Dispatch 16: There and back again     Print

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Steve Lambert, WHOI

August 17, 2012

Several days ago we headed south toward Tuktoyaktuk to pick up parts and supplies. We then skirted the coast toward Prudhoe, Alaska, to retrieve other needed items. As we were heading back north toward our work area to recover another mooring the LSSL was called to assist with a search and rescue mission back at Tuk. Apparently four people had gone missing. The ship was full throttle for hours on end trying to close the nearly 300 mile gap. A quick check of the GPS showed the LSSL was doing about 18 knots. That's moving pretty fast for a ship that was designed to break ice.

I was woken up at about 0200 by the fog horn. I looked outside to see something unexpected here: darkness! Coming to the Arctic in the summer means basically 24 hours of daylight but the fog was so thick it looked like night out. It was actually pretty eerie to see. Later at breakfast I found out that the four missing persons (and the two dogs) had been found and were well. That's always good news!