An unexpected Escort mission

Every once in a while, as exciting as it is, research needs to give way to more pressing matters. After having gotten to the vicinity of our third study area, Sermilik, in the afternoon of 23 July, we were all ready to establish our mammal observation shifts and to dive into more science. The “whale watch”, so to speak, is a regulation in many of Greenland’s coastal areas, as a large number of the fjord and shelf areas here are breeding zones for the “unicorns of the sea”, more commonly known as narwhals. Furthermore, it goes hand in hand with all involved parties wanting to carry out responsible research, trying to impact local ecosystems as little as possible. Although narwhals are not endangered, they were listed as a near-threatened species from 2008 to 2017 (ifaw.org) and communicate, like other whales, mostly by sound. Accordingly, there is always a concern that the ship’s acoustic instruments, including its multiple echosounders as well as the Acoustic Doppler current profiler, may interfere with the natural habitat of the ocean mammals. The narwhal population of East Greenland is thought to be particularly vulnerable to disturbances as if they are scared away from their fjord homes they may leave the area permanently.

Anyway, we had just switched off our acoustic systems, had started our shift system of six rotating scientists being stationed on the bridge 24/7 to check for narwhals in our vicinity, and were eager to conduct some more oceanographic measurements, when the Maria S. Merian received a “pan pan” call from a nearby vessel. Previously unknown to me, a pan pan is the international radio message signalling that a vessel finds itself in a non-life threatening but urgent situation and requires assistance. It turns out a sailing boat with six crew members had gotten stuck in the partially very thick and abundant sea ice, which is being transported southwards along the coast of Greenland by oceanic currents. After 3 days in the ice they were running short of drinking water. Following not only several codes of seamanship, but also international law, we were the closest vessel to them and, therefore, requested to help. The ship diverted towards the yacht’s position and were able to get within 5 nautical miles of the vessel, but unable to get any closer.

Unfortunately, the Maria S. Merian is “only” an ice-marginal vessel, as opposed to an ice breaker. The ice encountered was too thick to pass through without an ice breaker. Moreover, extremely thick fog, persistent for the last couple of days, made it impossible to see anything and to properly assess the situation or navigate a safe route through dense ice cover (95% cover). Consequently, we could not get to the boat without risking damage to the ship or potentially getting us into a tricky situation ourselves.

The situation became more serious as the “pan pan” call became a “mayday”. A pan pan call means “Possible Assistance Needed” but a “mayday” call means there is a life-threatening emergency. Through radio communications between the vessel in distress and the authorities in Greenland it quickly became apparent that we were the only vessel able to offer assistance, the nearest ice breaker was over 24 hours away and weather conditions meant zero possibility of helicopter operations.

I can only imagine how tough it must have been to be in charge in this situation and to decide that going into the ice ourselves would pose too much of a threat for everyone. But the only thing we could safely do, in the end, was to stay as close to the ice margin and the sailing boat as possible and wait either for weather conditions to improve, or for additional help to arrive.

Now, in the early morning of 24 July, the sailing boat’s situation having had worsened to a mayday situation during yesterday’s afternoon, through a lucky strike, the ice seems to have loosened up enough for the vessel to become unstuck. Our crew has been in regular contact with the sailors through the night using radar to help the smaller boat navigate through the ice and the boat has now caught up with our ship. Through excellent management by our ship’s captain, the officers and entire crew, as well as Briese Research as the Maria S. Merian’s shipping company, we are currently escorting them safely out of the ice, happy that everything turned out ok in the end.