First blood to the chemists! Late this afternoon the rather uncharismatically named CTD took a trip to 3000m. Pressure at this depth is phenomenal, squeezing any air into a space about 1/300^th of that it would occupy on the surface. Take a good football down to that depth and it would look flat. There would not be enough air in it to fill a ping-pong ball yet none of the air escaped.

The CTD derives its name from the information it gathers. In days of old the core readings taken by the CTD were Conductivity[salinity], Temperature and Depth[pressure]), today’s kit does so much more. The top section of the equipment houses a rack of 24 water sampling bottles (niskin bottles). They are open tubes with spring loaded ends. Water just flows through the tubes as the CTD sinks until we “fire” the bottles at the target depth. The ends then close capturing a sample of water from a very specific depth. We can fire any number of the bottles at a time. Today it was 4 bottles at each of 6 different depths

Alfred taking a water sample

24 grey bottles handing on the CDT... and if one grey bottle should accidentally fall ....

The bottom section of the CTD houses the instruments. They can be seen more clearly in the third photo below where the bottles were removed for a second dip. In addition to C,T and D we also have a light scattering sensor that measures the number of particles in the water and an Eh metre. The whole package gives quite a detailed picture of the character of the water.

Guiding the rather naked looking CTD over the side without its bottles

Water has a chemical finger print based on temperature salinity and so on. Generally speaking warm and fresh waters float on top of cold and salt water creating different water layers (different combinations of these are more challenging). These layers can flow in different directions and have come from different places. Understanding the structure of the water column is important for example in knowing how heat from the sun is distributed around the earth creating a more uniformly heated planet than would otherwise occur.

However, that is not why we are here. We are searching for hydrothermal vents and they spew out masses of super-hot water with lots of chemicals in it [more on these in the future]. The effect is like smoke from a chimney rising into the sea and floating off on an aquatic breeze. Soon we will go searching for that smoke plume. But first we need to know what is a normal background water finger print for the area before we can trace the abnormal to its source. That was today’s task…completed successfully. As the sun began to set the chemists retreated to their labs, like little children with presents at Christmas, to start analyzing gasses, several nutrients and metals.

Putting up a brave front in the face of all this chemistry was a lone microbiologist, Anni, who is collecting and then filtering water to analyses what bacteria are growing in the water. Watch this space as microbes are the key to the fantastic life to be found at hydrothermal vents.

Anni filtering water for bacteria...hubble bubble ...

Chris

George the chief engineer and fellow Scot with the author expressing sympathy that while I enjoy the crisp outdoors (air temp -0.3, sea temp +1.2) he can toast himself in the engine room.

The tension mounts. We have plans and time tables. In less than 12 hours the first samples will be coming over the side. Admittedly they are “background water”, water taken well clear of any influence of the hydrothermal vents we are slowly steaming towards. Not that that matters. The kit is going in and samples should come back.

But that is in the future.

What I want to do today is turn my hand to becoming a food critic. Not sure where I’m going? Read on!. Life aboard ship can be a bit odd and with the right group, a real community spirit develops. After all as the saying goes “we are all in the same boat together”. So we have a good crack and the banter flows. The problem is it usually flows at me. Fine I’ll take give as good as I get. However, I was faced yesterday with a comment I had no comeback too!  “All your write about is food” Ok they exaggerate a bit surely

Day 1 cooked breakfast, cooked lunch, chocolate, coffee and cocktails

Day 2 Steak and Curry

Day 3 Excuses for over eating

Day 4/5 Breakfast for tea and the need for exercise

So perhaps they do not exaggerate. However until the science really kicks off in less than 12 hours I’ll use this blog space to put to rest the minds of all those family. The mums, dads, husbands, wives and partners of all forms. They look after us here on the boat! They even keep track that you are turning up for dinner. Not eating is the first sign of something being wrong with a person…as the safety brief on day 1 hammers home.

So who do we blame / praise (delete as appropriate at end of cruise depending on weight gain)? John and Wally our chefs along with Graham and Stephanie the stewards (who managed to miss the photo opportunity) are who. Molly the ships doc has even chipped in in the kitchen…must have been a good health day. I hope to introduce you to more of the characters aboard as we go ….but given our theme its best to start here.

