Student's Report:
In the summer of 2000, a group of six students from a Florida maritime high school cruised with NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown on a routine expedition to gather data from the water column over the Axial Volcano off Oregon. As partial high school credit for the experience, the students were required to write a fictional short story that describes their adventures and knowledge gained. It is hoped that through the creative expression of their encounters, they learn more about themselves as well. These are samples of their work and that of their teacher. The authors, in order are Vito Maselli, Darin Tonks, Erik Davis , and Ted Davis. Today we feature the first 2 stories:

Just a Dream by Vito Maselli
"Writing has proven to be hard work, often painful. I can honestly say that I would rather be fishing"
(Linda Greenlaw, 1999)

It was a cold and blustery winter day in Victoria. I was on my way to NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown after traveling about 2000 miles across the United States. I was freezing in the temperate maritime weather, being accustomed to the warm tropical air of Florida. I was walking around with only a sweatshirt, trying to look like a native. No, I wasn't crazy; I just lost the suitcase with all of my sweaters and other various winter gear in it. So, I picked up a few things in the city and then took a taxi over to the ship. "Wow," I said, as I looked in amazement at this magnificent ship. I had never been on a ship this size before and couldn't wait to get aboard. I was so captivated that I started to walk away without paying the taxi driver. I had never worked on a ship before, so I didn't exactly know how to approach it. I waited around awhile until I finally saw a man walking on deck towards me. He asked me for my name, and as I replied he was flipping through a small booklet. It must have contained my name and position because he quickly responded with a welcome aboard. It turns out he was the executive officer of the ship for about three years. As we talked a bit more he gave me a short tour of the ship, then assigned me a berth. It was a small room, but sufficient. There were no television, radio, or other electronic devices. Just two bunks, plenty of lights, and plenty of places to stow things.

As I was beginning to unpack my bags I heard a knock on the door. I opened it and a guy about the same age as myself was standing there. "Hi, I'm you're roommate," he said. Both of us now were unpacking, talking about where we were attending college, where we live, etc. Amazingly enough, we both went to the same grade school. Before we knew, bedtime rolled around. We were going to need all the sleep we could get, because the ship pushed out tomorrow at 5:30 a.m.

I was a little bit unsure of my role on the ship. They labeled me as an assistant scientist, but I had never worked with or seen some of the equipment on board before. It was like I was in a whole New World. The University of Miami sent me out here, mainly because it looked like this was the field I was going into.

After we had pushed out of Victoria the next morning, I got a formal briefing as to exactly what the ship's mission was. Basically, we were going to be out at sea for a month, using a device called a CTD. We were going to be dropping this CTD down to different depths at various spots on the Axial Volcano and southern cleft of the Juan de Fucca Ridge. The CTD rosette carries about 21 water sampling bottles at a time, which also transmit information like conductivity, temperature, and depth or pressure. From the water samples we tested for elements like Iron, and Manganese, as well as Helium isotopes. All of this indirectly helps out in the study of the hydrothermal vent community. So, to my understanding, I was going to be assisting the chief scientist in this endeavor. My mindset after hearing this was that the mission was going to be a breeze, but boy was I in for a surprise.

Ring, Ring. That's the sound I woke up to as the ship made its last call for you to either get you're butt on board, or get left behind. As my roommate Dirt and I watched Victoria slowly fade in the distance, we could only hope we wouldn't have to experience one of the many legendary storms of the Pacific.

Breakfast was eggs, ham, bacon, and potatoes. It didn't seem so bad until we found out we would be eating the same thing for the next two weeks. After breakfast, it was around 10:00a.m. and it was going to be at least another day before we made it to the site. We were only moving at about 12 knots, and had to travel about 250 miles off the coast.

My first actual workday as a scientist would start when we arrived at the site. On the way out the seas were calm, the winds were mild, and the ride was smooth. I could smell the fresh scent of the ocean, as I sat out on deck, wondering what new experiences this trip would bring me. Then I remembered I had a bridge watch scheduled from 1200-400a.m. Tonight, I decided it would be best for me to get some rest, so I went down to my berth, and fell into a deep sleep, Knock, knock, knock, I heard as I sat up in bed, "Are you awake?" "Yeah, I'm up" I said as I took a gander at the clock and remembered I was supposed to be on watch in 30 minutes. So, I climbed out of bed, flattened out my hair, and made myself presentable for the bridge.

As I walked up the seemingly never-ending stairways, I tried to picture in my mind how it might look up there; I could only imagine. Once I entered the final door, everything was dark with only red lights showing. I had to wait a minute to let my eyes adjust to the light change. Once I could see, it looked really cool. I was impressed with all of the high-tech equipment in front of me. The XO (executive officer) who was presently in control of the bridge, offered to show me some of the equipment that I wasn't familiar with. Over the course of my watch I learned about the 3 types of GPS systems the ship had, as well as how to use a sextant to find the positions of celestial bodies for navigational reasons. Also, I was enlightened on how to use the Analog to find bearings on objects, and the two types of computer navigation systems the ship had. One being a rascus scan system, and the better one being vector based, because when you focus in or out, things never get blurry. The last and probably the most important thing the XO showed me was how to determine the condition of, and correctly document weather. Speaking of which was rapidly deteriorating. We took a barometer reading and the pressure was dropping a mile a minute. The seas were getting rough, and big rolling swells started to move in. Even in the darkness of the night we could see monstrous looking clouds coming our way.The XO ran to go check the new weather printout, and by the look on his face I could tell we were in trouble. A storm was coming our way, packing over 80mph winds. Bad storms were frequent out here this time of year. This was a phenomenon, a product of nature's fury, and it was coming straight towards us.

