MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

HMS Endurance: Furthest South.

Royal Navy ice patrol ship HMS Endurance is about to venture further south than ever before.

She leaves her homeport of Portsmouth today for a seven-month mission working in the South Atlantic and Antarctica.

The work involves several weeks in the Weddell Sea off Antarctica, including five days at the West Rone ice shelf - the most southerly destination reached by Endurance in her ten-year history.

There the vessel will re-fuel aircraft working for the British Antarctic Survey team in a tricky operation in temperatures of -30 degrees Celsius.

Navigating and Operations Officer Lt Cdr Tony Allen said: "We will deliver 600 barrels of aviation fuel in a joint operation involving the ship's two Lynx helicopters and the research vessel Ernest Shackleton.

"Not only will we have to deal with the severe weather, we will be working in uncharted waters which adds up to being a delicate and tricky operation lasting four or five days. Because of the temperatures and the windchill our ship's company are only able to work outside for 30 minutes at a time."

He added: "Although Endurance has performed similar tasks for the BAS in the Weddell Sea, she has never travelled as far south as West Rone."

The ship's deployment also includes survey work for the UK Hydrographic Office - a role that is becoming increasingly important with a rise in the number of tourist ships visiting the region.

In between her survey and patrol work endurance will fly the UK flag in defence diplomacy tasks in Uruguay, Argentina and South Africa.

Source Navy News