07. Expedition to Antarctica 1987-1989

The Heraclitus was completely insulated for Antarctic weather. The first leg of the voyage, South along the Pacific coastline of South America, was also used to train visiting members of the Biosphere 2 project.

Arriving at the southern tip of the continent and negotiating the notoriously difficult Chilean Inland waterways, rotating watches were kept on constant alert to manoeuvre the ship safely through these narrow passages. On New Year’s Day, 1988, outfitted against extreme cold and fully provisioned with food, water and emergency rations for the fifteen-person crew for a full two months, the Heraclitus set out, passing Cape Horn on a ten-day crossing of Drake’s Passage to Antarctica.

Population studies of the Southern humpback whale now began. This involved obtaining skin samples by following the whales in outboard inflatable boats and firing small darts by cross bow just behind the whales’ dorsal fins. The darts, attached by cord to the crossbow, were reeled back and the skin samples they now contained were stored in the ship’s freezer for genetic sampling by Dr. Steve O’Brien of the International Whaling Commission and the National Cancer Research Institute.  Recordings were made of the whales’ songs in the course of specimen gathering. During the ship’s six-week sojourn in Antarctica a diving crew also explored icebergs, wearing dry suits enabling them to dive and remain 20 – 30 minutes in freezing waters.

After several days near the US scientific research base of Palmer Station, the Heraclitus put to sea and received a radio transmission that a large Argentinean supply vessel had run aground and sunk near where they had been following the whales. This disaster underlined both the difficulty of navigating these southern waters and the fragility of the ice regions, since the diesel spill resulting from the wreck caused major ecological damage to the entire Palmer Bay area. The return journey took the ship to the Falkland Islands and up along the Atlantic coast to Fortaleza, Brazil.

From: Christine Handte
Subject: Whale blubber tanks

The atmosphere was gory in Deception Island. It teemed with life…a huge penguin colony, seals, whales, small scientific teams in tiny camps spread over the island…but what stood out most was that it was a whaling camp. The bay must have been red with blood. There was a creepy feeling of death.

Whale Blubber Tanks Deception Island
Heraclitus was anchored at Deception Island, inside an extinct
volcanic crater. There were large whale blubber tanks. As big as
water reservoirs, these tanks used to be filled with whale blubber
used for lamp oils and for ladies’ cosmetics. Six of us
entered the blubber tanks and started vocalizing. The tanks had
excellent acoustics and our singing became the wailing of
all the hunted whales…