MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ushuaia four days call for HMS Endurance

The Royal Navy's Ice Patrol HMS Endurance is scheduled to arrive Monday morning in Ushuaia, Argentine Tierra del Fuego where she's expected to remain four days, reports the Tierra del Fuego press.

The following day, Tuesday a party from HMS Endurance and Argentine Malvinas veterans will participate in a joint act in honour of their comrades in arms fallen during the 1982 South Atlantic conflict. The ceremony will be held at the Plaza Islas Malvinas next to the monument to the Argentine war heroes.

This is the first time a Royal Navy vessel calls in Ushuaia since 1982, although icebreaker HMS Endurance has been in Argentina before, more precisely in 2003 in Mar del Plata.

In Ushuaia she will be received by the command of Argentina's Naval Area Austral, local authorities and the British Embassy Defence Attaché in Buenos Aires, Captain Chris Hyldon.

HMS Endurance Captain Nick Lambert is scheduled to hold a meeting with Rear Admiral Guillermo Jose Estevez, head of the extreme South Atlantic Argentine naval garrison plus formal visits to the governor of Tierra del Fuego and mayor of Ushuaia.

Next Friday the Royal Navy Ice Patrol will return to her activities in Antarctica.

HMS Endurance is a Class 1 Icebreaker originally built in Norway in 1990 as MV Polar Circle. The Royal Navy chartered her in 1991 before she commissioned as HMS Polar Circle on 21 Nov 91. She was subsequently renamed HMS Endurance.

She has a 6.000 tons displacement, is 91 metres long, has a crew of 125 personnel including scientists and researchers from the British Antarctic Survey and carries two Lynx helicopters.

Her Mission is "To patrol and survey the Antarctic and South Atlantic, maintaining Sovereign Presence with Defence Diplomacy and supporting the global community of Antarctica". This involves close links with the Foreign Office, United Kingdom Hydrographic Office and the British Antarctic Survey. She deploys annually to the Antarctic, her operating area for 7 months of the year. Her base port is Portsmouth, which is also the ship's affiliated town.

The Ship's motto is "Fortitudine Vincimus", 'By Endurance We Conquer' The motto originates from that of the great Antarctic explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton who made history in his ship, 'Endurance' in his expedition south in 1914-15.