At Sea - South Atlantic Ocean
There are countless threads that are intricately woven together during this adventure that is taking us from the Antarctic ecosystem, through the tropics, past the equator, and ending in Europe. Following our course on the map, we have traveled well over 2,400 nautical miles since we left Stanley in the Falkland Islands, stopped at two other islands in that archipelago, visited South Georgia Island, and now approach Gough Island which we should see at first light tomorrow.
In the company of wildlife…
Some threads are longer than others. We are still kept company by black-browed albatrosses and Wilson’s storm-petrels which breed in the Falklands and South Georgia and feed in the waters through which we currently traverse. The white-chinned petrels that we are watching today are a sub-species unique to the Tristan da Cunha group of islands – they replace their close relatives which breed further south. Instead of Antarctic fur seals we will enjoy the behavior of their sub-Antarctic relatives. Perhaps the most elegant of all of the albatrosses is the light-mantled sooty which breeds on South Georgia, replaced by its locally breeding relative the sooty albatross, seen here.
Monument to Shackelton.
Looking closely at our charts, the stories of people are deeply embedded into the matrix. The Quest was the ship used by Sir Ernest Shackleton on his final expedition, and the ship on which he died in South Georgia. Many of us walked to the monument to Shackleton erected by his crew. That ship stopped at Gough after the great explorer’s death and we hope to visit Quest Bay in the morning. Mount Rowett, the third highest peak on Gough, was climbed by members of the Quest expedition and named after J. Q Rowett who funded the expedition. We also find new threads, such as Repetto Bay. Andrea Repetto was an Italian sailor who washed up on Tristan da Cunha in 1890. He decided to stay and his name is one the seven surnames on the island today.
The fabric is greatly enriched by stories behind the stories. Gough Island was originally named Gonçalo Alvarez, after the captain of Vasco da Gama’s flagship, who correctly plotted the island’s position in the early sixteenth century. In 1731, more than two centuries later, Captain Gough, master of the British ship Richmond, reported an island approximately 300 miles from the island that currently bears his name. No such real estate exists. However, over time British Admiralty charts moved Gough’s island to its present position, dropping the name Gonçalo Alvarez.
There are countless threads that are intricately woven together during this adventure that is taking us from the Antarctic ecosystem, through the tropics, past the equator, and ending in Europe. Following our course on the map, we have traveled well over 2,400 nautical miles since we left Stanley in the Falkland Islands, stopped at two other islands in that archipelago, visited South Georgia Island, and now approach Gough Island which we should see at first light tomorrow.
In the company of wildlife…
Some threads are longer than others. We are still kept company by black-browed albatrosses and Wilson’s storm-petrels which breed in the Falklands and South Georgia and feed in the waters through which we currently traverse. The white-chinned petrels that we are watching today are a sub-species unique to the Tristan da Cunha group of islands – they replace their close relatives which breed further south. Instead of Antarctic fur seals we will enjoy the behavior of their sub-Antarctic relatives. Perhaps the most elegant of all of the albatrosses is the light-mantled sooty which breeds on South Georgia, replaced by its locally breeding relative the sooty albatross, seen here.
Monument to Shackelton.
Looking closely at our charts, the stories of people are deeply embedded into the matrix. The Quest was the ship used by Sir Ernest Shackleton on his final expedition, and the ship on which he died in South Georgia. Many of us walked to the monument to Shackleton erected by his crew. That ship stopped at Gough after the great explorer’s death and we hope to visit Quest Bay in the morning. Mount Rowett, the third highest peak on Gough, was climbed by members of the Quest expedition and named after J. Q Rowett who funded the expedition. We also find new threads, such as Repetto Bay. Andrea Repetto was an Italian sailor who washed up on Tristan da Cunha in 1890. He decided to stay and his name is one the seven surnames on the island today.
The fabric is greatly enriched by stories behind the stories. Gough Island was originally named Gonçalo Alvarez, after the captain of Vasco da Gama’s flagship, who correctly plotted the island’s position in the early sixteenth century. In 1731, more than two centuries later, Captain Gough, master of the British ship Richmond, reported an island approximately 300 miles from the island that currently bears his name. No such real estate exists. However, over time British Admiralty charts moved Gough’s island to its present position, dropping the name Gonçalo Alvarez.
