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MAPPING SEABED HABITATS OFF wEST AUSTRALIA SS07/05 Jul 05 [Introduction] [The Voyage] [The Voyagers] [Ship to shore] Ship to shoreLife on board
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 Karen Gowlett-Holmes sifting a sediment sample |
 Samantha Durnian, First Mate, at the helm |
 Alix Post and Graham McDougall on the hero platform |
 Cameron Buchanan swath mapping |
 Bruce Barker, Rudi Kloser and Mark Lewis watching live video footage from the four hundred metres |
 Pamela Brodie and Bob Beattie in the 'Data Entry Room' |
A perfectly round sample of heavy grey cloud, pale blue sky, distant white clouds, choppy white-capped ocean, deep blue depths, choppy white-capped ocean, distant white clouds, pale blue sky, heavy grey cloud – repeat, repeat, repeat and you have my porthole view aboard the RV Southern Surveyor.
I arrived in Perth with a backpack full of video and audio equipment, a Backpack full of personal stuff, a backpack full of photographic and comms equipment And a tripod designed to be slung over your shoulder like a big quiver of arrows. My journey from airport baggage carousel to taxi rank was inglorious as I have only one back.
The next morning I told the good folks of Perth about our voyage over the airwaves of the ABC. I made my way to the Fremantle Port Authority building and Colleen in customer service had heard the interview and gave me a tour and place to stow my bags. To get my gear from the Port Authority building to dockside I had to walk nearly two kilometres and as I could see my destination, I didn’t have the gall to order a taxi. As I dropped half my gear on the dock I was surprised to see the RV Southern Surveyor entering port. I didn’t have my camera so I dashed back (as much as one can dash in steel-toed safety boots) to Colleen’s office. By leaning over a security fence I got a few photos of the vessel as she beat me to the pier.
I stood on the dock getting to know Rudy Kloser, Chief Scientist, and Piers Dunstan, Spatial Data Specialist, while the crew secured the vessel and lowered a gangplank. Scientists from Leg 1 of the voyage peered out from a lower deck and we waved hello, but whenever I approached something was lowered from above (usually a large container of rubbish).
Soon I came aboard and Pamela Brodie gave me a tour
of the vessel’s narrow corridors, steep stairwells and rooms
for sorting, sampling and monitoring operations.
I share a cabin with Karen Gowlett-Holmes, the taxonomist whose
photography I’ve long admired. I have top bunk which means
I’m stretching muscles dormant for years but also means I
have a porthole. The deckhead (ceiling) is too low to sit up in
bed. Each bunk has a reading light and a curtain and our cabin has
a small sofa, desk, chair, two wardrobes and a toilet. Our shower
has mercifully hot water.
Karen and I are on opposite shifts – she does 2 PM to 2 AM and I float between shifts but am meant to help on the shift starting in the wee hours. ather than hot-desking, Karen and I hot-cabin.
So the night before our departure I stuffed my belongings in drawers and set off with Bob Beattie to join the others for dinner in Fremantle. Bob showed me a beach on our way and we ran around the headland before the next wave swamped us. At dinner Gordon Keith explained the basics of swath mapping and Mark Lewis had no shortage of tales from the sea. Instant camaraderie – just add water. And so the next day, we did.
They call my shift the dawn shift and that romantic name did help me acclimatise. After a few days I (can’t believe I’m saying this but) like it. I stagger into the Ops Room around three each morning and take the helm of the EM300 Multibeam, the amazing swath mapper. Day one was daunting. Imagine getting four hour’s sleep, feeling like your guts are coming out your ears and being zonked on Dramamine.
You’re plunked in front of four computer screens,three mouses and two keyboards. Then you’re told EXACTLY what a swath mapper does and how it does it and you’re supposed to help it on its swathing way.
Cameron Buchanan, from Geoscience Australia, is a swath mapping guru and we’ve lived in each other’s pockets for days now on the dawn shift. I have become an OK swath mapper but as a protégé I was very raw material. It’s a great word to say, give it a go. Swath. Mapper. Don’t you agree?
As communication officer aboard I dart about with a stills camera and video camera. I try not to pop flashes in faces (sometimes I can’t resist) and I nip above decks for the occasional radio interview by satellite phone. I’ve worked at CSIRO Corporate for years now and I relish the time I spend with scientists.
Today I helped Karen sift samples from a deep seabed grab and after she’d extracted the specimens I pocketed the tiny seashells.
Funny thing about these voyages. There’s not a gentle lead-up and work and home life was frantic before my departure. I hope they’re going well back in Internal Comms (and home) but do you know, it’s only very recently I’ve had time to think that thought.
This work is not easy. The ocean doesn’t observe 7:21 hour working days (or even 12 hour shifts necessarily) and when the conditions are right the jobs must be done. And the CSIRO staff, Geoscience Australia staff and RV Southern Surveyor’s crew are dedicated to making that happen.
Well, must sign off and climb the ladder to my bunk. It’s even more of a vault now because on Sam’s advice (First Mate, short for Samantha) I’ve wedged my lifejacket under the mattress to keep from rolling out in big seas. I’ll let you know how I go.
More
voyage reportsUpdated: 29/03/07
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