The Hunt for the Alligator 2004 Hunt for the Alligator Expedition Log for Saturday, August 28, 2004 On Board the YP679 Afloat Lab
At 6:00 A.M., YP679 set out to sea. The plans for the day included stops at several promising targets that were detected earlier in the week by side scan sonar and the magnetometer. Our first stop was a known wreck, the Dixie Arrow, where I had the opportunity to help lay line for the side scan sonar and magnetometer to be towed behind YP679. We had a quick pass of the sunken vessel before the site became crowded with recreational divers. The decision was made to pull-in the instruments that were in tow. A number of crewmembers are required to pull these instruments in, including myself. I have a new appreciation for crabbers in Alaska who pull and set crab pots for weeks at a time in rough seas. The rest of the day was spent making additional passes with the side scan sonar and magnetometer on promising lines while the ROV was being operated by a smaller separate boat at another potential target. There is a lot of down time between traveling from target to target. The time was spent with talks on scuba diving and how the side scan sonar and magnetometer work as well as how to look at the data that these instruments collect. Our day was long, we returned after dark at around 9:15 P.M. Unfortunately, the Alligator was not found today but I found the trip to be very educational with a number of opportunities to participate directly with the search. I am looking forward to integrating a number of concepts and activities into my curriculum. Michael Overfield Chief Scientist/Archaeologist Today, the plan is to use the ROV as a drop down camera and review some possible targets identified over the past few days. On the way out to the site, a dive operation on one of the many ships torpedoed and sunk off the North Carolina coast is plan. We arrived at the Dixie Arrow and found a number of local dive operators arrived on the site. We waited for a while to see if the area would clear, but it soon became obvious with more dive boats arriving, we would be unable to accomplish our plan and would try for a dive operation later in the day on our return trip. We were accompanied to our survey area by East Carolina University's Beeliner, a 30-foot motor boat that would be used as the platform for the drop camera deployment. Images were collected that will be reviewed upon our return and survey using the side scan sonar and magnetometer was conducted adjacent to our primary survey area. Upon completion of the survey and drop camera operation, we returned to the Dixie Arrow and completed the dive operation scheduled for earlier today. Paula Charbonneau
My day started in the early morning hours, waking up at 4:30 a.m. and walking a short way down from our hotel to the large ship, with large bolded letters, “Naval Research.” After eating a small breakfast and catching up on some of the local and sometimes more large-scale news surrounding the search of the Alligator, all aboard headed up from the galleys to hear the plans for the day. There are about 20 of us on board, a mix of students and professors from East Carolina University, the Naval Academy, and Stone Ridge, a Bethesda primary through secondary school, where I am entering my Senior of high school. There is also a combat photographer, several representatives from NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Program, leadership from the Navy, and others whose exact titles I cannot recall right now, but each with an equally unique story about how they got involved with Alligator Project. After hearing the plans for the day and a briefing on the facilities of the vessel, we started on the 1.5 hour trip to the target area, an area where according to the images received on the side scanner and magnetometer, the Alligator may be located. In that trip out, I heard several descriptions on how both the side scanner and the magnetometer work and learned about scientific diving and the safety precautions one must take while diving. Somewhere around the middle of the second lecture, the Dramamine I took that morning started to wear off, despite the use of my “sea bands,” which I found out later that I had been wearing the wrong way. I was a little queasy, which quickly developed into more than a little queasy, and took advantage of the time left that was in large part free time to spend on the top deck, consuming saltines and sprite. We reached an area soon after that was not the target area for the Alligator, but a target area for another area of interest because a wreck, or a least the shadow of a wreck, had popped up on side scanner interpreter. Two divers were going to jump in to check it out, but we had to leave because there were treasure hunters on our track. Because it was a site we hadn’t checked out yet, we wanted to be extra careful that we didn’t draw any extra attention to the site, which also resulted in a switching of code names in talking to the smaller boat following with an underwater camera and amusing extended metaphors regarding the sidescan sonar and magnetometer. I spent most of my day helping to put in and then retrieve the sidescan sonar towfish and magnetometer by working the lines, a hardly glamorous job, but it was good to get a hand in to assist in some small way in the search for the Alligator. Other highlights included spotting a school of dolphins and then a drove of flying fish, which caused a major disconnect in my mind for a second as I thought, ?there are no birds at sea.? I also served as lookout for the divers, who were retrieved a bit shaken, reporting being surrounded by barracudas and a circling shark. We headed back at around 7:30, as it was just darkening, and I watched the moon come up and the sun go down in the same instance. We came in to dock at 9:00, and exhausted, and went back to the hotel and slept like a log. Professor Peter Guth
