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The T.S. Golden Bear was surely the
center of activity in the North Pacific today. At 06:00,
not long after the third time change of the voyage, a group
of Cal Poly students was on the fantail (the aft most deck)
while a crew of CMA deck cadets fired up the aft crane. The
event was the release of the second of five ARGO floats that
the Bear is scheduled to distribute over the ocean on behalf
of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
(see yesterday’s captain’s log).
[The Argo
float, at dawn]
The floats are five foot long yellow
cylinders, about the size of a traffic light post around.
Sitting in front of me on a platform, the one we were about
to launch looked like a little missile and the students
wasted no time attacking it with a Sharpie. Just before the
deckies tied a trick line with two stabilizers to haul it
up, Follow the Voyage scrawled our own secret message for
the float to transport through the depths of the Pacific.
As dawn broke, the float was lifted over the side of the
deck, dropped, and released. The Bridge slowed to a full
stop until the float had cleared our 19.5 foot propeller and
then we resumed course to Japan. I asked the Cal Poly
students if they would miss it now that the float was gone.
“Nah,” they told me, “I think its oh-breakfast-hundred.” And
it was.
[The float
drop from the forward deck]
Students
pose with the by the big yellow float]
[Launching the float]
 After
lunch, the Bridge sounded three sustained horn blows and we
were suddenly in the middle of a man overboard drill. While
the captain kept the bridge cadets on their toes (“If you
slow before you turn it will take forever”), a deck crew
outside released the high speed rescue boat. They unlashed,
hoisted, and positioned the little red speedboat so that it
sat firmly on the outer hull. Go! Go! Go! This was
exciting. A crowd was gathered, ready for action. And
then...they stopped. ...And talked a lot. ...And
eventually they cleaned up. Apparently, this was more of a
muster drill and, apparently, drills are not executed for
the purpose of entertaining the crew. During a later drill,
I was promised, we would get to see the high speed rescue
boat in action.
[photo courtesy Robert
Hart]
[Hoisting
the rescue boat]
[The
chief mate reviews the man overboard drill with cadets]
[Lisa
Reilly in the EOS hot seat, the chief (R) and first (L)
engineers overseeing her decisions]
 We
launched another float in the afternoon. I decided to
experience it beside the hearth of the engines in EOS (the
engineering control room). First class cadet Lisa Reilly
was in the box, ready to respond to maneuvering commands
from the bridge. While the bridge directs the maneuvers, it
is the engine department that executes them down below in a
way that the engines can manage. Again, the Bear was to
come to a full stop by running the engines astern but
decelerating an entire ship requires huge amounts of
energy. Reilly was careful to ease the engines into the
requested speed (“answering the bell”) slowly while
carefully monitoring the load. We came to a stop in about
four minutes. After the float was launched, she eased us
back to 90RPM ahead, settling in at about 5,000HP.
[Wayne fires up some
meat]
 The
biggest event of the day was our first Sunday night BBQ
dinner on the fantail. It was cold but the galley staff
grilled an amazing amount of chicken and tri-trip steak.
And it was good. I took shelter behind a serving table
radiating billows face warming steam and, as everyone passed
me, I was blown away by the sheer number of people on
board—this is really the first time we have all assembled
together. The line kept going strong for at least half an
hour. Of course many cadets were collecting thirds, and in
some cases, fourths, but we never ran out of meat. Not even
close.
[Life-giving corn]
[Smiley
goes to town on the tri-tip]
-JSF
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