Dive 2935 - June 13, 1995 Abdellah Cherkaoui
Pilot: Pat Hickey
Port diver: Marv Lilley
Starboard diver: Abdellah Cherkaoui
Dive Objectives:
Objectives for this dive were the following:
- Retrieve and recover J-hook #1 installed on Salut.
- Install J-hook #2 at the same spot.
- Sample the flange at Salut.
- Explore the Bastille complex and other northern structures (Dudley, Grotto ..) and look for a flange.
- Sample water in Bastille complex.
- Collect biology around Bastille complex.
- Recover the T-probe installed at Puffer.
Launch site: 300 meters east of the vertical of Salut: X=5150, Y=5855.
Lat: 47 56.794 N - Long: 129 5.739 W
Landing target: Salut (X=4950, Y=5855).
Transcript of a rookie diver
8:07 (local time). We just launched. The site is 45 56.84 N 129 5.57 W. (5350,5948.8). Pat is making the usual checkouts. We start sinking almost immediately. The sensation of entering a new world is already there. All motion ceases. I barely feel the gravity that's entraining the sub away from the surface light and turbulence. Surprisingly, no special emotion has overwhelmed me yet. Everything just seems very natural and normal.
The upper end of the J-hook arm got bent during the immersion due to the slapping of the float with the surface waves.
8:23 - heading 232. Marv has got a computer problem ! It apparently doesn't respond to any interrupt command. Switching the power off doesn't work either. Marv resolves to ask for Eric and Russ' help through the sub phone.
8:35 - hd 259. The problem is finally solved. Marv had to disconnect the interfacing connections in order to properly reboot the machine. Pat is putting the music on. We are passing 500 meters. It's totally dark. The bioluminescence that I see outside through my porthole fascinates me. Not for long. The position of observation is not very comfortable. My neck hurts. I try to set myself as comfortably as possible. Space is tight.
8:42 - hd 277 - 980 m. The in-hull navigation is displaying x=5090, y=5841. Our landing site (Salut) is at about 240 meters west of our vertical. Marv and Pat are very quiet. The music is on. The atmosphere is strikingly peaceful. It feels like the calm before the storm.
8:45 - 1080 m. Pat is switching the nav to a different transponder pair (11.0, 7.5). It doesn't seem to work too well. We are quickly back to the better (10.0, 10.5) pair.
8:59 - 1535 m. Still going down.
9:09 - 1805 m. Pat just turned the video and the mesotech on. The temperature outside is 1.96 deg C. We're still going down. It's getting close. I can feel Pat is getting ready. Marv is displaying his usual calm.
9:20 - hd 101 - 2130 m. The lights are on. The video is recording. The navigation is indicating x=4951; y=5821. We are about 100 meters east of the landing site. I cannot see anything through the porthole. However the light refraction outside indicates an important particulate suspended load.
9:22 - hd 282 - 2200 m. We are 8 meters above the seafloor. we are coming down on what seems to be a dead sulfide structure. I can't really assess its height because of the perspective. Maybe 2 to 5 meters. I am speechless. I am just sticking my nose against the porthole's glass and I probably have my mouth open. The feeling is undescriptible. I don't even think I had any. I was just in another world. Indeed I was. 2200 meters below the sea surface right on top of what I have been studying and learning about for the past two years. My mind is wandering across the field of basalts. I am walking on the Endeavour segment.
9:27 - hd 258 - 2201m. I see scattered pieces of basalt 0.5 to 3 meter size, covered by a very fine, irregular sediment blanket. Probably the result of sulfide oxidation. Large pillow basalts everywhere. This is the largest pillow basalt field I have ever seen. Of course. Big, round shaped extrusive basalts. The consecutive, cracked cooling boundaries are clearly observable on some of the pillows. We are passing over a big deep. About 15 to 20 feet deep. It's a fracture. Incredible. As far as I can see through the porthole lays a 3 to 5 meter high section of basaltic extrusives making a very neat scarp on the seafloor. I can't help thinking I am in a geologist's dream. I feel the desire to go out and walk around. Yeah, right !
