Category: R/V Hugh R. Sharp

    June 23/24
Lots of boat cleaning. Vacuumed, scrubbed, and organized. Max and I worked on making cardboard mockups of equipment that will go in one of the lab vans for another trip. Packing tape is the worst I rescued a terrapin that somehow got itself over the seawall was stranded in the hot parking lot.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-rU32dKLAh8U/U7G6eleNyXI/AAAAAAAAJeg/Xet_6Tv5s94/s1200/_MG_0126.jpg A terrapin. 

    June 25
Still waiting for the replacement control board, it should be on it’s way from Italy. Since we know the motor itself works and we won’t have to re-open the deck, we finally mounted the ramp and sorting table for the scallop dredge.

    June 26/27/28/29
We found out that the part actually never shipped from Italy and it would be another few days. There was even a rumor that the part made it to America but was accidentally shipped back. It finally got here but it was stuck at the shipping place in PA over the weekend. So close but so far. Thats a few more lost days. 

A new plan has finally come together to get the trip going on this boat. Sounds like it’s not getting canceled. The scallop trip is critically important because NOAA can’t set regulations without good population data. Fishermen are very opposed to regulation based on old or extrapolated data, and rightfully so. Somehow NOAA and/or NSF made a deal with the next cruise (or just bumped them) and added about 11 days to this trip. Hopefully I’ll be able to stay on for those. If we ever get off this dock.  

Max and I got to go for a short ride on UDEL’s brand new R/V Joanne Daiber, a 46’ boat built for coastal research and ROV work. It’s very nice and had a bunch of ROV’s onboard. It was great to actually get on the water for a little while.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-btTUVuhdQEo/U7G6kNFZU8I/AAAAAAAAJe8/baFG5r2mtiI/s800/_MG_1392.jpg Finally offshore, temporarily.

I organized some shelves of wires and wrote up instructions for the next person who has to clean out the followthrough system.

    June 29
Woke up to lots of alarms going of on the bridge. Turns out we temporarily lost shore power and the equipment freaked out. The chief mate got everything back in order. Later we had a little problem with the air conditioning but got it fixed pretty fast.

The motor part should get here today and hopefully we’ll be out to sea tonight or tomorrow.

    June 30

The part got here! The engineers installed it but had some problems with the software. If everything works out we’ll be able to do our sea trial tonight. The situation seems to be getting better. The scientists are on their way back from woods hole. I really hope they don’t get turned around again- for their sake and everyone else’s. The engineers are working hard and things are looking good for a sea trial tonight.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Ky14OyRPBwM/U7G6k5GkgVI/AAAAAAAAJfU/X3L2JGuD_lE/s1200/_MG_3870.jpg Better than Christmas.

Something went wrong on the CTD crane and the cable got kinked. Ted, Max, and I had to re-terminate it. I cut apart the old seals and made a diagram of the wire connections. Re-terminating involves cutting the end off the cable, resplicing the wires, reattaching the cable to the connector, and resetting the connections in a waterproof potting compound. To mechanically attach the cable, the end is bunched into a “birdsnest” which is placed in side the metal connection fitting. A chunk of soft metal with a very low melting point is heated and poured in around the cable. When it cools it creates an extremely strong connection. I took some pictures of the process for the procedure manual.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-v3nnp2ON_74/U7HWI0aUbMI/AAAAAAAAJhs/ECSsgA41svM/s800/_MG_3930.jpg Casting the cable end

    June 16th
I spent the whole day rust busting and sanding the box corer. One part had an extremely rusty weld, I kept chipping and chipping without finding the bottom of the rust. Tim came over, jammed a chisel in there, and snapped the part right off. I didn’t think the weld was THAT weak! The whole device will be sent in to get assessed and re-welded once I get the rust taken care of.

The motor arrived back from the company- all fixed! It was lowered through the big deck plate and the engineers set about reinstalling it and reconnecting everything. The guys from the motor repair company were here too and I talked to them about the problem. They suspected the same thing as the engineers- that one of the rectifiers went bad and fried the DC drive motor by sending AC power into it. But nobody knew for sure.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ey9FRFbkXd0/U7G6qYG5-_I/AAAAAAAAJgw/PUrJ-mDo6Dk/s800/_MG_8488.jpg Motor is back!

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-JRiQdEXFhHY/U7G6q-LPUfI/AAAAAAAAJg8/aoyioZgKcac/s800/_MG_8585.jpg Engineers reinstalling it.

We temporarily test-mounted a big new sideframe that can deploy equipment over the port side. It’s not for this trip, but is another cool piece of equipment and we know it will work next time.

    June 17th.
The scientists came back since the motor was fixed.

I finished cleaning and applying corrosion-inhibitor to the box corer.

