seasickness, I felt exhausted, since I had totally lost my appetite and I was also
loosing my strength. This is when I decided that I would never again go to sea, and
as soon as I put my feet on land I would abandon ship and get a different job.
Then 1 day, about a month out of port, somewhere south of Alaska in the North
Pacific, we encountered a terrible storm. We met up with a cyclone with a sea-state
of 12 on the Beaufort scale and with winds up to 71 kn/h and waves reaching up to
19 m (55 feet) in height. I was astonished to notice that I suddenly felt comfortable
and was starting to feel good about being on board. It was a magic sensation of
being reborn at sea. Now, because of the storm, the rest of the crewmen were green
and nauseous, but I felt normal. I felt like working and eating, and my energy
returned. We passed into the eye of the cyclone where the sea was as calm as a
lake for as far as my eyes could see, up to the horizon, about 15 km away. I could
even look up into the eye of the cyclone and admire the blue sky through a hole in
the clouds above my head. After nearing the other side of the cyclone’s eye, the
sea again became wild and stormy as we crossed out of the calm waters. But I was
feeling great and even enjoyed the food being cooked in the galley.
We transited through the Panama Canal and we did more work, coring and
dredging in the Caribbean Sea, and then we headed north-northeast into the
Atlantic Ocean where we sailed and took cores and measurements until we arrived
at Bermuda Island in the winter of 1964.
Back to Lamont
After more than 6 months at sea spent on the R.V. R.D. CONRAD, I returned to
Lamont and was told to go and see Doctor Ewing, the director. I was informed that
Doc wanted to talk to me but I did not know what it was all about, and I thought
that I might even be fired. When I went to see him, his secretary, Marjorie, who
was a lovely and pleasant person, introduced me to her boss. I was very stressed
about meeting with Doctor Ewing who was a tall, strong looking man with white
hair, heavy eyebrows and a thin smile on his face.
As soon as I saw him, Doc’s first question was: ‘‘Did you enjoy your cruise?’’
I told him that I had been sick in my bunk for at least one entire month and that
other than that discomfort, I had managed to survive. I realized later that his chief
scientist, Joe Worzel, had probably informed him about all this. I also mentioned
that for me, ocean exploration was a new frontier and I liked the idea of exploring
the unknown. Then, there was a pause in our conversation before he asked me
‘‘What do you want to do now?’’
I replied that I would like to continue studying in any field related to the
geology of the ocean floor. To my surprise, he picked up the phone on his desk and
called the Dean of the Admissions Office at Columbia University in Manhattan. ‘‘I
have a new student for you, could you see him?’’ That is how I got enrolled in
studying marine geology in 1964.
10
1 An Overview of Oceanographic Exploration
loosing my strength. This is when I decided that I would never again go to sea, and
as soon as I put my feet on land I would abandon ship and get a different job.
Then 1 day, about a month out of port, somewhere south of Alaska in the North
Pacific, we encountered a terrible storm. We met up with a cyclone with a sea-state
of 12 on the Beaufort scale and with winds up to 71 kn/h and waves reaching up to
19 m (55 feet) in height. I was astonished to notice that I suddenly felt comfortable
and was starting to feel good about being on board. It was a magic sensation of
being reborn at sea. Now, because of the storm, the rest of the crewmen were green
and nauseous, but I felt normal. I felt like working and eating, and my energy
returned. We passed into the eye of the cyclone where the sea was as calm as a
lake for as far as my eyes could see, up to the horizon, about 15 km away. I could
even look up into the eye of the cyclone and admire the blue sky through a hole in
the clouds above my head. After nearing the other side of the cyclone’s eye, the
sea again became wild and stormy as we crossed out of the calm waters. But I was
feeling great and even enjoyed the food being cooked in the galley.
We transited through the Panama Canal and we did more work, coring and
dredging in the Caribbean Sea, and then we headed north-northeast into the
Atlantic Ocean where we sailed and took cores and measurements until we arrived
at Bermuda Island in the winter of 1964.
Back to Lamont
After more than 6 months at sea spent on the R.V. R.D. CONRAD, I returned to
Lamont and was told to go and see Doctor Ewing, the director. I was informed that
Doc wanted to talk to me but I did not know what it was all about, and I thought
that I might even be fired. When I went to see him, his secretary, Marjorie, who
was a lovely and pleasant person, introduced me to her boss. I was very stressed
about meeting with Doctor Ewing who was a tall, strong looking man with white
hair, heavy eyebrows and a thin smile on his face.
As soon as I saw him, Doc’s first question was: ‘‘Did you enjoy your cruise?’’
I told him that I had been sick in my bunk for at least one entire month and that
other than that discomfort, I had managed to survive. I realized later that his chief
scientist, Joe Worzel, had probably informed him about all this. I also mentioned
that for me, ocean exploration was a new frontier and I liked the idea of exploring
the unknown. Then, there was a pause in our conversation before he asked me
‘‘What do you want to do now?’’
I replied that I would like to continue studying in any field related to the
geology of the ocean floor. To my surprise, he picked up the phone on his desk and
called the Dean of the Admissions Office at Columbia University in Manhattan. ‘‘I
have a new student for you, could you see him?’’ That is how I got enrolled in
studying marine geology in 1964.
10
1 An Overview of Oceanographic Exploration