A U.S. Coast Guard cutter is towing an Australian trawler out to open water after the fishing boat got stuck in the ice in Antarctica.
Polar Star, one of the Coast Guard's biggest and most powerful non-nuclear icebreakers, reached the 206-foot-long Antarctic Chieftain at around 7 a.m. Australian time on Saturday, Feb. 14.
The trawler was trapped in the middle of an ice pack some 900 nautical miles northeast of McMurdo Sound, said Conrad Reynecke, coordinator for the New Zealand Rescue Coordination Centre, which is in charge of the Southern Ocean search and rescue zone.
Upon arrival, the Polar Star deployed a remote-controlled submersible vehicle to gauge the damage on the underwater propellers. The mini-submarine found that three out of the four blades were too damaged. The ship was unable to navigate its way out of the ice on its own, prompting the American crew to rig up tow lines and pull the Antarctic Chieftain out to open water.
"The blades were assessed as too badly damaged for the vessel to be able to use them for propulsion from the ice field," Reynecke said. "They are making slow but steady progress and are currently approximately 60 nautical miles from clear water in the north."
The 26 crew members on board the fishing vessel are well-provisioned and unharmed. The hull of the ship is also undamaged, and there are no oil leaks in the area.
The Antarctic Chieftain was trawling for Patagonia toothfish, a rare delicacy sometimes known as Chilean sea bass in North America, when it was beset by ice from all sides on Tuesday night.
Polar Star commanding officer Capt. Matthew Walker said the Coast Guard vessel, which is the only heavy icebreaker that can break through the thick ice in the McMurdo Sound, traveled several hundred miles to reach the Antarctic Chieftain. He said the conditions were "much more formidable than expected."
The plan is for the Polar Star to tow the Australian ship out of the ice field, after which the two vessels will be met by the New Zealand trawler Janas to tow the Australian Chieftain to a safe harbor. However, the Janas is not expected to reach the ships until Monday, Feb. 16.
"It's with a great sense of pride that we are able to assist Antarctic Chieftain," said Capt. Walker.
The Antarctic Chieftain was built in 2002. Owned and operated by Australian Longline, the ship is licensed to trawl for Patagonian toothfish, considered white gold for its huge profits, and spends six months at a time in the Antarctic region.