The engineers worked on fixing the bow thruster, which wasn’t working because a cooling fan went bad.

One weird thing I’ve noticed is that most of the electronics on the ship are always left on. I’ve asked about it, and the answer is “so that we know if it stops working”. It doesn’t really make sense to me. But Sharp is usually at sea running everything, not sitting at the dock waiting. At least we’re on shore power which probably comes in large part from the wind turbine nearby.

The ship is rigged with cameras all over the place so that people can remotely monitor other spaces/equipment if necessary. The scientists fly the HABCAM from their control center in the dry lab, and wanted a camera view of the winch like the doghouse has. Ted and Max had been trying to get this set up for the last couple days, but none of the splitters or signal amplifiers they got seemed to work. I thought about it suggested we check the doghouse monitor for a video-out port that we could plug directly into. We found it, and it worked! Solving real problems on the ship is a great feeling.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-n9Y1ppHf7dU/U7HTUXBljTI/AAAAAAAAJhc/pBpSVC8FgHk/s800/Screen+Shot+2014-06-30+at+5.11.36+PM.png The computer setup in the dry lab where science crew will “fly” the habcam.

I organized some of our drawers and installed a smoke detector in the lab van.

Rumor has it that the motor will be all ready for a sea trial tomorrow. Great news!

    June 18th
Motor didn’t work. Turns out it probably is something wrong with the rectifiers. A specialist is coming in from PA to figure out our rectifier problems. Like a lot of stuff on this boat, It’s a highly complicated and unusual system made by a company that doesn’t exist anymore. Parts and expertise are hard to come by. Apparently the New York ferries have a similar setup and this motor guy works on those. Hopefully he will solve our problems.

I went for a nice bike ride into town. It’s a beautiful little beach community with historic sites and nice little shops that are too expensive to buy anything from. I checked out some of the parks and museums, including a lightship and a house with a cannonball stuck in it.

I did a little fishing and taught Earnest, a student with the scientists, how to fish. We saw lots of baitfish and a saw a blacktip shark feeding on the surface but didn’t catch anything.

June 19, 2014

The motor problem was in the rectifier and we’re still stuck here for a while.

I spent most of the day hanging out with the scientists. We had breakfast at Surf Bagel, everybody’s favorite bagel shop. In the afternoon we rented kayaks and went for a paddle in the mash. It was gorgeous. I had wanted to kayak in there since I arrived but figured I’d never get the chance. It was good to get a long workout and have some fun away from the boat. We saw a lot of cool wildlife. I brought my camera gear with me and got a few nice pictures. Some people are horrified to watch me change lenses in a kayak- but bringing it into risky places is the only way to get good pictures. Ultimately, it’s what the camera is for. I really enjoy shooting from a kayak because animals don’t see you as a threat for some reason. It was interesting to note the differences in wildlife (and people) between Delaware and New York. These places are not that far apart, but things are distinctly more “southern” here.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-YsrPakLwLOs/U7G6gyoqBzI/AAAAAAAAJeE/L2_DYhx3hok/s1200/_MG_0460.jpg Kayaking

Earnest and I fished more in the evening and saw a cownose ray. All we caught was a someone’s old lost lure- but catching a fake fish is still catching a fish in my book!

All in all a fun day.

    20/21/22
Not much going on these days; still standing by to stand by. The boat is still not working but we are progressing toward a solution. The engineers swapped parts between motors until they found the problem- one of the rectifier control boards. They have to locate and order a replacement part, but once we swap it in everything should work. That’s great news. But a new circuit board is hard to find and may take a while to get here. Every single part of this boat comes a different foreign company and everything is extremely complex.  

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-HJevXeyvmu8/U7G6emCVIEI/AAAAAAAAJeQ/apztvPMHGV8/s640/IMG_0313.jpg The root of all evil.

I biked to town a few times to get stuff and go to the beach. I also went for a bike ride into what I thought was going to be part of the nature preserve, but I ended up finding cleared woods and a new housing development. Saw a fox and got some cool pictures though. Also biked into town more.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-peMSeJ2u1Eg/U7G6jrgsaBI/AAAAAAAAJg0/jWI100w80qw/s800/_MG_0923.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Tv5FYxKuHFA/U7G6hvV8jMI/AAAAAAAAJec/__5jXA_PVBE/s1200/_MG_0767.jpg

I went out to dinner with the scientists again. Lots of talk about canceling the trip and other options. Sharp is by far the best boat for the job and there aren’t a whole lot of other ways to do it. They left again the next morning. Everyone is very worried about the trip getting canceled. We’ve sat at the dock too long. It’s costing a lot of money.

