Dear Family, Friends, and Colleagues,

Most things are going well, with a few exceptions (more or less as usual). We took shuttles to the ship Thursday after lunch, and after a quick introductory tour and some safety reminders, we began unloading our cargo from the container vans that had been shipped south from California in December. We had six 20x8x8 foot vans, plus there was quite a bit of loose cargo that arrived by air. I heard someone say we loaded 90,000 lbs of cargo.

The RPSC techs here were efficient in getting a van onto the deck, where our team would unload it like a swarm of army ants, then RPSC would swing it back down to the dock and replace it with another. There was deck space for two vans at a time so we worked nearly continuously. I thought we would be working into the night, but we got all the main load done before dinner, with most boxes in the correct lab. There was lots of sorting out to do, and some more items came Friday morning, but even before Thursday's dinner people were setting up equipment.

We still do not know the full extent of freeze damage caused by someone allowing most of our "Do Not Freeze" scientific cargo to freeze, but it appears to be light. Miraculously our seawater standards for salinity and carbon were in the one van that was kept above freezing - if either had frozen I would have had to cancel the cruise.

Mary Johnson (our CTD data processor) noticed mold in some of the computer-related boxes she was unpacking, and soon found damp, moldy office supplies and manuals, and more mold in other boxes. There were several plastic tote boxes with four or more inches of water with moldy, now frozen, contents, and others with some water/mold. The only thing we can figure was that someone took these items out of the well-packed SIO cargo container in California when it was raining. Then the wet items molded on the trip south and froze in the Antarctic. I lost all my office supplies and my back-up hard drive (frozen solid in a block of ice), and some of my sea clothes are now battered and splotchy after being washed twice in hot water and bleach. Thank goodness I am very conservative about my packing - because I have enough sea clothes to get by, and I brought a second back-up hard drive in my luggage. Fortunately the bassoon I brought - shipped in that same container - was dry and fine.

There have been a couple of Adelie penguins (one either old or molting - See left) hanging around near the ice pier and one molting Emperor penguin, too (see photos). I also attached a photo of the Palmer at the ice pier, and a shot of me (See above right) after I walked out of the Air Force C-17 onto the ice shelf runway near McMurdo.

As some of you know, I am an amateur bassoonist, playing in the La Jolla Symphony (look them up on YouTube; I suggest the "Frog's Eye" performance as a good starter). The symphony's first bassoonist, Tom Schubert, loans me a bassoon of his to take on my trips (probably hoping it will improve my playing!). To accompany the photo of me playing Tom's bassoon at the North Pole in 2005, I have attached a photo of me playing in Antarctica this morning, with the 109-year-old Scott "Discovery" hut in the background. It was windy, about 18 °F, with light snow. My fingers were cold, and the sound was not so good, but no matter: I did it! (Thanks, Tom!)

We leave at noon tomorrow (the 20th on this side of the date line), a day later than planned, but necessary due to the sequencing of events dictated by McMurdo's closing for the winter in a couple of days. I have a great team here, and the ship's crew and RPSC staff are very supportive. The steward and the chief engineer (both key people and both great) remember me from 2003. The captain and I enjoy each other's company. So it's already feeling like a "sea family". I'm optimistic that we have an enjoyable and successful venture ahead.

By the time of my next message we should have completed our test casts and be starting our scientific work off Adelie Land in the northwestern Ross Sea. All is well.

Best Regards,
Jim Swift
Chief Scientist
NBP-1102 (S4P)

Arriving at McMurdo Station

Molting emperor penguin

Bassoon at the Scott "Discovery" hut

Palmer at pier

Molting Adelie penguin

Another Adelie penguin