Since I have managed to take in so much natural and inspiring beauty, I have been trying to write a post regarding my spiritual growth out at sea. Unfortunately, it has proved to be quite a roller coaster, and nights I sit down to write, tend to be times that I just want to end the day and go to bed.


Between long days, mountains of sea projects, general moodiness, etc – there is always SOMETHING to do besides get into the Word or read one of the books I brought. After working all day and then putting a few hours into my projects, it can be difficult to buckle down and study properly, not just reading the Word or material but trying to learn from it – put it into perspective. I’m sure everyone has their own sure fire way or place in there schedule that works for them and I’m glad! I have tried many tactics over the years and some have worked for awhile, but eventually something comes up, or I’m too tired or busy.

Eventually, I reach a point where I am spiritually starved and I desperately try to “whip myself into shape!” This of course only lasts so long since I am relying on my own strength. Eventually, I get back to the basics.



I read.



I listen.



I observe this beautiful earth He has created.



In the end, it always comes back to the basics.


Thank you God.

"So what is it that you do exactly?"

I get this question a lot and to be honest, I'm not really sure myself, so I thought I would try and figure it our for all of us. I'm sure I'll screw up some of this, so for those that know better, fell free to correct me! I'll focus on the Engine Department since that is were I work.
My official title is Engine Cadet. Essentially, my primary job on here is to learn, and as I gain experience, to help the other members of the Engine Department. The structure if the engine department is divided between the licenced and the unlicensed personnel. The licenced engineers all sat for and passed their US Coast Guard Licence exam. To qualify to take the test, you have to attend an academy or you can qualify if you have sailed for a certain amount of time as an unlicensed crewman. The licence states that you have a certain understanding of your profession and with it can be employed as such.
That's what I'm working towards.
The unlicensed guys have to go through a certain amount of training as well and have their own ranking system.
On my ship, there are 2 DEU's or Deck/Engine Utilities who split there time between the Deck and Engine departments, 2 QMEDS or Qualified Members of the Engine Department, a Pumpman who is a member of the engine department, but works extensively with the deck department since I am on a tanker, a second engineer, a first engineer, a chief engineer and myself.
The cadet position is a nonessential position since it is not guaranteed that there will be a cadet on board at all times. All of the other spots are permanent and with few exceptions, someone will always be filling those positions.
cadets typically come from a very broad background, from people who have been working with tools since they could walk, to those who have picked up a screw driver for the first time out here. Most fall somewhere in the middle of course and the jobs at first typically involve getting tools or holding flashlights, until one proves that they are probably not going to end up destroying something, or on fire, or both.
The academy I attend requires the engineering cadets to spend 300 days at sea in addition to the classes taken on campus. this of course is still squeezed into 4 years, so summer break is a whim at most. to keep us busy, the school has assigned sea projects to keep us looking into the different aspects of the trade and engine room which can be quite tedious to say the least. With no one to keep track of the progress completed except for the person completing it, it is the number one cause (after calculus and physics plebe year) for people being academical setback or dis enrolled. It really isn't difficult, it is just long, tedious and can be overwhelming if looked at as a whole.

Well that either clears thing up or makes it even more confusing.

I hope everyone is doing well!

So after beautiful weather all the way down to Antarctica and most of the way back, we ran into a couple of low pressure systems. These latitudes are famous for their bad weather since there are really no continents to speak of and the currents and wind have an unobstructed path all the way around the globe. The USNS Paul Buck has what is known as an "Ice Strengthened Hull" which means that at a certain draft, there is extra steel and structural support to prevent damage from the ice while traversing through it. When we finished loading cargo at McMurdo, we had to load sea water into some of the cargo tanks in order to bring the vessel down to this zone of reinforced hull. It certainly pays off now because a ship with weight in it rides much better than one that is empty. Think of a light empty pick-up truck on the freeway, vs. one with some weight in the back. Everyone has their remedy for sleeping, and I employed the diagonal method and was able to sleep pretty well. The ship seems to be riding alright for now. Hopefully it remains that way!
The Sea Projects are coming along. Although I still feel like I’m behind, which is probably a good thing. I have to fight my perfectionism and just put something down! I learned that last year, but it certainly paid off. J We are getting ready to exchange the fuel injectors on 3 out of the 5 pistons once we get to Australia. I posted a picture of the Main engine earlier, although that picture only shows the top 2/3rds of it. Each cylinder has a bore of 29.9 inches and a stroke of 86.6 inches. It’s pretty big to say the least. The Main Engine aboard the Paul Buck produces 15, 300 Horsepower at full output, which is accomplished at 95 RPM (yes that is ninety five) from 5 cylinders with 4 injectors per cylinder.
Hopefully the weather will improve, and the water temperature has already gone up about 20 degrees Fahrenheit from when we were in the ice.

Some McMurdo reflections.