June 7th
Got picked up from Salisbury along with Brent. TR, the deckhand who picked us up, broke some bad news when I got in the car. The ship had suffered a pretty serious motor failure the previous day. Nobody knew what happened or how long the repairs would take, but it sounded like we wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while. During the car ride TR told us all about the scallop survey, the crew, and life on the ship. I learned a lot- some exciting and some worrying.

I got to the ship and was welcomed aboard. I was actually here! Everything on the ship was unfamiliar and overwhelmingly cool. The scientists were loading equipment with the deck crane and everybody was working. I met a whole bunch of people in quick succession including my mentor, Ted. Ted started as a MATE intern and is now Sharp’s lead technician. He showed me my room, which I had to myself for now, and gave me a quick tour of the ship. I pretty much followed Ted around for the rest of the day asking questions.

R/V Hugh R Sharp is a relatively new and incredibly high-tech vessel built to conduct a wide range of research. There are computer displays everywhere, an special crane system for the carousel, a big A-frame with two large winches (one fiberoptic). Four big diesel generators power the ship and run two electric Z-drives. Actually, only one z-drive at the moment. The modular deck is set up to be reconfigured with different equipment, as are the large dry and wet labs. The dry lab is currently packed with computers from the scientists. The ship can hold two 20 foot vans (interchangeable container-like rooms) one of which is onboard and set up to measure scallops. The bridge looks like something out of star trek: Three big chairs, a semi-circle of screens, several control panels, and joysticks instead of a wheel. The bridge wraps all the way around for a 360? view and has a mini-control center in the rear for steering or operating cranes.

Already I felt like I should be doing something and helping. But I had no idea what to do or how to do anything. Everyone was talking about the motor and waiting for information. Standing by to stand by. I helped the cook load some groceries, then we were all given the day off. We spent it at the beach. Definitely exactly what I was expecting for the first day of my internship, but a great way to get to know some of the crew and hear their stories, advice, and opinions about working on the ship.

The plan is to work on maintenance and preparations while we sit at the dock. It sounds like there’s a lot to do, the ship has a long list of neglected and broken things. In port we work 7am-3pm monday-friday instead of a rotating watch. Most of the crew live nearby in town and are not staying on the ship overnight. The scientists stay here though.

The starboard drive motor has been removed through a large deck hatch and brought to a repair company in dover. I don’t know the extent of damage but I’ve heard people say it was pretty bad. While we wait for the motor, we’re fixing broken/neglected stuff, preparing equipment, and the scientists are setting up their gear.

    June 8th
Two main sampling techniques are going to be used for this scallop survey: a simple scallop dredge and the HABCAM v4. The HABCAM (Habitat Camera) is basically a big towed camera that photographs the sea floor and creates a continuous ribbon of pictures. It doesn’t disturb the bottom the way a dredge does and can provide a whole lot of interesting data. Its heavy stainless steel frame is just smaller than a car and holds the camera, flashes, and several other sensors including a sidescan sonar unit. It’s towed just over the bottom and sends images up our fiberoptic winch cable.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/D1HSs3TnSdOSaUJf-RjAGrmVY76ceysKV-lKjL5QGt8 HABCAM being positioned on deck whith the crane.

The scientists spent the day working to re-terminate and attach our fiber cable, which  apparently is not an easy task. The cable is spliced and epoxied into a large metal fitting which bolts to the habcam. They had to do a pull-test to set the cable into the epoxy and make sure it was strong enough. We attached the fitting to the deck and pulled 11,000 pounds of tension on it with the winch. It held.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cfmF468GCz4/U7G6l_U6lFI/AAAAAAAAJfg/yavRFiFBEXo/s1200/_MG_4529.jpg HABCAM cable termination

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Wcmm716_W-k/U7G6YKMlHcI/AAAAAAAAJcw/j7JsApE7RL0/s512/IMG_0086.JPG pull test

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-RIFy4pzf5gI/U7G6mfBZ0BI/AAAAAAAAJfk/CiVJ8l4nP2g/s800/_MG_4562.jpg and dunk test

Later in the evening I went to the movies with some of the scientists. It seems like the crew and the scientists tend to separate themselves. Technicians are in an interesting place in the middle. I like our science people and want to get to know them better.

    June 9th
There was supposed to be a fiberoptic internet cable running under the parking lot so that the boat has high speed internet while in port. We hooked it up but it wasn’t working. Instead, we ran a few hundred feet of cat5 cable from the building, high over the driveway and to the ship. It didn’t work immediately and we spent a few days messing with network stuff.

Brent, the technician who came to the ship with me, left. UNOLS can’t pay him to sit around without the ship going anywhere.

