A Son de Marvideo
106. Ides of March. The schooner that reached Antarctica.
12 June 2025 · 1h 34m · 34 views · Antarctica
What this video covers
Jorge Uría recounts the 1982–83 voyage of the schooner Idus de Marzo, the first Spanish vessel to reach Antarctica, through interviews with surviving crew members gathered at a reunion roughly 40 years later.▶ 2:23 The Idus de Marzo departed Candás, Asturias, on 15 December 1982, stopped at Vigo in a westerly gale, left Santa Cruz de Tenerife on 30 December, and reached Punta Arenas on 20 February 1983 before pushing south past Puerto Williams toward the 60th parallel.▶ 4:44 Captain Javier Babé and first officer Santiago Cañedo skippered a vessel not designed for Antarctic navigation, sailing late in the austral summer when other ships had already ended their campaigns.▶ 3:36 Crew members Alberto Vizcaíno, Joaquín Mariño, Juan Antonio Martín Catoño, and Fernando Cayuela describe how each joined the expedition — some by chance encounter, one by hitchhiking to the boatyard in Navia.▶ 24:17 The Instituto Español de Oceanografía withdrew from the scientific program mid-voyage; two biologists continued aboard informally.▶ 19:46 Hazards included dragging anchor on a volcanic-ash seabed inside Deception Island's caldera during a sudden katabatic storm, growlers appearing at 60°S, and the crew navigating Cape Horn approaches in 30-knot winds with reduced visibility.▶ 11:03 The return passage was made by a skeleton crew of six.▶ 24:57
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