|
7th March 2008 report
David Mearns - Search Director, The Finding
Sydney Foundation
There is only one photo to go with our blogs today because there is
only one subject that has dominated our day. The weather.
Despite the fact that she was downgraded early in the day, Ophelia
has continued to shadow the Geosounder and prevent us from
recommencing the search. After Geosounder's third successive course
change to avoid the dangerous southern quadrants of the storm,
whereupon Ophelia also changed course to cover our tracks. I joked
with the Master, Blair Cliffe, that Ophelia well and truly had his
number.
It
appeared that Blair had finally out foxed Ophelia in his last turn
to the West back towards the search box because the wind suddenly
dropped from 28 knots to about 10 knots and the sea began to lie
down. Unfortunately Ophelia had one last sting in her tail because
two hours later we were back being buffeted by 38 knot winds with
gusts to 45 knots.
At
times if felt like we were playing one big game of chess with
Ophelia. On our side we had a lot of help from the Bureau of
Meteorology (Bruce Buckley and Brad Centos) and the RAN Duty
Forecaster who supplied up to date forecast information throughout
the day. the sea is still too rough to allow a safe launch of the
SM30 sonar but everyone is standing by and anxious to get it back in
the water as soon as Ophelia lets us.
John Perryman - Senior Navy Historian (Observer)
Some years ago I wrote an article for the Sea Power Centre –
Australia newsletter concerning naval ingenuity. It began:
Throughout history, seafarers have had to consistently use their
ingenuity to improvise, adapt and overcome in the face of adversity.
The very nature of ships is such that when they sail and the
'umbilical cord' connecting them to shore infrastructure is cut,
they become dependant upon their own provisions and resources.
Notwithstanding the technological advantages enjoyed today by
mariners the world over, this truism remains.
Today I was reminded of this opening paragraph as I observed the
Williamson technicians working tirelessly to restore their SM30
towed array to full operational condition. In a vessel being
continually tossed around by a heavy swell, and without the luxury
of stable and fully equipped shore based workshops, they were
certainly up against it. Remarkably the faults were traced one by
one and rectified and I was pleased to see that the old adage –
improvise, adapt and overcome still rings true.
To
quote the famous author Nicholas Monsarrat, the ‘cruel sea’ now
remains our only real obstacle before we can continue our search for
Sydney and Kormoran.
For
those interested in reading the original article concerning Naval
Ingenuity please visit the following web link:
http://www.navy.gov.au/spc/semaphore/issue18_2005.html
Articles & photos courtesy 'The Finding Sydney Foundation'
http://www.findingsydney.com |
