Author: Jacob Stremlow

Hello, Hello this will be my final blog.

      First off, this has been a life-changing experience and I feel very fortunate to have gotten this opportunity. I had high expectations that we would get to spend the next two weeks working on the scallop mission but some more problems arose.

       Alex and I had twelve-hour shifts, mine was from 12 AM to 12 PM and his shift was the opposite. Our tech leads were doing six-hour shift changes so Alex and I would get time with each of them on our shifts. Christian was the lead tech and Hunter is the secondary tech. We had picked up the science team and sailed almost 200 miles offshore to do the scallop surveys. My shift ended just before we made it to the survey sites and it was close to 12:30 AM. I went off to bed to get rest for my next shift. Alex and the night crew started dredging and hab-camming that night and into the morning. Unfortunately just before my shift was about to start that next day the hydraulic break on the dredging winch broke. This was disappointing news to start my shift off with but we were still able to hab-cam. We got the dredge up on the table and secured it. Hunter and I helped lower the hab-cam behind the ship with the engineers controlling the winch. Then Hunter and I helped the science crew get the hab-cam winch controls set up and functioning. Everything with the hab-cam seemed to be operating correctly to start off.

       After about 30 minutes the hab-cam winch controls started failing. The engineers tried to fix the hydraulics issue and even managed to get the controls working again. It ended up failing again twice more and the science crew decided to pull the hab-cam out of the water. This was now a total operational shutdown, we could not hab-cam or dredge. There was a lot of talking and deliberation between the captain and the science crew. In the end, it was decided that the chief engineer was unable to solve the hydraulic issues, and the scallop survey was canceled. We headed back to Woods Hole to drop the science crew off and all of their equipment. After they were off we spent the evening in Woods Hole and left for Lewes in the morning.

       It was about a day-and-a-half journey back to Lewes. Once we arrived it was late on Monday and most of the crew left to sleep in their own beds at home. We ended up being out at sea for only seven days out of the planned three weeks but it was a great experience. Tomorrow we are set to offload all the dredging equipment and clean the ship. Alex and I are set to leave this Thursday to fly back to Traverse City, Michigan. 

Thank you all for following my blog,

Jacob Stremlow

The Picture is Hunter, Me, Alex, and Christian (The Tech Team)

Great news, we are preparing to set sail for the mission. We are set to leave today, the 12th of June. We have been offered a two-week extension on our internship to be able to partake in the scallop mission and then the USGS mission afterward. The plan is to test the ship in the bay and ensure that all the various issues have been resolved properly before leaving to pick up the science crew. If all the systems check out we will transit to Woods Hole, Massachusetts to pick up the science crew should take a day and a half. After we load the science crew will have eight days to dredge and use the hab-cam to collect data on the scallop populations. 

In preparation for the mission, the technicians explained the CTD process in more detail and let Alex and I pre-test all the sensors. A CTD is used to create a verticle water column profile that depicts the conductivity, temperature, and density of the ocean in a specific area. This CTD has more sensors than the basic three, including an oxygen sensor and a fluorometer. Attached to the CTD are twelve bottles that can collect water from areas of interest in the water column, they are spring-loaded and seal the water in when the electronic release is triggered. We were shown how to log a CTD scan and how to communicate with the engineers to lower the CTD with the winch. Once a year all the sensors are sent to the manufacturer to be calibrated and have to be updated in the CTD software once they are connected back in the CTD system. I helped with the sensor updating by adding the newly calibrated offsets into the CTD software program and verifying that they were transmitting accurate data.  

I am very excited that we are about to set off for the mission, it has been a long wait but all my patience is about to pay off. The extension on my internship is such a blessing and will help allow me to get more sea time and hands-on experience with the various marine technology systems on the R/V Sharp.

Thanks for checking in with Jake the intern.

