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Cruise Report for NBP 95-07

General Chronological Description

The trip began on December 27th, 1995, heading east from Punta Arenas, Chile, along the Strait of Magellan. We stopped about 30 km east at Copa Negra to refuel the ship and then continued on. After leaving the Strait of Magellan we headed south along the coast of Tierra del Fuego and rounded Cape Horn, ultimately entering Drake Passage. From there we headed for the Shackelton Fracture Zone survey area. Along the way we paused to deploy a Whitworth current/tide measurement buoy (October 29th). We continued on and upon arrival over the Shackelton Fracture Zone, turned south-east and surveyed along the top of the ridge.

We spent the last days of October through late November steaming, surveying and sampling in the Bransfield Strait and Scotia Sea areas. Significant moments during this period included: balancing the multi-channel seismic streamer (November 4th) and multi- channel seismic data collection (November 14th), rendezvous and personnel exchange with Polar Duke (November 8th), and a stop at Marsh Base on King George Island to pick up equipment (November 17th). On the 21st of November, we began our transit to New Zealand. During the transit we collected multi-beam bathymetric data as well as gravity and magnetic data. The sea floor along the transit route was previously unmapped and the data we collected during the transit are unique. We were directed to stop data collection on the afternoon of December 6th in New Zealand territorial waters because we lacked permission to collect data. We arrived in Lyttelton, New Zealand, on the morning of December 7th.

Click here for a map of the ship course.

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