27th Antarctic Campaign – Oceanographic Research ship ‘Hespérides’.

On November 11th the oceanographic research ship ‘Hespérides’ set sail from her home port in Cartagena (SE Spain) to participate in the 27th Antarctic campaign. The ship regularly visits that continent on a yearly basis since 1991.

This year’s campaign is a R&D endeavor organized by different public and private institutions. In addition to the Ministry of Defense, other departments cooperate, like the Ministry of Science and Innovation. The Spanish Polar Committee is in charge of coordinating all the agencies involved in the Antarctic projects. The ship is now heading towards the port of Punta Arenas (Chile) where the scientists and other personnel will embark. There are two Spanish Antarctic bases: the ‘Juan Carlos I’ base, managed by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC in its Spanish initials) and the ‘Gabriel de Castilla’ base managed by the Spanish Army.

The ‘Hespérides’ will also conduct five interdisciplinary research projects on board in addition to the usual logistic support activities transporting personnel and material to and from the Spanish Bases.

Towards the end of March the ship will leave the Antarctic and will continue carrying out research surveys during her transit back to Spain, with port calls in Montevideo and Funchal (Portugal).

The ‘Hespérides’ will return to her home port in Cartagena on May 19th having stayed out of base 189 days and having sailed more than 24,000 nautical miles, the equivalent to a round the world voyage.

The ship’s CO is Commander Rafael Aguirre Pastor and has a crew of 57 people. The ‘Hespérides’ has also accommodation capacity for up to 37 scientists and technicians.