Sir David Attenborough Ship visits Plymouth

The ship that is named after the famous writer Sir David Attenborough stopped in Plymouth to take things before going to Antarctica.

The Royal Navy said the RRS Sim David Attenborough, which was almost named boat mcboatface after a public vote, described it as one of the “most advanced research vessels in the world”.

The ship visited the Maval Baval Base (Hmnb) Devonport on Wednesday and is due to leave Antarctica for seven months on Friday.

The Captain will say that the Whatley will be in Plymouth to load jet fuel to support its research stations in Antarctica.

He said the ship was changing how research is done in cold regions, providing scientists with a state-of-the-art platform to look at oceans, sea shelves, ice and the atmosphere.

“There are a few different science projects this season of long-term monitoring, and there are new places where we’ve never been before,” said Capt Whansi.

He said the ship had a large number of technologies designed to handle several expected sea conditions.

“We have a system called dynamic position where we can use a computer to basically drag the ship and keep its position down to a few centimeters in most cases even in bad weather.

“It might be up to meters but that’s okay. It means we can move science even in the middle of the stormy Ocean.”

Capt Weyley said the ship has 30 crew members and 60 scientists on board.

British Antarctic Research Marine Chemist, Dr Rhiannon Jones, said RRS Sir David Attenborough is responsible for the renewal of several Antarctic research bases.

He said: “The containers contain all the goods, food, all the medicines and everything that we need for those people who live down there in summer and winter and keep them safe.

“It’s a big job so we need all the kit we want for the next seven months ready to go.”

Marine Eclogist for the British Antarctic Survey Professor Geraint Tarling said he had been doing Antarctic science for 22 years and the fascination was “never stopped”.

Prof Tarling said there were five research bases that needed to go to the Antarctic where they loaded the goods stored on the ship, make sure they are doing well and exchange staff.

“Then there will be some scientific cruises,” he said.

“They will go and try to learn many things.

“We will be looking at how Ocean Currents influence the integration of the Earth and the rest of the world it works with.”

He described the Antarctic as “a wonderful environment” adding that “life is everywhere”.

He said: “The last one was last year and we were surrounded by whales for a few days.

“We know it’s a really critical place, a really fast-changing environment and that’s why we need to go there and take deep measurements to understand what’s happening now.”

Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Submit your story ideas to Email@bbc.co.uk.

More on this story

Related Internet links