From its beginning until its demise, the Explorer was an Antarctic pioneer. Launched in 1969 under the name Lindblad Explorer, it was the first ship built specifically to ferry tourists to Antarctica. When it disappeared beneath the polar region’s waters last week, it became the first commercial passenger ship to sink there.But with the rapid rise of ship tourism in Antarctica — perhaps the last major ungoverned territory on Earth — the sinking was not unanticipated. Both the United States and Britain warned a conference of Antarctic treaty nations in May that the tourism situation in the region was a potential disaster in the making.The treaty countries, the US said in a paper presented at the meeting, “should take a hard look at tourism issues now, especially those related to vessel safety, and not await more serious events to spur them to action.”More than 35,000 tourists are expected to visit Antarctica this spring and summer, compared with just 6,750 during 1992-93, according to the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat. And rather than just ships like the Explorer that carry 100 passengers, the flotilla has included such behemoths of the cruise ship industry as the Golden Princess, which arrived with 2,500 passengers and 1,200 crew members last season.Relatively calm seas, the slow pace of the Explorer’s sinking and its proximity to other ships and military rescue forces all helped ensure that the episode was not a disaster. On Sunday, the last of the passengers and crewmen evacuated from the Explorer were airlifted from Antarctica to Punta Arenas, Chile.While the rescue may have been a success, the consequences for the Antarctic’s fragile environment of having a submerged ship that is estimated to be holding 48,000 gallons of marine diesel fuel sitting off its coast are unclear.And while the frontier nature of Antarctica is a large part of its tourist appeal, it also means that the region is a legal muddle. There are no obvious answers about who is responsible for dealing with any environmental damage the Explorer may cause.
