Ocean Research - 6. IOR Chapter 6

“We spent almost an hour, upon the sundeck just talking, when we heard a phone ringing from somewhere, and I looked around confused, as Joshua laughed and stood up to answer the phone, that is located in the small servery. “Yes Captain, we see it, we will be down shortly, bye,” I heard Joshua say before he returned to where I was standing.

“If you look carefully, you can see the islands in the distance,” Joshua said to me, and I squinted my eyes before I finally saw the islands and reefs in the distance, and Joshua handed me a pair of binoculars, that he must have retrieved from the servery.

After looking at the islands, I handed back the binoculars, and we stood to head back downstairs, where Joshua lead me to the bridge. “Permission to come in Captain?” Joshua asked at the door, “Permission always granted Mr Alliston since she is your ship,” the Captain replied, and we both stepped inside.

“Captain, this is my good friend and research project partner, Mr Kipling Ashburton, Kip this is the Captain,” Joshua said making the introductions. “Nice to meet you, Sir,” I said as I shook his hand, “Same to you, I hear that you have a Marine Operations certificate?” the Captain replied, “Yes Sir, I do, but only for 24 metres in coastal waters,” I replied, “Or as 2nd Officer in open waters on vessels up to 80 metres,” the Captain added, “I’m not sure about that,” I replied.

“I can confirm that it is correct. I have these for you, and Natalie will arrange for some new uniforms for you, welcome to the team Mr Ashburton,” the captain announced as he produced two 2nd officer epaulettes which he handed over to me. I looked over to Joshua who was smiling broadly. “Just blame me mate, it was my idea,” Josh confessed, and I just nodded my head and accepted the promotion to a member of the ship’s crew, which now meant that I was also a watch officer.

I remained on the bridge, while Joshua went off somewhere, and I watched as the captain and 1st officers navigated through the reefs, and anchored on the south-east side of West Wallabi Island, about 600 metres off the island, is a sheltered bay.

“At 1500 hours, I suggest that you get some sleep as you will take over watch-duty from the Chief Engineer from 2400 hours to 0600 hours,” the Captain said to me, once the bosun had secured the anchors in place, “Yes sir, will do,” I replied, before leaving the bridge and walking into Joshua’s suite, where he has an office area, and Joshua was talking on the phone.

“Yes sir, we have just arrived there, I will keep you up to date on what damage there has been and I will send you a copy of the proposals that we will present to the Parks and Wildlife officers… Yes sir, thank you and goodbye,” I heard Joshua say as he ended the call.

“I’m not very happy about being a part of the Senior crew, it means that I now have the night watch to do, and at the worse time too,” I grumbled to Joshua, “Oh yeah, I forgot about those, sorry mate. Maybe I can get another officer, so you don’t have to do that job, and so you can concentrate on the research aspect of it,” Joshua replied.

“No, it will be fine, I know what to expect, I will cope with both jobs somehow,” I replied. “That was my grandfather on the phone, he has heard about my new ship, and done some research on it, and he quizzed me on what I will be doing with such an expensive vessel. I explained to him our current project to assist the State Parks and Wildlife to assess and assist where we can with the damage on the Abrolhos Islands, caused by the recent cyclone,” Joshua explained to me.

“Oh, and what did he say?” I asked, “He said he is very proud of me, and that he will assist us in any way, including with providing the finances for the replacement buildings, if the Government accepts our proposal,” Joshua announced. “Really, wow that is great news, sounds like we will be spending a lot of time out here then,” I replied happily. “So, does this mean you will accept my offer to be my research project partner?” Joshua asked me.

“Hmm, I don’t know about that? It is a difficult one to decide,” I replied as I looked like I was seriously thinking about it before I burst into laughter. “Of course, I accept my friend, I would be very pleased to work for you,” I eventually replied.
“Phew, you had me worried for a moment, and you don’t work for me, we are partners in our first of many projects, and that is to assist with the cleaning up of the Abrolhos Islands,” Joshua said smiling.

After lunch, I watched as Joshua and Karen took a ride in the helicopter to view the damage by air, taking photographs as they went along, so they can be viewed and make an assessment of the situation. I was about to head to bed when the helicopter returned from its second flight, and I decided to go and have a look at the photographs.

Walking into the research workroom, I found the two Parks and wildlife officers and Joshua leaning over the central table, where the map is laid out, along with the recently printed photographs. “As we expected, all of the housing has been entirely demolished, as well as all of the minor jetties, this I going to be quite a job to clean up,” Karen stated.

“I have spoken to my grandfather who is the director of Lloyd Family Corp, which you may be aware is a privately owned and operated ocean research and rehabilitation company, and they are prepared to finance the construction and relocation of 92 housing pods, that will consist of two 20 foot and one 10 foot long shipping container, joined together, along with a shade dome over them to protect them from the sun.

