Rob McCallum's Blog
Bear Island – Last Contact with the Latham
Sunday, 30 August 2009 12:45am
Life on Bear Island is enhanced for us early this morning by the good news that both Tyr and Harstad are safely in Tromso. We sit down to a hearty breakfast with our hosts, the nine good folk who man the meteorological station on the island. Our shared interest in the quest for the Latham provide for good conversation and many offers of assistance and hospitality during our short stay here.
We decide to return to Tunheim to locate the antenna used by the miners to receive the last broadcast from the Latham. The day is overcast, cold (4C, 39F) and windy, but this is good (almost idyllic) for these latitudes, so we set off on the trek once more. It’s a 10 hour round trip so we have ample time to talk as we head across the tundra. It becomes apparent that we are all here for different reasons, subject to different motivations but all committed to trying to find out what happened to the Latham 47.
The antenna used at the mining camp was a massive construction. Two steel towers, made of sections of metal bolted together have long since collapsed, but lying as they do they provide some indication of how important, and how difficult communication was in Amundsens era. Things are different today. For most of my expeditions I have a VHF radio, a satellite phone that can call to/from anywhere on the planet, and an emergency beacon which can immediately transmit my exact location to satellites the moment it is activated. In Amundsens day it was quite different. For his South Pole trip they were out of contact for many months and sometimes years at a time. News from home was a rarity, and life was often full of surprises when contact was reestablished; changes in family situation, the end of reigns, the outbreak of war etc. More importantly, the scarcity of reliable communication with the outside world forced explorers and expeditioners to be totally self-reliant. Hope of rescue if things went wrong were essentially non-existent.
On our arrival to the welcoming lights and warm hearth of the base in the dusk we get the news that Harstad is already steaming North to collect us and should arrive tomorrow afternoon. This is fantastic news; it means that the Navy and the Coastguard personnel have moved heaven and earth to affect the rapid transfer of the equipment from Tyr to Harstad. It also means that with luck, we can have the Hugin in the water tomorrow night and if the weather holds, we will not have lost any operational days. We settle down to a late dinner, delighted with the results of our time on Bear Island but already looking forward to the arrival of Harstad and our return to the search area.
Bear Island – Site of the Last Contact with Roald Amundsen and the men of the Latham 47
Saturday, 29 August 2009 2:52pm
The Expedition to search for Roald Amundsen and the crew of the Latham 47 took a short break from searching today and visited Bjornoya/Bear Island.
Bear Island is a place I have always wanted to visit, so I was delighted to have the (unplanned) opportunity to do so. I have been fortunate to visit many of the worlds sub-Antarctic islands, so the opportunity to visit Bjornoya (Bear Island) was a great one indeed. To the eye it is a bleak and desolate spot in the middle of the Barents Sea, a block of near frozen tundra assailed by wind, snow and sea spray. To biologists and botanists, and to people like me who rejoice in these places, it is an oasis of life (albeit without penguins!). To us, it is also important as the last place to have contact with Roald Amundsen and the crew of the Latham flying boat.
With the breakdown of our ship Tyr, both ships return to Tromso so that Harstad can be fitted out to carry Hugin in Tyrs place. This gives a 3 day gap in our search programme. The decision is made to land Nicolay and I here on Bear island with the film crew so that we can visit the tiny ‘ghost town’ of Tunheim, which at the time of the Latham crash was a bustling mining camp of 200 people.
The weather on arrrival is perfect; cool, clear and with a weak Arctic sunshine. Given that the normal weather here is a cold, foggy drizzle we decide to cross the island immediately. We trek for 3 hours across broad vistas of scree, low stubby plants and distant hills rising from the sea. The air is cold and refreshing and we make good time across the rocky landscape to arrive at Tunheim, an abandoned and ruined coal mining camp on the far side of the island. The workers have long since gone (in the 1930’s) but their buildings and railway lines remain.
We spend the afternoon looking though some of the ruins, and filming segments of the story that can only be told from here. The cruel irony that the Latham crash sight is perhaps only 25 miles from this place, home to 200 people who would have done anything to help their hero if only they had known he was missing. The last contact with the Latham was from this desolate place, and ti was an relative unimportant message; that they could hear the signal and that they would maintain a listening watch. Certainly no indication of anything amiss or of emergency nature.
We gaze across the sea, filled with more questions than we have answers. Amundsens disappearance is a mystery, and finding the wreckage of the Latham will hopefully give us another part of the puzzle. We are glad to be here and to see this place, but we will be even happier to head back to sea to search again.
Amundsen Mission hits the first major hurdle
Friday, 28 August 2009 21:20pm
The expedition hit its first major hurdle, but with good teamwork, some lateral thinking and the full commitment of the expeditioners, we have developed up a "Plan B" and are moving on. Everyone was hard at work. On Thursday, on our Navy ship Tyr we were recharging the AUV 'Hugin" after it´s overnight mission, analyzing the data it had bought up for us and beginning the work of diving sonar targets with the ROV. I was sitting in the ROV station with the operators, our eyes glued to the several screens of data, including two from the cameras mounted on the Scorpio ROV. We were just about to approach a promising target, but unfortunately couldn´t go on... The reason: Tyr has lost one of her two generators; because of this damage the little ship will need to return to Tromso for lengthy repairs.
