20,000 Leagues, by Jules Verne, Chapter 15

Chapter 15
An Invitation in Writing
THE NEXT DAY, November 9, I woke up only after a long, twelve–hour slumber. Conseil, a creature of habit, came to ask "how master's night went," and to offer his services. He had left his Canadian friend sleeping like a man who had never done anything else.

I let the gallant lad babble as he pleased, without giving him much in the way of a reply. I was concerned about Captain Nemo's absence during our session the previous afternoon, and I hoped to see him again today.

Soon I had put on my clothes, which were woven from strands of seashell tissue. More than once their composition provoked comments from Conseil. I informed him that they were made from the smooth, silken filaments with which the fan mussel, a type of seashell quite abundant along Mediterranean beaches, attaches itself to rocks. In olden times, fine fabrics, stockings, and gloves were made from such filaments, because they were both very soft and very warm. So the Nautilus's crew could dress themselves at little cost, without needing a thing from cotton growers, sheep, or silkworms on shore.

As soon as I was dressed, I made my way to the main lounge. It was deserted.

I dove into studying the conchological treasures amassed inside the glass cases. I also investigated the huge plant albums that were filled with the rarest marine herbs, which, although they were pressed and dried, still kept their wonderful colors. Among these valuable water plants, I noted various seaweed: some Cladostephus verticillatus, peacock's tails, fig–leafed caulerpa, grain–bearing beauty bushes, delicate rosetangle tinted scarlet, sea colander arranged into fan shapes, mermaid's cups that looked like the caps of squat mushrooms and for years had been classified among the zoophytes; in short, a complete series of algae.

The entire day passed without my being honored by a visit from Captain Nemo. The panels in the lounge didn't open. Perhaps they didn't want us to get tired of these beautiful things.

The Nautilus kept to an east–northeasterly heading, a speed of twelve miles per hour, and a depth between fifty and sixty meters.

Next day, November 10: the same neglect, the same solitude. I didn't see a soul from the crew. Ned and Conseil spent the better part of the day with me. They were astonished at the captain's inexplicable absence. Was this eccentric man ill? Did he want to change his plans concerning us?

But after all, as Conseil noted, we enjoyed complete freedom, we were daintily and abundantly fed. Our host had kept to the terms of his agreement. We couldn't complain, and moreover the very uniqueness of our situation had such generous rewards in store for us, we had no grounds for criticism.

That day I started my diary of these adventures, which has enabled me to narrate them with the most scrupulous accuracy; and one odd detail: I wrote it on paper manufactured from marine eelgrass.

Early in the morning on November 11, fresh air poured through the Nautilus's interior, informing me that we had returned to the surface of the ocean to renew our oxygen supply. I headed for the central companionway and climbed onto the platform.

It was six o'clock. I found the weather overcast, the sea gray but calm. Hardly a billow. I hoped to encounter Captain Nemo there—would he come? I saw only the helmsman imprisoned in his glass–windowed pilothouse. Seated on the ledge furnished by the hull of the skiff, I inhaled the sea's salty aroma with great pleasure.

Little by little, the mists were dispersed under the action of the sun's rays. The radiant orb cleared the eastern horizon. Under its gaze, the sea caught on fire like a trail of gunpowder. Scattered on high, the clouds were colored in bright, wonderfully shaded hues, and numerous "ladyfingers"* warned of daylong winds.

*Author's Note: "Ladyfingers" are small, thin, white clouds with ragged edges.

But what were mere winds to this Nautilus, which no storms could intimidate!

So I was marveling at this delightful sunrise, so life–giving and cheerful, when I heard someone climbing onto the platform.

I was prepared to greet Captain Nemo, but it was his chief officer who appeared—whom I had already met during our first visit with the captain. He advanced over the platform, not seeming to notice my presence. A powerful spyglass to his eye, he scrutinized every point of the horizon with the utmost care. Then, his examination over, he approached the hatch and pronounced a phrase whose exact wording follows below. I remember it because, every morning, it was repeated under the same circumstances. It ran like this:

"Nautron respoc lorni virch."