Kipling and I have been busy working out a design that will provide a two-bedroom accommodation pod, that is tough and capable of lasting this harsh environment for many years to come. We recommend that 48 is a sustainable number of cray fishing boats for this fishing zone and that anything more than that will put a big strain on fish stocks, as it has further north up the coast.

As well as the 92 accommodation pods, we will provide an administration office, and a fish-holding facility at the end of the 220 metres long floating jetty, from the island to the edge of the coral ledge, and then a 600 metre long fixed jetty, to provide mooring spaces for 48 fishing boats, within the sheltered bay, Joshua announced, as he looked to me to continue.

“Along with the fish storage facility, we recommend building a community centre that consists of an indoor recreation space, two meeting rooms and an outdoor recreation space, and two accommodation pods for permanent island staff. Next at a location approximately halfway down the island, where the island is slightly wider, with a waterhole nearby, we suggest building a school, a post office, a supply store and a medical clinic.

Finally we would like to suggest that we build a science research station located on another island, possibly Campbell Island, just to the north of Suomi Island, which we would like to finance, build and manage ourselves on a long term lease basis, plus install a 500 metre long airfield on Campbell, for emergency evacuation purposes only,” I said.

“Well, you both have put some work into planning this, and I agree with your assessment on reducing fishing licences for this zone. Do you have designs of the accommodation pods and a map of the area you propose to use?” Karen asked us, “We do, in the office next door, let me go and get it,” I answered.

When I returned, I placed the maps and printouts on the table, before I excused myself, saying that I have other ships business to do, and I left the room, to head to my cabin to get some sleep. As I was falling asleep, another idea came to mind as I smiled and hoped I would remember it when I woke up.

At 2030 hours, having just over 5 hours of sleep, my alarm clock sounded, and after a shower, I changed into my new uniform, since I am doing official duties, before heading to the galley to get a light meal and starting my watch shift on the bridge. When I arrived, I found the chief engineer – Patricia, speaking with Joshua.

“Oi, stop chatting up the crew Mr!”, which received a shocked expression from both of them before Joshua burst into laughter, and we all joined in. “Anything to report?” I asked Patricia after we settled down a bit, and I was given a brief rundown of what is happening around the ship, before she headed for her cabin on the lower deck.

“Very funny my friend, and I was not chatting her up, I was…” Joshua started to say until he was interrupted by his mobile. “Hello Grandfather, how are things over at Wake Island?” I heard Joshua ask, and moments later he held the phone away from his ear, as there was a lot of shouting coming from the other end of the call.

“Yes grandfather, I know that it is a lot, but that is how much it takes to fill the tanks… umm, I’m not sure, just a moment, I will ask?” Joshua said before looking at me. “How far can we go on a full supply of diesel?” Joshua asked me, and I smiled. “Lucky for you I was researching that information earlier, hand me the phone please,” I replied.

“Hello Mr Lloyd, this is 2nd Officer Kipling Ashburton speaking, this ship can travel approximately 7,600 nautical miles or 26 days at a cruise speed of 12 knots… Yes sir, I am the same person from Uni days with your grandson, my family owns and runs two cattle stations in the Pilbara district of Western Australia… yes sir, handing it back to him now, good evening to you sir,” I said before handing the phone back to Joshua.

“Grandfather stop shouting as it hurts my ears, I can hear just as good when you talk normally,” I heard Joshua say, and once again he pulled the phone away from his ear and waited for a moment. “When you have calmed down enough so I can understand you I will speak to you again, bye for now,” he said before ending the call.

“Did you just hang up on your grandfather?” I asked, “Yes, I did, there is always a first for everything, I will probably get a call from my father next, actually I think I might turn it off for now, I will see you in the morning, goodnight,” Joshua said to me, before leaving the bridge.

As I watched the sun come up from the east, I yawned and stretched my body, before walking the length of the bridge a few times, to get my blood pumping a little, and I was entering a log for the last time on this shift as the Captain walked in. “Morning sir, all is fine, we have had no issues during the night to report,” I informed the Captain. “Very well, I have the bridge,” Captain James replied with his thick kiwi accent.

After showering and changing into casual clothes, I headed to the galley to get some breakfast, and to look over the notes that I had made overnight. “Good morning, what is that you have there, more ideas?” Joshua asked me, as he approached. “Yes, I do actually, get your food and I will go over them with you in a moment,” I replied.

Once Joshua had sat down, I glanced at my notes before speaking. “I am not sure if you are aware of it or not, but my family has 32 kilometres of ocean coastline as it’s northern boundary,” I started, “No, I had no idea, wow,” Joshua responded. “So, I was thinking, maybe we could set up a research facility on the coast, as we have a number of river systems that flow through the station and exit out onto the Indian Ocean,” I added.

