RRS Shackleton
Sea Profiler awaiting scrapping in 2011
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | RRS Shackleton |
| Namesake: | Ernest Shackleton |
| Operator: | Falkland Islands Dependency Survey / British Antarctic Survey / NERC |
| Builder: | Solvesborgs Varv A/B at Sölvesborg, Sweden |
| Yard number: | 41 |
| Launched: | 11 November 1954 |
| Completed: | February 1955 |
| Acquired: | 1955 |
| In service: | 1955 |
| Out of service: | 1992 |
| Refit: | 1971 |
 Panama
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| Name: | MV Sea Profiler |
| Operator: | Gardline Shipping Limited., Great Yarmouth |
| Acquired: | 1992 |
| Identification: |
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| Fate: | Scrapped in 2011 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Research ship |
| Tonnage: | 1,082 GT |
| Length: | 65.78 m (215.8 ft) |
| Beam: | 11.08 m (36.4 ft) |
| Draught: | 4.66 m (15.3 ft) |
| Propulsion: | MAN 6-cylinder diesel, 785 BHP at 275 RPM, Kamena reversible pitch propeller |
| Speed: |
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| Endurance: | 28 days |
| Complement: | 31 berths |
| Notes: | |
RRS Shackleton was a Royal Research Ship operating in the Antarctic from 1955 to 1992. She was then in service as a seismic survey vessel, Sea Profiler, until being scrapped in 2011.
Built in 1954 by Solvesborgs Varv A/B at Sölvesborg, Sweden, she was launched as MV Arendal (III) for work in the Baltic. She was purchased in 1955 by the Falkland Islands Dependency Survey (British Antarctic Survey from 1962). After conversion to carry more passengers, she was renamed Shackleton and sailed to the Antarctic for the 1955/56 season.
In 1957, Shackleton struck an iceberg off the South Orkney Islands and was nearly lost. Temporary repairs allowed the Shackleton to reach South Georgia, more than 600 miles from the accident, while all unnecessary passengers and crew were rescued by HMS Protector.
At Deception Island in 1966 the Shackleton met and provisioned Bill Tilman's SV Mischief, the first private expedition to visit a British Antarctic base.Shackleton joined the rescue of Deception Island base members when the volcano erupted in December 1967 and again in February 1969.
In 1968 Shackleton became RRS Shackleton and was rebuilt in 1971. On 4 February 1976, while taking part of a British economic survey of the Falkland Islands led by Lord Shackleton (son of the Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton), RRS Shackleton was fired on by the Argentine destroyer ARA Almirante Storni in a precursor to the Falklands Conflict.
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Wikipedia