John and Wally, the guys responsible for the preservation of our taste buds

And for your gastronomic delight! Menu for the 6^th Dec. An example of only one form many. The challenge it keeping it going right the way through the cruise. There are usually bets as to when the fresh fruit becomes a choice of bruised apple or a nectarine that escaped from the box. But until then enjoy…

BREAKFAST @ 07:20

Fruit Juices

 Fresh Fruit (mango, kiwi, watermelon, strawberries, cherries, grapes and apples today)

Selection of Cereals (I’ve not touched yet)

Porridge

Cooked Breakfast (sausage, bacon, hash brown, black pudding, tomatoes and eggs today)

Tea, Coffee Toast and Preserves

******

LUNCH @ 11:30 (or not in my case)

Home made pumpkin and onion soup (Delish, I had it for my 03:00 snack)

Salmon fish cakes with dill sauce

Baked jacket potato

Mange-tout

Assorted cold cuts and salad (a wide range…my 00:01 snack)

Ice cream

Fresh baked rolls and assorted cheese and biscuits (my 09:00 snack)

Fresh Fruit

******

DINNER @ 17:30

Home made pumpkin and onion soup

Deep fried scampi with tartar sauce

Beef Casserole with suet dumplings

Creamed potatoes, buttered cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower florets

Assorted cold cuts and salad

Fresh strawberry cheesecake (urm…a second 00:01 snack)

Selection of Ice cream and wafers

Fresh baked rolls and assorted cheese and biscuits

Fresh Fruit

Is that the treadmill calling?

Chris

First of all a hang over from the last blog entry on orange onesies. In case you wanted a laugh over your coffee here is a video I volunteered to take of Clare putting on the survival suit. Holding the camera opted me out of making a fool of myself. One size truly does fit all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMnjzLyTBIU&feature=youtu.be

So I’m slowly equilibrating myself to the night watch. As watch leader I’ll ultimately have responsibility of making sure the work is done to schedule (crushing responsibility at £2000 an hour cruise and ROV time (ROV = remotely operated vehicle…pronounced as a word to those in the know rather than a series of letters…get used to the acronym it will appear a lot in the future))…but until work really begins the 22:00-04:00 watch is a lonely place, four stalwart scientists wondering empty halls (hence the Marie Celeste),  thermo mugs in hand trying to convince the mind that it can be productive at ridiculous o’clock. Sporadic entertainment is to be had when the ship crew change watch at midnight but that doesn’t last long. Broadly speaking we’ve attempted to make Dolly Parton turn in her as yet undug grave as we “sleep 9 to 5….what a way to make a living”, except this is a ship so its 09:00 to 17:00 which makes the rhyming even worse.

What is the point of a port hole cabin when you have to dog it (put the metal flap down and bolt it) to stop the light?

But I digress. So it is breakfast for tea, tea for breakfast and microwave reheated lunch. You think that is confusing try having a conversation about what happened yesterday. Time is apparently relative, only it’s relative to when you slept and someone’s yesterday is usually the night watch’s today. Does that mean they are from the future? Really shouldn’t write blogs this early …I witter (now I know where my son gets it from).

Another few random events…ice update…southern sites still covered but clearing slowly so there is hope!

Currently wishing we had an ice breaker...where is global warming when you need it. Warning positions and routes for illustration purposes. Not to be used for navigation.

For once, the first thing to go over the side was not someone’s lunch (weather has been good) but 3km of ROV umbilical cable. Add one weight, deposit over the end and stream behind the vessel. The purpose is to take any twists out of the cable that develop through use. Too many twists break the important wires inside the cable.

Also a few life patterns are developing. Most of the night watch heads to the gym at 04:00 for an hour or so. Part a drive to keep the metabolism going until after breakfast (our Tea) part effort to fight the potential 7 courses of food in a day when the furthest you can move is a little less than 100m.

Finally I just want to round up with an apology to friends and family. This time the web addresses will be correct! For everyone reading this if you fancy another perspective may I direct you to other bloggers on the cruise.

https://elgg.leeds.ac.uk/geocwo/weblog/

http://picturingthe deep.blogspot.co.uk/

Oh and if you have questions or photo requests you can post them here too or e-mail me!

Chris

Today has been very much a regular day at the office. Granted the office is rather unusual. The first detailed plans are out and its regular work (paper writing, grant proposals and tea drinking) until the 08:00 on the 5^th when we test the remotely operated vehicle (ROV). Until then we just keep steaming.  But that is the future. Today at the office was punctuated by compulsory safety drills. Muster stations, life boat drill and putting on an immersion suit. Given that the seawater in which we are currently sailing is a balmy 6 degrees Celsius thermal protection in an emergency is a must. It is all the more important given that in the next 2 days we cross a water boundary and hit the Antarctic water sitting at close to 0 degrees Celsius.