The XO promptly called the Captain and informed him of the situation. There was a critical decision that had to be made, and no other than the captain should make it. Do you go full speed ahead into the belly of the storm hoping to ride it out, or do you turn away and try and outrun the storm. Based on the fact that this vessel could only move at a maximum speed of about 14 knots, the Captain made the decision to dive head first into the storm. "I think she will be able to pull through," he said, as he left the bridge.

The waves were really picking up now, and the wind was howling like a ghost. The ship was bobbing all around like a rubber ducky in a bathtub when you fist get in. The XO found it necessary to make an announcement that all crewmembers secure the hatches, and clear the deck of all personnel. Also, he asked that everyone on the ship, except the engineers, gather in the mess deck. The waves now were over 30 feet, and every time the bow dropped down after a big wave, the spray shot all the way up to the bridge. Good thing we had windshield wipers. Just then, the rain began falling, but it wasn't falling vertically, it was coming straight at us horizontally. Our visibility was cut down to about the tip of the bow. Worse than that, the wind had just knocked out our radar, so we were literally blinder than a bat. Lightening was flashing all around us, just barely missing, until one bolt came down and struck the A-frame, causing it to crash down into the hull creating a gaping hole. Water began pouring in to the lower levels of the ship. People were screaming, and I was scared for my life. Then I began to smell a hint of gas. There must have been a leaking propane tank somewhere. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a man getting ready to light a cigarette. "No!" I screamed as the match ignited.

"Wake up, wake up," I heard n a familiar voice. " You're having a bad dream." I popped up out of bed and saw my roommate standing over me. "You're gonna be late for bridge watch," he said. "What are you talking about?" I frantically exclaimed. "The storm, the propane, we have to stop him." There's no storm. Don't tell me that you went to see that new movie that came out, The Best Cyclone?" Dirt said. "Relax. You were just having a bad dream." Then it hit me. "I guess I was," I said in an embarrassed voice. "I guess I was".

It Cut's like a Knife by Darin Tonks

Chapter 1 - The Plunge

I am Captain "Mike" Thompson. My story began seven years ago when my father passed away from an unexpected accident at sea. At the time, we did not know the cause of that accident but inevitably it was how I inherited his sixty-foot trawler "Barracuda." I was also given his rare collection of stone knives, one of which was missing. The trawler was designed to drag "try nets" across the ocean bottom to catch shrimp and commercially valuable fish.

My first voyage took place two weeks after the accident that occurred close to Fowey Rocks Lighthouse. Fowey Rocks is approximately eight miles from Elliot Key near Miami and that was to be our first destination. My mother and my wife did not want me to go out. My father died from something that was not known and that was what they feared. I listened to them but was compelled to conquer the fears that I had of the place where my father died mysteriously. My crew were Mathew Wilson, nicknamed "Squeaky," Steve Smith or "Scuba Steve, " and Alfred Thompson, my younger brother.

We started getting supplies for our journey. I ran the boat while Squeaky was the winch operator, Scuba Steve was a certified rescue diver and worked with the rest of the crew deploying and retrieving the nets. Alfred was the first mate and cook. Besides the necessary supplies we needed for operation, we brought along enough food and water for one and a half weeks. Finally the morning came when we started out on our journey to the Fowey Rocks.

We all met at 0530 at Brandon Marina in South Miami where the boat was docked. We said Good bye to our loved ones, took off the bow and stern lines and pulled out of the slip which marked the beginning of our long ride but memorable cruise. We finally arrived at about 1300. Immediately we stated putting the nets in the water. It took us about one hour to put them out and start to trawl. We turned on the ice machine because we had a feeling that we were going to catch lots of fish. Since we were behind schedule we only dragged the nets for three and a half-hours. When we brought the nets up there were hundreds and hundreds of fish. The ones we kept were of many types such as Snapper, Grouper, Dolphin, and Tuna. We threw the Junk fish that were caught incidentally back into the water. Soon we put our nets away, froze the fish that we kept and cleaned the back of the boat. Then we went inside and had sandwiches for dinner.

