HC Deb 15 March 1991 vol 187 cc713-4W
Mr. Sayeed

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the hydrographic output of HMS Endurance in the most recent year for which figures are available; and what other source of Antarctic expertise is available to the Hydrographic Office.

Mr. Archie Hamilton

During the 1989–90 deployment to Antarctica and the south Atlantic, HMS Endurance completed the following hydrographic surveys:

  1. a. Gull harbour (Falkland Islands),
  2. b. Husvik harbour (South Georgia),
  3. c. Neumayer channel to Butler passage (Antarctic peninsula), and
  4. d. Antarctic sound northern part (Antarctic peninsula),and

In addition, her helicopters carried out 24 aerial photographic sorties in South Georgia, South Orkney, the Antarctic sound, James Ross island and Anvers island.

Some other national hydrographic offices, notably Argentina, the United States of America, the USSR, Chile, Brazil and Spain, carry out occasional hydrographic surveys in the vicinity of the Antarctic peninsula, and the results are received in the form of published nautical charts. Other information such as passage depth soundings and aerial photography is obtained from the British antarctic survey.

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