Robert E.
Graf
Antarctica
Expedition
November-December, 2008
Certificate of Achievement
for Robert E. Graf
presented on 13 December, 2008
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Completing a semi-circumnavigation
of Antarctica across the Southern Ocean aboard the icebreaker
Kapitan
Khlebnikov. Traversing from Ushuala in Tierra del Fuego to Lyttelton in New
Zealand. Crossing the waters of Drake Passage, the Bransfield Strait,
Bellingshausen Sea, Amundsen Sea, and Ross Sea between the South American
and Australasian continents. On the Antarctic Continent landing on the
Antarctic Peninsula, Cape Colbeck, the Ross Ice Shelf, Ross Island,
and Cape Washington. In addition landing on three Antarctic insular
outposts: South Shetland Islands, Campbell Island, and the Auckland Islands.
Closely approaching the remote Norwegian Antarctic outpost of Peter Oy.
Visiting, one century after its occupation by the Sir Ernest Shackleton's British Antarctic Expedition during the 1908 winter, the hut maintained by the Antarctic Heritage Trust at Cape Royds, Ross Island. This historic event being in the company of The Honourable Alexandra Shackleton, the explorer's grand-daughter. Attaining, on 1 December 2008, a farthest south position of 78°36.16' in the Bay of Whales, named by Ernest Shackleton in 1908. Enduring the Vicissitudes of the Antarctic including, but not limited to: frigid winds, blizzards, enveloping fogs, breaking through ridged and pressure ice, unpredictable visibility, trekking over deep crystalline ice, a missing day, besetment, and savage Hooker's Sea Lions. Enjoying the splendour of the Antarctic including, but not limited to: magnificence of the scenery, fearlessness of the fauna, endurance of the flora, majesty of the Emperor Penguin, calls of the seals and birds, amazing clarity of the atmosphere, coruscating sunlight, ice-breaking power, historic sites of the Heroic Age of Exploration. Experiencing the brilliance of the isolated sub-Antarctic Islands of New Zealand. The voyage extended across the Southern Ocean
exceeding 7362 nautical miles or 8466 statute miles (14724 km). Signed by the Expedition Leader and Captain of the Icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov |