Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

Ocean Interactions
Ocean and Atmosphere connecting Scientists, Teachers & Students

Life at Sea ~ Sea Stories

Jeff and Brenda will write a few of their favorite sea stories, some from the past and from their 2003 cruise.

Message in a bottle
Jeff Hare

I was in a science colleague's (we will call him Dr. X) office in Miami Florida one day, and I saw a letter posted on his office door. The postmark was from Tahiti. It said "Dear Sir, I found this letter washed up on the beach, and I am writing to ask for my $50." I was confused, so I asked my colleague the story. A year or so before he received the letter in the mail, some other scientists from Seattle (we will call them Dr. Y and Dr. Z) were on the Ron Brown, sailing in the Pacific. They decided to play a trick. They wrote a message on paper and sealed it in five different bottles with wax and duct tape. Then, they ceremoniously tossed the bottles into the sea. The message read "If you find this message, please write to Dr. X in Miami Florida, and he will send you $50." Incredibly, one of the bottles did wash up on shore, thousands of miles from where they were dropped into the ocean. Dr. X thought the joke was a good one (but he didn't pay up the $50).

Lost data
Jeff Hare

During the winter of 1996-1997, CIRES and NOAA-ETL deployed some of our systems on board the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's research vessel "Knorr" for a cruise which took us into the North Atlantic. The purpose of the cruise was to purposely move the ship into an area where winter storms were known to track as they moved their way from the U.S. East Coast across the Atlantic to Britain, and the name of the campaign was "Fronts and Atlantic Storm Tracks Experiment" or "FASTEX".

I (Jeff) was part of that deployment, as were Dr. Ola Persson and David Costa, both also from CIRES. Dr. Persson was the Chief Scientist during the experiment, and he was responsible for keeping a log book. The log book is a very important part of experimental work. In it, the scientists note any changes in weather or experimental procedure, communication and movements of the ship, any discrepancies of data sets, and anything else that may affect the interpretation of the data. Dr. Persson kept good notes, using an ink pen.

The seas were relatively rough during that cruise....in 30 days, we were hit by 17 storms. The roughest seas came one evening when we were all sleeping. I was in my bunk, trying to sleep through the tossing and turning of the ship, but I heard some noises coming from up above, in the vicinity of the ship's lab. I got out of bed, and as I approached the ladder (stairs), I saw alot of water pouring down the steps. This was not a good sign. I went into the laboratory to find the very large room ankle deep in sea water. Was the ship sinking?

I looked back at the aft door, which lead from the lab to the fantail (rear) of the ship. The aft door was swinging free....apparently, waves had come up over the bulwarks on the fantail, slammed into the door, and jarred it loose. Water had poured into the lab and flooded the deck. Due to the rough conditions, alot of loose items had fallen off the tables and were being sloshed around in the water. We tie almost everything, especially expensive computers and equipment) down to the tables and to the deck, but it isn't possible to secure EVERY small item.

Some others woke up about that time too, including Dr. Persson. As we sloshed around in the water and worked to clear the drains, Dr. Persson was not pleased to see his log book floating on the flooded deck. On further examination, we were all horrified to see that much of the ink on the pages had run and bled, so that some of the important information was undeciferable. Fortunately, it was still relatively early in the experiment, so not too much information was lost. Dr. Persson was more careful with his log book after he dried it out.

Scientists - GO HOME!
Jeff Hare

This is another story about how the crew relieves the boredom of living at sea. Scientists come on board the Ron Brown for about 30-days, then they go home to their labs in various parts of the world. The crew, however, live on the ship. In some years, they are at sea for 270-290 days! By and large, the ship is there home, and the scientists are only temporary visitors. A few years ago, a group of scientists had a very interesting project. They had a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) which they used to photograph hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor. The ROV is un- manned, and it is similar to the one used to document the wreck of the Titanic. One member of the crew had an idea. He attached a float and heavy piece of iron to a sign that read something like 'Scientists Go Home' over the side and into the water. The iron was heavy enough that the package would sink, but the float would keep the sign upright. Later that day, the scientists were working inside the ship, driving the ROV around the sea floor with the remote control and watching the video from the camera on the ROV. Suddenly, one of the scientists saw something on the monitor and said "Hey, there's something interesting here....looks like a sign or something....I think I can read it!!!! Maybe there's a shipwreck down here! It says....Scientists......". The crew still laughs about pulling that one on the scientists.

Cantankerous equipment
Jeff Hare

A friend of mine told me a story about the time that they were out on a ship in the deep ocean and were working very hard to get one piece of electronic equipment to work. The device cost several thousand dollars, and it was to be installed on a buoy. The device wasn't working correctly, and every day my friend and an engineer would open it up and take it apart, fix the problem (so they thought), put it back together, and install it on the buoy. They were really frustrated with this piece of electronics, as it was very important to their measurement system. Every day, this instrument would give them headaches and was a constant source of anxiety.