But with quick thinking and hurried phonecalls to the Coastguard, Navy and AUV manufacturers Kongsberg, a "Plan B" was hatched. We will proceed to Tromso and rendezvous with Tyr, and transfer the primary search asset "Hugin" over onto our Coastguard ship Harstad.
There were several things to consider: engineering, technical capability, logistics, financial and administrative, but in just two short meetings the team has put the plan into effect.
It´s wonderful to work with people who are so professionally skilled, entirely committed to a shared goal, and
prepared to go "above and beyond" to make it happen. Tyr began her limp back to the mainland today. Because she can steam at only half the speed of Harstad, the decision was made to keep Harstad diving on the targets already identified from the first 2 search areas for the next 20 hours. This will enable us to complete the examination of all "first priority" contacts and still be in Tromsø at the same time as Tyr.
We at once set to work. The team gathers go divide up the tasks and we settle in for a long night of diving the contacts. Excellent weather, calm seas and a slow Arctic sunset spur us on and we approach the most promising
target seen to date. It measures 4.2m on the sonar picture, exactly the length of the Lathams engines. There appear to be struts coming off it, and they match the angle of the Lathams main engine supports. The ROV descendsthrough the depths and within a few minutes lands on the sea floor. Using it´s own small sonar it scans the surrounds, sees a distant object. The sense of excitement and anticipation in the room is tangible. We lift off and fly over the sandy plain. The object grows larger on the sonar and then, almost crushingly fast, becomes visual ........as a pile of random stones. Their configuration and make up have played tricks with the sonar imagery and there is a collective sad sigh of disappointment from the room. There are other targets to visit tonight, and we immediately begin to retrieve the ROV aboard our ship for the next dive. The expedition has had a set back today, but in a way we have ended the day stronger than we started, and more determined than ever...
The search for Roald Amundsen’s flying boat heads hits full speed today off Bear Island
Written by Rob McCallum - Wednesday, 26 August 2009 11:22
It’s the beginning of busy days and short nights as the weather is being kind to us with fair seas and slight winds providing ideal conditions within the search area. On arrival everything sprang into action on a multitude of fronts; deploying the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), beginning the investigation of targets by remote operated vehicle (ROV), and the launch of the two items that are part of our ‘drift experiment’.
The Navy AUV, named Hugin (after a Raven belonging to the Norse god
Odin) is a sleek orange colored torpedo. Able to be programmed to follow a predetermined course, Hugin was launched on aour arrival to swim down into the search area and scan the bottom with it’s sonar for up to 12 hours at a time. Once recovered tomorrow, the hard drive will be recovered and everything the Hugin has scanned will replayed by the data analysts. The particular sonar used by Hugin is capable of incredible detail (down to 20cm), so Hugin’s efforts each day will be watched keenly by us all. Hugin represents the latest technology used by the navy in it’s mine detection systems, but our use is entirely peaceful and it should prove very effective at looking for the engines of the Latham, some 3 m long and weighing around 800kgs.
The investigation of targets will be carried out by our two ROV’s.
The larger ROV ‘Scorpio’ is based on Tyr and is a large and powerful machine that will be very handy should we move into recovery operations. On Harstad we have the rather dashingly named ‘Sub-fighter 7500’, which is capable of both sonar searching, and of course investigating and filming targets. Today we have tasked it with diving down to targets located previously; some from 2004 when an earlier expedition towed a sonar unit through the area. As I write this we are watching the first images from the bottom some 255m below our keel. Crystal clear water alive with shrimp, flounder and cod pans past the ROV’s twin cameras. Our first target investigation does not bear fruit; either the navigation data is n error, or the target (a man-made cylinder 4m x 1.5 m seen by sonar in 2004) has been swept away by the massive amount of trawler activity in this region.
The drift experiment is a great sideline to the main show and is being followed keenly by many of the team as an interesting project. The experiment is based on the two items that were recovered from the Latham; an internal fuel tank, and a wing tip pontoon. These two items, both of which are now in museums provided essential clues as to what fate had befallen Amundsen and his men. We have made a replica of the wing tip pontoon and bought with us a fuel tank, and fitted both with GPS devices that send out their position to a satellite every 15 minutes. The two objects were launched in the search area and we will track their path over the next 10 days. Our supporters can do so to through looking at the tracks that are to be shown on the expedition website.
Its great to be on site and to have all of the assets deployed. All of the equipment is working well, the weather is fantastic and everyone is in good spirits. Tomorrow will start with us sifting through sonar imagery, investigating ‘contacts of interest’ and keeping track of our two drifting items. Who knows how it might end...