Molly, Leigh and Katrin (50% of the scientists are female and we have lassies amongst the officers, engineers and crew), wrapped up warmly and huddling in the enclosed lifeboat avidly listening to how even hardened sea goers will throw up in one of these. I also learned we are human ballast and our body weight low in the boat is part of the life boat’s self-righting mechanism in the event of capsize. I now have an excuse to over eat!

Thermal protection comes in the form of a bright orange onesie which is accessorized with fetching reflective strips, rubber gloves and mittens. It is one size fits all and tops even my inadequate sense of fashion. Take a look

Oh yes! Fantastic Jeff

Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!

Just a short one for today as not too much has happened. We are officially in the waiting place. The first leg of our journey is a relatively short one up the coast to take on fuel (called bunkering after the days of filling your coal bunkers). The vessel’s fuel tank is not exactly small. We bunkered about 300 tonnes of fuel and that wasn’t to the top. Now that we are officially at sea, meal times have changed to better accommodate the watches. Breakfast and lunch start earlier and run longer. Dinner starts later and was a huge hunk of steak (had curry last night). Most of the day has been spend at a loose end. I’m

headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place…

…for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Jobs are all done, we held the initial science meetings for early planning, and the novelty of boat life prevented any serious attempt at work, although I get my computer integrated into the ships systems. Running off a satellite communications link we have what is effectively one broadband connection to cater for all 54 souls on board. While I write this blog on my laptop at my cabin desk I’ll need to transfer the file to one of only three unrestricted internet linked computers. I can only read my e-mail, keep abreast of weather and explore the NHS or order machine parts from my desk access rights…but that’s it. No social media for me and you can forget skype.

"Fill her up?"

Bunkering was completed early afternoon but we waited for the tide to turn before departure as we are heading through a narrows in the Strait. We are not waiting for water depth but for the current. We can either choose to burn fuel and fight it or wait a bit and ride with the current after the tide turns. The captain chose the latter so we finally leave the waiting place at 17:30 and as I write this at just shy of midnight we are shooting out of the Straits of Magellan and being propelled into the South Atlantic with a boost of 2-3 knots for the current.

The first part of my surprise advent / Christmas survival presents from my family. Yes officer I packed my bags myself and no one has asked me to carry anything…

It’s a long way to the southern tip of Chile. After a little over 35 hours of travel, 0 hours of sleep and 5 in flight movies here we are. This is my third and the final cruise in this research project and the journey is now a familiar one… as is the boat (after this cruise I’ll have totted up 18 weeks calling the Royal Research Ship James Cook home). After only 5 hours sleep and feeling rough, less jet lag and more sleep deprivation, I’m feeling rather crabby. Then again I think the Antarctic would lose something if it was too accessible …after all, the adventure was a major part of the draw of the job. As a fellow researcher in my office likes to say “take a concrete pill and harden up”.

Home for the next 5 weeks. Image taken from ship-technology.com because I don't have a wide angle lens and stepping back to get a good photo would get me very wet

The day rapidly got better when reunited with old ship mates followed by a cooked breakfast. Morning is filled by various rather dull jobs and admin. Unpacking the 6 crates of kit is just one of those and I travel light. Then there is the official signing onto the ship (passports, medical and sea survival certificates please), although I’ll admit the health and safety briefing was somewhat livened by the introduction of anti-piracy procedures and gruesome photos of the serious bodily harm that you can do to yourself with inappropriate use of watertight doors.

Only half of my crates packet back in August and then shipped to Chile for loading…the ideal way to forget what you have already packed. At least I avoided freighting 4 bottles of shampoo this year

After a cooked lunch we head into town to pick up the last minute things including shaving foam (forgot to pack), chocolate (you can never pack enough) and frozen mussels (because customs won’t let me pack). Replacing a coffee pot broken by those lovely scientists on the previous cruise proved more of a challenge. A bit more unpacking and then it was dinner before heading into town for our last opportunity to consume more than 3 units of alcohol. The local cocktail, pisco sours, are exquisite.

Back to the boat by midnight

We cast off at 02:30.