Daily Journal

September 17, 2004:
Aboard the R/V Wecoma: The Crew (Part 2)

Gary Stevenson, Second Mate
Gary has had a lifelong relationship with the sea since the age of sixteen. His land home is in Depoe Bay, Oregon. He has been in the coast guard, worked on commercial fishing boats in both Alaska and Oregon waters. He has worked on off-shore tugboats and other ships. He's been part of the Wecoma crew for eight years. His duties as second mate include navigation, loading and securing food and equipment, and covering work shifts for others. The thing he likes best about his work is the travel to foreign ports.

He uses lots of math everyday and says he learns a lot on the job.There are many forms and documents that are used in navigation that require math. He said he would like to tell our students to "study your math."

Kyle Bailey, Able Bodied Seaman
Kyle's land home is on the Klamath River in Northern California. He has also worked in the timber industry, construction, Department of Fish and Game, private industry sailing, and for the U.S. Navy. He has attended a Maritime Academy, earned a Merchant Marine License, and multiple other endorsements including Fire Fighting. He has been a Merchant Marine for 8 years, and has worked aboard the Wecoma since July 2004. He received his training from Paul Hall Maritime Institute in Piney Point, Maryland. This is a union school for SeaFarers International.

His favorite duty while on board ship is the 8:00-12:00 noon watch for the Captain on the Bridge (Pilot Room). He also likes to deploy the CTD meter (Rosette) using the crane. He absolutely must use math every day to plot the course, deploy scientific equipment by regulating the tension and speed of the cable of the equipment.

Kyle also enjoys meeting the scientists who are doing research. He would like our students to know, "Hope is out there, and education is the key." He said there are jobs available in the Merchant Marines and there is a Mercant Marine School in Oregon through the Job Corps.

Hank Hazen, Engineer
Hank, like his fellow crewmates, has been working at sea for many years. He has been in the Merchant Marines for the past four years. His home is in Portland, Oregon. He worked in construction for the Navy in Okinawa, Guam, and Italy. He has also been a carpenter and was a commercial fisherman in the Bering Sea.

He has been with the Wecoma for the past two years. His duties include maintenance of propulsion, power machinery, and he especially enjoys working with refrigeration units. He uses math daily to calculate gallons per hour, and percentages for mixing chemicals. He said knowledge of decimals is critical. For example, the difference between 0.1 and 0.01 would have a serious impact upon chemical mixtures or the water supply.

He would like students to be really sure you like the sea before you commit to this occupation. Hank has always lived close to the sea and said he feels best when near the ocean.

Here are some math problems:

In order to purify water, you need to add 0.3 ppm (parts per million) of chlorine. This means that for every 1,000,000 liters of water you would need to add 0.3 liters of chlorine. If you had 1,000 liters of water, how much chlorine would you need to add to purify it?

Here's another problem. When a ship is at sea for a length of time, you must be able to convert salt water to fresh water. This is done with a water maker. The water maker boils salt water into steam, the steam is then condensed into a container as fresh water. In order for the water maker to operate efficiently, a descaler must be added. This holds the salt in solution and prevents it from crystalizing and clogging the outlet of the water maker. The ratio of descaler added is 2 cups to 28 gallons of water. If our water maker holds 100 gallons of water, how much descaler should we add?

Top: A sea of undulating glass
Above: Sunrise at sea

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