Programs Blog

Author: Melia Matthews, C Watch, Whitman College

Ship’s Log

Heading
280 degrees PSC (WxN)

Speed
Between 4 and 8.7 knots!

Sail Plan
Four Lowers (Main, Staysyls, and Jib)

Weather
Still Lots of Stratus clouds, but getting warmer!

Wind
NNE 10-15 knots

Description of location
North Pacific Subtropical Gyre

Souls on Board

What a fun and exciting day aboard the Seamans! I started my day at 0430 when I was woken up for my morning of being steward, something I get to do every three days to help our amazing Cookie get some extra sleep. I am a deckhand/assistant steward for S-299, and an alumna of S-278. I stand watch with C Watch regularly except for dawn watch, which allows me to take over steward duties for a morning. Ian and I created a successful breakfast of English muffins with all the toppings; you know it is successful when the sleepy people just starting their day actually comment on the food! I also baked some oatmeal butterscotch cookies that drew a fun gathering of engineers, chief scientists and captains to taste the wares as they came out of the oven. One of the best parts of the boat is that you can smell amazing scents from the galley almost anywhere on board.

After my galley time ended, I prepared for a morale boosting announcement that was planned for the afternoon, a ship-wide game of Assassin/Clue! We had a Man Over Board drill that we were very efficient at, and then after class I gave all the players their targets. In this game everyone is assigned a name, a location, and an item. They must get their target to be holding the item in that location, and then they have been assassinated! We started the game at 2000 this evening, while I was on evening watch. It’s only for off-watch time, but it’s a fun way to engage with everyone on the boat during the rest of the day.

I got to spend some time on deck and some time in the lab, where our assistant scientists were going through the 24 hour process of calculating nitrates from our collected water samples. Lots of time bracing against the swells and measuring small amounts of liquids and being very precise on a quickly moving and rolling boat!

The first kill of assassin happened only 1 hour into the game, when Cookie savagely got Ian to pick up some hand sanitizer on the quarter deck just after he was stood down for the rest of the evening. The game has begun, for how long it will go, no one knows!

My day ended at 0100, after 21 hours (with some naps included), but luckily I can sleep pretty much as long as I want to tomorrow before afternoon watch!

The winds are expected to pick up a bit soon, and we are possibly getting closer to the edge of the clouds we have been under pretty constantly for the last two weeks? We are flying along and making great time to the “center” of the gyre!

– Melia Matthews, Whitman College, C Watch Deckhand!!

PS: Shout out to my Mom, who I know is reading the blogs and keeping track of our voyage!

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