Daily Journals:

DAY 20 | March 7, 2004

Early this morning at the end of the last coring shift, about 5:00 am, the R/V Melville increased her speed to 12.6 knots and began the trek to Cairns, Australia. We are set to arrive at 8:00 am on Tuesday, the 9th of March.
read more...

DAY 19 | March 6, 2004

There have been various forms of communication between ship and land since the early days of sailing. During the 18th and 19th centuries, U.S. and British Navies as well as the whaling trade would communicate with friends and family at home and vice versa, by having out bound ships carry bags of mail and newspapers to deliver to ships that were met at sea and inbound ships would pick up mail from those who were out bound or "on station".
read more...

DAY 18 | March 5, 2004

In all of our slide shows about work on deck, you will typically see equipment being deployed and recovered using a combination of frames, known as a-frames, cranes and winches. While you may be familiar with a crane...do you know why we use cranes and what in the world are winches and a-frames?
read more...

DAY 17 | March 4, 2004

So today is the day I said I'd announce who e-mailed in the correct answer for my questions about the flying fish...I'll get to that in a moment, but first let's talk about some other wildlife we've seen here in the Gulf of Papua.
read more...

DAY 16 | March 3, 2004

I'm sitting in the galley - currently full of wet people on the night watch, just in from working out on deck in the rain. They are descending upon leftovers like vultures, eating various concoctions such as cereal, a cheese sandwich, macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, broccoli and bread with peanut butter.
read more...

DAY 15 | March 2, 2004

Pink Floyd sings a song called Money...do you remember it? It starts out with the distinctive sound of a cash register - clink, swish, bing, ching. It's a distinctive sound, and while it's different than what I'm hearing here on the R/V Melville...I'm reminded of it because the Melville, like Money has its own distinctive sound.
read more...

DAY 14 | March 1, 2004

Today marks the start of a new month, and renewed hope with some of the researchers onboard. This evening, the Chirp had its first test run, back in the water and it worked great!
read more...

DAY 13 | February 29, 2004

Have you ever been in a pilothouse, also known as a bridge? It's the place that sits high above the ship, giving the captain, mates and able seamen an eye on the seas around.
read more...

DAY 12 | February 28, 2004

This evening after 12 days of imaging the sea bed and subsurface, we began to head back to Port Moresby, approximately a 15 hour trip from where we are today, traveling at 12 knots. Have you ever wondered how fast a knot is?
read more...

DAY 11 | February 27, 2004

Yesterday I closed my journal entry in a hurry as an alarm on the ship was sounding. As it turned out we experienced a lock down for a terrorist or pirate drill. There is a series of alarms specific to different safety issues, such as man overboard, fire, and terrorist or pirate attack.
read more...

DAY 10 | February 26, 2004

Driving to work, going to meetings, dealing with traffic jams, getting the mail, paying bills, running to errands, picking the kids up from school, deciding what to make for dinner - making dinner, doing the dishes, someone at the door, running from one thing to the next, the phone won't stop ringing...

Imagine for a moment that's gone - all of it.
read more...

DAY 9 | February 25, 2004

Today is day nine of this cruise. We have had a variety of challenges with problematic research equipment as can often happen at sea. Here, we are far from land and so when problems with equipment occur, we are limited to resources found on the ship.
read more...

DAY 8 | February 24, 2004

Boy, is it hot out here! What if it's hotter than it used to be?
Yesterday I asked you to come back to find out more about something we experience everyday...did you figure out what it is? If you guessed weather, you are correct!
read more...

DAY 7 | February 23, 2004

So have you come up with a guess as to how much food is onboard the R/V Melville when she sets out for sea? If it's the start of a six month cruise, it is approximately >11,160 lbs of food!!!
read more...

DAY 6 | February 22, 2004

Yesterday I told you I'd find out what happens to the sediment captured by the Jumbo Piston Core (JPC). Is the 40 feet of mud collected from the seabed going to the spa mud bath industry - or does something else happen?
read more...

DAY 5 | February 21, 2004

When you hear that someone is an oceanographer, what comes to mind? Often I hear people say to my husband, J.P., upon hearing that he is in the field of oceanography, "That's so cool! Do you work with dolphins?"
read more...

DAY 4 | February 20, 2004

Where was I...oh yes, yesterday we talked about why we are in Papua New Guinea and today I promised to begin talking about ways we plan to look below the earth's surface.
read more...

DAY 3 | February 19, 2004

Hello! Thanks for stopping by. We just arrived in the heart of the Gulf of Papua early this morning. Have you had a chance to find Papua New Guinea on a map? Papua New Guinea is a country located on the eastern half of the island of New Guinea that is found just north of the northeastern tip of Australia and just south of the equator.
read more...

DAY 2 | February 18, 2004

Hello again thanks for joining me today! We have spent the past three days loading the Melville for the upcoming cruise. Think of how it feels to pack your suitcase for a week of vacation. How long does it take, how much should you bring? Now consider packing a ship for three to eight weeks at sea!
read more...

DAY 1 | February 17, 2004

I am writing to you from a ship. It's an oceanographic research vessel named the R/V Melville. The sun is bright; the air hangs heavy because it is incredibly humid and the temperature is around 29° C (84° F). The water temperature is slightly warmer than the air!
read more...