The Winter Trip on the Pacific Endeavour in Russia

Ice Breaking - Part Three

Bow imprint left as the boat backs away
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2007

By Ieuan Dolby

As my laptop jumped around, causing me to curse for the hundredth time as my finger hit the wrong key, I wondered aloud if the ISO 6954:2000 (Guidelines for the Measurement, Reporting and Evaluation of Vibration with regard to Habitability on Passenger and Merchant ships) should be consulted here. Not that I could here myself with the noise. These rules and regulations are not accessible onboard here and are probably written in a language that prevents any comprehensive understanding of them, but I'm sure that nobody in their right minds could suggest that being bounced around violently for hours on end is habitable!

View from the Stern of the Vessel
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2007

Somebody told me today that the infamous Nuclear Powered Russian Ice-breaker, the X, cannot go at full-whack through the ice. She was built many years ago to cope with the very thick ice conditions encountered in the North Pole and above Russia, 75,000 horses of pure unadulterated power from a mighty nuclear reactor, but when at full speed and ramming the ice the sailor's teeth start falling out! The Pacific Endeavour is not quite built for such conditions; she does though have some massive power and the ability to ram some 1.5m ice at a steady clip, a pace that I hope will not cause me to be shopping for a set of falsers any time soon!

We are heading up to the location with three engines on and are nicely splitting ice at a steady 6 knots! The vessel is taking it all in its stride. It is though not that comfortable onboard, I might be able to liken the characteristics to a souped-up mini running full pelt over a road covered in larger than normal pebbles or one of those bucking bronco machines on a constant level one setting. When ice-breaking the vessel is perfectly stable. A glass of water, full to the brim, will remain in the same position for days. The motions of the vessel are short and sharp for those persons standing up, when trying to sleep a constant bouncing as the mattress attempts to dampen the harmonics beings set up.

View Fwd Along the Ships Side
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2007

The motion is very different from that of rough seas, gales and hurricanes! This is not bandy-leg forming material that sailors are famous for, sea legs and all of that bracing against the next dip or roll; this is constant cyclic and harmonic inducing vibrations, a shifting of the vessel in rapid sideways and up and down thrusts that does not cause instability or tilt, just unpredictability. When in rough seas of any type forward predictions of where to place ones foot, when to brace and when to start moving becoming second nature. For example; when pouring water into ones glass a feeling is obtained for the movement, the roll, and coordination and estimation of the next roll produces a streamlined flow of the liquid into the glass, mostly without a drop being split. The movement caused by ice-breaking though is harsher and rapid; when pouring water into the glass no forward predictions can be made. The bottle may be positioned over the glass one nano-second, over the spuds the next!

Along with the general inability to read anything, as the eyes cannot cope with the constant shifting of the target, and the non-use of laptops as the screens seem determined to work loose, is the noise! I have likened this before to a load of coins being scraped along a car, a train with rusty wheels being pulled along a disused trail track, but maybe I did not give the noise true justice! It is noisy, believe me! Talking is difficult when outside and slightly raised when inside! Maybe the best way to describe the noise is to undertake a practical demonstration, go on, take a large block of ice out of the freezer and proceed to smash it with a glass lampshade (include the wife's screams in the demonstration as well). No don't do that! How about imagining the noise travelers used to hear on old British rail trains, those carriages with the windows that opened up in the carriages, when running along at full speed - just add a bit more rocking and movement to give full scenic and sound effect!

Is the vessel habitable during these times? It is hard to say without sounding waspish! Sleep can be difficult! I certainly have a sore back after a night of ice-smashing! I can't do much work during the day as I get a headache trying to follow the computer screen around and people tend to be on edge and grumpy so civilized conversation is not a preferred undertaking! But then comparing this to other scenarios of a life-at-sea; rough seas with lifejackets stuffed under mattresses in an attempt to prevent being thrown out of bed as a large trough is breached, engine breakdowns with all hands turned to and days of minimal sleep until the problems are fixed; maybe it is not so bad! Certainly, if the vessel had to break thick ice twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, then my teeth would start to fall out, not only due to the vibrations but from lack of sleep and severe ill-health! But we only break ice on one or two nights every week. In kholmsk the ice is not worth writing home about, on location we are not required to steam along, just to discharge cargo and backload or hang around in the ice-fields until required. So it is sufferable!

I did after all manage to write this article!

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