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Calm Passage With a Bout of Tension Mission Dispatch 1 - April 4, 2005 | Mark Schrope - @SEA Correspondent N 26.34 W 78.55: enroute to the Bahamas 
Today we left our home port of Harbor Branch, in Ft. Pierce on the high tide just after dawn for a calm crossing with one bit
of figurative and literal tension. Only about an hour out from the inlet, while testing the R/V
Seward Johnson's A-frame used
to launch the submersible
Johnson-Sea-Link (JSL),
the crew discovered a leaky fitting in the hydraulic system.
To avoid a long run back in case the repair forced a return to Ft. Pierce, the captain of the 204-foot research vessel, Ralph Van Hoek, gave the order to come about and we began running slow circles while still in view of land. Needless to say, continuing on to the Bahamas was universally viewed as preferable to returning home to pick up parts, so everyone waited anxiously for news of repair progress. The trick with the repair was that the fitting in question was at the base of the A-frame. To access it, someone would have crawl underneath the crane and work in an uncomfortable position, to say the least. The team managed to securely prop the mammoth rig to take the tension off its support system so that 2nd assistant engineer Kevin Bradley could slide safely beneath it. He, along with several people from the ship and sub crews, was then able to remove the fitting, which had simply corroded due to salt exposure. Replacing the piece was no simple task because the frame was built in Scotland and so it had British standard threading. The ship is loaded with all manner of spare parts, but of course you can never be sure you'll have what you need. We're also outfitted with a full range of shop equipment, but it's a little hard to carve your own bolt. 
There turned out to be no spare in stock for the uncommon (at least on this side of the Atlantic) part, but after some searching and digging, the team found, to everyone's relief, that a tool used on the submersible for a previous project had the very same fitting. Once in, the A-frame was ready for sub launches, and we were on our way. Seas were fairly calm, at 2-3 feet, most of the day, and by nightfall it was almost flat with clear skies. We had been scheduled to reach Freeport on Grand Bahama Island to clear customs by about 8:00 p.m., but now it will probably be close to midnight before we make it. So we'll wait for dawn before entering the port. The plan calls for a couple of submersible dives near Freeport tomorrow, then, if all goes well, we'll begin steaming toward Cay Sal Bank tomorrow night. 
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