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September 16th, 2009 – At Sea, 45 57N, 055 36W
by Herb McCormick
(Sept. 15): History and science: For the crew of Ocean Watch, the two subjects couldn’t be more relevant or interesting. Like almost all long-distance sailors who point their bows into remote waters, we savor the tales of those who passed before us, and devour the books and journals devoted to their passages. As for science, our ongoing series of onboard research projects have us immersed in several scientific pursuits on an almost daily basis. Together, the disciplines have given our travels a whole new sense of texture and meaning.
All that said, when we arrived in St. John’s, Newfoundland, late last week, we had no idea that the two very different topics were about to converge in ways we never would’ve suspected. With its rich historical background and remarkable contemporary scientific facilities – particularly with regards to fisheries, oceanography and many other marine-related fields – St. John’s stands out as one of our more memorable ports-of-call thus far.
On Wednesday, St. John’s was unfortunately becoming a rapidly receding memory, as Ocean Watch continued onward on its second day of the 510-nautical mile voyage to Halifax, Nova Scotia. After a dark, squally night, by midday a light northeasterly breeze had filled in over the waters southwest of Newfoundland and the crew was motor-sailing with a reefed main and staysail at a steady 7-8 knots, with an ETA for Halifax sometime Friday.
Fortunately, as we continued onward, we had plenty of fond experiences to look back upon.
As far as history is concerned, chief among those rich experiences was a visit and reception at the Crow’s Nest Officers Club in the heart of the downtown waterfront district. Originally a watering hole called The Ship, the site on Water Street was a public house for the Royal Navy dating back to the 1700s. But in the early 1940s, with St. John’s a pivotal port in the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II – a haven for both spies and heroes – the old pub took on a new handle and mission; as the Crow’s Nest, it became a sea-going officers club for Canadian and allied forces.
It was so-named, the story goes, after one Army officer huffed and puffed his way up the 59 steps to its door, and once there, gasped, “Crikey, is this a ruddy crow’s nest?” From that day forth, it was.
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| President of the Crow’s Nest Officer’s Club, Gary Green. |
The current president of the Crow’s Nest, Gary Green, welcomed the crew of Ocean Watch there earlier this week and regaled us with tales of brave men and courageous battles. He pointed out some of the clippings and artifacts, including the periscope of a German U-190 U-Boat over in a corner. But by far the most impressive collection of art in the Crow’s Nest are the “gun-shield paintings” that adorn the place from floor to ceiling.
It was the club’s founder, Captain E.C. Mainguy, who conceived of the idea of having visiting Navy ships produce colorful gun-shield badges – original two-foot-square, cartoon-style paintings depicting a nickname, battle or motto – to grace the walls of the club. Eventually over 3,000 were produced, and while many are now in storage, the cream of the crop are still on display at the Crow’s Nest.
Our favorite was probably the most famous of all gun shields, from the HMCS Wetaskiwin. Known as “The Wet Ass Queen” – then and now, Wetaskiwin apparently presents some pronunciation difficulties – it depicts the queen sitting in a puddle of water shaped suspiciously like Newfoundland. According to Gary, it was the first gun shield ever painted, and the second to be hung in the Nest.
So, the Crow’s Nest provided a wonderful backdrop to the history of St. John’s, which is evident in every corner of the town, right from the moment you enter the harbor, under the old cannon emplacements on Signal Hill. The next day, on a visit to the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University – a fascinating part of which consisted of the tour of the shipboard simulator, used for training and research, that was addressed in a previous log – we found ourselves absorbed in the science.
The Marine Institute (MI) is actually three schools in once, with dedicated schools for fisheries, ocean technology
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| Zeta and Mark tour the simulator. |
and marine studies, and with programs designed for entry-level students to master mariners, undergraduates, military personnel and those seeking advanced degrees. The institution bills itself as “North America’s most comprehensive marine institute dedicated to education, training, applied research, industrial response and technology transfer in support of ocean industries.” Though we only scratched the surface of the facilities in our day’s visit, we’d be hard pressed to disagree.
We started off at the Ocean Sciences Center, a state-of-the-art laboratory and pumping station hard by the Labrador Sea. An elaborate flow-through water system enables scientists there to conduct research and training in the cold-ocean sciences of aquaculture, environmental sciences, marine biology and physical oceanography. Daryl Jones of the Center gave us an overview of the programs and then took us for a visit of the harp seal tanks, the focus of his own ongoing research and specialty.
Next we met with Dr. Bruce Parsons, a naval architect and the director of research at the National Research Council’s (NRC) Institute for Ocean Technology. Here, we had a glimpse of the world’s biggest ice tank (Dr. Parsons calls icebreakers, like the Sir Wilfred Laurier we came to know in the Northwest Passage, “blunt-force instruments”) and the more conventional, though equally impressive, 200-meter tow tank that the Institute employs in more conventional naval architecture. Like many of the arms of the MI, the Institute for Ocean Technology does substantial work for outside industry and contractors.
Included among those clients are many America’s Cup syndicates, and it was great fun shooting the breeze about their work in that field. “We call (the tow tank) the tank of broken dreams,” he said. “The yacht designers come in here convinced something is going to work.” And then: It doesn’t.
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| The world’s largest flume tank can demonstrate and test models of fishing gear and marine structures. |
Dwight House, the head of the School of Ocean Technology, spoke to us about the “immersion” learning programs the school undertakes with scientists and explorers like Dr. Bob Ballard, of Titanic fame, that enables students to participate in faraway expeditions in real-time via teleconferencing. Then Capt. Chris Hearn took us for a spin on the shipboard simulator, and finally we met with Dr. Paul Winger, the director at the Center for Sustainable Aquatic Resources. There, we had a look at the world’s largest flume tank, a “circulating water channel in which models of fishing gear – i.e., nets – and marine structures can be demonstrated and tested.”
“It’s a hydrodynamic version of a wind tunnel,” said Dr. Winger, something we sailors could truly relate to.
At the end of it all, skipper Mark Schrader took a deep breath. “If I’d known a place like this had existed, I wouldn’t have been long for Nebraska,” he said.
With that, we sat down for dinner with the MI’s director, Glenn Blackwood, and many of his staff. The OW crew had plenty of questions about – what else?! – history and science. In St. John’s, clearly, we’d come to the right place.
- Herb McCormick with photographs by David Thoreson
This crew log submitted by Iridium OpenPort and Stratos
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