We left Annapolis after classes Friday afternoon for the drive to Ocracoke, eight hours away by car and really no closer by air. We skirted DC and its rush hour, driving south to Norfolk and then do the Outer Banks. We made the last (midnight) ferry to Ocracoke, and got to our hotel at 1:30 in the morning. We had been expecting a 6 AM departure, but just before we got to the ferry we got a cell phone call announcing a 5AM muster. So we set our alarm for much too early an hour. The motel had a battery alarm clock and flashlight by the bed, so we knew that power must be at the mercy of hurricanes and nor’easters. Midn 1/C Kyle B. Franklin, US Naval Academy It was about a two hour transit out to our area of interest. During our transit, I took time to meet everyone else on board. I met several people from institutions such as Eastern Carolina University, The Naval Research Laboratories, and the National Marine Sanctuaries program, amongst others. This expedition was truly a coming together of various experts of multiple oceanographic disciplines. By the end of the day, it seemed as if I had known these people for years. Once on station, I was able to make myself useful by helping out with line-handing during the side-scan, and magnetometer deployments. I later helped out by reviewing the saved side-scan images for possible points of interest. I also helped out by serving as a self-appointed lookout for the ship, which I took very seriously. This job later became important when we were being shadowed by treasure-hunting salvage divers. We were forced to avoid them, so that we wouldn’t reveal our exploration sites to them. I kept a watchful eye on them, and monitored their diving activities. It was interesting to compare this version of the YP to those in use at the Naval Academy used for seamanship and navigation training. The pilot-house was integrated with automated systems, and the CIC [Combat Information Center] area contained multiple computers and flat-screen monitors. The fan-tail of the YP was home to side-scan sonar, a magnetometer, and other oceanographic equipment. In short, due to my previous lack of knowledge and experience with ocean exploration, I felt kind of helpless throughout the expedition. Despite this, I kept busy by doing jobs requiring no skill, and by providing comic relief to the crew throughout the day, and learning. It was good to finally apply some of the knowledge and skills that I’ve learned in my oceanography classes over the last three years. It was a pleasure to represent the Naval Academy during this hunt for the elusive USS Alligator. Kate Thompson
Our day began at 4:00 AM on board the Office of Naval Research vessel YP-679. In the midst of pouring rain, Tane Casserley, archaeologist for the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, and I loaded all of our dive gear onto the research vessel. This was challenging because of the amount of equipment and the slippery slope from the dock to the ship. After hauling all of the tanks and tying them securely to the port side of the vessel, we pulled away from the dock as the rain subsided. As I looked across the horizon, the sun began to rise turning our gloomy day into rays of sunshine. Early morning is my favorite time to stand at the bow and feel the wind on my face. I always like to take this opportunity to prepare for the day ahead. There are many responsibilities that go into coordinating dive operations. As a NOAA working diver, I always need to be conscious of all the rules and regulations for a safe dive environment. As per protocol, I prepared an entire dive operations plan for the safety of the divers, observers and crew prior to arriving in Ocracoke. Each dive was mapped out on paper to ensure the highest level of safety for each dive. This plan was provided to the unit dive supervisor, head research scientist, dive safety officer and captain of the research vessel. After clearing my mind, I headed aft to the fantail to make sure all of our gear was ready to go when we arrived on site. Forty minutes to the target dive area, Tane and I met with the YP Captain Kevin Harbison to go over all dive operations. It was evident that he was very prepared in case of any emergencies, and I was very comfortable with how the vessel was run. In fact, the entire YP crew could not have been more professional in the way they helped out with all of the operations for the expedition. I can honestly say they are the best crew that I have ever had the pleasure to work with. After the briefing, we arrived at the dive site to find three dive boats anchored to the Dixie Arrow. The chief scientist decided to alter our plan because of the amount of divers on site. This happens often in all expeditions requiring each member of the crew and research party to be flexible enough to adapt to all possible changes that may occur each day. We left the site to do more survey lines about fifteen miles from the dive target. After our survey was finished, we headed back to the Dixie Arrow, a steel hulled tanker torpedoed by a German U-Boat during World War II, to find her empty of all dive boats.
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