mathematics

RRS Shackleton

RRS Shackleton is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand RRS Shackleton rather than just read about it. In short: RRS Shackleton was a Royal Research Ship operated by the British scientific research organisations the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS), British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) in the Antarctic from 1955 to 1983. She was subsequently operated as a seismic survey vessel under the names Geotek Beta, Profiler and finally Sea Profiler before being scrapped in 2011.

Key takeaways

RRS Shackleton belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect RRS Shackleton to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of RRS Shackleton from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

RRS Shackleton was a Royal Research Ship operated by the British scientific research organisations the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS), British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) in the Antarctic from 1955 to 1983. She was subsequently operated as a seismic survey vessel under the names Geotek Beta, Profiler and finally Sea Profiler before being scrapped in 2011.

History Built in 1954 by Sölvesborgs Varv A/B at Sölvesborg, Sweden, she was launched as MV Arendal (III) for work in the Baltic. She was purchased in 1955 by the Falkland Islands Dependency Survey (FIDS. British Antarctic Survey (BAS) from 1962) as a supply vessel to re-stock British research stations. After conversion to carry more passengers, she was renamed RRS Shackleton and sailed to the Antarctic for the 1955/56 season. On 29 Nov 1957 Shackleton, having completed the relief of the FIDS research station on Signy Island, was seriously damaged when she hit an iceberg off Coronation Island and was holed in two places below the waterline. The ship started to take on water and was almost lost. Temporary repairs allowed the vessel to reach the whaling station of Stromness on South Georgia, more than 500 miles from the accident, where the hull was repaired. She was met en-route by HMS Protector, which provided an additional pump and shipwrights to help contain the damage and took off scientists and other passengers.

From 1959 scientists from Birmingham University's Sub-department of Geophysics regularly undertook research from Shackleton, focusing on the marine geophysics of the Scotia Arc. This included two-ship seismic refraction experiments working with HMS Protector, sonobuoy work and magnetic surveys. At Deception Island in 1966 the Shackleton met and provisioned Bill Tilman's SV Mischief, the first private expedition to visit a British Antarctic base. Shackleton joined the rescue of Deception Island base members when the volcano erupted in December 1967 and again in February 1969. She was withdrawn from service by BAS at the end of the 1968/69 season. following a decision to replace her with a new vessel. Shackleton was operated by the NERC after 1969, and underwent major conversion to fit her as a oceanographic research ship, starting in November 1970 at the shipyard of James Lamont, Greenock. Construction work was completed in 1971 and her first Antarctic cruise with NERC was in 1971/72, continuing geophysical and marine geology work on the Scotia Arc. On 4 February 1976, while taking part in a British economic survey of the Falkland Islands led by Lord Shackleton (son of the Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton), RRS Shackleton was fired on by the Argentine destroyer ARA Almirante Storni in a precursor to the Falklands Conflict. She was withdrawn from service in May 1983 and sold. During her service with NERC the ship carried out cruises in the Antarctic, Arctic, Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, the Mediterranean and Red Sea. Shackleton was renamed Geotek Beta in 1983. In 1984 she was purchased by Gardline Shipping Limited and renamed Profiler. She was 'retired' from the South Atlantic in 1989 and reconfigured as a soils and high resolution seismic survey vessel, operated by Gardline Shipping Limited. They renamed her Sea Profiler in 1992. She was scrapped in New Holland on the Humber estuary in 2011.

References

Sources BAS (1968). British Antarctic Survey Annual Report 1967-68. BAS. BAS (1969). British Antarctic Survey Annual Report 1968-69. BAS. BAS (1979). British Antarctic Survey Annual Report 1969-70. BAS. Fuchs, Vivian (1982). Of Ice and Men. Oswestry: Anthony Nelson. ISBN 0-904614-06-9. NERC (1971). Natural Environment Research Council Report of the Council for the Year 1 April 1970 - 31 March 1971. NERC. NERC (1972). Natural Environment Research Council Report of the Council for the Year 1 April 1971 - 31 March 1972. NERC. NERC (1983). Natural Environment Research Council Report of the Council for the Year 1 April 1982 - 31 March 1983. NERC. NERC (1984). Natural Environment Research Council Report of the Council for the Year 1 April 1983 - 31 March 1984. NERC. Woodfield, Thomas (2016). Polar Mariner. Beyond the Limits in Antarctica. Scotland: Whittles Publishing. ISBN 978-184995-166-1.

Further reading Stewart, John (2011). Antarctica. An Encyclopedia. McFarland & Co Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-3590-6.

External links Pictures at Cool Antarctica History of BAS Ships - Shackleton

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with RRS Shackleton

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what RRS Shackleton claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to RRS Shackleton before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about RRS Shackleton ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of RRS Shackleton

In research: RRS Shackleton appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses RRS Shackleton in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: RRS Shackleton is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1954 ships, IMO numbers, Icebreakers of the United Kingdom, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for RRS Shackleton outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study RRS Shackleton in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what RRS Shackleton means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain RRS Shackleton out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is RRS Shackleton in simple terms?

Why does RRS Shackleton matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study RRS Shackleton?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on RRS Shackleton.