To be honest, things here are a little more chaotic, unregulated, and SNAFU than I was expecting. I’m slightly worried about some of it. Sharp, though young, has streaks of rust down the sides of her white hull. A bunch of systems are broken. Stuff isn’t strapped down for heavy seas. All the high-tech design features add over-complication and more things to break. I’ve already heard plenty of complaints, “office politics”, and seen some questionably safe things. There’s less of an oppressively safety-first atmosphere and less motivation that I’ve experienced elsewhere. I suppose I got used to the procedures and attitude at Sea Education Association, where they go WAY above and beyond with safety, caring for the ship, keeping order, and doing everything exactly by the books. But SEA has to- they’re training people and bringing new students far out to sea. Things on the Sharp are a little more “practical”. I think the problems are mostly due to us being stuck at the dock without most of the crew aboard. Everybody says that it will be entirely different once we put to sea.

    June 10
Apparently the motor “lost it’s field” (whatever that means) and burned out. It’s salvageable but needs new brush mounts. These are a pretty simple-looking part, however they’re made of a weird alloy that has to be special ordered or custom forged. Nobody seems to know what actually caused the motor to burn out. Hopefully we can get the parts and be out in a few days.

We went into town to buy some tools, equipment, and gear. It turns out that the foul weather stuff is for working with the scallops and dredge; we need the real heavy fisherman kind instead of what I had. My boots also aren’t tall or waterproof enough. They got me a set of Grundens.

Max (one of the ships techs) and I spent a lot of this week cleaning out the flowthrough system. The followthrough system allows scientists to continuously collect basic water quality data by pumping sea water through a series of sensors that take measurements. Someone had run it improperly and left salt water sitting in it. Everything inside was coated with sludgy algae. Max and I drained the system then disassembled the tubes and machines to clean everything out. Somehow, there had been full-grown barnacles living in this thing! Hopefully they weren’t eating too much plankton before it got to the fluromoeter. Not that it would read properly anyway because they were living in the cuvette as well. We thought that the cleaning the flowthrough system would be an afternoon project at most- just snaking out the pipes. In reality, it took about four days.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-q1Id6oPyKIc/U7G6aBmZ8RI/AAAAAAAAJdA/mD2HnFhi2HI/s800/IMG_0130.JPG Working on the flowthrough system.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-uso7pdrJNbQ/U7G6ZkHAH0I/AAAAAAAAJc8/6ekj8Gn4alE/s800/IMG_0122.JPG That’s a declicate cuvette completely full of barnacles.

    June 11th
Finally finished with the flowthrough, Ted asked me to design a waterproof box for an ethernet hub in the doghouse (winch control booth on deck). I took measurements and found an otterbox that will be perfect once modified. Ted ordered it.

The Sharp has a tall flybridge which raises our center of gravity but is a great platform for mounting antennas and spotting things in the water. Today us techs ran cables through the ship and installed a new set of 4g antennas up on the top. These will give us a pretty good internet connection when we’re within range of cell towers.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-D3s-gi3cXiM/U7G6clKNHWI/AAAAAAAAJdY/E9_GgZnxoxU/s800/IMG_0151.JPG There are definitely not enough antennas up there. Lets add more!

Working aloft was a lot of fun. I already feel like a real part of the crew. I think we all mesh very well- in large part because we share a similar crude and sarcastic sense of humor. I love it, it makes every job more fun.

The engineers fixed a problem with the sewage system and also got the bow thruster back online. It was a good day. Things got done.

We saw a huge sea turtle right here in the harbor, probably a loggerhead. There are also diamondback terrapins all over the place. Our marina is right at the mouth of an estuary, next to a big salt marsh and nature preserve. There’s a remarkable amount of life here. Schools of fish, diverse birds, and plenty of fishermen. It seems to be an strikingly healthy, flourishing ecosystem. There are several osprey nests, one of which is on a pole about a hundred feet from the ship. In it, two attentive parents are raising an adorable fledgeling. The Sharp’s flybridge is just about level with the nest, we can easily see them bring fish back and feed the baby.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-I6meiyMbWVY/U7G6oXJvoOI/AAAAAAAAJgI/AFHgLXTstc4/s1200/_MG_5503.jpg See? Turtle.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-LUM_7zT5_SE/U7G6nbirj8I/AAAAAAAAJf0/NIX_ehk8pwM/s1200/_MG_5408%2520srgb.jpg
Osprey family.

Speaking of food, the food onboard has been great! Paul is a good cook.

    June 12
We had to take the sketchy parking lot ethernet cable down, then put it back up again. Sort of annoying and dangerous. Anything for that high speed connection though!

The scientists finished their setup and went back to woods hole at 5am. They can’t sit around while the boat isn’t going anywhere. I feel pretty bad for them, hopefully this delay doesn’t impact their projects too much.

