Daily Routine

Although life on the E/V Nautilus is hectic, stressful, and tiring, there are times on the ship when I feel relaxed and well rested. This morning, as usual, I awoke at 3:30 AM to attend my 4 A.M. watch. This first thing done upon wake up is to take a shower, get in uniform, and get supplied with snacks and drinks for the upcoming four hour shift.

Once in the control van, the job begins. Everyone in the van is responsible for keeping an eye on the side-scan sonar. Another responsibility of being on watch is to "entertain" audience listening in on the live broadcast.  Conversations are to be pertinent to the scientific topic at hand (although deviations from this rule are very frequent!) .  Members of the watch are also responsible for answering any questions sent in via the Nautilus Live website.

After watch is over, I enjoy my egg, bacon, sausage, potato, and yogurt breakfast....with freshly squeezed orange juice. Usually I will take a quick nap (which is well deserved) and return to the lounge fully rested. Once in the lounge, it's time to blog, read, watch a movie, or compile pictures for the website. 

Lunch is from 11:30 to 12:30 and is usually beef or chicken with a pasta and veggies. After lunch, it's fun to relax and get to know the crew by playing card games, backgammon, and simply chilling and watching the waves on the deck. 

The second watch of the day is from 4:00 to 8:00 P.M. We do the same thing as the morning watch; 

however, we have a brief relief for dinner at 5:30. Dinner is usually the same type of foods at lunch, but there is more food. After dinner, everyone on my sleeping schedule is absolutely wiped out so we all pass out in our rooms as soon as our heads hit our pillows. 

The everyday routine is not written in stone, however. Almost everyday there is some sort of wrinkle to the schedule, whether it be a Herk launch or a transit to a different section of the Black Sea. If you want to survive on the Nautilus, you must learn to adapt to the situation and be flexible with anything that happens on board. Life on the Nautilus is hectic, but in the best way possible!

Fishing for Wrecks

For an exploration vessel like the E/V Nautilus, trawling, A.K.A bottom trawling or trawl fishing, have catastrophic effects on the quality of research conducted. Trawling is fishing by dragging a large net on the sea floor. These large nets can turn an ancient ship wreck into a disastrous pile of driftwood. Not only is trawl fishing an issue for archaeological missions; it is also a serious problem in terms of the environment. Trawl fishing kills miles and miles of coral reef annually (as pictured below).

Although it is common for the government to install a "No Trawl Zone", problems with enforcement prohibit the law's success. Enforcing a "No Trawl Zone" would require a Coast Guard Patrol which is not only expensive but also ineffective. The size of a Coast Guard Patrol big enough to watch over an entire sea or ocean is not practical. For example, if Turkey employed Coast Guard ships to patrol every 50 square miles in the black sea, they would need well over 300 vessels!

Above is a picture of a trawl scar. As we travel on the E/v Nautilus, it is very common to see hundreds of square miles covered with trawl scars on Diana's side-scan sonar. These areas do not have promising futures for finding wrecks because they have been destroyed by the scars.

A possible solution for the issues present with trawling is switching large scale fishing companies to another form of fishing, known as trolling. Although trawling and trolling sound similar, the techniques and outcomes between the two are complete opposites. Troll fishing uses several multi-hooked fishing lines which are cast of the back of a moving vessel. The lines do not harm any archaeological zones nor wild life in the area. When done on a large scale, trolling is just as effective in catching fish as trawling with no negative effects.

Keep listening in on Nautilus Live and send in your questions and comments!
    KJ

Hercules Launch

( underwater shot of Hercules)

We are currently launching Hercules and Argus to investigate a shipwreck named Sinop D. Sinop D was discovered 5 years ago off the coast of Sinop. Sinop D was likely a warship from the fifth century. Hercules and Argus will be sent in to find the wreck and check out its condition. By doing this, we are able to compare the visual condition of Sinop D today from 5 years ago.




Hercules is equipped with a radar detection system that will help him locate the shipwreck once on the bottom of the sea. In a similar way to Diana, Herk sends out signals like a bat. The returns that he gets plots a point on a radar screen in which Herk navigators use to find the exact location of the target on the seafloor.









Above is a picture of the shipwreck site "Sinop D". This site is called Sinop D because it is the fourth shipwreck found off the coast of Sinop. For example, Sinop A is the first, Sinop B is the second etc.







