NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kirk Beckendorf
Onboard NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown
July 4 – 23, 2004
Mission: New England Air Quality Study (NEAQS)
Geographical Area: Northwest Atlantic Ocean
Date: July 23, 2004
Daily Log
Today was my last day and night on the BROWN. We spent last night off the coast of New Hampshire. We were scheduled to meet the pilot at 11:00 AM. The pilot is a person very familiar with the local port and he or she comes on board large ships and drives them into and out of the port. Since they know the harbor very well they can make sure the ship doesn’t run aground in what may be a very narrow channel. It was pretty cool to watch him jump from a small boat onto the rope hanging from the side of the BROWN while we were moving. Everyone was out on deck as we came up through the channel into Portsmouth. As we got to the dock the crew had the ropes out and ready. Tanker trucks of fuel were lined up ready to refuel the ship, which can hold about five tanker trucks worth of diesel. It was a bittersweet feeling to dock and be back ashore. It is good to be back but I am sure going to miss all of the people on board. I have learned so much from them, plus I enjoyed their company.
This evening we had a big New England style clambake at a beach. They fed us steamed calms and whole lobsters.
I finally met Jennifer Hammond. She is the person in charge of the Teacher at Sea Program and who got me on the BROWN and who gets the logs and pictures onto the web.