“I like your thinking my friend, I knew there was a good reason to get you onboard,” Joshua said smiling, which made me laugh. “You mentioned that you had bought the 24-metre barge at Port Hedland, that I was looking at, how about we use a series of flat-top non-motorised barges, as a floating research platform, that way we would be able to cope better with the enormous tide changes each day,” I suggested.

“Keep going, I like what I hear so far,” Joshua said to me. “Using the same idea as we have for her on the Abrolhos islands, if we have a series of sea containers, built on the barges to be our floating research station,” I continued, and I spent the next twenty minutes going through the ideas, with a different layout of the containers, that would be best suited for this project, including using a much smaller yacht as the main transport to and from the research facility, as access to the coast by land is virtually impossible, with all of the rivers and creeks in the area.

After breakfast, we headed to my office to continue the conversation, where we could find and print out maps of the areas I was suggesting, which I had visited a few times while growing up, when we went of family fishing trips. Located on the Little Sherlock River, on our eastern boundary, our favourite fishing and camping sport is just 34 kilometres north of the main highway, but it takes nearly two hours to travel the distance, by 4-wheel drive vehicle, as there are heaps of creek crossings and rocky outcrops along the way, and we have to pass through neighbouring Sherlock Station for part of the journey.

This site is right on the boundary, 500 metres inland from the coast, due to a designated coastal nature reserve and coastal floodplains, but with it being right on the river, it is just a short boat ride to the ocean, with high tide providing plenty of clearance of around 4 metres to the bottom of the river.

Joshua was getting more and more excited as I continued to explain the location, which is a regular camping and fishing site for staff from both stations. Thankfully the tracks to this site are very rough and fairly hard to follow, so we don’t get any tourists coming in the area to find this secluded fishing site.

The only sign of human activities in the area, apart from the vehicle tracks, is a deep drop toilet that Dad and Frank built about ten years ago, which is hidden between two large trees, about 70 metres from the river, which consisted of two concrete drainage pipes that are one metre in diameter turned on end and placed in the hole to provide a 6-metre deep secure hole that won’t collapse in, and a concrete lid on top, with a 30 centimetre hole in the lid, for the waste to go in, and a handmade toilet, that consisted of a metal bucket, that has the bottom cut out and regular toilet seat attached.

About two years ago, this bucket seat was replaced with a portable toilet cubical, that is often seen a festivals, concerts and public events, which is a plastic enclosed toilet cubical, with a checker plate floor, it has a translucent roof, to allow sunlight in, and air flow, but keeping bugs out, and it comes with a 40 litre flushing tanks, which is refilled each time someone from the two stations uses the site.

Using the computer, we did some research on what is available in the state, with flat top barges, and we were pleased to see a few options available, but two 100.6 metre Deck Cargo barges with ballast tanks, was what caught my attention, as each barge has hydraulic drive poles at each end, 6 mooring posts on each side, it is 33.5 metres wide, and just 7.6 metres high from the bottom to the top, with a 3.5 metre draft, and capable of holding weights up to 25 tonne per square metre.

I let Joshua make the telephone call to enquire about the two barges, which are located in Kwinana, just south of Perth, and on making an offer for both, I was pleased to hear that we are the proud owners of two more barges, which would be shipped up to Cossack in 6-weeks’ time.

Taking out a piece of paper from the printer and a metric conversion ruler, I began to sketch out the measurements of the barge, followed by the measurements of 40 foot long shipping containers, and we discovered that we can fit two large containers end on end, across the width of the barge and still have 3 metres of space at each end, which is perfect. Next we drew out a container running length ways to the barge, and we can fit a total of four containers across the width of the barge that way, keeping the 3 metre space from the edge, and setting a distance of five metres between the outer container and the inner container, with the two inner containers being back to back.

Adding a container on the end of the two outer containers and none in the centre, now created a 13 by 18 metre open work area. Repeating the container layout on the other end of the barge, we worked out that there was room for one more 40 foot container in the centre on each side, which would create a large open area in the middle, that is 18 metres wide and 45 metres long, and evening out the space between the ends of each container, would give a 3.75 metre space, which is perfect, and we could build a giant shade cloth dome, to cut out a lot of the harsh sun.

I suggested that the two lots of containers that are back to back near the middle, could have the joining walls removed so as to make them into just two large containers, that are 40 foot by 16 foot in size, making them ideal as research work rooms. Joshua suggested that we have a third building like that in the very centre, so that we have plenty of work room space, and that would make the containers on the outside, available for research labs and office space.

We looked at what we had created, and we both agreed that it looked fantastic, with twenty containers in total, 8 for laboratories, 6 for three work rooms, 2 for stores, and the two at each end for offices, plus there are two open areas near the centre, that are 18 by 16 metres in area.