#9 HISTORY
It’s the 19th century. You’re a young man seeking adventure and a test of your manhood. You decide to sign up on a ship to see exotic foreign lands. You take the trip to the coast. You find a big coastal town and you walk through the docks admiring the ships. Finally, you spot one that you like. You walk on deck and a tall man dressed in black coat confronts you. It’s the captain.
“What do you want lad?”
“I want to sign on board sir,” you say.
He looks you up and down, and says “Aye. But first I need to give you a test.”
You’re not worried. You were expecting this and, in fact, hoping for it. You want to show the captain what you can do. After all, you were always the strongest out of all your friends. You could climb up any rock or tree since you learned how to walk. And you also knew a bit about navigation from your grandfather. You were eager to show what a great addition to the crew you’d make.
R/V Knorr
July 5, 2001
21'24"N
52'49"W
22:58 Ship Time
23:58 GMT
So a little history is in order, I do believe.
First, the R/V Knorr is named after Ernest Rudolph Knorr, 1819-1886. He was the Chief Cartographer for the US Hydrographic Office between 1860-1885. The Knorr is the largest of 4 ships operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, otherwise known as WHOI and pronounced by all the locals as “hooie”.
Sailors and mariners in general are a reverential lot, and maintain a strong sense of history and the past, especially concerning old boats. As I sit here in the library and write this, I'm surrounded by mementos on the walls in reference to many of the accomplishments of this vessel. One of the more popular accomplishments was the discovery of the Titanic. Yep, that's right. It was right here on these decks that that a group operating a ROV (remote operated vessel) to plumb the depths and finally found the bulk of the shipwreck and beamed pictures back up to the surface. Recently in April, the Knorr was involved in a mapping project of the ocean floor and they discovered an unknown seamount, an underwater mountain. The group named it after the ship.
WHOI's first ship was a sailing vessel, R/V Atlantis and was famous for many discoveries. A wooden frame holds all the various coast guard licenses of the mates, chiefs, and the master. The frame is at the head of a stairway onboard and was made from the wood of the main mast of the Atlantis. Another ship in the WHOI fleet currently hold the name R/V Atlantis and it schleps the submersible sub Alvin around the world.
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| Greenwich, England and the Prime Meridian separating the western and eastern hemispheres |
The winds have picked up, 20 knots out of the east. The seas have built accordingly with 8-10' swells from the same bearing. The rolling has built some, with some classic funny moments at the table with everyone holding their sliding plate with their forks as everything slides in unison. Our speed has been reduced by about a knot as we plow into the waves. Still no word on who or what the emergency is but everyone is looking for clues.
Regards, from the briny blue
David
(Writers Note: Since this voyage in 2001, the R/V Knorr has been retired after 40 years of faithful service. She was a very well-liked ship amongst the Oceanographic science group. The first day I joined and revealed my volunteer status to the other science crew, they commented on how lucky I was to be on the Knorr for my first voyage. Apparently, the length and size provides a much more comfortable ride than many of the other smaller research ships. Mexico bought the ship and renamed her for a river in Mexico, the Tecolutla. There was a sad farewell on a foggy day on March 15, 2016, as the previous R/V Knorr sailed from the Woods Hole harbor for the final time.)
Enjoyed the singing! and the history.
ReplyDeleteHi Sara! Glad you enjoyed the music! Not sure everyone would know who the brains behind the (O. Henry Library) blog was. And then, I wonder how many folks know who O.Henry was. Well, I'm a proud Austinite, so will champion the man. Sara was the librarian for O'Henry Junior High for many years. William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American short story writer. His stories are known for their surprise endings."The Ransom of Red Chief" in which two men kidnap a boy of ten. The boy turns out to be so bratty and obnoxious that the desperate men ultimately pay the boy's father $250 to take him back. For a while, while he was in Austin, he worked at the TX General Land Office as a drafter, drawing maps from surveys and fieldnotes. I had a friend who worked at the GLO as a CAD drafter, and he gave us a tour of the "Map Room" and showed us an actual original county map that O'Henry had drawn. The O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships is a yearly spoken word competition that takes place every May at the O. Henry Museum in Austin, Texas.
DeleteStarted in 1978, the Pun-Off gathers fans of wordplay to celebrate the pun, which English poet and literary critic John Dryden called "the lowest and most groveling kind of wit." This often takes place on my birthday in May.