We boarded the Oden Wednesday morning and I have so much to share with you about this amazing ship. In later posts I will describe our sea ice science project in detail, as well as the other projects also taking place on this cruise. I will also introduce you to the Oden's officers and crew, and their responsibilities and jobs aboard the ship.
The Oden is a Swedish icebreaker, owned and operated by the Swedish Maritime Administration. She was built in 1988 to be used as an icebreaker for cargo ships and was later outfitted to be used for polar research.She has a modular system for labs and storage which can be switched around to meet the needs of the specific science projects aboard. The Oden was the first non-nuclear powered vessel to reach the North Pole! She is very heavy and strong and is capable of breaking ice up to 2 meters thick traveling at 3 knots, or thicker ice (4-5 meters thick)if she is moving slower, or smashing the ice, reversing, then moving forward to smash the ice again.The composition of the ice affects the ship's ice breaking capabilities. Some ice is stronger or denser than other ice, which of course affects the ice-breaking operation. The Oden has a large, rounded, flat-bottomed bow which will ride up on the ice and then crash down on it to break a path through the ice, as well as water sprayers which act to lubricate the ice and keep an area at the front of the ship clear of ice.
The Swedish Icebreaker Oden in the summer ice of Antarctica. photo credit Jeff Peneston
We boarded the Oden amidst a flurry of pre-cruise preparations. The Oden sailed from Sweden to Punta Arenas, Chile, a journey which took approximately 45 days. The Swedish science teams packed much of their equipment on board before she left Sweden, but the American teams had to ship everything from their home states. Those boxes and pallets of gear were loaded onto the Oden using a crane, as well as all the food, fuel, and supplies we might need for approximately 36 days at sea, plus the Oden's return trip to Sweden ( another 45 days or so, depending on weather conditions.) We carried our personal bags to our cabins and our Extreme Weather Gear bags were also brought aboard. Our first task as a team was to locate the boxes and containers which contained the sea ice equipment and get those boxes to our lab on deck 4.
The Oden is 108 meters (354 feet) long and has 10 deck levels, 2 below the main deck comprising mainly of the engine room and related compartments, the main deck (deck 0) where the dining galley and lounges are located, decks 1-5 which are mainly crew and scientist cabins, Deck 6 is the bridge, and deck 7 is an observation deck above the bridge. .My cabin is in a new cabin area, starboard side on deck 2, directly below the helicopter landing pad. I share a cabin with Caroline Gennsler, a high school chemistry and biology teacher from Malmo, Sweden. We have bunk beds (I'm on the the top bunk with a metal ladder to climb up into my bed), a desk to share, 2 narrow closets, a large clothes drawer, and a storage cabinet. Inside the door is a place to hang our coats and store our boots. The bathroom is small, with the smallest shower I've ever seen on a ship-just enough space to stand upright! We have a porthole with a blackout blind which we'll need for the 24 hours of sunlight we'll be encountering in the Antarctic.
It was quite a task to locate our boxes of equipment, which seemed to be spread out all over the ship, and get them into our lab on deck 4.
I am in cabin 259, on deck 2 below the helicopter deck. The top bunk is mine!
My roommate, Caroline, and I share this deck in our cabin.
There is just enough room in our cabin for us and our belongings. Small and efficient is a good way to describe it
This restroom is quite small, and the shower is tiny! When I stand in it, my shoulders almost touch the wall and the shower curtain on the opposite side - and I'm a pretty small person.
The decor inside is traditional Swedish - lots of light wood, functional yet stylish, and beautiful polished wood floors ( which are kept looking new by the custom of leaving work boots and shoes by the entrances and changing into indoor shoes,slippers, or socks while inside.)The hardest part is planning where to leave your inside shoes so they will be at the correct entrance when you come in. And you also need to remember where your outside shoes and jacket are when you need to go outside.We mostly use the ship's center staircase to go between decks - it's a 6 flight climb from the Main Deck to the Bridge, a walk I do at least 6-8 times a day! Most of the ship's signs and labels are in Swedish, but it is pretty easy to figure out what they mean.
The polished wood floors on the Oden are beautiful. This is the center of OdenPlan,' a central meeting area on the main deck.
On the Oden, you remove your outside shoes and wear slippers or socks indoors.Jackets and outerwear are also hung up as soon as you come indoors.
While crossing Drake's Passage, Anne Marie Wotkyns spends time writing journals and bird watching on the bridge of the Oden.
Stay tuned for lots more about life on the Oden and crossing Drake's passage.
Lesson Learned: You don't need as much space or privacy as you think you do!