Adventure on the ocean waves
My first taste of a research expedition was on the RV Belgica in 2012. The Belgica is a scientific research vessel owned by the Belgian state and manned by members of the Belgian navy.
The cruise started from the port of Galway, Ireland. The expedition was to the Irish Margin in the Northeast Atlantic. I joined a team of marine biologists and marine geologists from the University of Ghent.
RV Belgica docked in Galway
After a tiring journey I arrived late in the evening to Galway. As soon as I embarked on the Belgica I was handed a gin and tonic! There was a drinks reception taking place on the ship to which the mayor of Galway and the Belgian ambassador in Ireland were among the invited guests guests. I was not expecting this, and felt a little scruffy in my jeans.
The next morning we set sail on schedule and started to make the two day journey to the Irish margin. On arrival at the sampling site, things seemed to be running smoothly, apart from a few malfunctions with the megacore sampling equipment. However, during the evening the winds began to pick up and conditions became rougher. The next day, the weather was deemed too rough and we were unable to sample, nevertheless we were still optimistic that the winds would die down. The weather did not improve, in fact it became rougher.
Thank goodness for seasickness tablets! The constant lurching of the boat from side to side was extremely tiring, even walking around the boat in a straight line became an effort and eating without your plate sliding off the table was a real challenge. I remember one night being tossed out of my bunk bed onto the floor because it was so rough. Eventually it was decided that conditions would not improve enough to sample so we headed back for port in Belgium.
Our bad luck was not at an end . On the return journey, the box corer (a piece of scientific sampling equipment) which had been secured out on deck broke loose. In an attempt to secure it in the storm one of the scientists got his leg crushed between the box corer and the side of the boat. At this point we were too far away from land for a helicopter to evacuate him. The scientist had to wait in agony overnight before we came close to the Isles of Scilly, then a British helicopter came and airlifted him off the back of the boat. This was a very impressive procedure to witness.
Box corer on deck
Helicopter winch lowered down onto back deck
As we reached the English channel the weather slowly ameliorated and walking in a straight line became easy again. At last after ten tiring days at sea we reached the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium.
Although we were not able to collect many samples, the friendly people on board from the University of Ghent made it an enjoyable adventure. Fortunately, the scientist who was airlifted off the boat made a full recovery.
The scientific crew