The "Polar Star" was built in Finland in 1969 as the Swedish A1 Class icebreaker "Njord". She was modernised in 1988 and served as a working icebreaker in the Baltic until April 2000 when ashe was purchased by Tourist company  Karlsen and renamed "Polar Star".
She can carry 98 passengers in 46 cabins and has a comfortable dining hall, a large panoramic lounge, a lecture room, a library, and a saloon bar. She is specially equipped for expedition cruising in polar waters with a fleet of 10 Zodiacs.

In December 2001 she embarked a "Students on Ice 2001" expedition party from the Southern Argentine Port of Ushuaia for a 11 day expedition to the South Shetlands and the Antarctic Peninsula. Details of this expedition along with photos can be seen by clicking here

Note: The above cover has a 2001 Argentine Antarctic Activities miniature sheet. It has the ships cachet at lower left as well as a expedition cachet at lower centre.

Note: this cover bears two Argentine Antarctic stamps. As with the previous item it has been posted on arrival back in Ushuaia.

The picture at right is the view side of the previous postcard. It shows penguins on Paulet Island which is one of the places visited by the expedition.

This is the picture side of the previous postcard. It shows the Argentine antarctic base Almirante Brown at Paradise Bay on the Antarctic Peninsula.

The "Students on Ice" expedition visited this Base but because of funding problems in Argentine, the base was not opened for this season and hence the Post office not open as usual.