“We were driving into an ice cliff in Antarctica and i looked over the side. Instantly, I could see the water freezing ‘pancaking they call it. I turned to the other pilot and said, ‘I think it’s time to go’”
The Antarctic is a magnificent yet treacherous place – and the further south you sail, the greater the challenge. This is something that the crew of Arctic P discovered when they broke the Guinness World Record for the furthest south any vessel has ever travelled – 677 nautical miles from the South Pole.
P is a true one-off, as evidenced in another memorable trip, to Icy Bay in Alaska. “That trip was something else,” says Captain Russell Pugh, who led the mission. “It was incredible. Because of P’s ice capacity, we were able to get into a bay, which even the pilot said he’d never taken a vessel into before – they usually anchor outside and tender in. Because we can special.”
