MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falkland Islander will be one of the captains of Australia's new state of the art icebreaker

Australia’s new icebreaker, RSV Nuyina, is scheduled to make its maiden voyage to Antarctica in 2020-21.

Australia’s new icebreaker, RSV Nuyina, is scheduled to make its maiden voyage to Antarctica in 2020-21. Two captains have already been named to lead the alternating crews operating the new vessel. They are Captain Scott Laughlin and Falkland Islander Captain Paul Clarke, both with experienced track records working in the Southern Ocean.

The ship will be the main lifeline to Australia’s three Antarctic research stations and its sub-Antarctic station on Macquarie Island, and will support Australia’s leadership role in Antarctic and Southern Ocean scientific research. The ship is also flexible enough to cope with future research and operational demands during its expected 30 year lifetime.

The  RSV Nuyina is the only ship in the world to have a watertight room or ‘wet well’ to process seawater for krill and other fragile marine organisms, at up to 1800 liters per minute. Other state-of-the-art scientific equipment includes acoustic instruments to map and visualize the sea floor and organisms in the water column, and instruments to measure atmospheric gases, cloud properties, wave heights and ice conditions.

What’s in a name?

The word nuyina means ‘southern lights’ in palawa kani – the language spoken by Tasmanian Aborigines today. It is pronounced “noy-yee-nah”. The name Nuyina recognizes the long connection that Tasmanian Aboriginal people have with the southern lights (or aurora australis). The ship name was suggested by Australian schoolchildren through a ‘Name our Icebreaker’ competition.

Captain Scott Laughlin has completed more than 50 voyages to Antarctica. As Captain of Australia’s current icebreaker, Aurora Australis, for over 10 years, Scott is familiar with the cold and challenging conditions of the Southern Ocean.

Paul also has extensive experience in the Antarctic, having spent 11 years working for the British Antarctic Survey, and undertaking more than 20 voyages to Antarctica.

Scott has worked with Serco for the past five years; initially as part of the team who compiled the successful bid to design, build, operate and maintain the RSV Nuyina, and then more recently as a member of the engineering team managing the design and build phase.

From Tasmania, Scott has lived and worked in Hobart his whole life and is an alumnus from the University of Tasmania’s Australian Maritime College.

Paul Clarke was born and raised in the Falkland Islands, and began working for the British Antarctic Survey as a deck hand in 1994. He has always aspired to become the Master of an Antarctic research vessel.

Paul spent the last decade sailing as a Master for shipping company Solstad/Farstad in the oil and gas industry around Australia and many other parts of the world. He brings with him valuable experience sailing in the ice, and knowledge from the British Antarctic Survey that will complement and enhance the operation of the RSV Nuyina.

“This is an amazing opportunity with Serco and the Australian Antarctic Program to deliver world class support for their polar and science operations,” he said. “I very much enjoy the type of ice navigation challenges, research and survey work that will be undertaken on the Nuyina.”

“It’s a career goal, this type of job. There are not very many of these vessels worldwide, there’s only one in Australia,” Paul said.

“This is going to be one of the best polar research resupply vessels in the world, when it’s completed next year. Who wouldn’t want to be the captain on that?”

More information: RSV Nuyina (PDF)