Aquaria - 1. Aqu Chapter 1

For some time now, several private corporations have been collectively working together on various big projects, but this new project was a lot more expensive and monstrous in comparison to what they have worked on before.

This was a project that was taking a different view on how to live and work on the high seas, this time they were looking at living and working just below the surface, on board a giant Research Submarine, which at 432 metres long, 58 metres wide, with a draft of 12 metres when surfaced, and is 25.2 metres high, with 9 levels it is by far the biggest ever submersible ever built, and a lot different in design compared to the more traditional submarines.

The vessel can have a total of 220 Permanent Crew, 28 Officers in single cabins, 20 science and medical crew in twin cabins and 132 general crew in twin cabins, plus 42 cadets in twin cabins, plus there is single cabin accommodation for 16 double cabins for VIP Guests, 56 twin cabins for regular guests, plus 16 family crew quarters, and 4 Executive Suites.

It is designed as a long-distance research station, which can travel at a maximum of 26 knots, when surfaced, and 6 knots faster when submerged, it can withstand a maximum depth of 320 metres, but is best operational at 120 metres or less and is more suited for work in shallow areas near reefs, for various styles of ocean research.

Equipped with eight - 5 person - research mini subs and four - 21 person - transport mini subs, and four - 42 person - emergency evacuation capsules, all capable of withstanding depths of 250 metres, plus there are 8 sea bobs and twenty sets of SCUBA equipment.

The submersible research station to be known as “Aquaria” took twelve years to design and build and is almost ready to launch. Heading this project and providing 74 % of the finance to build it, is Lloyd International Corp, managing chairman – Hamysh Trent Lloyd, a 47-year-old businessman, who took over his father’s business, after his death and turned it into a multi-billion-dollar corporation, of which his family has 74 % ownership of the corporation.

Hamysh has 34% shares of the company, while his two sisters, Meredith and Natalia, have 8% shares each, another 24% of the shares are held in a secret trust, while the remaining 26% is held by several foreign investment companies, who have been assisting with the funding of this new project.

A ship building company south of Fremantle in Western Australia had been contracted to design and build the vessel, and an extra giant shed had been constructed on their property to be able to keep the project well hidden from outside viewing.

For the first six months it was just the building crew working with the construction, but over the next 18 months a total of 9 officers and 16 senior crew; have been employed and training for their new positions on board this special vessel, and they were included in supervising the construction of the vessel so they knew every inch of its layout and how everything works.

The first sections internally to be completed were the officer’s living and dining areas on the Bridge Deck, Officer’s accommodation quarters on Deck 2, the main galley and stores on the Bow Deck 3, Crew Dining and living area on Deck 6 and some of the general crew quarters on Deck 7.

The first lot of crew consisted of 12 officers, 8 engineer crew, 8 housekeeping staff and 6 galley crew, were employed, after each of them was put through, and passed a 6-week long training course in emergency ocean rescue & survival training, emergency first aid and firefighting training, plus confined spaces evaluations, to make sure no one is claustrophobic, which may cause any problems.

Only once all of this was completed did the 34 new crew members, were issued with their new uniforms, a pale blue with plum as the secondary colour in a camouflage style, each uniform bears a colour patch on the shoulders, indicating what department each crew member works in.

One of the junior officers that had been employed by the company, has been carefully guided into a senior crew position secretly by Hamysh Lloyd himself. The young officer had completed the Officer Training at Duntroon, and he became a junior officer onboard several warships over a four-year period.

During his officer training and while stationed on the ships, he had studied at university completing a Double bachelor’s degree of Marine Science and Ocean Navigation and is now doing a double master’s degree in Environmental Law and Marine Biology.

When it came to time to re-enlist for another term in the Navy, that is when Lloyd International Corp pounced and offered the brilliant young man an alternative to his career, and he willingly accepted considering the far better wages and conditions that were being offered.

Lt Commander Trenton Blackthorn is a single 23-year old man with no family ties, as his single mother died at the age of 36, just months before her son graduated from Officer training at Duntroon, and there was no official listing of who the father is of this brilliant young man.

Trenton had been told several times by his mother, that his father was aware of his existence and was carefully following his promising career, and that sometime in the future they would meet when the time was correct.

The only thing that was a constant reminder of his mother was the necklace that he wore, a half medallion that was given to her by Trenton’s father when they were together, and Trenton knew that the other matching half of the medallion was being worn by his father, which was of two dolphins jumping out of the water, with one dolphin slightly behind the other, so each medallion had parts of both dolphins.

Although his main studies were in Marine science, Trenton had completed studies and training in Navigation, and so he had been appointed a 3rd Science Officer for this project, so he was assigned a Junior officer’s cabin on deck 2.