It was getting near the end of the cruise, and they only had a few more opportunities to make this thing work. One last time, the engineer thought that he had finally figured out what was wrong and that he had fixed the problem.

They installed the device.....but it didn't work. The engineer was so frustrated and angry that he impulsively unplugged it and threw it into the water! Remember, they were on a ship in the deep sea. My friend, with mouth agape, peered at the engineer, and they both had horrified looks on their faces. He had thrown away a very expensive and important piece of electronics! Then, after another half-minute of silently staring at one another, they both began to laugh (a little maniacally). They instantly realized that although they had lost this instrument, by throwing it in the water, the engineer had rid them of their constant headaches!

Although this research effort was a failure, they learned a valuable lesson to be sure to thoroughly test all of our equipment before you take it out on the ship.

An Old Favorite - The Mail Buoy
Jeff Hare

Going out to the deep sea can leave you isolated from the rest of the world. Very few phone calls are made due to the expense. Mail is forwarded to the ship's next port, so the crew often doesn't get any news from home for weeks at a time.

The ship's crew often jokes with the oncoming scientists that the ship's schedule includes a stop at the 'Mail Buoy' after the second or third week at sea (the typical cruise is about 4-5 weeks long). People who have never been on a ship sometimes 'fall for' this trick, but most scientists quickly realize that there is no such thing as a Mail Buoy in the middle of the ocean from which you could send and receive letters and magazines.

However, one young lady believed the joke.....after a few weeks far away from land, she was missing her friends and relatives. She asked one of the ship's crew whether or not they were still planning to visit the Mail Buoy. The Captain, the Executive Officer, the Navigator, and the Chief Scientist jokingly told her that, yes, they were going to visit the Mail Buoy and that she should be sure to have all her letters written, stamped, sealed in plastic, and ready to go.

Another week went by, and this young lady again asked about a visit to the Mail Buoy. The Navigator told the young lady that they were having a difficult time finding the Mail Buoy and told her to come up to the Bridge (where the ship is steered and driven) in the evening during the late watch to help locate the Mail Buoy.

Incredibly, the young lady showed up (with stamped letters in her hand), and she was given a pair of binoculars to look through (it is very difficult to see anything with a pair of binoculars at night). She was told to keep looking, and the Navigator actually drove the ship in circles (we were supposed to be steaming at full speed for our next destination), telling the young lady that she was sure that the buoy was very close to their location.

Everyone on the ship (including me) heard the story about how the ship's crew had teased this young lady. The crew felt bad that they had mis-lead her, so they decided to try to soothe any hurt feelings that they had caused. They wrote up a Certificate of Appreciation to the young lady, citing her 'willingness to have her leg pulled' and for 'having a sense of humor about trying to find the 'Mail Buoy''. They gathered together and invited her up to the Bridge for a ceremony to let her know that they had been teasing her. They were afraid that, when they gave her the Certificate, she would be angry with them for teasing her and that tears would be shed.

At the ceremony, they told her that they thought she was a 'good sport' and they asked her to read the Certificate. She quickly read the Certificate, and she was confused...instead of tears or anger, the young lady told the crew that she did not deserve a Certificate since they had not been able to find the 'Mail Buoy'! She still did not understand that the crew had been pulling her leg for many weeks.

NOAA Ship Discoverer
Jeff Hare

I was on the NOAA Ship Discoverer in 1996 and was given a berth at the far aft end of a long hallway. The room had 2 exit doors....one went out into the hallway, and the other one went into a large laboratory with hundreds of metal (stainless steel) drawers. The lab was unoccupied, and I didn't think much about it. Later that evening we were in the open sea, and I fell asleep to the rolling motion of the ship. At about 1:00AM, I was awakened by the loud noises of items rolling around in the drawers of the lab. The ship had hit a little bit of weather, and the seas were a little rougher. I tried to sleep through the noise, but I could not. So, I decided that I would put a stop to the problem. Still in a sleepy stupor, I thought that I could resolve this very easily by stuffing cloth into the drawer that contained the rolling object. I opened the lab door, and quickly realized that there were hundreds of drawers. As the ship rolled, I heard noises coming from all parts of the room. I had to methodically open each and every drawer in that lab....round spray paint cans, metal pipes, tubing, cups, ..... all types of things were in those drawers. I must have spent 45 minutes opening the drawers, and removing the contents or stuffing something soft inside them. In my frustration, I even closed one of the hard metal drawers on my hand which began to bleed a little. I was very tired in the morning, because I didn't get very much sleep.