L'Astrolabe (1986 Icebreaker)
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''YWAM Liberty'' is the former ''LAstrolabe'', a French
icebreaking An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...
research vessel which was used to supply the
Dumont d'Urville Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (; 23 May 1790 – 8 May 1842) was a French explorer and naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. As a botanist and cartographer, he gave his name ...
research station in
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
.
translation
The vessel made regular voyages between Hobart and the Dumont D'Urville research station for fifteen years and was replaced by a new icebreaker bearing the same name in 2017.


History


1992 Northeast Passage

The vessel has also traversed the
Northeast passage The Northeast Passage (abbreviated as NEP; , ) is the Arctic shipping routes, shipping route between the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, Pacific Oceans, along the Arctic coasts of Norway and Russia. The western route through the islan ...
. The
European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...
reports a 1992 traverse "was the first civilian expedition through the NSR since the Russian revolution." ''LAstrolabe'' was escorted on her transit by Russian icebreakers.


2013 Antarctic Ocean rescue mission

''LAstrolabe'' attempted to reach '' Akademik Shokalskiy'', trapped by an outbreak of old glacial ice in the Antarctic Ocean. ''LAstrolabe'' didn't match Chinese research vessel s from the trapped Russian ship, but got closer than the Australian '' Aurora Australis''' . Withdrawing after encountering heavy ice, she subsequently supported further attempts by ''Xuě Lóng'' and ''Aurora Australis'' to reach ''Akademik Shokalskiy'' and rescue her passengers.


2018 Deployment to Bougainville PNG as a Medical Ship

From July 2018 ''YWAM Liberty'' spent six months in Bougainville,
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
providing primary health, dental,
optometry Optometry is the healthcare practice concerned with examining the eyes for visual defects, prescribing corrective lenses, and detecting eye abnormalities. In the United States and Canada, optometrists are those that hold a post-baccalaureate f ...
and ophthalmic care. The ship is administered by ''
YWAM Youth With A Mission (typically shortened YWAM, generally pronounced ) is an interdenominational Christian mission organization with a focus on missionary work and training for Christian missions. Founded by American missionary Loren Cunningham ...
Ships Kona,'' from
Kailua-Kona Kailua-Kona is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. It is most commonly referred to simply as Kona (a name it shares with the district to which it belongs), but also as Kona To ...
in
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
.


Incidents


2005 man overboard incident

On January 27, 2005, a crew member was found to have gone overboard. The missing crew member's body was found. During the recovery of his body the second engineer's hand was seriously injured, and he was at risk of losing his thumb. A report by the Australian Transport Safety Board concluded his injury would have been avoided if the block he was using to recover the ship's boat had been equipped with hand holds. The report noted that the deceased crew member was found with a high blood alcohol level. He had been seen to be depressed, prior to his death, and the report concluded he had jumped or fallen overboard under the influence of alcohol.


2010 Antarctica helicopter crash

On October 28, 2010, a
Eurocopter AS350 Airbus Helicopters SAS (formerly Eurocopter S.A., trading as Eurocopter Group) is the helicopter manufacturing division of Airbus. It is the largest in the industry in terms of revenues and turbine helicopter deliveries, holding 48% of the wor ...
helicopter which operated between the ship and the
Dumont d'Urville Station The Dumont d'Urville Station () is a French scientific station in Antarctica on Île des Pétrels, Géologie Archipelago, archipelago of Pointe-Géologie in Adélie Land. It is named after exploration, explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville, whose expe ...
crashed in bad weather en route to the station. All 4 on board were killed.


References


External links

{{commons category, IMO 8418198
French Polar Institute

Shiprepair.com

University of New South Wales
1986 ships Icebreakers of France