For the final 18 months of construction and fit out of the giant vessel and with a full complement of crew, now selected, they are currently undergoing their training, getting everyone ready for work at sea, some of it was done on board other research vessels that had been charted for training purposes, and some is done on board the nearly completed “Aquaria”.

When the day came, that all was completed, and the “Aquaria” was ready to be launched, the Lloyd International Corporation invited three VIP’s to be part of the maiden voyage, those being the Commanding officer of the main Naval Base at nearby Garden Island, the Federal Minister of Defence and the Australian Naval Chief, who had been together for an annual inspection of the naval base, and the corporation took the opportunity while they are together to have them participate in the launching of the “Aquaria”.

The plan was to travel to Rottnest Island, and to spend some time there just under the surface for a few days, staying within Wilson Bay, near the south west corner of the island where it is fairly sheltered, with high cliffs and deep enough water ideal for the vessel. Captain Jonah Burke gave the order, to take her out to sea, slowly gliding out of the sheltered waters of Kwinana, and headed in north west direction for Rottnest.

Also, on board, was the big boss himself, Hamysh Lloyd who had unlimited access to all areas of the vessel like all the officers, and he acted as a guide for the other three VIP guests, as they silently slipped out of Cockburn Sound, and submerged dropping to a depth of 30 metres, with the top of the vessel being just 7metres below the surface.

During the one-hour journey, all the crew were kept busy at their places of work, and the VIP’s were on the observation bridge, watching everything as they travelled underwater to Rottnest, from a giant screen, with cameras located on the nose of decks 4 & 8, as well as at the stern of decks 3 & 7, plus near the top of deck 1, and at the entry to the aquarium on deck 4, and one on the port and starboard wing on decks 2 & 8, which are the widest part of the sub, with large powerful lights located just below each of the cameras.

The screens on both decks, consists of one central 2-metre wide & 1.5-metre high screen, which shows thedeck 4 camera, with a smaller screen just above, for deck 1 camera, and another smaller screen below for deck 8 camera, which the duty helmsman on the main bridge, uses these three screens for guidance for steering the sub.

On the main bridge, on the port and starboard and two metres back from the main screen, there is a large screen on each side, the port side large screen shows the deck 2 & 8 port side cameras, as well as the deck 3 & 7 Stern cameras.

The same is with the starboard screen, showing the starboard side cameras for decks 2 & 8, plus the two stern cameras. A further two metres back is the Officer on Deck desk, that has full view of all the screens, as well as screens of every camera, spread out on his desk, to keep a close watch on everything outside.

On arrival at Wilson Bay, which has a depth of 24 metres, Hamysh Lloyd gave the instructions for the Commanding officer to have the vessel settle on the floor of the bay, and to secure the stability anchors, which are 8 steel rods that are shot into the floor of the bay, to a depth of 2 metres, providing secure anchors to stop the vessel from drifting when the engines are shut down.

With the surface being just under 2 metres above the vessel, it was deep enough to remain hidden from any small boats that enter the bay, although if the conditions are right, it would be visible from the cliff tops, by any people that may be exploring the area.

Once the “Aquaria” was in place at the bottom of Wilson Bay, Lloyd called for an all crew meeting in the great hall on deck 4, and once everyone was gathered, he called for everyone’s attention. “Today is a momentous occasion, the launch and maiden voyage of the “Research Vessel Aquaria”.

On behalf of the Lloyd International Corporation and the other shareholders, I wish to thank you all for all the hard work you have put into this project, today we have with us on this maiden voyage, the Australian Federal Minister for Defence, the Australian Chief of Navy and the Commanding Officer of Garden Island Naval Base, please assist them with any questions that they may ask or show them and explain anything they want to see during their stay.

Now that we are anchored in Wilson Bay, we will be running a few small scientific experiments and some research while here, as that is the main aim of this vessel, so we will be remaining submerged for the next few days, Lt Commander Blackthorn is the Science Officer, who will oversee the research project while we are here.

Once the small research projects are over, we will surface so that any crew members that wish to, can spend a full day on the Island, with a bus arriving at 0900 hours, at the junction of the 350-metre long walking track to the main road. That is all for now” the Owner and Mission Commander said, and everyone made their way back to their duties, where ever they were on board.

For the next four days Trenton and his team of scientists were kept busy running several experiments and collecting a lot of data, often using scuba and mini sub equipment a few times each day. Near the end of the second day the VIP guest, along with Mr Lloyd, were taken to the island so they could fly back to the mainland.

Trenton was happy with all the work they had done over the four days in Wilson Bay, as he reported to the Captain that all was done, and the order was given for a full day of R & R the following morning, and only a small number of crew remained on board for security purposes.