Voyage to
Antarctica
Watercolors by
Michelle Van Berkom
In December 1989 I embarked on a voyage of scientific exploration to Antarctica aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ship Surveyor. Surveyor's scientific parties studied the unique Antarctic ecosystem as a whole, from the ozone to the sealife to the ice itself.
On the voyage I found myself haunted by another expedition that took place some 75 years earlier - that of the Endurance. The British explorer Sir Earnest Shackleton set sail in August 1914, with a crew of 27 men. The Endurance was wrecked in the ice pack of the Weddell Sea, sending its crew on an impossible two-year odyssey across the ice and Antarctic seas. Not a man was lost. As I revisited the landmarks of their epic voyage I felt as if I were living the story myself - I felt a strong kinship with these remarkable seamen and their story.
In 1991 when I received my Antarctic Service Medal along with my shipmates, I thought of the Polar Medal awarded so long ago to the crew of Endurance, and how much they had gone through to receive it.
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All images copyright © 2000-2002 by Michelle Van Berkom. All Rights Reserved.
Permission for use must be obtained in writing from the artist.