After dinner, Squeaky takes out his Penn Senator 9/0 on a custom rod and puts on about six feet of number nine wire with an 8/0 hook, and a chunk of bonito. Then all of the sudden something grabs Squeak's bait, runs with it and starts peeling line off his reel as if the fish did not even know he was hooked. So he starts fighting the fish. Alfred straps the fighting belt on Squeaky so he can handle the rod better. Then, suddenly the fish starts racing towards the boat like a raging bull, and hits the underside of the boat. The impact knocked everyone off their feet and somehow the wire got cut clean through. The next morning we awoke at 0600 and ate some of Alfred's famous breakfast eggs, bacon, and sausage. We got the nets in around 0730 in the morning, and started dragging around eight thirty. About one and half-hours in to the drag the net gets stuck on the bottom. Then right as Scuba Steve was about to jump into the water to loosen it, the net came loose so squeaky brought it up with the winch. When the net finally reaches the surface it was torn to shreds.

The third day into the trip they get the net to the surface again. They could not believe it when they saw it, a 90-foot giant squid. All of the sudden it's tentacles come loose and whips across the back of the boat like a tree branch knocking Alfred into the water. We all rushed over to see if he was all right, but he wasn't. As we watched in horror, he disappeared into the beak of the giant squid. I stared in disbelief when I saw my father's stone knife deeply imbedded into it's skin just above the eye. It was then that I knew how my father died. The loss of another family member was more than I could take.

Chapter 2 - The Extraction

My new job now is Chief Bosun on the NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown. I have two men that work with me. They are Hank Watson and Roger Williams. Our next cruise is to the Juan De Fuca Ridge approximately 260 miles off the coast of Oregon. We will be having six students from Florida and three teachers on this cruise. There will also be a group of scientists traveling with us. The students arrived on July 19 by the Victoria Clipper, where they caught a cab to the ship. Then they received a tour of the ship from ENS Katie Martin. She showed them their berths and also them to Captain Parsons. Then they were free to look around town. They went to many of the shops looking for souvenirs to bring home to their families. Some of them joined in the softball game we had with the Coast Guard each time we are at that port.

The next day we left at 0900. On the way out we hit some bad weather and the seas became rougher. Some of the students could not handle it so they went to sleep. The next day is when they started their work around the ship. They broke up into three groups of two. One group would work on the bridge, another with the deck crew, and one with the scientists. Every three days they would switch and do a new job. The deck work consisted of painting, sanding, swabbing, sweeping, gathering, sorting, and burning trash. It was basically keeping the ship clean and safe. When we were on cruises like this, we would also pick up moorings that have been on the ocean floor for a year and gather important scientific data from hydrothermal vents.

The students the bridge experienced two - four hour shifts a day. It is customary to arrive half an hour early, so you can get a feel for what is happening up there. While on the bridge they would learn how to do weather logs which tell you information such as swell and wind direction, height of waves, the types of clouds, and their coverage. It also told you the barometric pressure, temperature. GPS location, and humidity using wet and dry thermometers. They also did a weather report every six hours which was sent out to NOAA centers which is used to tell other ships what kind of weather they can be expecting. They learned that the boat had "Z" drive thrusters that could turn 360 degrees so the boat had no rudders. They learned about the radar's range. The smaller Radar is used for picking up objects at a short range, that is the 3cm radar. The 10cm radar is used for long distance.

When they would be working with the scientists they would be learning about the CTD, and what it does. The CTD is a device that is lowered down by the hydrothermal vent and it takes samples of the water down there. Then the scientists can take some of that water and analyze it. They can find out things like, pressure, conductivity, temperature, salinity, density, and they also have a device called a Nepholometer that tells you what kind of abnormal particles are down there. So far the Cruise was fine and the students were having fun fishing or sitting on the back deck talking and laughing. One of the nights they even caught two squid, one which they kept and ate the next night. It was about seven pounds. The next day we were ready for another days' work when a problem occurred. The CTD was coming to the surface when something grabbed it and became entangled in the wire. All of the sudden I heard screaming so I ran over to see what the problem was. That is when I saw the squid. I froze in disbelief, when I saw my fathers stone knife still stuck in the squid. I knew the squid was stuck in the cable and was not going anywhere but I had to make sure it did not get away and kill someone else. That's when I called my crew members' and five other guys to come down to the bottom of the ship and help me haul one of the ship's ropes to the deck. When I got back to the Starboard side of the ship the squids was still thrashing around but not as much. So I made a slip knot and tied it around the base of the squids head, and then, to a cleat on the ship. We left it there through the whole ride home. When we finally arrived back in port at Victoria we called the coast guard and told them to come to NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown. When they arrived there they could not believe their eyes. They have never seen a creature this big in their life and were sure that we haven't either. I looked sadly towards them and said, "I'm afraid that I have. You see this very same creature took the life of my father and my brother They looked at me like I was crazy that is when I told them the story and about how I found my father's stone knife still stuck in the head of the squid. They did not believe me at first. Luckily, I always keep my fathers stone knife collection with me as a good luck charm and as a reminder of him. I went inside and got the collection and showed them to the Coast Guard and the students who were on the ship. They saw that there was one missing, and it matched the one stuck in the squid. I walked over to the giant and pulled my father's knife from it's skin. I felt relieved when did this. It was the first time I have ever told anyone what happened to my brother and father. In those few moments of talking about them, I felt I was reunited with my family and that they were standing there by my side. I was glad that this creature was captured and that it was not able to harm anyone the way it did me.