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The Project
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September 7, 2005
Today I spent some time down in the warmest and noisiest part of the boat, the machine shop. The machine shop is located right next to the engine room, which is why it is so noisy. The engine room contains the two massive 12-cylinder diesel main engines and the two large 8-cylinder diesel generators. The machine shop is separated from the engine room by a large door and it is a little quieter. It has all the necessary tools and equipment needed for repairing almost anything on the ship. Eddie works as the oiler in the engine room. He got started by asking the right questions to the right people. He was told to go to the office and fill out an application. “I was called back and I filled out more papers”. Soon Eddie was aboard the ship learning new skills as he started out as a wiper. He worked three years as a temporary employee. “Then I was called to the office and they hired me permanent”. He has now worked for the university for 15 years. Most of his time is spent on the New Horizon, but he has had some memorable trips on larger vessels like the R/V Melville and the R/V Revelle, both ships owned by Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Eddie has been to Australia and to Africa while working on research vessels. He enjoys the time that he gets to spend in the seaside towns. Eddie has learned on the job from the people that work with him. He speaks very highly of chief engineer Ron Wheatley. “It’s nice to work for Ron. He is a good person and he teaches me what I need to know.” Willie is the engine room wiper, he is new on the job and is learning quickly. Willie gets daily lessons from Ron. Willie practices his new skills and reads from his textbook. When he can demonstrate his ability to do a job he gets it checked off on his skills report. Willie will attend a month long course in October. When the course is completed and all the skills have been demonstrated he will advance to the oiler position. “I would like to attend the academy some day and advance to assistant engineer. It would take money and time away from work, but it would be worth it.” When at sea, the engineers must be prepared to fix anything that wears out or breaks. Eddie remembers a time when an electrical fire broke out in the engine room. “It was during dinner and everybody jumped up to get into their positions. Fire drills are practiced every week, but now it was real.” There was a lot of smoke, but the flames were small and the fire was put out very quickly. He said, “Luckily the sea in the Indian Ocean was calm. We had no power to the engine, just the generator worked. It was very hot down there as the engineers replaced the electrical wires to the engine.” The assistant engineer on this cruise is Laddie. Laddie was educated in the Philippians. The school there is tough and you’ve got to be able to take the entire engine apart and put it back together. Laddie came to the rescue when our (the science team’s) winch leaked all of its hydraulic fluid into the connector housing. He and Ron were able to pumped the fluid into buckets and then they filtered it while it was put back where it was supposed to go. The cause of the leak was a couple of loose fittings. Once these were tightened we had no more trouble with the winch. The engineers are very important people on the ship and I would not want to go to sea without people like Ron, Laddie, Eddie, and Willie. Math: The fuel for this ship is straight diesel. The fuel in some engines is a mix of gasoline and oil. If the ratio of fuel to oil is 4 to 1 then how much oil should be added to 24 gallons of gasoline to make the right mixture?
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