Daily Journal

June 13, 2010

By David M. Lawrence

As of 1600 hours today, there is nothing between us and the horizon except greater shearwaters – a type of seabird – and the Sargasso Sea. Chief Scientist Giora Proskurowski says that in the area that we can see there are 800 pounds of plastic debris in the upper part of the ocean.

We have been getting ample opportunities to sample it the past day. A high-pressure system passed over us yesterday. As it did so, the wind died, and we had to resume steaming to make sufficient progress eastward. With our diesel engine propelling us, we cover a greater distance over the course of a day. This also gives us the opportunity to sample more frequently. Under sail, we have been conducing two net tows a day: at 0400 hours and at 1600 hours. Today, we plan four tows. We've sampled a 0400 hours, 1000 hours, and 1600 hours. Our last tow of the day is planned for 2200 hours.

On the way out from Bermuda, our first two tows had lots of plastic debris, but the numbers fell off as we moved away from the island – itself a source of plastic pollution. But the numbers of plastic debris seem to be on the increase as we head toward where we believe the highest concentration of plastics to be.

While losing the wind is good for the number of sampling stops we make each day, it is bad for our fuel consumption – we have a long way to go and expect to make it back to Bermuda on fumes as it is. At least the swell has finally calmed down, and several of my ailing shipmates are feeling better.

My first watch of the day was the dawn watch. We did the first tow of the day. Even at 0400, the light from the coming sun lit the eastern sky. At sunrise, we were greeted by the sight of two neighbors – the freighters Grigorpan and Malmnes. (To be honest, I'm not sure Grigorpan is the full name of the first ship, but that was all the AIS, or Automated Identification System, gave.) We changed course a bit to avoid the Grigorpan, which was almost dead ahead, but there were several nautical miles between us.)

After my watch left at 0700 hours to eat breakfast – and clean the boat – the C watch science crew ran another neuston tow. We are beginning to bring up quite a bit of plastic now.

For the last two days I've been watching other visitors to SSV Corwith Cramer. They are greater shearwaters, birds often found far at sea – as we are right now. They rarely cooperate with me by giving me a chance to get a good photograph of them as they buzz the waters around the ship, but I enjoy seeing them nonetheless.

This afternoon we continued with our afternoon class sessions, with my watch presenting weather, navigation, engineering, and science reports. While our presentations are by definition special, the day was made even more special by the distribution of the cruise t-shirt as well as clothing donated by the folks at Patagonia. The picking, and heckling in some cases, was a fun break in our routine.

It is now 2000 hours, and we are beginning to deploy the neuston net again. I best go...