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The ship's diesel engines. There were four main engines on board,
each about the size of a van. We had to get by with only three of
them though since one was badly damaged a few months before the trip
(you'll see it below). It needs to be removed from the ship in order
to repair it, an operation that will require cutting a large hole in
the side of the ship, and which won't be done for a couple years. The engines don't drive the ship directly. Instead, they generate electricity that is then used to drive two large electric motors. Unlike the diesel engines, the electric motors can generate a lot of torque at low speeds to more efficiently drive the large propellers. When steaming through open water at normal cruising speed (around 13 knots), we were usually running on only one engine, and used about 20,000 liters (5,000 gallons) of fuel a day. If we spent an entire day breaking ice, we could use 4 times that. During the six weeks we used about three quarters of a million liters, or 200,000 gallons of fuel. When we started the trip, the going price for automotive diesel in Norway was about US$10 per gallon, making that a $2 million fill up. I don't know what they paid for the fuel, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to get the bill. |
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| Photos of the ship, Page 2 of 3 | |||
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Page created 23 July 2008, Last updated 23 July 2008 19:36 CEST.