What it meant I was unable to say.

These words pronounced, the chief officer went below again. I thought the Nautilus was about to resume its underwater navigating. So I went down the hatch and back through the gangways to my stateroom.

Five days passed in this way with no change in our situation. Every morning I climbed onto the platform. The same phrase was pronounced by the same individual. Captain Nemo did not appear.

I was pursuing the policy that we had seen the last of him, when on November 16, while reentering my stateroom with Ned and Conseil, I found a note addressed to me on the table.

I opened it impatiently. It was written in a script that was clear and neat but a bit "Old English" in style, its characters reminding me of German calligraphy.

The note was worded as follows:

Professor Aronnax

Aboard the Nautilus

November 16, 1867

Captain Nemo invites Professor Aronnax on a hunting trip that will take place tomorrow morning in his Crespo Island forests. He hopes nothing will prevent the professor from attending, and he looks forward with pleasure to the professor's companions joining him.

CAPTAIN NEMO,

Commander of the Nautilus.

"A hunting trip!" Ned exclaimed.

"And in his forests on Crespo Island!" Conseil added.

"But does this mean the old boy goes ashore?" Ned Land went on.

"That seems to be the gist of it," I said, rereading the letter.

"Well, we've got to accept!" the Canadian answered. "Once we're on solid ground, we'll figure out a course of action. Besides, it wouldn't pain me to eat a couple slices of fresh venison!"

Without trying to reconcile the contradictions between Captain Nemo's professed horror of continents or islands and his invitation to go hunting in a forest, I was content to reply:

"First let's look into this Crespo Island."

I consulted the world map; and in latitude 32° 40' north and longitude 167° 50' west, I found an islet that had been discovered in 1801 by Captain Crespo, which old Spanish charts called Rocca de la Plata, in other words, "Silver Rock." So we were about 1,800 miles from our starting point, and by a slight change of heading, the Nautilus was bringing us back toward the southeast.

I showed my companions this small, stray rock in the middle of the north Pacific.

"If Captain Nemo does sometimes go ashore," I told them, "at least he only picks desert islands!"

Ned Land shook his head without replying; then he and Conseil left me. After supper was served me by the mute and emotionless steward, I fell asleep; but not without some anxieties.

When I woke up the next day, November 17, I sensed that the Nautilus was completely motionless. I dressed hurriedly and entered the main lounge.

Captain Nemo was there waiting for me. He stood up, bowed, and asked if it suited me to come along.

Since he made no allusion to his absence the past eight days, I also refrained from mentioning it, and I simply answered that my companions and I were ready to go with him.

"Only, sir," I added, "I'll take the liberty of addressing a question to you."

"Address away, Professor Aronnax, and if I'm able to answer, I will."

"Well then, Captain, how is it that you've severed all ties with the shore, yet you own forests on Crespo Island?"

"Professor," the captain answered me, "these forests of mine don't bask in the heat and light of the sun. They aren't frequented by lions, tigers, panthers, or other quadrupeds. They're known only to me. They grow only for me. These forests aren't on land, they're actual underwater forests."

"Underwater forests!" I exclaimed.

"Yes, professor."

"And you're offering to take me to them?"

"Precisely."

"On foot?"

"Without getting your feet wet."

"While hunting?"

"While hunting."

"Rifles in hand?"

"Rifles in hand."

I stared at the Nautilus's commander with an air anything but flattering to the man.

"Assuredly," I said to myself, "he's contracted some mental illness. He's had a fit that's lasted eight days and isn't over even yet. What a shame! I liked him better eccentric than insane!"

These thoughts were clearly readable on my face; but Captain Nemo remained content with inviting me to follow him, and I did so like a man resigned to the worst.

We arrived at the dining room, where we found breakfast served.

"Professor Aronnax," the captain told me, "I beg you to share my breakfast without formality. We can chat while we eat. Because, although I promised you a stroll in my forests, I made no pledge to arrange for your encountering a restaurant there. Accordingly, eat your breakfast like a man who'll probably eat dinner only when it's extremely late."

