poletopole (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
poletopole) wrote2007-12-19 08:00 pm
poletopole) wrote2007-12-19 08:00 pm
Sluggish day
Ship's Position at 12:00:
Today was a sluggish day for just about everyone. We do have a prospect of activity tomorrow afternoon at Proclamation Island, though, and from the remarks I hear many people are counting on that happening. The highlights were a showing of 90° South, Herbert Ponting's film about the Scott expedition and the installation in the lounge area of Christmas trees, lights, and so on. Some of the elements of decoration are excellent and some are not so good — the windows have been adorned with bows, garland, and other things, so it is not possible to unfasten and open them to get a quick photo off the bow. There is not enough ice and snow outside; fake snow has been sprayed on the windows, too. (I hope whoever had this idea misses a really good whale photo due to the decorations.) The large and small artificial trees are all fastened pretty securely, but the gold glass balls in the window wells do not seem appropriate — for one thing, during the evening meal drinks pitchers are put there — and television in the quiet and cozy library area is 100 percent bad idea. At the moment it is showing something about prehistoric monuments. TV kills sociability; no one will talk or read there now.
I wonder whether I still have a TV-B-Gone in my bag...
Ponting's film is fascinating to watch, if you can find it. There are things in it to appall the modern audience — no, penguins do not think it is "fun" to be chased back and forth on the ice by humans (I kind of suspect they were rounding the Adelie penguins up to eat them, in that sequence — expeditions relied on penguins for food). The narrative exhibits a division over motivation that fascinates me — on the one hand, the purpose of Scott's expedition is nobly proclaimed to be Science, but on the other, the Race to the Pole was indeed a race and Scott was indeed trying to bag the Pole for Britain. The polar party collects geological specimens on its doomed way back. The vignettes of life in the camp, however, are enthralling, and the artistry and beauty of Ponting's photography of the landscape is on a level with Ansel Adams's.
The pack ice has been heavier than expected and the ship is making an average of about 11 knots, rather than the 14 projected optimistically yesterday. But the condition of the ice around Proclamation Island isn't known, and so we can't be sure of anything until sometime tonight or tomorrow morning.
- 65°58.8' S 41°09.3' E
- Course 0°; Speed 11 kts
- Air temperature 1°C; Wind 14 kts; Direction 40°
- Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 5
- Ice Cover: 8/10
- Distance covered past 24 hours: 262.6 nautical miles
Today was a sluggish day for just about everyone. We do have a prospect of activity tomorrow afternoon at Proclamation Island, though, and from the remarks I hear many people are counting on that happening. The highlights were a showing of 90° South, Herbert Ponting's film about the Scott expedition and the installation in the lounge area of Christmas trees, lights, and so on. Some of the elements of decoration are excellent and some are not so good — the windows have been adorned with bows, garland, and other things, so it is not possible to unfasten and open them to get a quick photo off the bow. There is not enough ice and snow outside; fake snow has been sprayed on the windows, too. (I hope whoever had this idea misses a really good whale photo due to the decorations.) The large and small artificial trees are all fastened pretty securely, but the gold glass balls in the window wells do not seem appropriate — for one thing, during the evening meal drinks pitchers are put there — and television in the quiet and cozy library area is 100 percent bad idea. At the moment it is showing something about prehistoric monuments. TV kills sociability; no one will talk or read there now.
I wonder whether I still have a TV-B-Gone in my bag...
Ponting's film is fascinating to watch, if you can find it. There are things in it to appall the modern audience — no, penguins do not think it is "fun" to be chased back and forth on the ice by humans (I kind of suspect they were rounding the Adelie penguins up to eat them, in that sequence — expeditions relied on penguins for food). The narrative exhibits a division over motivation that fascinates me — on the one hand, the purpose of Scott's expedition is nobly proclaimed to be Science, but on the other, the Race to the Pole was indeed a race and Scott was indeed trying to bag the Pole for Britain. The polar party collects geological specimens on its doomed way back. The vignettes of life in the camp, however, are enthralling, and the artistry and beauty of Ponting's photography of the landscape is on a level with Ansel Adams's.
The pack ice has been heavier than expected and the ship is making an average of about 11 knots, rather than the 14 projected optimistically yesterday. But the condition of the ice around Proclamation Island isn't known, and so we can't be sure of anything until sometime tonight or tomorrow morning.