Call to Rattanakosin Public Broadcasting System

[Naio90]

An argentine journalist, working for a documentary film studio, would privately contact the Rattanakosin Public Broadcasting System.

Alex

 

[Alex]

Using a private line, one of the journalists of the Rattanakosin PBS, Wilasinee Pipitkul would answer the phone. His accent was thick.

"RPBS; Wilasinee Pipitkul speaking. How can I help you?"

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

The argentine journalist would respond in a basic but clear english.

"Mr. Pipitkul, thank you for receiving my call. My name is Diego Hernandez, I am an independent investigative journalist and director of a small documentary film studio. The purpose of this call is to offer your channel a project I have just completed and that is very contemporary, perfect for your international affairs section.

As you might know, Argentina and Sweden have currently a big dispute over Antarctica, with discussions still active at the GA and a near open war between both countries. Me and my team had recently access to official sources in the argentine navy and we were able to elaborate a documentary, not on the politics of the issue, but on the, what we call, "Joinville Incident", where an argentine and a swedish ship collided.

We focused on the facts and data, gathered from logbooks, AIS data and radio recordings.

As a small studio we are looking to expand our borders by looking for customers and partners abroad. Should you be interested, we would like to propose a longer cooperation agreement, in which we facilitate to you our new documentary to be broadcast on your international broadcast system, free of cost, and also to work together on future projects.

I have to mention that the dpcumentary contains unrelease footage and recordings and is done in english language."

Alex

 

[Alex]

"A project? I must say that I am in fact interested, Mr. Diego." The journalist would wait for the man to finish before speaking again. "Yes, at this point everyone knows of this GA 'summit' and how its taken nearly eleven months now with next-to no progress towards peace. I must say, sir, that we are very much interested in turning the information that you have collected into a full-blown documentary to be available worldwide. If you could send me this documentary via e-mail or what you have written via fax then I can look over it all and discuss with you what we can and cannot keep - if anything. Please assure that all of this is done with upmost secrecy, I'm certain many parties are interested in this."

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"Thank you for mentioning the fact of the secrecy, due to commercial purposes we would like to ask you to sign a confidentiality contract to not reveal anything before the final release of the work.

I will be sending a copy of the "long version" of the Documentary. You may make suggestions on it, and edit is, just please let us know what the modifications were before publishing it, so that we can have a final check. I'm sure that there will be no issue with that tough.

You fill also find, together with the video file, the script."

Joinville Incident Documentary

THE JOINVILLE ISLAND INCIDENT​

The following documentary was used with the original documentation, logs and recordings from the incident. It would include images and videos of the incident.

The AIS recordings with all the navigational data of the ships, including heading and speed, would be public information.


Introduction:

Last year, the dispute over the White Continent heated up, after disagreements arose about its ownership. Argentina attempted to build a scientific station by dispatching an unarmed icebreaker, and that scientific mission was countered by its interception by a group of swedish royal navy frigates.

Much has been talked about the incident, and leaving aside the political background and the discussions at the GA, we present you here the facts that happened on that sad day in the first days of december of last year.

• In december 1996, the unarmed icebreaker ARA Almirante Storni departed Ushuaia heading for Joinville Island, Antarctica, with logistical and scientific personnel on board and with the objective of establishing a science station in Antarctica, maintaining a steady course. 10 hours later, the icebreaker would reach antarctic waters.

“With everything in place, the fully loaded and prepared ARA Almirante Storni would leave the port of Ushuaia through the Beagle Channel and once in open seas it would begin crossing the treacherous waters of the South Atlantic heading southwards at a steady speed. The safe, direct preestablished route would be mantained. The journey was estimated to take only few days.”

• An unarmed maritime patrol aircraft, that was providing additional coverage for the icebreaker to navigate through the waters full of icebergs would detect 7 armed swedish royal navy ships. The argentine patrol aircraft would establish contact with the swedish navy ships closest to the ARA Almriante Storni.

Exchange of messages between the involved units:

Argentine Maritime Patrol Aircraft: “Unidentified vessels, you are operating unauthorized on argentine antarctic waters, please identify and state your business.”

Swedish Frigate: “Unidentified vessel, unidentified vessel, this is warship Snö of the Swedish Royal Navy. You are entering Swedish territorial waters, please divert your course immediately and state your intentions.”

Swedish Frigate: “Unidentified aircraft, unidentified aircraft, this is warship Snö of the Swedish Royal Navy. You are operating in close proximity to Swedish airspace and you must divert your course now. Our vessel is operating a high powered radar system which may unintentionally and adversely effect your on-board systems. Please identify.”

Argentine Maritime Patrol Aircraft:“HSwMS Snô, you are violating argentine territorial waters. You are ordered to change course and leave the area immediately. I repeat, you are ordered to change course and leave the area immediately.”

Argentine Maritime Patrol Aircraft: “HSwMS Snö, HSwMS Snö, this is an Argentine Navy Patrol Aircraft operating on argentine airspace, you are trespassing argentine waters, the Kingdom of Sweden has no authority here. The Republic of Argentina does not recognize the illegit and unfounded claim over Antarctic territory and immediatly orders you to leave the area. I repeat, you are not authorized to operate on argentine antarctic waters. Any threat or endangering of the unarmed argentine vessels operating in the area will be seen as an act of war. Change your courses to avoid unnecesary conflict and leave the area."