Ted asked me to organize our spare parts, which are kept in the forward storage room. That bow compartment is also where all the nonperishable food and drinks are kept. Since we had recently taken on food that nobody put away, I couldn’t get past it to reach most of our tech stuff. I spent most of the day cleaning up and organizing food stores. I wasn’t really supposed to move all the food around, but it was in my way. Luckily the cook and captain both said they appreciated it. Once our food was out of the way I straightened up and consolidated the boxes of tech stuff and made sure they were as secure as possible. I couldn’t properly inventory everything because I’m just learning with most of the random cables are for. This was a perfect way to start getting familiar with what we have onboard.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-5vHNt5hyfp0/U7G6d4B0pDI/AAAAAAAAJek/8yH3Jj7Borg/s512/IMG_0178.JPG before

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-kakSc7xmYsQ/U7G6ehglQfI/AAAAAAAAJds/hu9Z4N7_8Ag/s512/IMG_0179.JPG after

Tim, who’s in charge of the tech department, lent me a bike to get around on. It’s a big help while we’re here in port.

    June 13
I Helped TR with his project- renovating and organizing one of the deck lockers. Then I was given the job of cleaning up an old box corer. It’s a heavy metal device that’s dropped to the bottom and takes a large sediment sample. It’s very rusty. I learned how to use a needle gun to remove rust. The needle gun is a pneumatic tool with a bunch of quickly reciprocating rods that chip rust away very effectively. Rust busting is hard work, but actually pretty fun.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-SC04JN-cPCE/U7G6oz6xlpI/AAAAAAAAJgU/0JpFL9hThpM/s1200/_MG_5535.jpg Cleaning up part of the box corer.

The marina shop here is amazing. It’s a small warehouse with everything from a machine shop to a woodworking space. There’s a multi-story garage called the high bay with big doors and a 5-ton lift that can travel across the ceiling. Awesome place to work.

There was a beautiful lightning storm in the evening, I took some pictures from the bridge.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-89u8WM2u_1g/U7G6ozlfBUI/AAAAAAAAJgc/xyBE3YMnVgc/s1200/_MG_5710.jpg Life is dangerous when you’re an osprey.

    Weekend June 14/15
Saturday I slept late, relaxed, and did a little work. Sunday I was just getting ready to spend the day in town when Max showed up and took me to a cookout at Ted’s house. We played lawn games and grilled scallops that were frozen from the last cruise. They were delicious.

Applying, packing, and travel:

I guess I should start at the very beginning. I found the MATE internship program completely by chance. I recently built a simple ROV and was looking at MATE’s website to see if it qualified for the ROV contest. I noticed the internships tab and realized that it was a really unique opportunity. It offered serious time at sea doing real hands-on work on research vessels. And they pay you. And cover travel. Most comparable positions aren’t available to undergrads. Excited, I applied and hoped for the best.

MATE  got back to me saying that I may be placed on Healy and Oceanus, then that I would be on University of Delaware’s R/V Hugh R. Sharp for a whole six weeks. I was ecstatic. Sharp would be conducting an annual survey of sea scallops to help set fishing regulations.

Most of my preparation consisted of paperwork and emails. MATE wants participants to enroll for credit, so I signed up for my home university’s summer internship course.  Big mistake. It is not set up for this type of program, it’s more expensive than MPC’s, and it requires a whole lot of paperwork and homework- some of which is impossible for me to do at sea. By the time I realized what I got myself into, it was too late to drop it. Be careful what you sign up for!

Packing. It’s always hard to know how much to pack. MATE’s “what to bring” list, though helpful, seemed very normal and I felt like I would need more things. My mentor said I’d need steel-toe boots and foul weather gear, but the ship could buy them for me. I packed my sailing foulies and found some steel toed boots in the closet. I brought enough clothes for about two or three weeks on a ship, which is significantly less than one might need for the same amount of time on land. The Sharp has a laundry machine but I didn’t expect it to be usable all the time. I brought some bedding, toiletries, snacks, a flashlight, and my leatherman multitool. I charged up my camera and brought a wide lens, a long lens, and a bunch of other gear.

Where I live in New York isn’t that far from Sharp’s port in Delaware. I was sort of surprised that MATE decided to fly me there instead of using a train or bus. Whatever works! I weighed my bag on a scale to make sure it was under the airline’s 50lb limit and moved some stuff to my backpack.

June 6th 2014 – Adventure begins.

4am. My airport taxi got there early to bring me to my 6am flight. His headlights shined into my house from the inky night as I got my things together and scrambled downstairs. My flight went to North Carolina, then Salisbury, Maryland. I stayed in a hotel overnight and was picked up the next day along with another UNOLS technician.

 

  So the last cruise didn’t go so well. Once again there was a lot of time spent just waiting around for science to need me. And the chief scientist on this particular cruise was like that one customer that no matter what you do, they are never happy. I guess that is part of the learning experience, though.

