After spending the last couple months conducting extensive side scan search operations, our mission on this trip was to return to the Blue China Wreck to test some new technology. This is a site we had not visited in almost a year. The first day was spent on pins and needles. The boat was prepped and stocked, ready to get to work.

We could not leave port until we heard from the Explorer, which was due to call us anytime from evening on into mid-day the following day, so that we could come out and drop off the crewman and some sorely needed boxes to Explorer, and also pick up Greg Stemm, Chris Nicholson and the camera crew (for the National Geographic PBS shoot) and bring them back to shore. The email we got in the evening was that the Explorer would proceed to an assigned meeting point while the weather was poor and that we would rendezvous in the early afternoon. So the crew turned in for their final good sleep on shore.

I got a message shortly after dawn that we were required by the Explorer immediately. I rang the fire bell so as to rouse everyone completely and we set to sea. We met with the Explorer, exchanged all the goods and returned to port to drop off their personnel and equipment. We returned to sea that evening when all supplies and food had been loaded and the weather had settled completely.

We headed straight for the Blue China wreck. Our newly acquired Max Rover ROV nicknamed CLIO, after having spent a long time being prepared and fitted for our working conditions, reached the wreck without a problem. The new ROV performed well in our standard difficult conditions - high current and deep water. We recovered a few choice artifacts including plates and a charger that were fit for a meal for a king. More importantly, we proved that CLIO had the capacity to conduct site survey and even artifact recovery operations - a significant improvement on the RV ODYSSEY's previous inspection ROV system.

With our success at Blue China, we set off for the deeper, further offshore, FT8 Target, confident that CLIO was up to the task. We dove on the FT8 site without issue, and immediately saw that this wreck was unlike any other we had seen. She is completely broken up, and almost unrecognizable. It becomes clear to us all that the task of determining whether it is our target is monumental - where do you even begin? It took us several trips around her to both familiarize ourselves and to discern bits of machinery and fittings in order to get a sense of the wreck itself. Then we started to identify items like the huge four-blade propeller at the stern, the winches, the bow, and the hull sides with portholes still in place. Eventually we spotted a group of three white objects in the distance, which turned out to be two plates and a platter. Recovering an object became our priority, in the event that this wreck proves to be our target or at least one of interest (Ed. Note: An artifact would be needed for an Admiralty arrest of the site). We decided to recover only one of the plates to the surface. After all, we know where the other two are if needed. We collected five hours of good video that our researchers can scrutinize to identify the year, type of ship and possible cargo.

We headed off to continue the arduous task of side-scan survey, happy with the knowledge that the plate would give the researchers in the office a field day, finding out all they could about what ship it might be. As well, this proved we can now inspect and identify our own side-scan targets, even the ones in the Gulf Stream. No more need to rely on big brother ZEUS to inspect our interesting side-scan targets.

The 24 hour side-scan survey ops continued without a hitch. We "mowed the lawn" for 4 days and continued to complete sections of the target search grid.

RV ODYSSEY
July 26 - August 01, 2004

To re-provision, fuel and complete a crew change-out, the RVO set to port on Monday at noon. The afternoon was spent carrying out these functions.

The ship arrived in the search area at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, and resumed the painstaking process of "mowing the lawn". Side-scan surveying continued until Thursday, when it appeared that a tropical system, perhaps becoming a full-fledged tropical storm, would soon be moving through the area. The decision was made to head into port. On the way in, the ship passed the Explorer with ZEUS deployed and hard at work, and the teams greeted one another by VHF … the seaworthy Explorer capable of handling the weather predicted in the approaching storm system.

The RVO arrived in port (name omitted) on Friday at 8am. The techs and crew had been waiting on the weather, watching what had become Hurricane Alex develop and hang out over the area, stationary. They were very happy to be out of harm's way in one of the most interesting ports on the eastern seaboard. This port always seems to have a way of making the crew more eager to return to work; as there's so much to see and do, they end up spending more money than they make while on shore. By Sunday, they were anxious for Alex to fizzle out or move off, so that they could get back offshore.

RV ODYSSEY
August 01 - 08, 2004

All day Monday the RVO waited for Tropical Storm Alex, which was quickly generating into a hurricane, to make up its mind and start moving eastward, away from our work area and the Explorer location. By Tuesday morning it was safe to head back out to work at sea. The RVO departed port at 8 a.m., passing the Explorer on the way. Greetings were exchanged and they looked no worse for the wear even though they had been underneath a stationary tropical storm for three days.

The ship arrived to our work area and started "mowing the lawn" as usual. This continued on Wednesday and Thursday, but the equipment was recovered to deck on Thursday night and the RVO steamed for JAX port because of incoming bad weather.

The RVO arrived in port and we took on fuel and provisions. The Explorer had arrived the night before to drop off artifacts, take on fuel and provisions and change out crew, so both groups got an opportunity to catch up.

Captain Sterling returned from vacation, and Captain Andre returned to first-mate duties, having filled in as captain for the week with great skill and professionalism.

The Explorer departed offshore first at 5 p.m., and then the RVO departed at 8 p.m. Both ships departed into improving sea conditions offshore, but the RVO faced the possibility of having to wait a day offshore before launching equipment into the water.

RV ODYSSEY
August 09 - 15, 2004

The week started off with the RVO offshore "WOW" - that is, "waiting on weather," which was anything but "wow." Most of the day was spent bobbing around waiting for the seas to calm down enough for safe deployment of the survey equipment and the right conditions for collection of good-quality data. By 10 a.m. on Tuesday the seas subsided sufficiently that the survey equipment was deployed, and "mowing the lawn" began, ever watchful of the new Tropical Storm Bonnie, which had formed and was crossing Florida towards the RVO and Explorer locations.

At 10 p.m., with the threat of Tropical Storm Bonnie - and Hurricane Charley following closely behind it - the survey equipment was recovered to deck and the RVO steamed to port. At JAX port, several crew members were relieved to go take care of their homes and families. The RVO continued up the St. John's River to seek hurricane protection in Green Cove Springs. The crew and techs stood 24-hour hurricane watch.

Bonnie passed without much trouble, but Charley was yet to come and looked like it could be a problem for our home office in Tampa. The storm was expected to make landfall near Tampa as a Category 3 hurricane or higher, and then to exit along a frontal boundary at Jacksonville. Even when the path changed and her landfall was further south, it looked like Jacksonville would be on its path so we were only temporarily relieved. The storm was stronger and deadlier than expected. By Friday night, the RVO got the "all clear" as Charley passed south and then well east of JAX.

On Saturday the RVO moved back to its regular dock, and the crew was back in WOW mode.

All personnel rejoined the ship on Sunday, and the ship departed back offshore on Monday -Back to mowing the lawn. It was an unexpected pleasure to return to something so mundane after such excitement of three tropical systems, one after the other, with one of them so deadly and destructive.