Third Galathea Expedition, Leg 7, Cape Town to Broome
Equipment that failed to arrive, two days of heavy swell, problems with a cable for the CTD (an instrument that measures conductivity, temperature and depth), general adaptation to life on-board a former navy ship, where one has to muster in the hangar wearing naval uniform we are finally under way from Cape Town and collecting our water samples. Our job is to analyse pigments using a HPLC (High Pressure Liquid Chromatography) in order to determine the composition and biomass of the algae on this leg of the expedition in the Indian Ocean. It is primarily a plankton expedition and the ship is full of plankton specialists, who spend hours and hours looking in microscopes. Fortunately this is not necessary when analysing algae with a HPLC – it runs automatically 24 hours a day and can analyse up to 35 samples per day. Our HPLC is mounted in one of the laboratory containers placed on the aft deck. The containers have special power supplies, which provide stable power to the equipment. However, we can see from the baseline that it is a bit woolly due to power fluctuations. However, this does not impair our analyses. Apart from analysing algae we also study to see whether the algae are limited due to grassing or nutrients.
The many journalists aboard the vessel expect “breaking news” on a daily basis. However, most of our tasks are monitoring projects and it is a bit difficult to provide results which will clear the front page every day.
At the moment there are up to 8 m high waves and a lot of the activities have to be postponed until the weather improves.
Our equipment has been latched to the container and seems quite unaffected by the waves – the rest of us are slightly more queasy.
The Galathea expeditions
In the long line of great Danish expeditions, the first two Galathea expeditions stand out with particular clarity. Partly because of their large scope and findings, and partly because they had several destinations in common, which enabled scientists to observe the development stretching over an entire century.
Especially within scientific marine research, Denmark was in the vanguard among the European countries. The reasons for this included the fact that Denmark has always been a seafaring nation, as well as the fact that at a very early stage Denmark developed a tradition for close cooperation between science and the navy.
The corvette Galathea 1 sailed the oceans from 1845 to 1847 on the orders of King Christian VIII. The purpose of the expedition was, besides the exploration of the Nicobar Islands, the task of handing over the Danish colonies of Tranquebar and Frederiksnagore in India to the British East India Company, the expansion of the trade with China, and negotiation and conclusion of new trading contracts.
A little more than 100 years later, from 1950 to 1952, Galathea 2 went on an expedition to explore the deep sea, and the scientific results produced by this voyage in many ways exceeded the expectations. The activities on Galathea 2 also included ethnographic surveys.
The expedition became hugely popular among the Danish population, and more than 20,000 Danes went to the Langelinie quay in Copenhagen to welcome the frigate when she returned on 29 June 1952.
As the new millennium was approaching, and thus also the 50th anniversary of the departure of Galathea 2 from Copenhagen 1950, the idea of launching a third a Galathea expedition was suggested from a number of quarters.
Scientific research, dissemination of information, educational perspectives and good seamanship
Galathea 3 is the largest Danish scientific expedition for more than 50 years. The aim of the expedition is to strengthen Danish scientific research, not just by virtue of the research projects that have been included in the expedition, but also in relation to the recruitment of the coming generations of research scientists.
The foundations of Galathea 3 and all the educational perspectives and dissemination of information activities surrounding the expedition consist of the total of 71 research projects that will be on board when the navy surveillance vessel Vaedderen (‘The Ram’) sails around the World from August 2006 until April 2007. The ship has room for approximately 35 research scientists onboard, in addition to whom there will be just under a dozen journalists, photographers and TV crew members, plus a couple of students and their teacher. And then, of course, the 50-man crew, who are to keep the ship sailing, maintain the course and perform the many other tasks necessary onboard a ship that accommodates nearly 100 people.
Source: Dansk Ekspeditonsfond
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| Life aboard the Ram |