   The last cruise consisted of more CTD casts and the over the side deployment of the science teams FIRe. The FIRe is an instrument that determines the health of an organism (phytoplankton) by measuring it’s fluoresence. We spent most of our time anchored just south of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. It was monotonous and boring but at the same time, I am now an expert at doing CTD casts!

   The last few days were spent about 137 miles offshore just past the continental shelf in over 2500 meters of water. There we tried to do several casts at varying depths. First at 50 meters, then down to 750, then 2500. During the 750, the termination failed at about 500 meters. We brought it up and reterminated. The next cast was a success. Unfortunately, the 2500 meter attempt ended in failure as well. This time though, it wasn’t the termination. It stopped reading at a certain depth but then continued as we brought it up. We are pretty sure it has something to do with a faulty cable and extreme pressure. They will have to do further investigation to figure this one out.

   Back at the dock in Lewes, DE. We spent the day getting the ship ready for the next cruise and I helped Ted reinstall the ship’s ADCP after two weeks of being out of service. I have only slept about 6 hours or so in the last three days so this blog will have to remain short once again. I’ve learned a lot over the last few weeks and will be walking away from this experience confident that I can do this job. This time tomorrow I will be sitting in my new house finally able to get some much needed rest.

      Signing off…

 

 

       It’s been a week since I boarded the R/V Hugh R. Sharp. So far the experience has been amazing. The crew is pretty laid back and very helpful. The food is delicious and the weather has been great! I feel right at home.

      We spent the last few days surveying a fish haven just off the coast of Delaware. We used several different instruments to map the seafloor and compile data; the ship’s multibeam sonar and sub-bottom profiler and the science teams AUV. We also did CTD casts and sediment grabs with a Smith-Mac. The science team used their ROV to check out some sites for dive ops (unfortunately all the diving happened off my watches). 

      I was pretty much thrown right into the thick of things starting on my first watch. I was given some direction on what was going on and how to do it and then left on my own. It was a little overwhelming at first but my training kicked in and everything went smoothly. I was even tasked with doing a hard eye splice on either end of a rope later used with a mooring. It took me a couple tries before I remembered how to do it but they came out awesome. That rope is now sitting 25 meters below the surface connecting an ADCP to a 900lb. mooring anchor.

      This past week has been nothing but hard work. It’s dirty, wet, somewhat dangerous, and the work is never done. Your either working, sleeping, or eating. Before I started this internship, I expected my blogs would be a lot longer than this but man, I’m tired. I can barely keep my eyes open. At the end of the day though, that’s what I like.

I am right where I want to be.

      

As I count down the last few days of my summer vacation leading to my internship aboard the R/V Hugh R. Sharp, I find myself becoming increasingly anxious. I have spent the last weeks preparing for my adventure by going over the information sent to me by my mentor, gathering items to bring, and tying up some loose ends at home. No matter what I do to get ready, I still feel unprepared, although, in reality, I am most likely more prepared than I think I am! This opportunity means a lot to me and I have worked hard to get here. Hopefully I will be able to hit the ground running! 

 

July 17

 

Days at sea: 10 since leg three of NOAA scallop survey

Time: 0312

Weather:  clear, 65.69^oF with 90% humidity

Wind Speed 8.1 kts

Sea State: 0-1ft swell

Position: 41 24.68N x 069 53.71W

 

            Leg three to the northern edge of George’s bank began July 9^thfrom Woodshole MA. Let me begin by saying on the tech side of things, most of the wrinkles for this cruise seemed to have been ironed out. All systems have been running smoothly. I continue to do my daily checks on the CTD sensors, and clean the filter on the ship’s underway surface water sampling system. On our HabCam runs I have written a procedure guide for these daily checks to be added to the ship’s technician manual. 

            For two or three watches we had the HabCam in the water but since then we have been dredging almost non-stop. The most notable change to our dredging routine was the addition of the off-ship shoot. The dredges have been bringing up boulders and rocks. We have attached this large metal slide to the dredge table on the starboard side and we then use it to push/shove/roll/tumble the boulders down, right into the sea. Its times like these that I wish the Sharp had its own supply of ogres, these rocks are heavy. Our first tow of this leg pulled up 20-bags worth of scallops, but they were also a little on the old-side.            

Scallop productivity continued to be high on this part of the bank as we have pulled up more scallops in this past week during our dredges than we did for all of leg-one and leg-two combined. The grand total for all three legs has come to 192 dredges. It seemed for the past three days we were doing maybe 7-10 dredges an evening, with a CTD every three stations. I have barely had time to run into the galley for a midnight snack, or stay out-of my foul-weather overalls for more than half an hour at a time.

