Ships Free in Antarctica
by Daniela Zach
by Daniela Zach
Just off of Antarctica’s coast, two ships were stuck in the ice that held them there for two weeks, according to Australia’s Maritime Safety Authority.
The Akademik Shokalskiy was trapped off of Commonwealth Bay since Christmas Eve along with 52 passengers aboard. Stranded and stuck in the thick ice for two weeks, the Chinese icebreaker, Xue Long, attempted to free the ship.
During the attempt to extract the ship, the Xue Long was caught in the ice as well and unable to fulfill their job. During the time that the Akademik was stuck before Xue Long came, the passengers of the ship entertained themselves and posted many pictures of Antarctica’s scenery and animals to Twitter, and shared the fact that their trip wasn’t so terrible.
One passenger tweeted: "We're the A, A, E who have traveled far, having fun doing science in Antarctica!" A dozen or so additional passengers sang in a video and posted it on Youtube as well. The lyrics: "Lots of snow and lots of ice, lots of penguins, which are very, very nice!” Passengers were jovial enough to write and sing music because they were armed with plenty of supplies. The ship still had a sufficient amount of food to keep the passengers nourished for the long wait.
After days stranded admiring Antarctica, people tried all sorts of antics to make this unfortunate event as smooth as it could be. Soon enough, the Chinese icebreaker was equipped with a helicopter which landed all 52 passengers to safety off of the stranded ship. After rescuing them, the passengers were then put onto Australian icebreaker, Aurora Australia, and bring them back home safely.
