Russians Sail to Rescue of Ice Bound Alaska Community

A record winter storm in early November blew out of the Bering Sea and struck the western coast of Alaska. After the winds died, the seas offshore were filled with ice. The sea route to Nome and other communities on the coast was closed for the winter.

On December 12, the Alaska Dispatch carried a column by the head of the Nome Sitnasuak Native Corporation. Jason Evans revealed that the final fuel barge of the season had not made it to Nome. The ice prevented the delivery of 1.6 million gallons of fuel oil, gasoline and diesel. The alternative was to fly in the fuel, with hundreds of flights and an immense cost.

The United States has one working large icebreaker, the Coast Guard cutter Healy, based in Seattle. It has just finished up a scientific mission to the Arctic and was still in Alaskan waters. The U.S. had no way to convey the fuel, however, but the Russian vessel Renda was available for charter. It will shortly be en route to Nome with 1.5 million gallons of fuel.

The Renda is a double hulled vessel and has sailed through ice as thick as five feet in the past. The Dispatch reports that the USCGC Healy will lead the way as the Renda sails through the ever-thickening ice pack towards Nome. The various government agencies have approved the mission and supplies have been pre-positioned in the event of a spill.

Renda expects to be in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, on January 2. KNOM in Nome reports that the ship will taken on its load and be underway as soon as the weather and safety permits. Conditions will be extreme as the two ships will batter their way through the sea ice to Nome. In the last 24 hours, temperatures in Nome have ranged from minus-16 degrees F to minus-31 degrees F. If the trip is successful, it will be the first such seaborne supply for the western Alaska coast.