Royal Navy’s ice patrol ship HMS Protector has arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand, as part of her Southern Ocean patrol.
Protector sailed from Hobart in mid December with a team of New Zealand and Australian officers embarked.
With their support, Protector conducted a five week fisheries patrol in the Southern Ocean and was also the first Royal Navy, or UK Government, vessel to visit the East Antarctic and Ross Sea regions for 80 years.
Acting British High Commissioner to New Zealand, Helen Smith said HMS Protector’s Antarctic patrol was a strong example of the close working relationship between the UK and New Zealand.
Commander Trefor Fox , Protector’s Second in Command, added that it was good to be working with Australian and New Zealand partners.
He said: “ One hundred years after Sir Ernest Shackleton’s epic Endurance expedition, it is an honour for HMS Protector to have made our own ‘trans-Antarctic’ visit to East Antarctica and the Ross Sea region.”
Protector came alongside in Lyttleton, just outside Christchurch where she hosted an Open Day over the weekend. UK in New Zealand on January 24 reported a remarkably high number of people who have come to see the ship.
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