Ywam Liberty

Last updated
L'Astrolabe.JPG
L'Astrolabe berthed at Franklin Wharf in Hobart, Tasmania
History
Name
  • Fort Resolution (1986–1988)
  • Austral Fish (1988)
  • L'Astrolabe (1988–2017)
  • Ywam Liberty (2017–) [1]
Port of registry Flag of the Cook Islands.svg Cook Islands
Builder Ferguson-Ailsa, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Yard number567
Completed1 January 1986
Identification
StatusIn service
General characteristics
Tonnage
Length65.5 m (214 ft 11 in) [2]
Beam12.8 m (42 ft 0 in) [2]
Depth5.35 m (17 ft 7 in) [2]
Ice class1A Super [5]
Installed power2 ×  Mirrlees Blackstone 8MB275 (2 × 2,300 kW) [6]
Propulsion
Speed
  • 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) (max)
  • 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) (economical) [7]
Capacity50 passengers [7]
Crew5 officers, 7 other crew [4]
Aviation facilities Helipad

YWAM Liberty is the former L'Astrolabe, a French icebreaking research vessel which was used to supply the Dumont d'Urville research station in Antarctica. [3] [4] [8] [9] [10] [11] The vessel made regular voyages between Hobart and the Dumont D'Urville research station for fifteen years and was replaced by a new icebreaker bearing the same name in 2017. [12]

Contents

History

1992 Northeast Passage

The vessel has also traversed the Northeast passage. [13] The European Space Agency reports a 1992 traverse "was the first civilian expedition through the NSR since the Russian revolution." L'Astrolabe was escorted on her transit by Russian icebreakers.

2013 Antarctic Ocean rescue mission

L'Astrolabe attempted to reach Akademik Shokalskiy , trapped by an outbreak of old glacial ice in the Antarctic Ocean. L'Astrolabe didn't match Chinese research vessel Xuě Lóng 's 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi) from the trapped Russian ship, but got closer than the Australian Aurora Australis' 10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi). Withdrawing after encountering heavy ice, she subsequently supported further attempts by Xuě Lóng and Aurora Australis to reach Akademik Shokalskiy and rescue her passengers. [14]

2018 Deployment to Bougainville PNG as a Medical Ship

From July 2018 YWAM Liberty spent six months in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea providing primary health, dental, optometry and ophthalmic care. The ship is administered by YWAM Ships Kona, from Kailua-Kona in Hawaii. [15]

Incidents

2005 man overboard incident

YWAM Liberty in Bougainville PNG July 2018 YWAM Liberty.jpg
YWAM Liberty in Bougainville PNG July 2018

On January 27, 2005, a crew member was found to have gone overboard. [4] The missing crew member's body was found.

During the recovery of his body the second engineer's hand was seriously injured, and he was at risk of losing his thumb. [4] A report by the Australian Transport Safety Board concluded his injury would have been avoided if the block he was using to recover the ship's boat had been equipped with hand holds. The report noted that the deceased crew member was found with a high blood alcohol level. He had been seen to be depressed, prior to his death, and the report concluded he had jumped or fallen overboard under the influence of alcohol.

2010 Antarctica helicopter crash

On October 28, 2010, a Eurocopter AS350 helicopter which operated between the ship and the Dumont d'Urville Station crashed in bad weather en route to the station. All 4 on board were killed. [16]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jules Dumont d'Urville</span> French explorer and naval officer

Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville was a French explorer and naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica. As a botanist and cartographer, he gave his name to several seaweeds, plants and shrubs, and places such as d'Urville Island in New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northeast Passage</span> Shipping lane from the Kara Sea to the Pacific Ocean

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">McMurdo Sound</span> Geographic location

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<i>Oden</i> (1988 icebreaker)

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<i>Aurora Australis</i> (icebreaker) Australian icebreaker and research ship

Aurora Australis was an Australian icebreaker. Built by Carrington Slipways and launched in 1989, the vessel is owned by P&O Maritime Services. It was regularly chartered by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) for research cruises in Antarctic waters and to support Australian bases in Antarctica.

