashore(dependent on weather), but they're not cheap and cruises aren't for everyone.
