Big ships and little boats

The daughter of old friends of ours is currently working on penguins in Antarctica. Sometime next year she will be picked up by the the British Antarctic Survey's research ship RRS James Clark Ross. We had heard that she (the ship, not the daughter) would be briefly visiting Peterhead Harbour today, following a research cruise in Arctic waters, and so we went to look her over. And here she is - the red and white vessel moored alongside the south breakwater.

RRS James Clark Ross is named after Admiral Sir James Clark Ross, R.N. (1800-1862), a British naval officer and explorer. He explored the Arctic with his uncle Sir John Ross and Sir William Parry, and later led his own expedition to Antarctica. She was built by Swan Hunter Shipbuilders, Wallsend, UK and launched by H.M. The Queen on the 1st December 1990. The vessel, which sails under the flag of the Falkland Islands, is designed for polar exploration and can steam at a steady two knots through level sea ice one metre thick. To assist passage through heavy pack ice a compressed air system rolls the ship from side to side freeing the passage.

The unusual looking boat in the middle distance is the Blue Fighter , a multi-purpose offshore supply vessel built in 2011 and servicing the North Sea oil industry. She sails under the Norwegian flag.