The American Tern is our annual supply vessel at McMurdo. She pulled in on Monday morning and started off-loading by early afternoon. Empty by Wednesday, they loaded her back up and finished at 4:24pm today. Why do I know the exact time? Because the captain, pictured below, invited Fr John and I to join him for dinner and a tour before they pull out tomorrow morning. Here I am with him on the bridge, sporting the cap he gave me.
One of the reasons the vessel departure is such a big deal on station is that during the complicated and very busy dance to offload and back-load the vessel, McMurdo is dry. No alcohol sales in the store or the bars. Because the vessel is pulling out of port tomorrow, the station manager this afternoon decided to let the store sell beer and wine tonight. And so for the single hour it was opened, the store looked like this:
The First Sergeant and I are wondering what this will do to church attendance tomorrow morning...
Wow! Do you have any numbers of things that were offloaded? I would think that a year's supply of anything is A LOT...
ReplyDeleteFolks should enjoy your homily more when properly hydrated.
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