Albatross IV - Northeast Fisheries Science Center - NOAA

can. No one knows when it happened, but it did open the port side crew's head to the wind and rain - no one
seemed to notice. The deck crew and engineers quickly sealed up the hole with damage control wedges,
caulking and plastic bags, then we went on our merry way to finish that leg of the survey.
Derek Sutton, former Commanding Officer, Albatross IV
Linda Despres continues:
After that storm, I sent the following email to WBZ, Boston TV station, after the weatherman indicated that
this was not a storm to worry about:
To Barry Burbank:
I was listening to your weather forecast Saturday evening when you said that "We don't have to worry
about this front as it's going out to sea." As a sea-going scientist, I would like to gently remind you that
there are, on any one day, hundreds of hardy souls on fishing, research, cargo, military & Coast Guard
vessels who are feeling the effects of those storm fronts that are "safely going out to sea". Ask the Coast
Guard in the New England area this past weekend how many times they were called out to save lives
under less-than-ideal working conditions. Come to Woods Hole and see the structural damage to one of
our research vessels. Come on out with us on a cruise to see first-hand how weather dependent our work
is. It is a mind and body numbing experience to try and stay in the bunk or eat a meal or work when the
platform you're standing on is heaving and icing up. This is just a heads-up note to let you know that the
oceans are not empty when those storm fronts pass through.
Seasickness
Seasickness was my constant companion on these early trips. I was
especially susceptible to a combination of motion and the smells of
cigarettes, Captain Beatteay's cigars, which he always smoked
during the meals at the table while we were eating, or the peculiar
smell of the ASDC sounding machine, a huge device which sat in a
space that later was partitioned off to become the chem lab/CTD
room. The machine used heat to make a trace of the sea floor on a
scrolling piece of thermally sensitive paper and it smelled weird. I
learned that a hand in front of my face was not enough to prevent
vomit from spurting out onto the floor as I'd race for the leeside rail
outside!
- Jerry Prezioso, Fishery Biologist, Narragansett, RI
*****
On my first cruise, Fred Nichy was the chief scientist. We always had steak the first night out. After we
had done a few stations, I saw Fred unplugging the wet lab sink with large chunks of regurgitated steak in
his hands. I swore that if that was one of the jobs the chief scientist had to do, I wanted no part of it.
- Linda Despres, Fishery Biologist, Woods Hole, MA
*****
A seasick coworker who lost their dentures to the toilet.
- Nancy McHugh, Fishery Biologist, Woods Hole, MA
*****
Evelyn Howe...there's a picture of her, sleeping sitting up, in a corner on the floor, with a bucket on her
lap….one unhappy puppy.
- Don Flescher, retired Fishery Biologist, Woods Hole, MA
*****
How about the woman who was seasick and had been locked out of the women's bathroom and came
running into the men's bathroom only to find Jerry Prezioso already occupying the seat...once he realized
what she needed, he apologized for being in the way.
- Linda Despres, Fishery Biologist, Woods Hole, MA
40