Dispatch 17: TU-1 Recovery and Captain's Dinner     Print

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Mengnan Zhao

October 4, 2015

The ice became thinner and thinner on our way south. This meant that the Louis could steam faster than through the thicker floes, and we arrived at our mooring recovery location this morning – a couple of hours ahead of schedule. The Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology (TUMSAT) mooring at this site on the Northwind Ridge (our furthest west station on the map in dispatch 4) was deployed during last year’s cruise. The mooring system has a similar configuration to our BGOS moorings, but it does not include a sediment trap and Remote Access Sampler.

With no ice cover in the area, we quickly spotted the huge yellow floatation sphere shortly after the bottom acoustic releases were signaled to let go of the anchor. A seaman was sent over the side of the ship in a basket, just as when we recovered the buoys. From the basket, he hooked the floatation sphere and attached it to the winch. In the recovery, we again witnessed the flawless cooperation between the ship’s crew and the WHOI group. Following the floatation sphere, they brought on board the MMP, 50 glass floatation balls, dual acoustic releases and the bottom pressure recorder all in neat sequence. The entire process went smoothly, leaving us ample time for CTD/rosette casts to follow.

Today it’s Sunday and here begins our Sunday cruise tradition on board this Canadian Coast Guard Icebreaker – the Captain’s dinner in the very fancy Officer’s dining room, when we would dress up and feel grateful for the opportunity to enjoy a delicious five-course meal. I was lucky that no rosette casts awaited, so I took my chance to attend my first formal dinner on a ship! The company was Captain Anthony Pott, Chief Scientist Bill, Rick Krishfield and three other scientists and officers. It was fun to hear interesting stories from around the world and our sincere thanks to chief cook David James and the stewards for the high-class tasty food.