9:31 - hd 288 - 2194 m. Tube worms bushes just appeared on the starboard side. Scarce at first , the bushes are now a much larger. I am getting a close look to skinny, white, 20 to 50 cm long tube worms. They are definitely alive.
9:32 - hd 230. Pat has just spotted the flange hosting the J-hook #1. We are at Salut. With a perfect synchronization Pat lands the sub in front of the flange and hooks the instrument to it. The two J-hooks are now installed, one right next to the other.
9:35 - hd 213. Pat has reset the sub in front of the flange and now tries moving the J-hook freshly installed a little bit. Marv's computer is not reading any change in the temperature.
9:36 - hd 214. The J-hook is now in the deepest part of the flange pool, right by the previously installed instrument. The temperature readings are rising up but are still low (180 deg C). Pat uses the 3-chip video camera to make sure the probes are well into the pool's fluid. The heads of the probes are well covered. The temperature readings are still relatively low. The instrument is slowly oscillating, entrained by the motion of the overhanging float.
9:42 - hd 210. The temperature readings have reached 216 deg C. The video coverage of the flange is exceptionally good. It's a magnificent, one meter wide, vigorously overflowing flange. Alvin's T-probe is inserted in the pool. The temperature quickly climbs to 300 ... 335 ... 337.9 ... 340.6 deg C !
10:00 - hd 207. We haven't moved yet. We are still monitoring the J-hook freshly re-installed. There seem to be a miscalibration of its T-probe.
10:06 - hd 207. Pat is pulling out the J-hook to check out the response of the T-probe. The burning marks on the probe's heads show that they were well buried into the hot fluid.
10:08 - hd 219. The J-hook is back in place.
10:16 - hd 219. We are still monitoring the J-hook. There is not much I can see from the starboard porthole.
10:21 - hd 196. Pat starts to cut the J-hook loose. He finds some problems with the connection that ties the instrument to the basket and to the sub.
10:25 - hd 206 - 2194. The J-hook is set free. It was done the hard way. The powerful mechanical arm ripped the wire of the connector. The sub is now moving to a new set up. We are preparing for sampling. The other J-hook is removed from the flange and left overhanging its anchor weight. The place is ready for sampling.
10:35. The manifold major (port side) is filled. The sample was 240 deg C.
10:47 - hd 208. 2 majors and one gastight were collected in the flange pool . We are leaving Salut.
10:49 - hd 156. We just left Salut. There are large (~5-10 m wide) bushes of tube worms on the starboard side. They are growing over the pillow basalts. We are passing over a small fault (~3-4 meters deep).
10:50 - hd 140. It's still just the same floor of basalt pillows covered by a very thin layer of sulfide sediments.
10:51 - hd 156. Pat is experiencing a problem of some sort. It seems the anchor and rope of the J-hook released are stuck in the basket.
10:56 - hd 221. Pat is still struggling with the rope that I can see flying around in the camera.
10:57 - hd 244. The problem is solved. Pat got rid of the anchor. We have drifted away.
11:00 - hd 326. We just fed the computer the coordinates for Puffer.
11:02 - hd 270 - X:4896, Y:5967. There is a small structure in front of us. It doesn't seem to be on the map. Pat can't spot any marker.
11:06 - hd 256. I just saw marker AE through the starboard porthole. We want to sample here. Pat has got some trouble all the 's..' in the basket. He needs to take care of before setting the sub for sampling.
11:16 - hd 167 - X:4872, Y:5979, d:2194. We just set up in front of marker AE. Pat is getting ready to sample.
11:19 - hd 168. Pat is taking a major.
11:25 - hd 152. Very good shot of the smoker sampled. Intermittent puffs of white smoke are clearly observable. The T-probe indicates a maximum of 377 degC.
