Black Line Master 3: The story so far
6 January 1995 The Italian ship Italica left Lyttleton yesterday with equipment weighing about 250 tonnes and with a value of $US750,000. This represents about half of the project equipment and consumables. The main items were: Offloading at Cape Roberts should begin on January 15 and with good sea ice conditions and weather, support of the US ice-breaker and the enthusiasm and expertise of the Italian and NZ off-load team, should take 3-5 days. If there are difficulties in completing the offload, the equipment can be offloaded at McMurdo for moving by sledge to Cape Roberts the following summer, but this would involve more logistical support. 30 January 1995 Seven fitted out containers which represent the centre of the main camp for the Cape Roberts drilling project were among the equipment to be loaded onto the Italian supply ship Italica on 4 January 1995 and which arrived at Cape Roberts on January 16. This was offloaded from the Italica by the Italian Antarctic team and the ship’s crew. Three Squirrel helicopters transferred 160 of the 250 tonnes of equipment to the Cape. The New Zealand offload team, led by Alex Pyne, had located a safe route across the sea ice, and checked and stacked the loads as they were delivered. The operation was completed by the early morning of 19 January. 4 December 1995 The new base has been successfully trialed and will be a major focus of New Zealand’s research over the next two seasons. The new base has been purpose built inside converted refrigerated shipping containers for ease of transport by ship and sledge. They were designed and built in Christchurch and will provide life support systems needed for 35 drillers and scientists. Diesel generators, water desalination plant and living quarters were working smoothly after being stored on land at the site over winter. The base is built on sledges so that it can be towed onto the sea ice and be operational within 48 hours. 22 December 1995 For the last few weeks a support crew has been assembling and testing the camp and its electricity generation and desalination plant. The drillers will sleep six to a container - the standard shipping type, insulated and fitted out as a dormitory. Last week the advance crew hitched up the plumbing and had hot showers for the first time in a fortnight. By now they’ll be pulling it all apart for winter storage on the small block of land at the Cape ready for a quick reassembly in October next year, The dismantling and rebuilding is necessary to comply with the Antarctic Treaty environmental protocols - the camp can’t be set up on land because of a neighbouring skua colony and the damage earthmoving equipment would do to rare mosses and lichens. Nor will anyone be allowed to live at the rig - workers will be ferried to and from by helicopter, and in tracked vehicles when the weather prevents flying. March 1996 Core utilities for processing water and electricity for the camp were successfully commissioned in November 1995 and were delivered to the Cape along with other buildings and the drilling system on January 17. These comprised 11 remaining containers fitted out for accommodation, laboratories and drill site mud huts and generator sheds, along with the hydraulically operated rig and mast. The cargo had been assembled by project manager Jim Cowie and his team in Christchurch and were carried south on the Italian supply vessel Italica. The cargo weighed around 110 tonnes. The condition of the fast ice, onto which the equipment was to be off loaded for hauling to the Cape, gave some concern as the ice was thinner and warmer than last year. The offload took only 10 hours but the NZ off-load team will spend a further 17 days on the Cape. This is to organise and stack equipment so that it can be readily located and moved onto the sea ice in September in readiness for the first drilling in October. July 1996 Analysis of satellite photos of sea ice conditions in the McMurdo Sound area are causing some concern.
August 1996
At a meeting of the ISC and OMG in Cambridge UK, the decision is made to postpone drilling for one year due to the thin ice at Cape Roberts.
October- January 1996
Testing and maintenance of the Camp and Drilling Rig were completed at Cape Roberts