Keep tuning in at Nautilus Live for the latest updates and send in your comments and questions!

KJ

A Scientific Vessel

The Nautilus is certainly not the ship for a relaxing vacation. It is a working, scientific vessel.
The E/V Nautilus is built for efficiency. The ship itself is 211 feet long; the stern and bow take up the majority of the space. Rooms are very small, (the size of a mini van) and are shared with up to 4 people. This is not a big problem because the only thing rooms are used for are sleeping and changing. Most of the time on the ship is spent either in the control van on watch, or relaxing in the lounge or mess hall.

Hercules (pictured above) is one of the ROVs (or remote operated vehicles) on the ship.  Hercules is equipped with over half a dozen cameras, including one HD bubble camera. Hercules also has thrusters on several sides for above average mobility under water. In addition, he is also equipped with 2 "arms".  Predator, one of the arms, is more agile and precise. It is used for picking up samples, or gently moving something out of the way. Mongo, the other arm, is very strong and is used mainly to do "power lifting". It can exude thousands of pounds in force. 

Argus (above) has very similar abilities as Hercules, however; does not have robotic arms. Hercules and Argus are linked together via a daisy chain. This yellow chord not only links the two robots together, but also streams data and controls to and from the control van. 


It is currently about 9 o'clock P.M. local time. We just pulled up Hercules and Argus after 3 samples were taken from the bottom of the Black Sea. Now, Diana (the side-scan sonar fish), is back in the water looking for new targets to explore! 


Keep listening in at Nautilus Live and send in your questions!
       KJ

First Day on the E/V Nautilus

After 2 and a half days of travel we are finally aboard the E/V Nautilus. This morning, I woke up at 3:45 AM local time to do my first watch. Because the Nautilus is a 24 hour operation, working hours are crazy.


 My first watch this morning consisted of watching "Diana" side-scan the seafloor; looking for potential targets to look further into. For the past 14 hours the crew has been mapping targets from Diana. If these targets look like they have potential, Hercules and Argus will be sent in for a dive. Equipped with cameras and bright lights, Hercules and Argus will serve as our eyes and ears on the seafloor.



 The first dive is scheduled for sometime this afternoon local time. This means early morning eastern time. Keep up with the Nautilus by listening in on the live broadcast from the control van, exploring the website, and asking questions!

Coming to an End

It is hard to believe we will be back in Italy Saturday morning...these two weeks have flown by! The past 4 days of insanely rough seas have made me homesick..but I feel like there is still so much more for me to learn onboard Nautilus! The crew, the places, the setting, and the overall experience have been something completely new to me and it's absolutely life-changing.
As an update- Mrs. Duffy has her "sea legs" (as she likes to call them) back and is happy to be vertical again! She temporarily lost them during the rough seas but she is rested and getting better! (Just in time for the port stop in Palermo :) )! Somehow I managed to go two weeks without getting seasick... I am still trying to figure out how I pulled that one- but no complaints!! The rough seas and storms proved worth it when we saw the rainbow at the end....

(Hercules pilot Gregg didn't realize I was trying to take a picture!)

The Elements

Volcanic eruptions, water spout, lightening, thunder, and rainbows...

^ That about sums up the past 3 days here onboard the Nautilus! Sorry for not posting in a while but it's definitely been crazy!!
Last week we started diving and have found some very cool things! We have seen hydrothermal vents among the volcanic rocks. These high temperature vents are associated with bacteria and tube worms (I've been named "Official Tube Worm Spotter" by Chief Scientist Dr. Carey). In addition we have seen squid, octopus, jellyfish, and sharks. We haven't been able to dive since Sunday because of the bad weather unfortunately :(

We have been taking shelter behind Stromboli (the gorgeous volcano above) to avoid the storm as much as possible. The waves have been huge but last night we definitely got to see one of the coolest things ever! This volcano erupts every night and the Captain kept taking us back and forth along the side of the volcano to watch the eruptions every 10 minutes. It was really amazing.

The videographer on board- Tom Pierce (coolest guy ever!) got this picture of one of the eruptions:

We are hoping to start diving again tonight or tomorrow...but it all depends on this weather. The past few days have been SO rough and we've had to take shelter in our cabins!

We only have a few more days onboard but stay tuned for updates!

Courtney