Today I got a behind the scenes tour of the ship’s engine room with Joshua Jansen, Chief Engineer. 

The first thing we came across was the fuel transfer system.  In this area, the engineer can choose which tanks the fuel is drawn from and can choose where to send it.  The fuel is stored in six cargo tanks under the ship.  The fuel transfer system has a centrifuge which acts like a mechanical filter.  This ensures that any water or dirt that might have gotten in the fuel is removed before it is burned. 

Here is the water maker.  Because the ship is out to sea for many days it is important to be able to make enough water for all of the activities on board.  Water is needed for drinking, cooking, cleaning and the science work that is done on the ship.  The water maker can produce a half a gallon of fresh water per minute.  This is equivalent to 720 gallons per day.  The ship does have a storage tank that is filled before leaving the dock, but the desalination device is the main source of water for the ship.  Water is pumped up from the sea chest in the bottom of the ship.  It is sent through a series of pumps with increasing pressure  from 40 PSI to 1000 PSI.  This pressure pushes it through a series of tubes which contain membranes.  The membrane allows the water to pass through but not the sodium chloride ions.  After the salt is removed, the water is then treated by a UV light to kill any harmful bacteria before it is available for use on the ship. 

Here are the hydraulics which are used to operate the big trawl winch.  The winch is used to raise and lower the nets on the ship.  It has a 150 horsepower motor which is larger than most cars.

Next up, the marine sanitation device.  This is where the waste water is treated before it is released from the ship.  This machine is unique because while some devices use stored chlorine to treat the water, this machine is able to remove chlorine from the sea water and use it to treat the water before it released.  (The system of toilets uses salt water taken in directly from the sea but all water used on board is treated before it is returned.)

Here are the fire and dewatering pumps.  These would be used in case of an emergency if it was necessary to put out a fire or remove water leaking into the bottom of the boat.  The system is accessible from a switch outside the engine room because if there were a dangerous situation in the engine room an inside switch would be hard to access.

Here is the oily water separator device. The separator device makes sure that any oil (usually less than 15 ppm) is removed from water that has collected in the bilge (the bottom part of the hull) before it is pumped out.  The left side of the photo also contains the air receivers for the air compressors.

Air compressors that make the air for the air receivers.  This is used to start the engines and run power tools used on the ship.

Here is the main engine.  It is a Caterpillar D-379 from 1981 and is 565 horsepower.

Here are the two Caterpillar 3406 generators.  Each is 175 kilowatt.  These generators run all of the power on the boat. 

This is the gear shaft.   It turns and is attached to the propeller directly connecting to the engine through the gear.  The blades of the propeller can be tilted to adjust the pitch of the blades which give more options when the operator wishes to vary the speed of the boat. 

This photo attempts to show where the rudders are connected under the boat.  The rudders are controlled by the autopilot computer program but can also be adjusted manually if necessary.

So there you have it.  A behind the scenes look at what powers a ship and keeps it running!

Teacher At Sea,

Christia Hewlett

      Yesterday when we were pulling the MOCNESS we saw what appeared to be an abandoned boat.  This observation was called into the US Coast Guard.  After finishing the trawl, we circled back by to take a look and make sure there was no one aboard.    The makeshift boat was filled with containers with water and leftover supplies.   It had metal ribs that were filled with some type of foam and then covered in a tarp.  A motor had been attached to it.  We hope that the people on board reached safety.  Perhaps the boat landed and then floated back out to sea or they were picked up by another vessel. Abandoned boats are one type of marine debris.  Luckily other than the boat we have not observed much in the way of marine debris. I personally have only seen 1 or 2 small pieces of trash floating in the water. 

  While we were checking out the boat it was noticed that the floating structure created something for small fish to congregate around.   This attracted some larger fish.   There was a school of Mahi-mahi or dolphin fish schooling.   Several of the fishermen on board were able to grab a fishing pole and some even caught a fish.  Here is a picture of the largest one caught.  We are looking forward to dinner tonight.

Travis and his catch 

Teacher At Sea,

Christia Hewlett

     When the ship reaches a station, the location where the scientists want to collect their data, the acoustic transducer is lowered into the water.  The transducer acts like a “telescope” underwater by sending sound waves down.  These sound waves bounce off of the layers of animals and create picture of the layers of animals.  The data are put into a computer model to help analyze the data collected and to help the scientists know at what depth to fish the nets. 

       Assistant Professor Kevin Boswell, Reading the Acoustic Data                          

                   MOCHNESS Operator Gray Lawson

     After scientists have taken readings with the transducer, the MOCNESS nets are lowered and deployed at different depths that range from 1500 meters to the surface.  The process of the nets being lowered and collecting samples can take several hours. The MOCNESS is made up of six different nets. Net 0 goes down open to the deepest depth.  When Net 0 is closed, Net 1 opens. The rest of the nets open at specific depths.  For example Net 1 may collect samples from 1500 meters  to 1200 meters. The next net would collect from 1200 to 1000 meters.  All of the net openings and closing and the data associated with the nets is controlled from a computer inside the ship. 

                                   Lowering the nets                                                                             Nets in the water

   When the nets are brought up scientists go through a process to identify the organisms that are collected.  They are identified by specialists, weighed, measured and in some cases DNA samples are taken.  For other samples, some parts of their body are selected to look for an accumulation of mercury or hydrocarbons (from the oil spill). 

                      Sorting the Organisms

Teacher At Sea,

Christia Hewlett

     Yesterday was filled with the wonders of nature, not only from the ocean depths but at the surface as well.  Early in the day we were lucky enough to see some dolphins. The pod of dolphins was quite substantial and had around 50 members. They were splashing and jumping up in the water and bow riding along with the ship. 

  Dolphins Bow Riding 

Sunset at Sea  

     In the evening around 10 pm after we had processed the samples from the nets, the lights were turned off on the deck of the boat.  It was possible to see so many stars and a few of us even got to see some shooting stars.  And not to be outdone, the ocean water was putting on a show too!  The wake of the boat had a slight glow from the bioluminescent plankton in the water.  Bright flashes of light were able to be seen sparkling in the water when some of the floating pyrosomes & other bioluminescent organisms were churned up at the water’s surface. Unfortunately my camera could not capture the beautiful display.

Teacher at Sea,

Christia Hewlett