After a restful night on board the R/V Endeavor, we were eager to get started with the work ahead. We began the day with a delicious and soulful breakfast on board at 0730 hours, ready to tackle the tasks ahead.
Around 0800, the crew arrived back on board, and we were able to transfer our boxes onto the vessel. With the boxes safely on deck, we began the process of unpacking and getting our equipment set up inside the 185-foot vessel. We were assigned the special purpose laboratory for our work station, where we would spend much of our time over the next few weeks.
The first thing we did was set up a clean bubble environment with a HEPA filter unit inside it. This was essential to ensure that we could collect our samples in a clean manner, without contaminating them from the ship’s lab. Once we had our clean bubble up, we proceeded to set up the rest of the equipment, including the spectrophotometer (used for calorimetric analysis) and the clay sprayer.
With the lab set up, we then turned our attention to the davit crane, which would be used to deploy the tow-fish. We laid out teflon tubing, running from the port side fantail of the ship’s deck all the way to a collection point inside the clean bubble within our lab. The tubing was zip tied onto the ceiling and run through the main lab out onto the deck, with a membrane pump on the other end attached to a tubing on the fish (a repurposed bathythermograph).
After a busy morning of setting up the lab, we made a quick run to the hardware store in town to grab last-minute supplies. On the way back to the vessel, we enjoyed the sun, sand, and waves at the Narraganset beach, taking a much-needed break from the work.
As it was a Sunday and the chef was not on board, we headed out to another tavern for a delightful dinner, relishing the chance to unwind and enjoy each other’s company after a long day of work. We called it a day after that, knowing that there was still much to be done in the days ahead.