Tuesday, March 2, 2004

Gulf of Papua, New Guinea

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.

Yesterday I mentioned that the sounds of a ship become a loud, low roar. Many vents found throughout the ship bring air up from below deck to create this noise, but in addition, there are more distinct noises. I'll do my best to convey the sounds of the Melville in the next few minutes.

Let's start at the bottom, the engine room, and work our way up to the top, the bridge. From the main deck, you walk down two flights of stairs to reach the Engine Control Center (ECC). Here you'll find the controls and computers monitoring the generators and all systems on the ship. There are also windows into the engine room where four generators are located. From the ECC you can hear a low din coming from the other side of the wall. There is a sign on the door stating: "Excessive Noise Area Wear Ear Protection." There are headphones and earplugs located next to the entrances of these areas. Simultaneously as I enter the engine room, I feel an amazing blast of heat and hear the noise of the blowers and the generators. Check out the first of today's videos to hear the sounds of the engine room.

When you are on the main deck, you hear the sounds of cranes lifting or moving equipment, the loud radio coming from the fore hanger near the area where most of the cutting of cores takes place. Today's second video takes a glimpse of the working deck. You may hear the loud chink of a tool dropping to the steel deck (a sound that unfortunately disturbs those sleeping, or trying to sleep in staterooms below.) You hear calls for tape, and tools and you'll hear the continuous background noise of blowers, of the ship moving through the sea, sounds that are so constant you don't even realize they are there, until the moment you get off the ship and recognize the sound of quiet.

The closest place to silence that I've heard on the ship is found in the bridge. There you are at the highest point away from the generators below, and the loudest sound you hear is the pinging of the Digital Select Calling (DSC) system that monitors a number of urgency call frequencies; 2187.5 and 8414.5 are required and the others vary between high frequency which allows a clear communication, and low frequency which allows the signal to be propagated farther. Click on today's bridge video to compare the sounds in the bridge to those on the main deck and in the engine room.

As I was leaving the bridge last night, I heard a different beeping, this was the satellite weather and safety information from Australia alerting us of an approaching gale, and so we'll see what comes tomorrow!

Today's weather and location at 1300 (thirteen hundred hours, military time for 1:00 pm)
Air Temperature: 28°C (82°F)
Water Temperature: 30°C (86°F)
Salinity: 30.41 PSU
Barometric Pressure: 1007.5 mb
Relative Humidity: 80%
Precipitation: 3 mm

Longitude: 8° 33.7638' S
Latitude: 144° 16.328' E