This is the last day of 2006! To be precise, it is exactly 2245hrs and in less than 2hrs time the bells will chime, people will kiss and the New Year will be welcomed in with many soon to be hangovers and rashly made resolutions! Each country will welcome in the New Year in their individual styles. Some may have already done so and will be sleeping off the alcohol and late nights already! Others will be preparing to do so and here 12 miles offshore of Sakhalin Island the Pacific Endeavour and her crew are preparing to see and end to 2006 and the beginning of 2007.

It is cold outside! I haven't been out to check this evening, preferring to stay snuggled up in the warmth of my cabin and to write articles or watch a movie but a brief guess would be a refreshing 35 degrees below zero, without adding on the wind chill factor! We are alone out here! Somewhere further north and over the horizon is the oil production platform the Moliqpaq, maybe 20 miles west is a long stretch of barren and uninhabited coastline of Sakhalin Island and to the east and south nothing but the barren expanse of the ice-fields!

Drifting in the Ice
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2007

The vessel is drifting in the ice field! Long slabs of ice have formed a tight grip around the hull and should I feel so inclined I could clamber down onto this ice and walk! I could set off across the endless white expanse but there would be nowhere to walk to - a dessert of flat ice broken only by the craggy ridges formed from colliding slabs as they move unwieldy and painstakingly slow around the large expanse of the Sea of Okhotsk. The field drifts at about 2 knots, pulled silently by the tides and currents acting beneath and from the freezing winds above! It may drift north or south, east or west; it is possible that it might draw figure of eight patterns in the ocean, moving far and wide yet never traveling very far at all. And the vessel moves with it, drifting silently with no power and a captive to the pitch black emptiness and stillness around! Then suddenly and without warning the ship will break free; the engines will surge, unleashing the enormous restraint that they have been placed under. The large blades at the stern will start to turn; forward momentum will be applied and the ice, the thick and leaching ice will be peeled away like a large chisel to steel. And as the ice cracks, it will slide away from the hull; the vessel will gather momentum and rapidly return to the rig that it is there to serve!

Inside the vessel, warm and secure in the warmth provided by the boilers downstairs the cook is adding the final touches to the coming celebrations. During the Years of Communism, Christmas, or rather Religion as a whole was seriously frowned upon. As a result New Years Eve became the more important day with Christmas being celebrated underground or not at all. Christmas is gaining in popularity now, especially with the restrictions on religious fervent being lifted but New Year still remains a very important day.

The Mess Room in preperation for the big feed
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2007

The Russian Officers and Crew will as tradition has, see the incoming year in with a large meal at 11pm, they will hug and kiss each other and stay up late to see the clocks tick over and celebrate the day with enjoyment and festivity before retiring to bed at 1 or 2am and slightly the worse for wear. The Captain and Chief Engineer will not stay longer than twenty minutes; they will be long gone to their cabins by 1130hrs leaving the junior ranks to horse around without hindrance whilst they sip something or other behind closed doors. I on the other hand will forego the enjoyment of hugging a bunch of men; I will instead finish this article whilst sipping a cup of hot tea and retire to bed before midnight is breached, safe and sound with the knowledge that tomorrow will be just another day in the ice pack!

This is the New Year here on the Pacific Endeavour. The year 2007 will continue in her work like she has done on any other day of the year before.

Ieuan Dolby
Author and Webmaster of SeaDolby.com
Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 31st December 2006