Welcome back. This week has been very interesting, we got a lot accomplished. I’ll start with the good news, the circuit breaker was ordered and has finally been installed and tested. The boat is operational and the crew is busy preparing for the last leg of the mission. The marine technician’s director mentioned that there may be an extension of our internship and another mission for us to get more time at sea.  This was great news and it felt like maybe our luck had turned around.

This week we have been busy finishing the keel pods that we prepared for painting last week. Alex and I painted the pods with blue anti-fouling paint, it took several days to get all the sides painted and touched up but we did a great job and they look fantastic. The next step will be setting up the sensors and attaching them to the pods so they are ready to insert into the keel. We also helped to troubleshoot the hydrophone system. The technicians were not receiving a data readout on the computer but they could hear underwater sounds in the attached headphones so we determined the data wasn’t being transmitted to the computer. After tracing the circuit out and testing a few connections we came to the conclusion that the new Windows operating system may be causing the issues with data transfer. The lead tech is emailing SoundGuard, the company that makes the hydrophone software, to see if the problem is related to software compatibility.

Thanks for checking in, 

Jake the Intern

Welcome back, don’t worry I haven’t gone anywhere. We have been delayed due to a circuit breaker issue. The issue has caused the first leg of the mission to be scrapped. Alex, the other intern, and I have been given tasks to work on while we are stuck at port. 

This operation issue has been a big letdown, and with the first leg of the mission being scrapped, we will be spending the first three weeks of our internship at port. Thankful there are great and friendly people who work with us and have helped us continue to learn even stuck at port. The big project we have been working on this week is sanding and preparing the keel pods to be painted. 

Alex and I had to get safety glasses and respirators so we could scrap and sand off the old paint from the pods. The pods are made of aluminum and need to be coated in marine antifouling paint. The antifouling paint helps to prevent barnacle buildup while under the water. In an effort to be more environmentally friendly, the direct John Swallows had us gather and vacuum up all the paint chips and dust to keep it from running into the bay.

The issues with the circuit breaker have been very disappointing and the time lost at sea even more so but I am still trying to make the best of the situation and learn from the wise and friendly staff here. I also purchased an old bike so I could ride around and explore more of Lewes.

Until next time, 

Jake the Intern

The first week has been a wild ride. When I arrived the crew and the lead scientist were in the process of mobilizing the operation. I helped with loading equipment and food supplies. The crew has been very welcoming and friendly to me. Above is a picture of Huxley, he taught me how to crip a cable loop on the end of a steel cable. We were scheduled to leave port last Saturday but as we were in the process of taking off there was an issue with the breaker for the bus coupler that sends power to the drives. The engineers have been working hard to solve the issue but now we are waiting for a replacement part from Italy. The hope is that the part will be here before this weekend and we will be off on the mission. 

This unfortunate event has allowed me time to see the town of Lewes, Delaware. I have explored the state park and visited several beaches. My favorite place has been the “conch hole” as I like to call it. Pictured above is that area and me holding one of the conch snails. I have never seen live conch snails and there are so many of them. They are very interesting to me, some are even larger than my fist. I found out that they can live up to 30 years. 

I am very excited to get underway and hope that the engineers are able to get the ship back up and operational. 

Until next time, Jake the Intern

Hello,

It is a great honor to be selected for this internship opportunity. I am a full-time student at Northwestern Michigan College pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Marine technology and will be graduating this Summer with an Associate Degree in Applied Sciences with a focus on Marine Technology. The ROV and robotics side of marine technology are my favorite subjects but I’m also very interested in sonar and bathymetry. I have always had a great appreciation for the lakes and oceans. I enjoy learning about marine habitats and marine biology. To say that I am excited to get out on the R/V Hugh R. Sharpe is an understatement, I can barely contain my excitement.

Achievements

• • Dean’s List Award from Fall 2021- Fall 2022
• • 4.0 GPA in Marine Technology courses

Activities

• Working on cars, tractors, and motors
• Enjoying/learning about nature and animals
• Creating/repairing circuits and electronics 
• President of the NMC Rotaract Club 2021(sub-group of Rotary International)
• Rotary International Exchange Student – Germany