A YELLOW submarine that captured the hearts of Britain has returned from its ice adventure.

Thousands of people voted to christen NERC’s research ship Boaty McBoatface in an online poll. Instead, the name was given to a new minisub.

And the 3.6 metre-long submarine has just got back from a research trip to the Antarctic that saw it dive below half a kilometre of ice.

NERC, the natural environment research council based in Swindon, said: “It is the first time that Boaty has been deployed underneath an ice shelf, demonstrating the important contribution that technology is making to help scientists understand what happens in hostile and otherwise inaccessible parts of the ocean.”

The submarine spent the equivalent of more than two days under the ice on its most recent trip in the southern hemisphere. It travelled 108 kilometres over the course of its Antarctic mission.