The emergency stations muster signal is seven long and one short sounding on bells and whistle. The ringing alarm today marked the passing of another week on the 'Aurora Australis'.
These musters are held regularly so that everyone on the ship knows exactly where to go, how to get there and what to bring. On hearing the bells I scramble into the freezer suit, stow the first aid and field manuals in my pocket, lace the big Canadian Sorell boots, drag the lifejacket over my head and grab the red survival bag with warm clothing. Now at twice my normal size, I make a clumsy beeline for my muster station starboard side of the helideck.
Knowing how Shackleton and Mawson and Wilkins suffered in the polar elements I keep my hat and balaclava at hand to prevent frostbite and wear my sunglasses against snow-blindness.
On deck Voyage Leader checks off our names and we are not stood down until each is accounted for.
Expeditioners attend the muster but the crew does an additional emergency drill rotating through rocket, lifeboat, life-raft, fast rescue craft, emergency steering gear, safety and security drills.
Today it's a fire drill and the chief mate is running through the heli-hanger foam smothering system. It's an integral part of the ship's fire protection system. During heli-ops there's always a fireman standing by and the foam dispersal system is primed to go at the push of a button.
It's 2 degrees today, sunny with not a puff of wind and dressed like the Tellytubbies as we are, it's quite pleasant standing about chatting and looking across the sea to the one distant iceberg on our horizon.
Has there been a muster where everyone has made ready to abandon ship?
Yes. In the summer of 98/99 Captain Moodie recalls a fire on the 'Aurora Australis'. The bells sounded at around 0200 and the ship's company mustered on deck for several hours at minus 22 degrees, in winds of 20 knots. The ship was at 65 degrees south and 145 east. Lifeboats were winched ready over the ice. After some hours the fire was quashed and the emergency was over.
I watched a fiery sunset from the helideck just before midnight and thought about musters and mittens...
Margot Foster is a journalist currently on board the Australian Aurora Australis, an Australian research vessel currently participating in the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML, IPY project 53). She works with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).