Kaushik’s North Pole expedition in a nuclear-powered ship

Hearing an announcement over the central sound system, I sat bolt upright. Someone repeatedly was saying that ice had been sighted for the first time on this voyage. Those interested in seeing the ice should come out.

I had fallen asleep. I sat up on my bed and looked at the watch. It was six o’clock in the morning. As soon as looked toward the window, I had to look away again since the sun shone so brightly out there. I had already grown accustomed to that in the past few days.

It was summer in that region then, so the sun doesn’t set at all and shines throughout the day and night. It is difficult to guess when it’s morning, afternoon or dead of the night by the light outside. A few days later it would turn completely opposite. There won’t be any sunlight and the whole area would be plunged into darkness.

My cabin mate was a Russian youth named Danil Sidikov. He was quite friendly. We had become good friends within a few days. He introduced me to his family members also. Most of the people on the ship spoke in Russian. So, this friend of mine in the form of an interpreter was my only way of communication with others.

The two of us went out of the cabin to see the ice. Others had come out of their cabins as well. Small chunks of ice were floating on the water of Barents Sea. Some of the chunks were moving away after hitting against the body of the ship. Meanwhile, the ship was moving through a calm sea.

Slowly the ice chunks started growing bigger. And then there were layers of white ice floating on the water just like cream floating on milk. As the ice wasn’t very thick, the ship was making its way through the waters slicing through the ice. However, we could not enjoy the view for long. Though the temperature outside was higher than usual, it was too windy. As the wind made us shiver, we went back inside the warmth of the cabin. Inside the cabin, the heater remains on all the time.

Our expedition started on 13 August from the port of Muramansk onboard the nuclear-powered Russian ship named ‘Fifty Years of Victory’. Before that, we foreigners gave an introduction about ourselves during the opening ceremony. The ship was towed from the harbour to the deep sea with the help of tugboats. Then in the afternoon the ship sailed towards the North Pole.

Life on the ship runs precisely around the clock. Everyone’s taken to the helipad for exercise sharp at 8:00 am in the morning. Then it’s the time for breakfast. The dining arrangements are made on the second floor of the five-storied ship. After breakfast everyone moves to the auditorium on the ground floor. There, different sessions went on till 5:00 pm in the afternoon.   

I participated in the expedition as a discussant. Last March, Russia’s state atomic energy corporation Rosatom organised a competition titled ‘Icebreaker of Knowledge’ at the World Youth Festival. More than 2,000 competitors had participated there.

After four rounds of selection, 14 of us got the opportunity to be on this expedition to the North Pole. A group of school students also participated in a separate competition like ours and joined us on the expedition. Discussants on this expedition gave them four to five lectures every day. Other discussants also had to participate in the lectures.

Going into the third day of the expedition, the ship started shuddering all of a sudden. When many started panicking thinking ‘what happened’, the authorities explained that it’s nothing serious. The layer of ice was thickened there. The ship is supposed to get on the ice.

The ship has to slide over the huge chunk of ice. Then it breaks the ice applying pressure and creates its way forward. During this process the ship shakes in such a way that there remains the risk of falling off if one does not hold on to something firmly. After the assurances of the authorities that day, I slowly adapted to the situation.

There were breaks in between the lecture sessions. Then I would come out of the auditorium. The sunlight shone brightly on the white ice to bedazzle the eyes. You cannot even look outside without sunglasses. As far as the eyes can see, there is just ice all around. Navigating through the realm of ice we entered the North Pole on the morning of 17 August.

As soon as there was the official announcement, everyone started celebrating. Then the national anthems of all the participating countries started playing on the sound box. My chest swelled up with pride listening to ‘Amar Sonar Bangla’ being played at the North Pole.

Though the ship arrived in the morning, it was afternoon by the time we got the permission to land on the ice. We waited a few hours so that the ice has time to set if there were any cracks created from the pressure of the ship.

Getting down from the ship we planted the national flags of our respective countries in the ice. While I was sticking the flag in ice it felt like I have been waiting all my life to see this day. Then I determined the direction towards my city, Mymensingh.

Later I installed a direction pole stating the distance from that point to Mymensingh. And, I added a note with that where there are the name and flag of Bangladesh along with my mother’s name and my signature.

Then there came the temptation of a thrilling episode. Some of the brave ones dug holes into the ice, tied ropes around their bodies and dived right into the icy cold water. After a few seconds they were pulled out by the others. I just enjoyed the act standing nearby. First of all I didn’t know how to swim and then it was really cold, so I didn’t dare.

By that time, monster trucks had been dropped out of the ship. Some of us climbed onto the truck. The driver drove around with us for some time. We were really hyped up about sighting polar bears. But there was so much fog around that even if there was a polar bear nearby we wouldn’t be able to see it.

We had become friends with almost everyone within those few days. After touring on the monster truck, we enjoyed snow ball fight. Then we returned back to the ship together.

The ship started on the return voyage on 18 August. But instead of tracing the same route back, we took another course. We were returning back to the port of Muramansk following another path. We reached Franz Joseph Land in the afternoon on 19 august. Expeditioners Julias Von Payer and Karl Weyprecht discovered the archipelago in the Arctic Sea, during the joint expedition of Austria and Hungary to the North Pole back in 1873.

The whole area consisted of 191 islands is picturesquely beautiful. Alongside the natural beauty, we saw different species of arctic wildlife, seals, birds, dolphins and whales there. The ice chunks we first saw during this expedition actually broke away from this area.

The island we stepped down on during our stop at Franz Josef Land is known as ‘Bird’s Island’. Looking around, it felt like we have literally entered the kingdom of birds. I have never seen so many birds together in my life. We were going deaf in the ears from the chirping of the birds. That island is the home to millions of birds. They were going in and out of their nests in a jiffy just like that.

We boarded the ship again. That was the last stoppage of the ship and it did not stop at any place after that. Days passed one by one. Regular lectures, cultural evening, barbeque night and training programmes went on in the auditorium. Then finally we arrived at the port of Murmansk at 7 o’clock in the morning on 22 August and our adventure came to an end.