I did justice to this meal. It was made up of various fish and some slices of sea cucumber, that praiseworthy zoophyte, all garnished with such highly appetizing seaweed as the Porphyra laciniata and the Laurencia primafetida. Our beverage consisted of clear water to which, following the captain's example, I added some drops of a fermented liquor extracted by the Kamchatka process from the seaweed known by name as Rhodymenia palmata.

At first Captain Nemo ate without pronouncing a single word. Then he told me:

"Professor, when I proposed that you go hunting in my Crespo forests, you thought I was contradicting myself. When I informed you that it was an issue of underwater forests, you thought I'd gone insane. Professor, you must never make snap judgments about your fellow man."

"But, Captain, believe me—"

"Kindly listen to me, and you'll see if you have grounds for accusing me of insanity or self–contradiction."

"I'm all attention."

"Professor, you know as well as I do that a man can live underwater so long as he carries with him his own supply of breathable air. For underwater work projects, the workman wears a waterproof suit with his head imprisoned in a metal capsule, while he receives air from above by means of force pumps and flow regulators."

"That's the standard equipment for a diving suit," I said.

"Correct, but under such conditions the man has no freedom. He's attached to a pump that sends him air through an india–rubber hose; it's an actual chain that fetters him to the shore, and if we were to be bound in this way to the Nautilus, we couldn't go far either."

"Then how do you break free?" I asked.

"We use the Rouquayrol–Denayrouze device, invented by two of your fellow countrymen but refined by me for my own special uses, thereby enabling you to risk these new physiological conditions without suffering any organic disorders. It consists of a tank built from heavy sheet iron in which I store air under a pressure of fifty atmospheres. This tank is fastened to the back by means of straps, like a soldier's knapsack. Its top part forms a box where the air is regulated by a bellows mechanism and can be released only at its proper tension. In the Rouquayrol device that has been in general use, two india–rubber hoses leave this box and feed to a kind of tent that imprisons the operator's nose and mouth; one hose is for the entrance of air to be inhaled, the other for the exit of air to be exhaled, and the tongue closes off the former or the latter depending on the breather's needs. But in my case, since I face considerable pressures at the bottom of the sea, I needed to enclose my head in a copper sphere, like those found on standard diving suits, and the two hoses for inhalation and exhalation now feed to that sphere."

"That's perfect, Captain Nemo, but the air you carry must be quickly depleted; and once it contains no more than 15% oxygen, it becomes unfit for breathing."

"Surely, but as I told you, Professor Aronnax, the Nautilus's pumps enable me to store air under considerable pressure, and given this circumstance, the tank on my diving equipment can supply breathable air for nine or ten hours."

"I've no more objections to raise," I replied. "I'll only ask you, Captain: how can you light your way at the bottom of the ocean?"

"With the Ruhmkorff device, Professor Aronnax. If the first is carried on the back, the second is fastened to the belt. It consists of a Bunsen battery that I activate not with potassium dichromate but with sodium. An induction coil gathers the electricity generated and directs it to a specially designed lantern. In this lantern one finds a glass spiral that contains only a residue of carbon dioxide gas. When the device is operating, this gas becomes luminous and gives off a continuous whitish light. Thus provided for, I breathe and I see."

"Captain Nemo, to my every objection you give such crushing answers, I'm afraid to entertain a single doubt. However, though I have no choice but to accept both the Rouquayrol and Ruhmkorff devices, I'd like to register some reservations about the rifle with which you'll equip me."

"But it isn't a rifle that uses gunpowder," the captain replied.

"Then it's an air gun?"

"Surely. How can I make gunpowder on my ship when I have no saltpeter, sulfur, or charcoal?"

"Even so," I replied, "to fire underwater in a medium that's 855 times denser than air, you'd have to overcome considerable resistance."

"That doesn't necessarily follow. There are certain Fulton–style guns perfected by the Englishmen Philippe–Coles and Burley, the Frenchman Furcy, and the Italian Landi; they're equipped with a special system of airtight fastenings and can fire in underwater conditions. But I repeat: having no gunpowder, I've replaced it with air at high pressure, which is abundantly supplied me by the Nautilus's pumps."

