OREANDA-NEWS. On 03 February 2009 was announced, that at 10 a.m. (Vladivostok time) on January 29th the Vasily Golovnin arrived at Orcadas, the polar station of Argentina in the Antarctic. The vessel is at anchor offshore the island of Laurie in Scotia Bay.

Population and settlement of people in the Antarctic goes back to April 1st, 1903 when the Scottish National Antarctic expedition led by William Bruce was wintering there on the island of Laurie. The expedition ship Scotia was trapped in the ice and the crews and members of the expedition built ashore a stone house and named it the Omond House. It was used for meteorological observations and monitoring. In November, when the Scotia set free from ice the expedition ship headed to Buenos Aires, six people led by Robert Mossman, a meteorologist, stayed ashore. They moved to the Omond House and continued scientific observations. In the mid of February the vessel returned to the Scotia Bay and all the members of the expedition went back to the Motherland. But the polar station in the island of Laurie still existed: it was formally handed over to the Argentine government. The station, renamed Orcadas Base, has remained operational ever since, having been rebuilt and extended several times.

The Vasily Golovnin has commenced cargo operations assisted by the helicopters. The completion of the cargo discharge and loading is scheduled on January 31st, and the vessel will head to the next polar station Jubany.