18 June, 1998

THURSDAY

6/18

Found our puddle, parked the ship, and got to work. It felt good to be out on the ice even though I had been shipboard bound for only two days. And what a great day for ice work! We were on a floe that had it all. Flat clean surface, uneven dirty surface, melt ponds that turned out to be deeper than my boots were high, and a ridge that jutted up no more than 1.5 meters above the floe but stuck down into the water for more than 7 meters!

We were able to run a stake line of 85 meters for the ROV and that worked out very well. Good under the floe video that will allow us to relate surface features above to surface features below. Tish and Tara got their 3rd cast with the CTD to collect water for Tara's project and the boxcore made three good trips to the bottom and back. The divers got in some under the ship time while we were on the ice and the aviators got the "planes" running and tested while we were on station.

Once again we used the landing craft to access the floe and it took on the role of small ice chunk

pusher due to the tendency of the ice to move into any open piece of water.

MEET THE COASTIES

The group I'd like to introduce today is the MST's or Marine Science Technicians. This rate involves working with the scientists and all the equipment that is associated with the ship and it's role as a science support platform. Bottom sounding devices, box core equipment, cranes of all shapes and sizes, distilled water taps, salinity measuring equipment, all weather imaging and recording devices, and helping the scientists with any and all requests for who knows what kind of help are just a few of the responsibilities that fall on the women and men that work within this rate. To add to their job description is a completely different set of tasks that they would perform on any ship other than an icebreaker. On conventional vessels the MST's are responsible for enforcement of the Clean Water Act and all other anti-pollution laws and regulations for all ships operating within U.S. territorial waters. Another responsibility of the rate is to ensure proper storage and handling of all hazardous material (HazMat) aboard ship. This would include not only the materials associated with normal day to day shipboard operation, but also includes the materials brought on board by the science teams for their work. As an example, the 19 scientists that came aboard for AWS 98 brought methanol, acetone, fungal and bacterial media, radioactive carbon, and plutonium which all needed

MST 1 Dave Hutchinson, "Hutch", has been aboard Polar Sea for three years and will soon be transferred to the new Coast Guard icebreaker, USCGC Healy. He enjoys spending time with his daughter Meigan and he is an avid hiker and technical climber. He dreams of sitting in an Irish pub this fall and quaffing a pint of Guiness fresh from the tap and has plans to climb Mt. Everest when he retires from the Coast Guard in three years. He is originally from Lithicum Heights, Maryland and currently lives in Seattle.

MST3 William Nathanial "Nate" Walters is originally from Arkansas and now lives in Seattle with his wife of 1 year, Angela. They enjoy viewing the Seattle area by mountain bike and touring the wineries of Western Washington is high on their list of enjoyable activities.

Nate has been aboard Polar Sea for three years and will soon be getting orders to a shore facility at Puget Sound

Marine Science Officer, LTJG Chris Dabbieri heads up the MST's aboard the ship and is the officer n charge of making sure all goes as well as possible during each science station. He works very closely with the all the scientists and has his hands full trying to keep a bunch of civilian scientists happy aboard a military vessel. He graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 1996 with a Civil Engineering degree. While at the academy he played as a guard for the Coast Guard Bears basketball team.

He has been aboard two years and will soon be going to the USCGC Mackinaw, home ported in Cheboygan, MI. Originally from Springfield VA he currently lives in Seattle. Chris is a fan of the Grateful Dead and enjoys weightlifting and playing hoops.

MST3 Angela Guinn originally from San Jose, CA has lived in Seattle for the past two years.

She enjoys the challenges and experiences that can only be found on an icebreaker. She is attending school when the ships schedule allows and hopes to continue work on an Environmental Science degree when she gets out of the Coast Guard. Angela likes the Seattle area for all of the outdoor opportunities and wants to spend more time in the areas around Mt. Rainier.

MST3 Drew Egeressy is from Stanford Connecticut and has been in the Coast Guard for 4 years. He is enjoying duty on the Polar Sea and looks forward to the ship's planned south trip to the Antarctic region in early 1999. Drew enjoys MST work and only wishes that the scientists were on board for longer periods of time so that he could get a better "big picture" view of the different science work that is going on. When he gets the chance he enjoys playing in the surf along the southern CA beaches in the summer and snowboarding around Seattle during the winter.

MST1 Sean McPhilamy is originally from Lansing MI and currently calls Baton Rouge LA home. He has been in the Coast Guard 9 years and will be taking over Hutch's position aboard the Polar Sea. Sean and his wife Lisa have two Heinz 57 pups, Rickets and Scurvy that they saved from the pound. Sean is very busy these days aboard Polar Sea learning about all the equipment and gear used by the MST's.