Protect the Antarctic
Greenpeace 2018
In 2018 I spent a month aboard the Greenpeace ship MY Arctic Sunrise as it journeyed south to the Antarctic Peninsula. This was the third such trip the Arctic Sunrise and Greenpeace crew had undertaken in 2018 as part of a project to research, document and take action against krill trawling in the Antarctic Ocean. Previous legs of the three-month project had seen scientists and celebrities make trips to the sea floor in submarines and document the wildlife under threat. This leg was set to be a little bit different.
The MY Arctic Sunrise is Greenpeace's specialist icebreaker ship. It has a rounded hull that allows it to rise up over sea ice carving a path through otherwise impassable waters. The downside is that it rocks and sways substantially more than most vessels, earning it the nickname "The Washing Machine" inside Greenpeace.
The crew of the MY Arctic Sunrise had three objectives for this month-long leg of the campaign; to bear witness to and document the Antarctic environment; to conduct research into the impacts of human activity; and to take action against the industrial fishing industry pushing further and further into the Antarctic.
Frank Hewetson has been with Greenpeace for over 30 years. A veteran of the Brent Spar campaign in the 90s, he later spent three months in prison in Russia in 2013 for a protest targeting a Russian oil rig in the Arctic. His role on board this expedition is to coordinate logistics on Greenpeace's operations.
The crew conduct research using small boats, drones and underwater remote vehicles.
Greenpeace activist climbers Sarah Scharf from Austria and Meena Rajput from the UK. For Greenpeace activists bearing witness isn't just about documenting the threats to the environment but taking action to stop them.
Greenpeace's custom built survival pod, known simply as "The Pod". The third iteration of a survival pod, it allows Greenpeace activists to occupy oil rigs, ships and other structures at sea for days in hard conditions.
Greenpeace activist climber Zoey Buckley Lennox trains with the crew of the Arctic Sunrise to deploy and lift The Pod.
After days of searching, the crew of the Arctic Sunrise catch up to the Ukranian krill trawler More Sodruzhestva. Krill form the basis of the Antarctic food chain, demand for krill oil supplements in Europe and the US has increased krill trawling threatening the entire Antarctic eco-system.
Using a "boarding pole" (an extendable pole with a hook and rope) Greenpeace climbers Sara Scharf and Meena Rajput are able to scale the side of the More Sodruzhestva to deploy a banner.
Following the successful deployment of the banner, the Arctic Sunrise crew work with climbers Zoey Buckley Lennox and Ronnie Christiansen begin deployment of The Pod on the anchor of the More Sodruzhestva.
After several hours, the captain of the Ukranian trawler departs the relative shelter of Greenwich Island and informs the Arctic Sunrise of his intention to begin trawling operations in the open sea. With bad weather closing in, the Greenpeace team make the decision to end their protest and remove the climbers and survival pod.
As the crew discuss their next steps, the weather forecast is not looking good. Two force 10 storms a heading through Drake's Passage, one of the roughest stretches of sea on the planet. With a short window between the two storms, the captain makes the call to head back to port. Having achieved most of their objectives, the Greenpeace crew begin the 4-day transit back to Punta Arenas in Chile, before they are stuck at anchor riding out the storm.