            While I cannot say that every station has brought up a bag full of rocks, those that do keep us plenty busy. Usually we have just been able to finish sorting the catch, and to get the deck hosed down before we arrive at the next station. To ease the trouble of boulders slightly  “rock-chains” are added to the mouth of the dredge. These are simply a grid of chain meant to keep the larger rocks from filling in our catch. From the rocks which do make it into the dredge, they do a hefty damage to the net-like liner (used to catch the small fish, crabs, sea stars, baby scallops, substrate, snails, hermit crabs, etc) inside of the dredge. During leg one I remember saying “science can’t possibly need three dredges and this huge pile of liners,” I now stand corrected. During the transit time we had to switch the dredges out multiple times so that the science crew could work on repairing them. We do this with the help of the engineer on duty who uses the crane move the dredge on and off the sorting table. While the weather (I still don’t want to say this for paranoia of a shift) has been more than pleasant, calm waters and comfortable air, we still use tag-lines to guide the dredge into position.

            The technician John, from Savanna, has stood in for Ted as my watch partner this leg. It has been a pleasure working with him and hearing about the ways in which his boat is different, both on deck and with tech-systems. It was an interesting feeling beginning a watch with someone who knew less about the Sharp’s set up and the dredging operations. I got to act in part as a teacher while simultaneously being a student.

            The other benefit of staying on all three legs of the trip is the continuing interaction with the science crew. As more people have left the ship and others have joined us, I have gotten to meet several sets of scientists. For example, on leg one I met the lead scallop researcher, on leg two the computer programmers and now on leg three on of the engineers who designed and built the HabCam. All involved on this leg have been really enjoyable to work with. We make sure to plug in our music during our sorting sessions, and everyone works really hard. A lot of hands, minds, and attention have been used from all sides, both volunteer and professional, to make the monetizing of scallop fishery possible.

            We are currently headed into port to Woodshole Oceanographic Institute as we have finished the dredging for the trip. It will be a quick turn-around. The plan is to offload all of science’s equipment including the sorting table, the rock slide, the three dredges, numerous buckets shovels and rakes, computers, and all of the organism measuring tables, leaving only the HabCam onboard. We will then HabCam all the way back to Lewes DE for the remaining two days of this cruise. After that, the summer sea portion of the NOAA scallop survey will be complete.

            I am so lucky to have been placed on this boat in particular for this survey. I have loved bringing up the dredges and watching what comes out of them. I still am the biggest fan of shucking and popping a raw scallop into my mouth for a quick snack. Being able to couple dredging with HabCam seems like a perfect balance. The camera allows the scientists to observe the scallops in their natural habitat while dredging keeps us from missing any essential details. In addition I have learned how operate the CTD and have peered into the world of data. Bravo overall!

 

I’m missing the family and my friends, I hope you are all doing fantastically! Thank you again everyone for all of your support- it’s been good-ol’-hard-work out here.

 

Until next time,

-MG

 

R/V Hugh R. Sharp

Leg two of scallop population survey

July 06 2013

 

 

Days at sea: 7 since leg two

Time: 0021

Weather:  Fog, 59.99^oF with 96% humidity

Wind Speed 13.7kts

Sea State: 1-2ft swell

Position: 41 10.08N x 066 38.81W

 

The Happenings

Leg two of the survey began June 24^thand left from the Sharp’s home port in Lewes Delaware. Coming into port cracks the crew’s smiles as they get to sleep in their own beds, reunite with those people and pets they miss, and of course unwind from their twenty-four-hour floating “office.” While I have not gotten too truly homesick, and continue to learn every day, I have gained a higher appreciation to those who spend at times up to two thirds of their year at sea. Seasons pass, children grow, and tomatoes ripen.

            After taking care of some cleaning and the morning projects, I was given the afternoon off in between leg one and two to explore onshore. I managed to stay on land long enough to get eaten alive by bugs, buy some new books, and order various beverages…an americano included. I walked away from the Sharp and onto the hot humid beaches of the bay. Beach umbrellas and horseshoe crabs put a different beach flare than what I am used to, just another reminder that I am on the east coast. Everyone seems very friendly in small town coastal Lewes and ready for their summer.

            The intention of the second leg is essentially the same, to dredge and film scallops, this time north off the southern side of Georges bank. While I expected all to be the same, the second leg has taken on a totally different character. The switch of crew both on deck and for science is partly responsible. I attest the rest of the change to weather and darkness. I now stand the night watch, 1730 to 0530 and so I begin my days with sunset and await the peek of dawn. Both night and day have been shadowed in cool fog which is different from leg one’s sunny days with “bathtub” swells.