As seen above, the argentine aircraft asked the swedish military ship, on a direct interception course to change direction. It is worth mentioning that the argentine icebreaker is much heavier and more difficult to maneuver than the small agile frigates.

By this point, the swedish frigates, including the HSwMS Snö would have positioned themselves directly in the direction of travel of the ARA Almirante Storni. This was seen on the radars of all involved air and sea units, AIS recordings and visually by the people in range. This represented a clear violation of all international navigational safety conventions.

• During this whole exchange, the argentine icebreaker mantained a steady, clear course, easy to predict and without any danger to regular traffic in the area.

“The ARA Almirante Storni, informed of the movements of the swedish frigates and its messages, would be ordered to continue its planned route, now well inside the coastal waters of the Argentine Antarctic Territory. All personnel on board would be ordered to have their swimvests and protective gear ready, while escape routes and lifeboats would be reviewed, just in case the swedish attempted to attack an unarmed ship. The crew on the bridge would record all radio communications and navigational information, as well as have their front and side cameras turned on recording and livestreaming to its naval base in Ushuaia, where the situation was being monitored. Once at the designted position it would begin preparations for the unloading of equipment and crews on the southern island of the Joinville group to begin logistical and research work there.”

• With the swedish frigate directly moving in, and coming to a halt in front of the argentine ship, the icebreaker would directly contact the swedish blockading ship:

Argentine icebreaker: “Swedish vessel, swedish vessel. Unarmed icebreaker ARA Almirante Storni of the Argentine Navy. You are endangering safe navigation standards by positioning aggresively into our course. We will not alter any direction and order you to IMMEDIATLY get out of our trajectory and leave argentine antarctic waters. You are tresspassing on argentine waters. The Republic of Argentina does not recognize any swedish claim in the area, whatsoever.

Obstructing and endangering an argentine vessel on argentine waters will be considered an ACT OF WAR against the Republic of Argentina and Sweden will be made accountable for it.

Over."

The Icebreaker would slow its pace a little, but mantained its course unchanged. Personnel on board would begin taking precautions anticipating a possible collision considering Sweden's aggresive maneuvering. Everything would be recorded and filmed and relayed to the Orion in the sky as well as to the HQ. With no much more room for alternatives, if the swedish ship did not move, the argentine icebreaker would be cut off by it and a collision would ensue.

Once again the argentine ship called for the swedish to move away from the blocking course to avoid a collision, yet, the swedish military ship did not move away. The argentine ship slowed down to try gain time and make the swedish see the dangerous position they were putting themselves in.

• With the ultimate refusal of the swedish frigate to get out of the course of the icebreaker it put itself into, collision was inevitable:

“The argentine vessel, which did not alter its course at any moment and that had followed an evident and predictanle linear path, would have now no more time to evade the swedish frigate that had intentionaly crossed its line of navigation in utter disregard of all nautical and navigational procedures. On them it was clearly shown that the argentine ship mantained at all times a coherent and linear navigational path even reducing its speed at the sight of the bold swedish maneuver, in sharp contrast with the frigate's trajectory of directly position in the path of the far bigger, heavier and slower argentine icebreaker.”

• As aftermath, the ARA Almirante Storni even though it was heavily damaged, decided to release lifeboats to assist the stranded military sailors, also all coordinates were relayed to Buenos Aires which in turn facilitated all data to the british for them to mount a rescue mission.

“The ARA Almirante Storni would be on halt, with every man in their survival suits and swim vests while the repair crew of the ship tried to get a closer look at the damage on the bow of the icebreaker. It was unsafe to navigate on these waters without knowing the extend of the consequences from the collision. Nevertheless, the captain would order to release some of the lifeboat capsules and hope for the current to move them towards the place where, between patches of oil and debris, Swedish sailors were still to be seen. He could do nothing else at the moment.”

-------------------------------------------------

Much has been speculated, but the fact that the swedish military frigates were attempting to block the advance of the argentine icebreaker would give us a hint that even if the argentine ship would have altered its course, that new one would also have been blockaded by another swedish ship.

This story is far from over it seems…

The conversion, as well as all documents and data is secret and sent over encrypted and private ways of communication.

Alex

 

[Alex]

The journalist would read over everything as quickly as he could before getting back to the other journalist. "I like it, Mr. Diego! I am willing to show it to my superiors, I believe that we will be able to upload it to our broadcasting services nearly as-is. The only exceptions would be adding some more... visuals such as clips and images of similar equipment that was used during the ordeal alongside fixing some of the grammar. Of course, all of these edits will be made to assure watchability and to assure that people actually pay attention to its contents.

Is this okay with you and your team, Mr. Diego?"

Naio90

 

[Naio90]

"Yes, certainly. We are delighted to hear that your Company is interested in working with us. We look forward seeing the final product done and broadcasted, and also to future joint endeavours."

Alex

 

[Alex]

"Wonderful, my team and I will over look the work and work on making it as marketable as possible. Have a good day, Mr. Diego."

If there was nothing else, the journalist would end the call.

Naio90