Beset!

After calling at Casey Station in January 1987, Nella Dan was scheduled to visit Edgeworth David Base in the Bunger Hills and then Law Base in the Larsemann Hills before finally returning to Hobart.

Unfortunately a massive iceberg recently calved from the ice sheet to the west had caused a buildup of dense pack ice in the vicinity of Bunger Hills. Nella Dan continued picking through leads in the ever thickening pack but eventually the leads disappeared and she became beset in slowly rafting pressure ice. Helicopter reconnaisance flights from Nella Dan confirmed the data from the ship's on-board satellite imagery - this single iceberg was a staggering 50km by 80km in size!

The ship remained beset for about a week until broken out by passing Soviet ice-strengthened ship Mikhail Somov.