11:29 - hd 151. The blue bottle is 'cooking'. The tube is stuck in the puffing smoker where the T-probe was previously reading 377 degC. Pat has got problems with the 'f...' T-probe. The yellow gastight is finally filled.
11:37 - hd 162. We are backing away from the structure. There is no sign of any flange.
... Pat just spotted marker 1L on Peanut.
11:40 - hd 021. We are at Bastille.
11:41 - hd 308. I see marker CA right of the starboard side.
11:42 - hd 184. We are flying over a bare floor of large pillow basalts. Most of them are broken and fractured. We might be close to the talus or to some fault scarp.
11:47 - hd 166 - X:4856, Y:6000, d:2192. We found a small flange. It is pretty low and seems out of reach of the sub. I think it is on Dudley. we are maneuvering around the area.
11:49 - hd 226. The structure is Peanut. We are going up, following the structure with a good video coverage. Pat says it has grown quite a bit. Pat is also noticing a blue, fluffy deposit on the tube worms on the top of Peanut. It seems to be organic in origin.
11:55 - hd 137. We just found a nice flange. Pat uses the saw to check its depth: 4 steps are immersed in the hot fluid. There seem to be two separate pools in this flange, one is deeper on the side. There is a lot of biology covering the flange.
??:?? - hd 153 - X:4877, Y:5987, d:2194. The flange seems to be the only outlet of a small (~3m-high new structure - not mapped). Except for the flange and its surrounding biology there is nothing else on it. Marker AS is deployed.
12:06 - hd 143 - d:2192. The T-probe is inserted and the readings are rising. 352.3 is the maximum temperature.
12:12 - hd 103. We are leaving the flange and marker AS. I have a very good view of the flange through the starboard porthole. Incredible. The structure is a small mound, ~3m-high, ~3m in diameter. The flange is a beautiful piece. It's all covered with tube worms.
12:16 - hd 159. I can see marker AW right under the starboard side. There are two, three bushes of tube worms. They seem to be all covered with white stuff (??).
12:19 - hd 215 - 2185. It seems like we are at Tara. There is probably a smoker producing a big cloud of smoke somewhere around us. I cannot see it through the porthole nor in the video. ... I just spotted marker AH and the smoker.
12:20 - hd 233. Marker Y is right in front of us. We are heading for Dudley.
12:24 - hd 056 - X:4931 Y:6046. We just passed over a fault scarp (~3 to 4m deep). I can see another one right underneath us.
12:34 - hd 177. We are at Dudley right in front of quite a nice flange. We haven't seen any marker. It seems to be a bit uneasy to sample. The T-probe reads 309 deg C. The pool depth is 5 in the back of the flange, 2 upfront. Pat is setting up for a manifold sampling. We deploy marker B9 which falls down right underneath the flange (~1m below). Pat says it's 5 meters to the north of marker AA.
12:47 - hd 281. We are right at marker AA. Pat is setting up to sample it. We get 2 majors, 2 gastights with 1 major and 1 gastight on the manifold.
13:05 - hd 283. We are leaving Dudley, heading for Grotto.
13:27 - hd 292. We are about to leave Grotto after sampling at marker BA. We have collected 2 majors and one gastight and also one piece of chimney. Pat is fighting with a big chunk of sulfide structure that he wants to put into the basket. We are ready to come up.
13:30 - hd 211. Pat has secured the basket. The remaining weights are released. We are floating back up. After five hours and a half, I finally start to feel how numb my legs are. Believe me when you're six feet one, it is not very obvious to fit with two other persons in a six-foot-diameter sphere already half filled with equipment and machines. I also start to notice how cold it is getting inside the sphere. It is amazing how fast time passed by. In fact, the excitement is finally starting to hit me. As we are peacefully floating back up to the light and relative warmth of the surface waters, I am starting to get the feeling of how incredible what I just lived was. Just like in a dream, with my nose against the porthole, my mind is still wandering down there. The strikingly amazing scenes I was the witness of are still in front of my eyes, as real as they were a few moments earlier. Truly, my life will never be the same again.