More on the Oden

Top view of the lifeboat.

Looking out over the bow deck. The containers on board have the science experiments that were conducted during the cruise inside of them. Breaking ice, the Oden can spray water from the bow to "lubricate" the ice breaking process.

The broken-up ice where the ship entered port.

HUGE, wide bridge with a conference table in the background. Excellent all-around views.

The interior of the ship was quite nice, lots of woodwork. This is a shot in the door of the library.

The icebreaker Oden

The US Antarctic Program contracts with the Swedish Polar Programs to have an icebreaker clear the McMurdo Sound and bring the tanker and cargo ship into port. (The dock is a floating mass of layers of ice and dirt, the near one is the current floating dock and the farther one is a ten year old dock.) The Swedish icebreaker Oden has been doing this duty for a number of years. Previously I had seen it out in the Sound, but this year (thanks to Mark Krasberg!) we got a tour of the ship.

It's a big, blocky ship, about 350 feet long and probably a good 120 feet or so wide. Quite pretty in a serious way. It's also beautifully kept up with nary a spot of rust, even after a hundred day cruise down from Scandinavia to the Southern Ocean.

Lifeboat and wing of bridge.

Our informal tour group on the gun turret mounting. The Oden was originally built for the Swedish military.

More Oden info can be found at Wikipedia and some pictures from a 2007 cruise on Wired.

In McMurdo, more news and photos to follow

It's been a tiring day, going to get to bed a bit early. Got lots of good photos, and will post some soon.

Arrived McMurdo early afternoon, after the (long,slow) drive into town and many dull briefings, we got our room keys, linens, and bags. Then after dinner redeposited bags with cargo to load tomorrow's airplane, and explored a little. Realized that the coffeehouse is closed on Mondays. Went and looked for interesting fish in the fish tanks, but there weren't any fish, just some invertebrates.

Off to the Pole tomorrow...