We saw the last of the ice today (we think) and are now headed towards warmer waters. It’s hard to believe that we pulled into McMurdo only a week ago. Don and I certainly got our money’s worth at this port, trying to see everything we could. Tie up took longer than expected since there were very large pieces of ice between the ship and the ice pier that needed to be removed before we could secure the hawsers and put down the gangway. The pieces proved to be too big for the grappling hooks alone and we needed to use the propeller to create a current that pulled them out to assist. This turned out to be an all day process, but we were finally ashore by early evening. Once the gangway was down, the exploration began! Since we came into McMurdo in the evening, we would not begin pumping cargo until the next morning, so the majority of the crew took advantage of the night off to enjoy some cold frosty beverages on shore.
There are two pubs and a newly opened wine & coffee house on the station. Formally, there was the smoking bar and the non-smoking bar, but recent regulation ended any indoor smoking. It was proposed that one of the bars should be closed, but there was such uproar over the attempt, that they decided to keep both open. Everyone has their favorite spot I suppose. Neither location was easy to find, each located in non-descript windowless buildings and we had to ask several people before finding the right place.
I’m not sure what I expected, but my vision was certainly much more rustic than what I encountered. The cafeteria was very well appointed with incredible variety offering everything from prime rib to tofu pasta and everything in between. The biggest hit by far for the ship’s crew was the Mr. Frosty machine. The ship’s crew had access to the computer stations on the base and the speeds were blazingly fast compared to the ship. I feel spoiled saying that though, since a lot of ships you’re lucky to have your own e-mail account which is cycled twice a day, vs. the full internet access I enjoy on the Paul Buck. It is a luxury for sure.
Don and I spent Sunday hiking the local trails around the base and by the end of it had covered about 15 miles. It was a healthy day of hiking to be sure. I can’t emphasize enough how beautiful this place is. After only a couple of miles, the wildness of this place is apparent. A friend showed me some pictures from the time he went down, and while it gave me a glimpse of what to expect, nothing can prepare someone for the experience of actually being here.

Incredible.

Once again, if you have any specific questions, please ask!

Here are a few pictures from my travels so far! I'm going to take advantage of the fast Internet here at McMurdo!


The Main Engine. Roughly 15, 300 HP when we are running at our design speed of 95 RPM. It's a 5 cylinder, 2 stroke slow speed diesel, so it doesn't get much more reliable than this.



One of the many Walkways in Brisbane, Australia. What a beautiful city!

The Brisbane skyline with the Victoria Bridge.

That is a lot of ice.

Castle Rock

One of the views. From the summit of Castle rock towards Mt. Erebus.

"Take my picture! Take my picture!"

I have a million more, but I wanted to post a sample. I hope everyone is doing well!

I should have Internet regularly again in about a week and I'll work on getting a post written summarizing my time here.

Catching up!

So I have finally succumbed to peer pressure and started one of these crazy blog things. Up until now, I’ve been a bit of a blog voyeur and haven’t really contributed much except for the random (and usually obnoxious) comment, so it’ll be interesting to live on the other side of the glass for once.
I’m currently writing this from the middle of the ocean. We just passed latitude 60 as we continue south toward McMurdo Station, Antarctica. I’ll try and catch everyone up on how I ended up here.
I left New York on December 17th, and after about 35 hours of travel, ended up in Guam. My sea partner Don and I met the ship later that night and the vessel stayed in the harbor for the next week while the vessel unloaded its cargo and took on bunkers (i.e. topped off the fuel tank) before we left for Brisbane, Australia. Don and I would typically work during the day, except for holidays and Sundays and for a few days, we had a rental car that we were able to explore the island with. Guam isn’t very large, but it still took us about 4 hours to drive around the entire island, most likely because of the slow pace we maintained as we looked around. Extremes abound as we traveled from the hotel district with Tiffany’s and Diamonds International, to the smaller Chamorro (the native people of Guam) villages at the southern end of the island. In between those two extremes was the navy Base at Apra Harbor, and Anderson Air Force Base on the north end. The first day we were out, Don and I picked up a mask and snorkel set for each of us and we made a point to go for a swim every day after work to the beach that was within walking distance of the ship. Certainly a nice change from the cold weather of New York! We left Guam on the 27th of December.
It took roughly a week to travel from Guam to Brisbane through the Solomon Islands and the Coral Sea. On the way, we exchanged our ballast water (Australia, like the US has strict rules to try and prevent invasive species from being introduced into their harbors) and I worked with the engineers doing various repairs and routine maintenance. The vessel I am on is the USNS Paul Buck, which is a roughly 700 foot tanker that is owned by Military Sealift Command. It moves various products wherever they are needed and as such, the schedule is random and for the most part, unknown until we are getting ready to go there. This type of service is known as “Tramp Service” in contrast to “Liner Service” which has a set route and schedule.
We arrived in Brisbane on Monday morning, arriving at the anchorage around noon. We spent a couple of days at anchor while the tanks were inspected before taking on the cargo that we would be taking down to McMurdo Station. Australia - and Brisbane specifically has made it into at least my top five if not top 3 favorite places I’ve been. The people are very friendly, the city incredibly clean, and a lot has been into parks and landscaping and the general set up of the town. Everything from bus stops to walking bridges looked and felt like a work of art. Aesthetics was a high priority on everyone’s mind when designing the city. With my limited budget, I did a lot of walking and was glad I did! Lots of paths in and around downtown and the further away I got, the cheaper the beer was which is always a plus! Almost all of the beers were at least Australian if not made in Queensland. I think I saw only once place that even offered an American beer, and that doesn’t mean it was in stock.
We left Australia, wishing we had a bit more time, even though we had been there for about a week. We’re now continuing south, having crossed the Antarctic Circle and we expect to see some ice in the next few hours. If I don’t get back to you for a few days, we’re out of satellite range, but I’ll keep writing and post my observations once we head north again.
If you have any questions for me, or want me to go more in depth on a particular place or topic, let me know!

A quick post to let you know that there is more to come! As of right now, we just crossed or are crossing Latitude 60 and we're basically on the verge of 24 hours of sunlight. Lots of fog and it got chilly fast! I'm mostly done with an installment catching everyone up from Guam to the present.