The MS Expedition was making better‐than‐steady progress westwards towards the east coast of Greenland, her speed pushed into rarified knots by a following sea. Despite 30 knot winds and a lively and angry sea surface our passage was comfortable, with little roll and almost no pitch. A different direction through the same conditions would have told a very different story, our vessel beaten and lashed by the inclement weather.
Late in the day, our ship began sliding South-westwards on a course towards the Davy Sund/Kaiser Franz Joseph Fjord complex. The sea ice began to spread out and encroach around our ship. The winds stayed steady, the swells broadened into rolling gray-backs, and darkness fell. The bridge crew had no choice but to pull in the stabilizers and slow the ship’s speed. Ice started scraping our vessel’s hull like fingernails across a blackboard, and the MS Expedition began to roll like a cork in a Jacuzzi.
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