Operation Latham; the Search for Amundsen Expedition strikes North to Bear island
Written by Rob McCallum - Tuesday, 25 August 2009 08:04
It’s good to be at sea again, especially as we are well within the polar circle. I have always had a love for Polar history, rich as it is with tales of triumph and tragedy, success and failure, passion and cruelty, We are heading due North from Tromso to Bear Island, exactly the course that was flown by Amundsen and his team aboard the Latham flying boat over 81 years ago. With the Navy vessel Tyr a few miles ahead, we are onboard the Coastguard vessel Harstad and are slowly catching up with her to arrive at the search area at the same time.
Today is a day of final equipment checks, developing the task lists for tomorrow and to watch the camera teams begin to edit their material and begin the process of weaving the story of the expedition.
Sorting out the equipment is always a key part of any expedition and for me it’s always an enjoyable one. I think most expeditioners are gear freaks; equipment and tools are what makes or breaks an expedition; having the right gear, in the right place, at the right time is key. I can’t help but think Amundsen would have been extremely impressed by our technical equipment. We have Iridium satellite phones which can dial any phone in the world from any point on Earth, something he couldn’t have even dreamed of. We even have satellite broadband internet, allowing us to send emails, files, pictures and even HD video. For the explorers of Amundsens era, the so-called ‘Heroic Age’, men set out (often for years at a time) with no means at all of communicating with the outside world.
Developing up the task list each day is also a rewarding job. We are well prepared and well equipped and the challenge for expedition team is to make sure all resources are fully employed all of the time. It’s a bit like a fishing trip; the more hooks, lines and nets you have in the water, the higher your chances of catching a fish. We have the Navy’s new AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle); a ‘torpedo with sonar eyes’, two ROV’s (Remote Operated Vehicles); a robot that is controlled from the surface via a cable. The second sonar also has the ability to carry a sonar system that allows it to spot objects on the sea floor 75m away.
Tomorrow we begin the search itself. There has been a lot of time, effort and money invested to get us to this point; it will be a special moment when all the equipment is in the water and we begin to see the first ghostly returns of the sonar imagery of the sea floor. We are in high spirits and are looking forward to beginning the long awaited operational component of the expedition.
Monday, August the 24th: The Search for Amundsen Expedition begins here in Tromso
Written by Rob McCallum - Monday, 24 August 2009 11:40
It was such a pleasure yesterday to see everyone come together to finally turn a dream into a reality. With two fine ships, a diverse team gathered from far and wide, and some very clever (and expensive) equipment, we arrived in Tromsoe in preparation for sailing north, higher into the Arctic Circle to Bear Island and the Barents Sea.
This is the final (and most exciting!) part of the preparations leading up to the expedition. For my part this has spanned back a few months and several trips to Norway, but for others such as Kjell Lutnes, this has been almost a decade in the making. For all of us, Norwegian or New Zealander, film maker or mariner, technician or strategist, we are about to embark on a bold initiative which provides the only opportunity to solve one of Norway’s most enduring mysteries; what happened to Roald Amundsen and his men? This iconic world figure, one of the greatest explorers who has ever lived, so important to the fledgling nation of Norway a century ago, disappeared in 1928 with barely a trace. Except three;
1. An internal fuel tank from the Latham flying boat that washed up in western Norway. Intriguingly the fuel tank had been modified suggesting that at least some of the crew had survived a crash landing or ditching.
2. A wing float that had been torn from the wing of the Latham
flying boat and washed up in northern Norway.
3. In 1933 a fishing boat Captain who snagged an obstruction with his long fishing line near Bear Island. He got this "shiny obet of 2.5 x 3m" entangle din his line and hauled it to within 3 m of the surface before his line parted and this intiging catch slipped away into the depths again. In the early 1930's, there could not be too many man- made objects in the cold waters of the Barents Sea. Could it be the Latham?
These three ‘clues’ are what has been used to define a small search area about 20 miles North West of Bear Island, high in the Arctic Circle, and which will be the focus of our efforts for the next two weeks.
Today is the day of departure. There is always a weird mix of feelings on departure days; a sense of excitement and anticipation, tinged with a nervousness about the quest for success and a fear of failure. As expedition leader I have seen to have endless checklists whirling through my head: "Have we got everything we need?" And perhaps we more importantly: "Do we have everything we might need if the plan has to deviate or change?". In my business we say “Anyone can work Plan A, but it is when we get to Plan B that work begins, and by Plan C things are starting to get interesting.” We need to have everything we need for all of these eventualities and possible variations to the plan because when a ship casts off and heads for sea, everything forgotten falls quickly out of reach.
For this expedition, there are also thoughts of those brave men who have gone before us. When Amundsen left Tromso he headed North to the unknown. Driven by the technical and logistical specifics of a mission that was to be his last, he placed his life on the line. We are not so bold, and although we leave behind loved ones (for me, a wonderful wife and one month old son) our safety is virtually assured. The other senses though are, perhaps, ones that we might share with Armundsen; excitement, anticipation, nervousness, delight in the unknown.
The ships and equipment are in order, the weather holds promise, the crews are prepared. It’s time to go.
