Aurora Expeditions celebrated the naming ceremony of its third custom-designed ship, the Douglas Mawson, which joins the Greg Mortimer and the Sylvia Earle in the fleet. The historic moment was commemorated in front of the Port of Sydney.
The company’s founder, Greg Mortimer, gave an emotional welcome to the guests, recalling that the company, now 35 years old, had “returned home,” to the place where it started, an office on George Street, in that city.
The ceremony was attended by members of the Mawson family, including Emma McEwan, great-granddaughter of the ship’s namesake, Sir Douglas Mawson, and godmother of the new ship.
A crowd of dignitaries enjoyed a tour of the ship before the godmother ceremoniously broke a block of ice – and not a bottle – on the bow.
Mortimer shared details of the ship’s construction, a process that, he said, involved 18 months and millions of man-hours. The company detailed the ship’s environmental innovations, such as live weather sensors that provide real-time data from the Southern Ocean, microplastic filtration systems in all washing machines to prevent fiber contamination in pristine environments.
The ship was departing from the Port of Sydney for Tasmania, before continuing south, towards the polar regions, which will be the focus of its operations.
