Weather: Force 4. Heavy Rain. Grey and horrible.

Location: Off Wick. Transit through

Food: Curry Night!!!!!!

Not much has happened to day. We finally got the SBP working and I spent the morning developing a system for displaying sensor information throughout the ship. The scientists really need the SBP for this cruise but it's going to drive them nuts - when its operating it emmits a loud chirping noise - almost like an anti-social canary having a panic attack. Its not bad in the main labs - but down in the scientific accommodation deck its LOUD..... lets see how long they last!!!

The BGS drill didn't get deployed last night and has a few issues - expected when you are operating such a new and complex bit of kit. The guys from BGS are working like mad. The morning meeting discussed the rough weather we are expecting. Ship in the area where we are operating is reporting a Force 10. Weather is expected to deteriorate through the night as we transit to the next drill site which we should reach at about 2ish in the morning. Luckily it is only 30m deep so will not be able to deploy the USBL pole to detect where the drill is underwater - the USBL on our ship doesn't work in such shallow depths.

The bond (Ship's shop) opened today and we could purchase chocolate and other essentials - people can't by cigarettes as we are not out of UK waters. Bought a RRS James Cook fleece and two T-shirts.

The afternoon saw the BGS fuses brought out to the ship and the cores we had extracted at the previous dive site taken off for analysis. The little boat that came out from Wick looked like a fun ride - it appeared to have a flat hull and was getting thrown about by the choppy sea. The transfer was quick - it was lashing it down.

We knocked off early today as the past few days have been manic. Finally got some time to chill in my cabin and listen to music.

Was expecting a lot of abuse today if Wales got thrashed by Australia. It appears Wales played relatively well - unlike England who by all accounts were poor. Anyway I doubt any of us are going to win the world cup!!

Ships are weird places..........

T-Shirts

Thought I would write some things about working at sea. First on the agenda is items of clothing with logos. I've noticed since working with NERC that there is an urge - particularlly amongst scientific staff to wear items of clothing with an oceanographic/exploration or related logo on it. You see loads - British Antartic Survey (BAS), Woods Hole Oceaongraphic Institute (WHOI), RRS Discovery , RRS Charles Darwin are to name but a few. This must be similar to people buying hard rock cafe t-shirts - to prove that they have been somewhere... or maybe theres another reason like trying to get one-up with more and more exotic T-shirts... who knows. The one thing I have noticed is it is rare to see someone wearing an item of clothing with the logo of the ship that they are on...... At the start of this cruise I decided to start the hunt for the most obscure T-shirt that I can get my mits on.....I'll keep you up to date

The Table Situation

We have a communcal mess (canteen) where everyone eats. However, there is some sort of unspoken seating arrangement. Technically anyone can sit anywhere but by unspoken rule everyone sits at a certain table - with some people having a specific seat..... Crew, Officers, Technicians and Scientific Staff. Maybe its habit, people who know each other sit together or maybe its something left over from the old days or MN/RN ways..........

Jim gets stuck into fixing the SBP

Jim and Eamon with a fully working SBP

The mail boat!! Wick pilot boat brings out the neccessary spares!

The milk tray dude will go to any lengths..... Even getting Pi$$ed on by the scuppers

Scientific staff all smiles with the arrival of the spare fuses.