            Those who became seasick for the first few days could affirm the rougher seas. The Sharp notoriously is a rocky ship. This is due to her small keel combined with the heavy high tower used as a marine mammal observation platform. Working on deck with in the darkness and the occasional wave crashing on deck was exciting. With weather getting worse, and the anticipated 12+ foot seas and 30 knot winds the bridge decided to dock in Woodshole Massachusetts.

            The unexpected three days in port so soon after leaving has made seemed to cut the trip nearly in half. We are already headed south and homeward and are currently re-tracing our dredge cruise track with the HabCam. I enjoyed my time in Woodshole and was not expecting so much onshore travel during my internship. I spent a day visiting a friend from school who is interning at WHOI for the summer. I also got to pay my respects to the tallship SSV C. Cramer of Sea Education Association (SEA). The last time I was in Woodshole was about three years ago when I was a student with SEA, I had nothing but good memories flooding back. The seas have continued to calm and we have been able to continue dredging as usual.

Marine Technician Meets Marine Critter

            The most notable marine technician related events of leg two have been the failures of two ADCPs, changing the batteries on the sound velocity probe, and training to run the multi-beam sonar.

            The ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler) computer was failing to communicate with the instrument at the end of leg one. Technician from the R/V Blue Herron who was onboard helped Ted determine that the problem was a bad connection by looking at the system’s various com ports. So, once on land we pulled the ADCP out of the water where it is attached to the bottom of the keel. The keel on the Sharp it is attached to large air filled bladders which allow us to raise it. Once out of the water, large pipes on the keel where the instruments are mounted (and with cables connecting them to the ship) can be lifted out of the water using the crane.

            Upon detaching the ADCP it was apparent that the cable connection had failed, as white electrolysis goo surrounded the connection. We installed the second ADCP kept on board and during our short trip from Lewes to Woodshole this one failed as well. When we pulled out instrument for the second time, we could see the same problem beginning. After some investigation as to what may be causing the problem it appears a change in cable manufacturing may be to blame. The cable itself has male and female parts (pins and holes) so it is imperative that they fit together properly. It seems that the newly designed cables have an added piece of plastic for reinforcement. This ‘bump’ can lean on the cable connection causing the holes to become more oval and putting pressure on the pins. Alas, we have no ADCP running currently. One handy trick I learned was to mix cayenne powder with the grease that coats the instrument, this slows growth of barnacles and other bio-fouling.

            As far as a little midnight project goes working on the sound velocity probe was interesting. You would think changing batteries would be simple, not so. The only way Ted and I could see to get this task done was to cut the old battery free, use a wire stripper, and solder the new battery to the instrument’s wires. I watched as Ted did the real surgery and acted as his assistant. I am not sure if this was the correct way of changing the battery, but with no advise from the recent instrument servicer, it seems to have worked.

            This evening, now that the dredging for this leg is complete, Ted has been training me how to start the Multibeam Sonar program. Instead of a single sound beam used to sweep the ocean’s floor like most sonar instruments, the multi-beam sends out many separate sound signals. The sonar must ‘listen’ for all of these beams as the bounce back off of the ocean floor. We will be using this program in the future and I am sure I will write more about it. To help with my training, Ted and I just composed a program procedure which I can follow (as we will no longer be on the same watch) if the system becomes overwhelmed with data and crashes.

            Here is another snippet from my daily journal on my experience with dredging and deck life:

 

Journal Entry:

July 3^rd

Time: 0239

 

            Two pilot whales caught my eye’s with their big black fins. I had never seen a pilot whale and I considered it to be a shark at first, but the angle at which the fins disappeared under the surface, and their bearing right for our ship redirected my identification. A hop up to the bridge confirmed my sighting. Evan asked me “how did I see them?” I should have responded “I have good eyes.” Its amazing how trained the human eye can be. A person staring at the gray ocean for hours, the same in all directions, can pick out an anomaly within seconds. This trip so far I have seen numerous plastic bottles, floats or buoys, a large log, a bucket, and Ted has seen a wood pallet with a thresher shark alongside it.

            Earlier this evening we did about four dredges. Notable is what the scientists term “seed.” Two of the dredges turned up ‘seed,’ petite baby scallops, no larger than a thumbnail. While difficult to count and measure, noting these “next-generation” scallops gives the scientists a good feeling especially in open fishing areas. While the these droplets of new scallops are more than numerous, they also face a high mortality rate. Mixed in with the seed were also the smaller three inch scallops which will be ready to fish in a few years. The scientists sub sample to estimate actual numbers of the baby scallops by measuring about half a liter of them-a minuscule amount compared to the multiple five gallon buckets worth. I think the seed numbers reached 60,000 for this tow.

 

 

Ok, thanks again for reading, its about 3am so I think I’ll mug-up and snoop around for a snack in the galley. I’ll try and write again soon- so far so good!