Research Voyages

The bridge is the nerve centre of the ship, with communication links to the outside world, to the operations room, to crew deploying instruments on the after deck, and to the engine room to maintain the precise positioning required for ocean sampling.

Operations room

From the operations room, scientists and technicians work with information gathered by the many instruments deployed from the ship. They keep an eye on the positioning and performance of the ocean sampling and monitoring instruments, all of which are tracked using electronic sensors.

Chemistry lab

Water samples brought aboard by the ocean sampler are analysed in the chemistry lab by members of the CSIRO Marine Research Hydrochemistry Group.

Each chemist may spend up to 85 days a year on research vessels, overseeing sampling procedures and operating instruments in environments ranging from the huge seas of the Southern Ocean to the 'mill pond' conditions of the Bismarck Sea off New Guinea.

The chemistry of sea water–such as dissolved nutrients, salinity and oxygen–reveals much about the character of the ocean, and is the foundation of studies into climate change, ocean circulation, ocean productivity and ecosystems.

Fish lab

When the Southern Surveyor is engaged in biological sampling, the 'fish lab' sees plenty of action.

The catch, collected by a net, sled, dredge or grabber, is dropped from a hopper into the sorting tray. The fish are sorted by species into boxes and weighed, and the unwanted samples are discarded down the trash chute. The boxes are loaded on the rollers and sent to the other tables for biological processing. It's often a 12-hour shift and can be cold, hard, work.

Samples of particular interest are measured, weighed and dissected, or preserved by freezing or in alcohol or formalin for later processing or identification, or to be kept as specimens in museums or in the CSIRO National Fish Collection. Many specimens, particularly new discoveries, are photographed in the room to the back of the sorting area.

This area is also used for other activities such as processing cores and rock samples collected by geologists.

Scientists' berths

Scientists and technicians sleep in twin cabins with shared toilet and shower facilities. They work alternating 12-hour shifts, normally changing at midnight and midday, or 2 am and 2 pm (sunset and sunrise shifts). It takes the scientific staff several days to get fully used to the routine, and the motion of the ship.

The ship's crew, who live aboard the vessel for much longer periods of time, have single cabins. There are two laundries and the scientists do their own washing and cabin cleaning.

The chief scientist, or voyage leader, has his or her own cabin upstairs, one floor below the bridge, as does the ship's master, the 1st and 2nd mate and the chief and 2nd engineer.

There are commonly 12 scientific and technical staff, and 15 crew members. There is the master, 1st mate and 2nd mates, three engineers including the chief engineer, two cooks (chief cook and second cook), a chief steward, a bosun and about eight able seamen.

The scientific crew consists of the chief scientist and 11 other researchers, including technicians to take care of electronics, the data centre and hydrochemistry.

Galley, mess and lounge

The mess and lounge provide a friendly place to eat, read, watch videos and DVDs, play games, or chat. The ship is crewed 24 hours a day, so the galley never sleeps. The food is 'ship' baked and plentiful. No alcohol is consumed on board.

The decks

The aft deck can be a very busy area with the lifting, deployment, and retrieval of gear physical sampling equipment. This includes biological sampling nets, geological corers, sediment grabbers, sleds, dredges, acoustic devices, oceanographic moorings and the underwater camera system.

The yellow A-frame is part of the system that deploys the ocean sampler and other sampling gear such as mud grabs. Winches provide the wire to deploy these gears to ocean depths (sometimes thousands of metres). The two grey boxes house the winch controllers. They are in communication with the operations room and the bridge. The nets, which can stretch for up to 60 metres, are deployed through the stern ramp.

The big yellow knucklebone crane enables gear such as winches, sampling gear and container-based laboratories to be lifted on and off the ship, and moved about the deck. It also enables the ship to load and offload gear at small ports, such as at islands in the Pacific where heavy lifting equipment may not be readily available.

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selected instruments on the vessel