"But this air must be swiftly depleted."

"Well, in a pinch can't my Rouquayrol tank supply me with more? All I have to do is draw it from an ad hoc spigot.* Besides, Professor Aronnax, you'll see for yourself that during these underwater hunting trips, we make no great expenditure of either air or bullets."

*Latin: a spigot "just for that purpose." Ed.

"But it seems to me that in this semidarkness, amid this liquid that's so dense in comparison to the atmosphere, a gunshot couldn't carry far and would prove fatal only with difficulty!"

"On the contrary, sir, with this rifle every shot is fatal; and as soon as the animal is hit, no matter how lightly, it falls as if struck by lightning."

"Why?"

"Because this rifle doesn't shoot ordinary bullets but little glass capsules invented by the Austrian chemist Leniebroek, and I have a considerable supply of them. These glass capsules are covered with a strip of steel and weighted with a lead base; they're genuine little Leyden jars charged with high–voltage electricity. They go off at the slightest impact, and the animal, no matter how strong, drops dead. I might add that these capsules are no bigger than number 4 shot, and the chamber of any ordinary rifle could hold ten of them."

"I'll quit debating," I replied, getting up from the table. "And all that's left is for me to shoulder my rifle. So where you go, I'll go."

Captain Nemo led me to the Nautilus's stern, and passing by Ned and Conseil's cabin, I summoned my two companions, who instantly followed us.

Then we arrived at a cell located within easy access of the engine room; in this cell we were to get dressed for our stroll.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Regular blog postings begin on DECEMBER 26, Monday.

Japan Tsunami-Debris Cruise Attracts Travelers to Ocean Garbage Patch

I suppose there's a plot here... people go on a cruise to find tsunami-garbage... find some kind of an artifact in a waterproof case...

From National Geographic: Japan Tsunami-Debris Cruise Attracts Travelers to Ocean Garbage Patch

The March 11 Japanese tsunami pulled millions of tons of debris from the country's coastline following the 9.0 magnitude earthquake off Sendai.

Since then, scientists have been tracking and monitoring the wreckage—bits of houses, whole cars, and household appliances—floating at sea, corralled by ocean currents in the North Pacific into an area researchers estimate could be the size of California. And now they're inviting the public along for the ride, for a price.

Few people have seen the floating tsunami debris field up close, and most have been scientists or crew members on shipping freighters. But in May 2012 Pangaea Explorations, the Algalita Marine Research Foundation and the 5 Gyres Institute—organizations that specialize in researching plastic accumulation in the oceans-will take scientists and paying members of the public to the floating field of ruins.

The trip aboard the Sea Dragon, a 72-foot (22-meter) sailing yacht, will loop the Pacific in two legs.

The first leg—a 23-day trip originating in the Marshall Islands, passing through the giant ocean vortex called the Western Pacific Gyre, and ending in Tokyo—has a small chance of encountering the tsunami debris field. (See pictures of debris from a Pacific garbage patch.)

But the second leg, originating in Tokyo, will follow the path of the debris with the specific intent of sampling it. That leg is to end 32 days later in Hawaii, where some of the material may come ashore as early the beginning of next year, according to predictions by the International Pacific Research Center.

Neither cruise is exactly a budget vacation, with the first leg priced at U.S. $13,500 per person (eight spots still available) and the tsunami-debris expedition at $15,500 per person (five spots available).

According to Jeanne Gallagher, office manager at Algalita, most of that hefty outlay goes toward food, fuel, research expenses, and insurance—paying passengers are often inexperienced sailors.

Any profit—which would be unexpected, according to Gallagher—would be used for further research.

"Pieces of People's Lives"

"The opportunity (to study plastic accumulation) has been laid in our laps through a natural disaster," Gallagher said.

"But we're also going to be sailing through pieces of people's lives, and we'll go through that with velvet slippers as much as we can."

Although this is a research mission to study the tsunami debris field, and not a recovery one, Gallagher said that if the team encounters any small objects that appear to be traceable to a person or a family in Japan, they will make every effort to return the items.

