My Navy guy took to sea recently with Dr. Robert Ballard on board the E/V Nautilus.
It’s the first time he’d been to sea in a very long time, and he had a splendid time.
(Indeed, he pretty much talked nonstop about it for the first 24 hours after I picked him up!)
He’d met Dr. Ballard before, as detailed in a blog post I wrote about The Scorpion and the Titanic (Dr. Ballard discovered the Titanic while returning from examining the USS Scorpion), but this was a different experience altogether.
The E/V Nautilus (as opposed to the USS Nautilus, a decommissioned US Navy nuclear submarine I wrote about here) is the research vessel for the Ocean Exploration Trust.
Founded by Ballard in 2008, the trust is dedicated to exploring the sea bottom and educating people around the world–in particular, students–on the riches under the sea.
The Hercules
The centerpiece for the Nautilus’ exploration is the Hercules, an autonomous underwater vehicle. Hercules travels with the Argus trailing above and shining lights.
They like to work at night, without the ambient light of day possibly distorting the photos, so the many cameras on the Hercules can capture fantastic images.
When inspecting and mapping the ocean floor, the duo travels in a precise grid pattern.
Skilled technicians pilot the Hercules from an onboard room full of screens and computers.
Pictures are sent live around the world via the Internet, and in particular to the Nautilus itself, where many experts watch and discuss what they’re seeing.
If a question comes up or something needs reexamination from a different angle, the Hercules and Argus can easily be repositioned.
My sailor described the beauty and wonder of watching the Hercules and Argus rise from the deep, lighted against an immense black ocean when the mission finished.
The Nautilus
The ship which serves as the platform for the Hercules and Argus was named for a “character” in Ballard’s favorite book as a child: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
When he finished reading it, Ballard told his parents he wanted to become Captain Nemo, captaining the Nautilus — a submarine with a giant window that looked out at the sea.
His wise parents said, “that sounds like being an oceanographer to us,” and that’s what he became– an oceanographer who explored the sea.
(Ballard tells his story in this video made when the Nautilus arrived in San Pedro, California, in September 2016.)
The E/V Nautilus nods to Jules Verne‘s book even as it includes more than state-of-the-art technology to accomplish its aims. The dining room is beautiful and has the necessary television screens so those on board can always see what Hercules is seeing.
My husband spent a lot of time in the lounge watching a dozen screens at a time.
He even had the chance to put on the headphones and discuss radiological controls (see the next post) with people watching live around the world.
It’s impressive; the photos are glorious, the discoveries amazing, and the ship a treasure.
You can see photos, videos, and all sorts of information on their website: http://www.nautiluslive.org/expedition/2016
Oh how cool! I’m familiar with Dr. Ballard and his work. It must have been awesome to be there and see it in action!
He let me tour when I came to pick up my husband. Fascinating for sure!
I’m going to have to come back to this post; there’s so much fascinating to search. Meanwhile, I’m supposed to be a writer …
Thanks for all the links, Michelle.
It really was interesting and they’re doing fascinating research–punctuated by long tedious hours at sea– and expanding the collective knowledge of the world. Terrific.