As of 2026-10-12, Aurora Australis tops the list with 116 seats.
- #1 Aurora Australis — 116 seats
Australian icebreaker and research ship
RSV Aurora Australis was an Australian icebreaker. Built by Carrington Slipways and launched in 1989, the vessel is owned by P&O Maritime Services. It was regularly chartered by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) for research cruises in Antarctic waters and to support Australian stations in Antarctica. Read more on Wikipedia.
Wikidata - #2 RV6000 — 70 seats
ocean research vessel under construction by Vard Group
source Wikidata - #3 Akademik Shokalskiy — 68 seats
ship built in 1982
MV Akademik Shokalskiy is a Russian Akademik Shuleykin-class ice-strengthened ship, built in Finland in 1982 and originally used for oceanographic research. In 1998 she was fully refurbished to serve as a research ship for Arctic and Antarctic work. For two weeks from 25 December 2013 Akademik Shokalskiy was trapped in thick ice in Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica, while operating an expedition for the Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013–2014. The scientists and passengers were evacuated on 2... Read more on Wikipedia.
Wikidata - #4 NRP Don João de Castro — 66 seats
1941 research vessel of the Portuguese Navy
source Wikidata - #5 RRS Bransfield — 58 seats
ice-strengthened cargo vessel
RRS Bransfield was an ice-strengthened cargo vessel, purpose-built for the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). Read more on Wikipedia.
Wikidata - #6 Anna Weber-van Bosse — 47 seats
Flagship of the research fleet of the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
source Wikidata - #7 RV Belgica Ⅱ — 40 seats
Belgian research ship built between 2018 and 2020
source Wikidata - #8 Laurence M. Gould — 37 seats
research vessel built in 1997
RV Laurence M. Gould is an icebreaker that was used by researchers from the United States' National Science Foundation for research in the Southern Ocean from 1998 to 2024. The vessel is named after Laurence McKinley Gould, an American scientist who had explored both the Arctic and Antarctic. He was second in command of Admiral Richard E. Byrd's first expedition to Antarctica from 1928 to 1930. He helped to set up an exploration base at Little America on the Ross Ice Shelf at the Bay of Whales. Read more on Wikipedia.
Wikidata - #9 RV Marcus G. Langseth — 35 seats
American research vessel
RV Marcus Langseth is a research vessel operated by the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) of Columbia University as a part of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) fleet. The Marcus G. Langseth was dedicated on December 4, 2007, came into service in early 2008, replacing the RV Maurice Ewing. Read more on Wikipedia.
Wikidata - #10 RV Augusta — 30 seats
Finnish research vessel
source Wikidata