The project brings paying tourists to the debris field at a time when there's still concern in Japan about missing victims of the disaster. But Nori Akashi, a representative of the Japanese National Tourism Organization, said she does not believe the project will garner resentment, because the cruise is primarily a scientific venture.

Only 13 people, including 4 trained crew, will make each leg of the trans-Pacific crossing, so all participants will be integral and active in ship life, including keeping watch for navigational hazards in the debris field, sailing the boat, cooking, cleaning, and collecting scientific data.

Participants are also expected to help document any interesting sightings. All crew members, paying or otherwise, will sleep on bunks in a single large room.

Learning Plastic's Behavior

The samples they collect during several transects of the field will be used to determine and refine existing models of how fast the material is moving, how quickly it is decomposing, and the nature of the material's colonization by marine animals. Past trips to study marine debris with these organizations have attracted everyone from independent scientists to film crews and artists.

Findings gleaned from the tsunami debris are particularly significant because, unlike concentrated marine pollution elsewhere, the tsunami material's "launch" date and place of origin are known. With this information, researchers can better understand how land-based materials like plastics behave in the ocean.

One of the participants, Valerie Lecoeur, 41 of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, said she hopes to see where plastic accumulates in the ocean firsthand.

"For me it's interesting to see that there is debris from the ocean coming from events like tsunami—things that you can't control—and things that you can control as well."

Lecoeur plans to finance her trip through corporate sponsorship and online fundraising.

As a mom worried about BPA and toxic chemicals in plastic, Lecoeur started Zoë b Organic, which manufactures toys, dishes, and other children's items out of corn-based biodegradable plastics.

"I want to see for myself the scope of plastic pollution in our oceans and share what I will discover with my customers and retailers. I am planning on also reaching out to schools in North Carolina so they can follow the voyage and educate youngsters about what plastic does to our environment."

Crew members will be able to send updates and emails via satellite during the voyage.

Tsunami Objects May Still Be Intact at Sea

In September a Russian ship sighted an empty fishing boat from the Fukushima Prefecture—one of the areas hardest hit by the earthquake and tsunami. A TV set and refrigerator were also found in what was likely the outer edge of the debris field, 300 miles (480 kilometers) northwest of Hawaii's Midway Atoll. Algalita's Gallagher said that, while the tsunami-debris cruise's route is mostly defined, the return trip may include a stop on Midway to determine if any of the debris has washed ashore there.

Algalita Executive Director Marieta Francis said she expects the crew will encounter more large objects in the tsunami debris field than they might find in other areas of aggregated debris, like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, because these materials will not have been worn down. In the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, tiny plastic pieces, worn down over years of exposure to the elements, dominate samples.

Marine debris is a serious hazard to aquatic life that can ingest it or become entangled in it.

Lecoeur, the North Carolina entrepreneur, said, "I wonder if on this trip, I will have the same feeling looking out at the ocean that I have on the beach. Looking across it, you see that the beach looks clean, but when you walk on it and look closely, you see all of these tiny bits of plastic."

Still, little is known about what the expedition might find.

"No one knows what to expect in the debris field," said Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer who has studied ocean currents for more than 20 years and who is not involved with this trip. "Human remains in sneakers are possible. Expect the unexpected."

Hartwell alliance seeks artifacts for historical exhibit

From Independent Mail (Anderson, South Carolina): Hartwell alliance seeks artifacts for historical exhibit
Organizers of an exhibit commemorating Hartwell Lake's 50th anniversary are seeking artifacts.

Gretchen Torrence of the Lake Hartwell Marketing Alliance is leading the effort to collect items for a historic exhibit set to tour the Upstate and northeast Georgia early next year.

The effort has been supported by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with its own historic objects, including photos, documents and early logs of the dam's power plant operation.

In this Anderson Independent clipping from April 19, 1963, dignitaries including current and past governors and United States senators gather to dedicate the Hall Bridge, which crosses Hartwell Lake along Interstate 85, and the Saylors Bridge along S.C. 24. Both bridges remain today along the Seneca River arm of Hartwell.