<i>Kapitan Khlebnikov</i>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astrolabe Glacier</span> Glacier in Antarctica

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arktika 2007</span> Russian expedition involving a crewed descent to the ocean bottom at the North Pole

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<i>Akademik Fedorov</i>

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French ship <i>Astrolabe</i> (1811) French exploration ship launched in 1811

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MV <i>Xue Long</i> Chinese polar research vessel

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">SCAR Southern Ocean Continuous Plankton Recorder Survey</span>

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<i>Akademik Shokalskiy</i> Ice-strengthened ship built in Finland in 1982

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<i>Thala Dan</i> Watercraft

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<i>LAstrolabe</i> (2016 icebreaker) French icebreaker used to bring supplies to the Dumont dUrville Station in Antarctica

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References

  1. "Ywam Liberty (8418198)" . Sea-web. S&P Global . Retrieved 2017-11-22.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "L'Astrolabe (8418198)". BV Fleet. Bureau Veritas . Retrieved 2013-12-27.
  3. 1 2 "Infrastructures et moyens: L'Astrolabe". French Polar Institute. Archived from the original on 2007-11-18. Retrieved 2008-04-21. translation
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Independent investigation into the man overboard fatality and subsequent lifeboat accident on board the French registered Antarctic support vessel L'Astrolabe in the Southern Ocean 27 January 2005" (PDF). Australian Transport Safety Board . Retrieved 2008-04-21.
  5. "L'Astrolabe / Bases et navires". institut-polaire.fr. 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
  6. L'Astrolabe. Australian Transport Safety Bureau. Retrieved2013-12-27.
  7. 1 2 3 L'Astrolabe. P&O Maritime. Retrieved2013-12-27.
  8. "SCAR Report No 16: Appendix 7". Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. Archived from the original on 2004-09-11. Retrieved 2008-04-21. Potential cooperative studies can be established between the Australia, France. Ice breaker Astrolabe supplies yearly the Dumont D'Urville base which can do some geophysical work in the way back and the Marion D'Ufre, not an icebreaker has multibeam, side scan sonar and a long-45 m- piston coring system), Italy and the US.
  9. "Research shows Southern Ocean wind currents weakening". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. February 18, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-21. Volunteers and crew on the French research vessel, L'Astoblobe have been measuring temperature and salinity during regular trips between Hobart and the French research base in Antarctica, over the past 15 years.
  10. "Antarctic Astronomy Diaries 2002/03". University of New South Wales. Archived from the original on 2008-07-08. Retrieved 2008-04-21.
  11. "The wind, climate change and the Southern oceans". Coastal Watch . Retrieved 2008-04-21. Called SURVOSTRAL (Surveillance of the Ocean Austral), the joint Australian-French-US program has produced a 15-year dataset based on readings taken by the volunteers and crew of the 65-metre French ship, L'Astrolabe, on regular voyages between Hobart and the French base at Dumont D'Urville.
  12. La construction de l'Astrolabe a débuté. Mer et Marine, 6 January 2016. Retrieved2016-02-07.
  13. "ICEWATCH - REAL-TIME SEA ICE MONITORING OF THE NORTHERN SEA ROUTE USING SATELLITE RADAR TECHNOLOGY". European Space Agency . Retrieved 2008-04-21. The Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center in Bergen, Norway first demonstrated use of ERS-1 SAR data for near real-time ice mapping in the NSR in August 1991, only a few weeks after the launch of the ERS-1 satellite. SAR derived sea ice maps were then sent by telefax to the French polar vessel L'Astrolabe during her voyage through the Northeast Passage from Norway to Japan (Johannessen et al., 1992). This was the first civilian expedition through the NSR since the Russian revolution. This demonstration was evaluated as very interesting by the captains and sea ice experts onboard the Russian icebreakers which escorted L'Astrolabe through the ice-covered parts of the route.
  14. "American Morning". CNN TV. 2013-12-30.
  15. "YWAM Ships Kona sets off to aid villagers in Papua New Guinea". West Hawaii Today. 2018-06-19. Retrieved 2019-08-09.
  16. "Antarctic chopper crash kills four". Herald Sun. 30 October 2010. Retrieved 30 October 2010.