Expedition to the Mariana forearc

Mar. 23 - May 4, 2003

Day 11, April 2nd

(click on any image for the larger version)

Day 11 FIRE!! (prevention)

Through the night we sailed over Blue Eye Seamount and on to Quaker Seamount getting data using the ship’s multibeam and mapping all the way. Quaker got its nickname as the center of the Shake, Rattle and Roll of Mariana Forearc mud volcanoes.

At noon we rigged the piston core for deployment at the summit of Quaker Seamount. While on route to the summit, the science group met in the lounge for the fire prevention video we missed yesterday. Fire is scary enough on land, but on a boat there is no where to run, and no fire department to call. The crew take fire prevention very seriously. They have frequent inspections, drills, and training. The engine room has high fire potential because of the fuel and oil used, heat generated and electrical components.

Lifting the core liner Control panels in the engine room
 Andy, an assistant engineer, gave Tom, Travel Ann and me a tour of the engine room. The engine room is almost as clean as the galley. There are oil leaks, drips can’t be completely avoided, but they are cleaned up as quickly as they occur. Keeping the engine room this clean is an important point in fire prevention. Every member of this crew would rather prevent fire than fight fire.
The engine room has six engines. Three are Caterpillar 3516’s with 16 cylinders and three are Caterpillar 3508’s with 8 cylinders. Three of the engines are dedicated to the ship’s propulsion: the Z-drives and bow thruster. Three of the engines are for the auxiliary electrical needs of the ship: lights, air conditioning, refrigeration and so forth. Not all the engines are used at once. During our tour only two were operating. If more propulsion is needed by the ship, the engines used for auxiliary power can be switched and used for propulsion, but this is rarely done.
2 of 6 engines 2 of the ship's 6 engines
Guamanians: You would love this ship! No brown outs, no black outs, no power surges! Continuous, reliable power. I am conditioned to life on Guam—when I work at the computer I save after almost every sentence. Here, it’s not necessary, but I am conditioned…
z-drive Z-drive

The Z-drives propel the ship. They are special propellers that rotate 360 degrees in a complete circle. When the propellers blast water to the rear, the ship goes forward. When they rotate completely in the other direction, the ship goes in reverse. When the Captain turns the ship’s wheel, it rotates the Z-drives and the ship turns. With stationary propellers, a rudder is used to turn the ship—when the Captain turns the wheel, it turns the rudder. With a stationary propeller, going into reverse involves completely stopping the propeller and then starting it up again turning in the opposite direction. This ship has no rudder and no long propeller shaft to drive the propeller.

The ship also has a bow thruster. This is a water jet from the bow that helps the ship maneuver. It can push the bow to either side and that helps when docking the ship. The bow thruster is also used a lot when the ship is moving slowly over one of the DSL-120 transects or staying in one place while getting core samples or operating Jason 2.
taking samples to study microbes Engine room piping

Back to the mission: We deployed the piston core at 1400 and got another long core of blue mud. I got the job of cleaning the core pipe. It came up covered in a 4-inch-thick coating of blue mud. I have not yet mentioned the incredible adhesive properties of this mud. You can’t really appreciate the sticking power of the mud until you get to clean up. Tom helped for a while and we used giant spatulas to scrape off thick chunks. Then the hose and scrub brush for almost an hour. Actually I still like playing in the mud and water. Since we can’t swim here, the salt water hose is better than staying dry.

Science Summary - Day 11, April 2nd

Science Objectives, Day 11:

The eleventh day of the cruise, Apr. 2 will be devoted to dropping transponders on Quaker Seamount, so called because of the fact that it has been the site of a cluster of earthquakes and lies at the western end of a large fault trace. We will perform a survey of the seamount using DSL120.

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