Third Dispatch: All in a day’s work

by Joanna Lott

fter a rough and rainy day that lulled many members of this scientific crew into a dangerously comfortable feeling of ennui, I awoke to find the ship abuzz. Today, instead of the routine dive in the morning, recovery in the afternoon, and lots of science in the evening, there will be two short dives, with only an hour between for recovery and prep. Breea Govenar leads this morning’s dive. This is only her second dive, and already she’ll be the scientist calling the shots. (Although the ALVIN pilots would argue that no one calls the shots but them.) She dives with Barry Rowan, one of Jim Childress’s research group on board the New Horizon. Chuck Fisher was delighted to discover that Rowan is a former student and Penn State alumnus. So today is a mini-reunion, and a surprise to Fisher who, until he saw Rowan’s face on the New Horizon in Manzanillo, didn’t know he was along on this cruise.

The morning flies by and before we know it ALVIN has surfaced and is being recovered from the water. Govenar’s forced smile as she descends the steps of the A-frame conveys concern and frustration.

I watch from one deck above the action as the dance begins. The swarm of scientists mobilize and set upon the sub, picking it clean of samples, while the Alvin Group goes to work prepping it for the next dive.

Meanwhile, the newest ALVIN diver, Rowan, endures the traditional first timer’s initiation and is doused with buckets of ice water.

We soon find out what Govenar was concerned about; the sample that Bushmaster holds in its jaws isn’t what they were hoping for. They wanted a quantitative sample, Govenar later explains to me, meaning that they enclose and collect an entire community in Bushmaster. But the collection she had the ALVIN pilot aim for was a little too big for Bushmaster, so they netted only the top portion of the community, perhaps losing whatever lives at the bottom.

This experience for Govenar goes way beyond research. It is a test of her confidence, her knowledge, her energy, her patience, and her abilities as a leader. As she said in our interview before the cruise, "I’m the lead graduate student on this cruise. Is that scary? Yes. Is that a lot of responsibility? Yes."

No one is harder on Govenar than Govenar herself. "It was a judgment call," she tells me, "and I made a bad judgment." Later Fisher tells me that it really isn’t that bad. "The collection is still fully quantitative with respect to the tubeworms, and appears to have the gross majority of the associated fauna as well. Breea strives for perfection, and is disappointed with less."

***

his afternoon’s short dive is an unusual one, because in a way it’s a "bonus" dive with a single pre-determined objective. Fisher and expedition leader Patrick Hickey have decided that a couple of early Christmas presents are in order: Penn State undergrad Therese Waltz, whose participation in this cruise is funded by the Eberly College of Science, never expected to get a dive. She had gone back to bed after the morning launch, because this morning, like every morning, she was up at 0400 preparing a water sampler for use on the day’s dive. She was awakened with the news that today is her lucky day.

"This is, like, the best Christmas present ever," Waltz said when Fisher gave her the news.

For the crew members on the Atlantis, watching ALVIN dive is an everyday occurrence. But actually getting to dive in the sub is something most have never done. Fisher and Hickey have asked Captain Gary Chiljean to hold a crew lottery for the third seat in the sub. And the winner is second engineer James Schubert, a perpetually happy young crew member whose slogan is "fun, fun, fun," and who appears to have taken on the role of ship clown. He tells me that he once proposed that the engineers learn hula dance as a form of communication in the noisy engine rooms. He was surprised when the idea didn’t catch on. I ask him how he feels about his lucky win. He gives me a big grin and a thumbs up.

***

ut before they can even think about the next dive, they have to deal with the samples from the first dive, and fix Bushmaster, who suffered several broken fiberglass rods and severely bent steel supports during the first dive. There is no time to lose. Govenar and Cynthia Kicklighter, a Georgia Tech graduate student, work hurriedly to get every last bit of fauna from Bushmaster at the same time that Fisher and Hourdez work on repairing it.

At 12:45 the pilot tells Fisher that Bushmaster has to be on the science basket no later than 1:15 for a 1:30 dive.

"It’ll be ready in ten minutes," Fisher says.

At 1:00 they are still working. It looks like they’ll never pull it off, but after watching these guys work for ten days now, I know that they will.

At 1:15 Bushmaster is fixed and attached to ALVIN’s basket.

When Waltz and Schubert finally ascend the A-Frame stairs, the fantail is packed with scientists and crew there to support the lucky divers. Cameras click like crazy. Waltz gets into the sub, then remembers to ask about the dive plan and wants a clipboard. ALVIN pilot BLee Williams shouts the message to Fisher who shouts back, "video, collect, and that’s it." Williams’ answer: "She wants a clipboard — she’s very official."

Waltz gets her clipboard. ALVIN is in the water at 1:30. And everyone goes about their business, until the ship’s horn blows at 4:30 announcing that it’s time once again to recover ALVIN from the water. Another big sample, another broken Bushmaster, and another round of initiations.

And in just over twelve hours, it starts all over again.

Next Dispatch:Worm Science