In an Anderson Independent clipping from April 19, 1963, dignitaries including current and past governors and United States senators gather to dedicate the Hall Bridge, which crosses Hartwell Lake along Interstate 85, and the Saylors Bridge along S.C. 24. Both bridges remain today along the Seneca River arm of Hartwell.

Anyone interested in sharing more photos, newspaper clippings, programs and other documents or materials can take them to the Anderson County Library from 10 a.m. to noon on Jan. 21. Torrence said historian and author David Cauglin, who is writing an account of Hartwell's creation, will be on hand to review materials and scan them into a digital archive.

“Instead of asking people to give us their treasures, we are setting up a time for those things to be scanned in.”

Gretchen Torrence, chairwoman of the Hartwell Project 50th Anniversary Historical Art Exhibit

“Instead of asking people to give us their treasures, we are setting up a time for those things to be scanned in,” Torrence said.

A second scanning event will be a week earlier at the Hart County Library in Hartwell - 10 a.m. to noon on Jan. 14.

Torrence said anyone interested in participating should call her to register at (706) 436-3572.

She said about 250 items ultimately will be chosen for the exhibit, which has been made possible through a grant from the Hart Electric Membership Cooperative. The exhibit will travel next year to venues in the six South Carolina and Georgia counties surrounding Hartwell Lake - Anderson, Oconee, Pickens, Hart, Franklin and Stephens.

The exhibit's steering committee has already gained access to thousands of images from the Corps archives at the dam.

But those images, largely of the project's construction and equipment, don't include the day-to-day experiences of residents around the 55,000-acre body of water.

Torrence said she is interested in materials dating to the dam and reservoir site's preparation on through its construction and the early years of its operation, which started in April 1962.

Art Underwater Photo Competition Winners Announced

From Underwater Times: Art Underwater Photo Competition Winners Announced

SANTA MONICA, California -- The Second Annual Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition, organized by the Underwater Photography Guide, has announced its winners for 2011. This year's Ocean Art Photo Competition represents entrants from over fifty countries.

Over $82,000 worth of prizes were awarded to 52 underwater photographers, including a 10-night all-inclusive package for 2 people at KBR Lembeh, 18 nights in Papua New Guinea at Walindi/ Febrina and Loloata, 11 days on the SMY Ondina, 1.5 spots to the Socorro Islands aboard the Rocio Del Mar, an 11 day trip on the vessel KLM Aurora, a 7 day charter in Fiji aboard the Nai'a, 5 nights' accommodations and diving at Wananavu, a one week package for 2 people at Maluku Divers Resort, and a trip to either Socorro or Guadalupe aboard Nautilus Explorer.

Judges this year included prestigious professional photographers Marty Snyderman, Bonnie Pelnar, Martin Edge, and Tony Wu.

There are at least 4 winners in each of 12 categories, including Wide-Angle, Macro, Portrait, Behavior, Novice, Nudibranchs, SuperMacro, Fashion, Coldwater, and 3 Compact Camera categories.

The Best of Show was a stunning wide-angle photograph of several manta rays, taken by Tobias Friedrich of Germany. Other stunning images include a hunting leopard seal, a pair of eels, and a beautiful squid composition. Thousands of entries were viewed by the judges before the final set of amazing images were selected, and deemed some of the best underwater photos in the world.

Judging was quite difficult due to the high quality of images. World famous underwater photographer and contest judge Martin Edge commented, "This year the judging was very tight due to so many superb images. After much discussion, agreements, and disagreements, we felt the winners really stood out. For myself, the best in show was the most awesome shot in the entire collection."

Winning photos can be seen here: http://www.uwphotographyguide.com/ocean-art-contest-winners-2011

About the Underwater Photography Guide
The Underwater Photography Guide, founded by Scott Gietler, is a comprehensive website and community for learning about underwater photography technique, marine life, and scuba diving destinations, and contains over 600 pages of organized tutorials, forums, reviews, and articles. Community members of the Underwater Photography Guide and its equipment sponsor, Bluewater Photo, participate in several international workshops each year, and the site receives over 300,000 unique visitors annually

China's 1st 3,000m survey vessel delivered for

From China Daily: China's 1st 3,000m survey vessel delivered for use
GUANGZHOU - A deep-water survey vessel that is capable of conducting exploration at 3,000 meters below sea level was delivered to its user on Friday at a shipbuilding plant in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong province.

