Albatross IV - Northeast Fisheries Science Center - NOAA

*****
Ship sounds....on the AL IV, you can't get away from the background noises...you can always hear the
engines, and when the winches come on, those can be heard as well as seen (as the lights will dim). This is
the ship's way of telling us to get to work. Even the heads have a fan/blower on so there's no escape. We
know that this ship is alive with its various decibels mixed in with the unique sounds emanating from each
fish sampling work station as recognition that a fish has been measured, weighed, and sampled (e.g. a
ringing telephone, a frog croaking, etc.). Over the years, more sounds have been added (24/7 satellite TV,
300 available movies to watch, satellite radio, plus there are computer games and ipods to add to the mix).
What a disharmonious symphony, but it's what makes every ship one-of-a-kind! Whenever we dock and
everything is shut down, it's amazing to hear how quiet the ship has become...it's sleeping until it's time to
go to work again.
- Linda Despres, Fishery Biologist, Woods Hole, MA
Non-Mechanical Situations
Around 7:30 p.m., Jamie Pierson, scientist, who was off watch and had the starboard aft stateroom (same as
me) came up to the lab and said to me that the state room had water on the deck. I said "The @@!!**
shower is leaking again." He said no - too much water. And so I went down to check it out. Yes, too much
water. Kenny was on watch so I told him and he said "The @@!!** shower is leaking again."
I took Kenny down and he said, “Go get the engineer on watch.” So down the engine room I went and John
Hurder is on watch. I told him about it and he said "The @@!!** shower is leaking again." I got him to
come up, and he checked out the water in the stateroom. Now there was a little water in passage way too.
Hurder opened the door, to Zezula's room, "the old sick bay” on the starboard side the NOAA officers used.
When he opened the door, it looked like someone opened the end of a fire hydrant! A solid stream of water
was shooting across the room and bouncing off the opposite wall! The look on Hurder's face was priceless.
Kenny and I started laughing. John shut the door and did the correct thing. He first shut off the electric
power to that room, and then called the bridge to have them change course and reduce speed. The phone
was right outside the stateroom door. Dave Zezula was the officer on watch and said, "You’ve got to be
kidding," Hurder said "NO, and it's your stateroom." Pause. "No, I'm not kidding - it's your room!" Pause.
"No, I'm not kidding." With that Kenny and I were laughing so hard it was difficult to catch our breath.
Then things happened really fast, and Kenny took charge
of the situation down below. The ship slowed and
changed course. The porthole was found on Zezula's
bunk intact. Kenny had Willie Amaro seal it back into
the hull. That's when Willie got soaked by a freak sea
coming through the hole in the hull where the porthole
was supposed to go. Zezula's room was really washed
out. Even the dresser drawers were full of water. The
crew used the new de-watering pump (the first time too!)
to remove the water from the stateroom decks. The two
starboard science state rooms had the carpeting taken
out. Electric heaters were placed in the staterooms to dry
them out. I was able to occupy my room when I got off
at midnight! The ship was back to work at full speed by about 9:30 PM that evening.
All the ship's personnel that were involved did a really super job of handling the situation, and Kenny and I
got a good laugh to boot. And so went another watch on the Albatross IV.
- John Sibunka, Fishery Biologist, Sandy Hook, NJ
*****
Late 80s, early 90s. I'm sitting in the galley, watching Manny Botelho (chief bosun) painting the door frame
and door jam of the scientific sitting area. He finishes and tapes a sign on the wall "Caution - Wet paint".
Within an hour some knucklehead steps on the freshly painted water tight threshold. Manny re-paints the
entire area and puts up a bigger sign saying the same thing. This time it takes only a half hour for some
genius to step on the threshold again. Manny re-paints the entire frame and foot threshold for a third time
46