Day 31 - Finally a camera person!
The reason you haven't seen any pictures of the launch or recovery yet, is because there isn't anyone on the boat that is typically up during the launch or recovery. Otherwise, the people that are up, are helping in the whole process. When we were on the Ronald H Brown, during the Lost City Expedition, there were at least 15 to 20 people that were part of the launch or recovery. I believe the other day we launched with 5 people, and two of the them were part of the CREW of the SHIP! Did I mention there aren't a whole lot of people on the ship?
Anyway, there just happened to be a time, when I was up, we were recovering Hercules and Argus, and there were other people who could take pictures. I'd like to thank Mike Durbin and Mary Nichols for contributing their photos. This blog is more about pictures of me, than anything else. But hey, my name is in the blog title.
In the first picture Mary and I are getting ready to hook tether lines to Argus. The second picture, I'm just being goofy (Gee, imagine that). The third gentleman is Mark DeRosche. He's in charge of all the launches and recoveries. He's also the one with the affinity for Turkish Rugs. The winch lifts Argus and the two tethers are hooked on to stabilize Argus while he's being lifted over the deck. Once he's secured, we bring in Hercules.
As you might remember there is a kevlar tether that ties Argus and Hercules together. The tether also holds all of the fiber optics and power to control and power Hercules. There is a rope that is strung along the tether. I mentioned this last year, and this techniquestill intrigues me. Mark loosely braids a thinner rope around the main rope and the kevlar tether. Once Argus is on deck they undue the braided rope, and pull Hercules towards the ship with a knuckle crane. Once they get Hercules close enough to the knuckle crane they pick up Hercules and place him on the deck. It's hard to visualize. But, when you see it. It's amazing!
posted by DaveandBrian @ 1:13 PM
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