The vessel, HYSY708, is 105 meters long and 23.4 meters wide. With a tonnage of 11,600 tonnes, it has a top speed of 14.5 knots.

Powered by electric propulsion and outfitted with a dynamic positioning system, the vessel is designed for functions including deep-sea geophysical and seismic exploration, remotely-operated vehicle operations, sea-floor sampling and large-scale marine engineering lifting.

It is also capable of drilling up to 600 meters below the sea floor at a depth of 3,000 meters underwater.

Built by CSSC Guangzhou Huangpu Shipbuilding Company, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp., the ship will be operated by China Oilfield Services Ltd.

Sources with the shipbuilding company said the vessel, with its advanced technology, filled in a gap in China's deep-sea engineering exploration.

It will play an important role in exploring and developing the oil and gas resources in the South China Sea, the sources said.

Cairn’s $600 Million Greenland Oil Campaign Ends in Failure

What do oil companies do with all their profits? Why, they search for more places to drill for oil...which costs money and sometimes ends in failure.

From Bloomberg: Cairn’s $600 Million Greenland Oil Campaign Ends in Failure

Cairnergy Plc (CNE) ended this year’s $600 million drilling program off Greenland after the biggest exploration campaign attempted in the Arctic island’s waters failed to make a viable discovery.

The AT7-1 well, which had encountered traces of oil and gas, has been plugged and abandoned, the Edinburgh-based company said today in a statement. The AT2-1 well, the last of five drilled this year, was also abandoned after reporting only “minor hydrocarbon shows.” The company will evaluate its program next year and seek partners for investment.

“Effectively these are write-offs, though there were some encouraging signs,” said Richard Rose, an oil analyst at Oriel Securities Ltd. “That’s the end of the program. Rigs are going to disappear, and we won’t see any drilling there next year.”

Cairn’s eight-well program, spread over two years, was one of the industry’s most advanced efforts to find oil in Arctic waters and drew protests from activists who said it risked damaging a pristine environment. Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), Chevron Corp. (CVX), Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Statoil ASA (STL) hold licenses to explore off Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory of 56,000 people.

Cairn fell 1 percent to 272.3 pence in London as of the 4:30 p.m. close. The shares are down 35 percent this year.

The unsuccessful Greenland campaign may raise concern that the company, which also has exploration licenses in Spain, may need to find a new focus after it agreed to sell a majority interest in its Indian business to Vedanta Resources (VED) Plc last year. The company has been waiting for more than a year to get approval for the deal.
‘Ingredients for Success’

“The first phase of Cairn’s exploration program in Greenland has encountered oil and gas shows across multiple basins and now reservoir-quality sands in the Atammik block,” Chief Executive Officer Simon Thomson said in a statement. “Whilst we have yet to make a commercial discovery we remain encouraged that all of the ingredients for success are in evidence.”

Greenland’s oil and gas resources may total 50 billion barrels, according to the U.S. Geological survey. That’s more than the U.S.’s proven crude reserves.
Polar Bears

Cairn said it had spent $573 million this year on the unsuccessful Greenland campaign as of the end of September, before the last two wells were completed. The company drilled three exploration wells in 2010. Mike Watts, head of exploration, said in January that Cairn was prepared to spend up to $1.2 billion in Greenland on 10 to 12 wells.

About 20 Greenpeace activists were arrested in July after storming Cairn’s Edinburgh office dressed as polar bears. In August, Greenland’s government said it will publish the company’s contingency plan for an oil spill.

“However the company tries to spin this, Cairn’s Greenland misadventures have been an unmitigated disaster from day one,” Greenpeace said in a statement. “The incredible technical, economic and environmental risks of operating in the Arctic simply aren’t worth it.”