This week on the Sharp seemed to fly by, as I was kept busy with a lot of time on deck. I can say that every time I work with the crew, there is always a problem to solve, and I always learn something new. Last Saturday was a great day, where I continued to monitor the multibeam, as well as perform other tasks to benefit the techs like going online to get brochures for all of the sensors onboard and making a new winch calibration table. I was even able to teach KG a few skills in Microsoft Excel that I had learned in some of my science classes. The CTD winch was fixed, so we could continue to do casts. There were frequent issues with the habcam not outputting video, so we decided to pull it up and spend the rest of the cruise dredging. Unfortunately, there was a long steam to the next site, so the work would be left to the other watch. Sunday was even nicer (if that’s possible), a beautiful day to prep the boat for coming in to port at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. I washed all the sand off the deck and then KG taught me a little about dock lines and the way that we set them up on the Sharp. We passed land masses such as Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, while seeing much more activity and boat traffic. I was the first one on the boat to jump to shore, as I got off to secure dock lines and the gangway.
I got the rest of the day off, and went out with two of the mates and KG to explore the town, which I had never been to before. It was quite gentrified and touristy, and I was blown away by the high prices at the restaurant we ate at. When we returned to the boat, a few fresh crew members (most of whom I sailed with on the first leg) joined us to load food. Monday was cold, raw, and rainy, as we said goodbye to some crew members, like Pam, Jonathan, and KG, and picked up some new ones like Christian, Paul, and Captain Jimmy. We put fresh linens on beds, cleaned science rooms, and helped scientists secure new equipment like tanks and chillers. The engineers noticed that our holding tank was nearly full, and we would have to find a way to pump it out. I was surprised at what we did next; the solution was to move the boat a quarter mile down the harbor to use a pumpout station, then move it back to our slip. That is what we did, which I found fun because I like line handling and wanted to get more practice with it on a large vessel. Once this was done, I got the rest of the day off, so I took a much needed run to stretch out my legs and explore a little more.
Tuesday was departure day for leg three, as Christian and I worked to continue to secure the boat. I handled lines again for the departure, started up the flow through system, and calibrated the SMS. Wednesday was nicer but moderately rough, where dredging began in full force off Cape Cod. Every third dredge, we did a CTD cast, which is becoming routine now thanks to KG’s instruction on the previous leg. It was interesting that every dredge resulted in different substrates and organisms, some full of sand dollars, some with rocks, crabs, sea stars, and some with scallops. We ran into several problems along the way, such as rocks tearing dredge nets, causing us to have to use the crane to swap out the dredge for a spare so science could work on repairing them. Also, Casey, the second engineer, noticed that the ramp on the stern of the boat used to lower the habcam in to the water was bending under the strain due to a corroded frame. We discussed the possibility of an emergency stop in a port to weld it properly. I also got sight of more humpback whales, some within just a few meters of the boat (amazing pictures to come)!
Thursday resulted in more dredging, trying to finish up stations before we decided to make the emergency stop the following day to repair the ramp. One of the dredges was full of scallops, and Christian, Casey, and I saved a few buckets to shuck between tows. I’m not tired of eating scallops yet! We saw more cool organisms like hagfish and a few baby octopi, which we kept in the tanks. Dredging finished with a few hours left of our watch, so Christian and I hosed down the deck, secured the table, and raised the keel to prep for the steam back.
Today I woke up to catch a few lines, as we were back in Woods Hole again. I took a nap after this to attempt to stay on my watch routine of noon to midnight, as this was to be a quick turnaround. After lunch, I went to work, helping Sean, Casey, and TR, a deckhand, lift the ramp with the crane, grind corrosion off the bolts that hold it in place, re install the ramp, and tighten it down. By mid afternoon, we were done with the job. I was helping clean up the tool room and get the boat ready for sea again. I undid lines, started the SMS, and we were off to the habcam sites with a solid deployment ramp. This was to be a long steam out to the beginning of George’s Bank way off Cape Cod, so I had some down time on watch to read and prepare for more work ahead. I also got a chance to talk to Jimmy on the bridge, who told me to keep in touch with him once I got off the boat. As a job crewing a research vessel is definitely appealing to me, I told him that I definitely would. Soon we will be well out to sea to collect more data. Until next week!
Huxley
