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| ABOUT THE
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| SOUTHERN
SURVEYOR |
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 The Southern Surveyor alongside |
 Monika Schlacker modelling the survival suit during the safety drill |
DAY 1 - Settling In
by Mireille Consalvey
After a busy lead into the voyage the science party finally joined Research Vessel Southern Surveyor at 21:30 on 28 March, waving goodbye to those on land just after 22:00.
Any sea trip potentially has its risks and the safety of the crew and science party is not taken lightly. The first tasks of those on board are to make themselves familiar with the layout of Southern Surveyor (no mean feat with unfamiliar corridors and stairwells) as well as practice safety drills including “Mustering”. Signalled by the ships alarm bell mustering is where everybody on board meets at a Muster Station (on deck and near to the life rafts) donning life jackets and hard hats ready to abandon ship. In the unlikely event of having to abandon ship warm clothing is essential – especially in the Southern Ocean and another exercise was to practice donning survival suits (modelled by Monika Schlacher).
Once we had all passed our safety tests the research commenced. The first task of the voyage was to check some of the equipment we will be using.
One very important piece of kit is the “Sonar dyne” beacon. The beacon is attached to the scientific equipment (or gear) and sends back positional information to the ship, telling the Captain and crew exactly where the gear is. This is essential if we are to sample exactly where we want to – its no easy task placing sampling equipment on a seafloor hundreds of metres below the surface and we rely upon the skills of the captain and mates for this. Hence several hours were spent calibrating the Sonar dyne - to ensure that it was exactly where it was telling us it was. With the Sonar dyne calibrated sample collecting could begin in earnest and we steamed to the first site…
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Modified: 16/05/07
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