Meet John C. Fischbeck III,Master Mariner


John C. Fischbeck III, Master Mariner
 
John Fischbeck III, 59, is a native of Honolulu, Hawaii, a graduate of Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, in business administration and a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War. His entire Navy service, 1965-1971, was spent aboard the aircraft carrier Yorktown.

In 1979, he completed training as a Merchant Marine Officer and today has achieved the highest rank in the commercial maritime industry, Master Mariner. At NASA/USA, he serves as solid rocket booster retrieval operations supervisor.

Let’s ask John what achieving Master Mariner means. John says, “Achieving Master Mariner is one of the most important goals in my life.” The term Master Mariner was introduced in the United States in the mid-19th century; earlier in England. Currently, a U.S. Master Mariner License is reserved for those few who have attained the level of Unlimited Master, as well as Unlimited Chief EngineerSenior. Traditionally, a person holding an unrestricted master’s license is called a Master Mariner.  The term unrestricted indicates that there is no restriction of size, power or geographic location of the vessel on the license.

It is the highest level of professional qualification amongst mariners.

John has served as Master on all three booster recovery ships including the Liberty Star, Freedom Star and Independence. He has served on 125 booster recovery missions, more than any other member USA Marine Operations.
 
John’s current responsibilities include onboard Marine Operations Manager for the Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) Retrieval Operations and External Tank (ET) Ocean Transportation Operations.
 
What does John like most about the job at sea? In his own words, “supporting America’s spaceflight program, the great team of people I work with, and the ever-changing conditions that confront us everyday. Challenge, Adjustment, Success!”
 
What does John like to do when not sailing with NASA?  He ships out again…on ocean yacht racing, sail cruising and studying the  guitar/banjo.

Liberty Star Transfers Pegasus and ET-134 to Tug Boats Lou Anne Guidry and WP Scott in Port Canaveral


8:00 a.m. Eastern, Oct. 24
Liberty Star Transfers Pegasus and ET-134 to Tug Boats Lou Anne Guidry and WP Scott in Port Canaveral

Pegasus is now under way in the calm waters of Port Canaveral channel enroute to the Banana River and eventually, the turn basin at the Kennedy Space Center near the Vehicle Assembly Building. Television producer Mick Speer and public affairs blogger Steve Roy negotiated, with excellent help from the crew on the tug boat WP Scott, the transfer to Pegasus without incident and without getting wet. The transit from Port Canaveral to the Vehicle Assembly Building will take approximately four hours. 


In the Port Canaveral channel crews of Pegasus and Liberty Star complete the
break of the tow in preparation for tug boats Lou Anne Guidry and WP Scott to
move into position and begin the final leg of the trip to Kennedy Space Center.
Credit: NASA

As planned, after dropping the tow to the tugs, Liberty Star sailed off ahead of Pegasus, eager to prepare for the next mission.

The weather is beautiful this morning in the Cocoa Beach area as we progress thru the Port Canaveral locks. ET-134 looks sharp and ready to unload, perhaps even chomping at the bit.

The watch reports…all is well.

Liberty Star is in the Home Stretch


6:15 p.m., Eastern Time, Oct. 23
Captain’s Corner, Liberty Star

This evening Liberty is under way for home waters, currently just north of Ft. Pierce, Fla., making about 5 knots with quartering winds from the southeast. This speed permits arrival off Port Canaveral early tomorrow morning, at approximately 7 a.m., for a daylight transfer of the barge Pegasus and ET-134 to two commercial tugboats.

The tugs will tow/push Pegasus through the Port Canaveral channel to the Banana River, then north to the turn basin at the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. Meanwhile, Liberty Star will proceed on her own through the Port Canaveral channel to the Banana River and on to her dock at Hangar AF, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Today, we’ve shortened the tow cable from 1,800 feet to 300 feet, permitting safer transit in shallow waters along the remainder of the route.

The ship is in great shape, but has a lot of work to accomplish before getting under way on Monday to support the Ares 1-X Test Flight scheduled for Tuesday.

The crew of Liberty Star is eager to close home port and get ready for the next mission.

Mike Nicholas
Captain
M/V Liberty Star

Life On Board Liberty Star: A Typical Day


9 am Eastern Time, Central Gulf of Mexico, Bearing south for the Dry Tortugas

From the point of view of sailing on a ship, everything at sea seems to be integrated into one experience; the sea and the weather as one, the crew and the ship.  I could be wrong, but that’s what it seems.

The Weather and the Sea
The weather is clearing but still partly cloudy, giving the sea an unqualified, but pleasing, purple color. Swells are rising from 4-6 feet and north northeasterly winds at 20-27 knots are continuing to roll the Liberty Star from port to starboard rather unpleasantly for land lubbers — but certainly not dangerously. Some rolls to starboard are up to slightly over 20 degrees; these you really notice, throwing you off your feet, if not prepared. Winds are expected to continue unabated throughout the voyage. 

Pegasus’ bow plunges majestically a few feet, throwing white sea spray onto and over its bow. Reports from Pegasus say ET-134 is doing fine, its black beak occasionally lifting skyward, as if doing its part; lunging forward to reach Kennedy Space Center. 

A few rain squalls are passing on all sides of Liberty Star, but don’t pose any problems. Hundreds of white caps top the sea’s surface. 
In other words the weather is fine, posing no problems for Liberty Star or crew, except anticipating that side-to-side roll, which is absolutely relentless and perfectly normal.

The Crew
The ten-person, well-trained and highly-experienced crew of Liberty Star is in constant movement throughout the ship. Captain Mike Nicholas roams the vessel keeping his own schedule, checking the tow, the engines, the sea and weather, and questioning the status of operations. 

The cook, Dragan Jurkovic, is in constant motion in the galley preparing meals as he is hurtled from starboard to port, saved by grabbing on to galley furniture and other fixtures. Dragan sustains the crew with wonderful full comfort meals of pork chops grilled to perfection with browned potatoes, peeled by the blogger public affairs officer — well, it’s what he does at home for his wife! — tasty stewed vegetables, crisp baked fish, savory chicken marsala, grilled New York strip steaks, cups of piping hot café latte, spreads of luncheon meat and six kinds of bread, chicken salad wraps and this afternoon…BBQ pork ribs…and tonight, filet mignon and sea scallops.

In the main deck engineers Trish Hershock and Danny Dugan share tough six hour shifts monitoring the status of the two Electric Motor Division (EMD) engines and drive shafts, generators, status of fuel and all other machinery necessary to push the ship forward. In addition to keeping up with Liberty Star’s current operations, the engineers are also planning for future operations: Trish ordering fuel for the sailing the next Monday for support of the Ares 1-X launch and booster  recovery operations, and Danny, who normally serves as Maritime Operations Port Engineer, also making plans for future operations and upgrades for port facilities.

The rest of the crew performs their primary functions as well as the vital function of standing watch on the bridge. A two-person team is always on watch: Cody Gordon and Al Grivina stand the watch together; John Jacobs and Clint Small another watch; and finally, John Bensen and Todd Rose stand watch.  Each team stands watch four hours and is off duty, roughly speaking, eight hours. 

Oddly, when moving around the ship in the middle of the day, one encounters few members of the crew, as many crew are resting for the next shift. At night, the bridge watch stands vigilant in near total darkness preferring to use radar imagery and personal vision conditioned for darkness rather than spotlights to view the ocean ahead.

The crew knows what to do, when to do it and how to do it.  Orders don’t seem to be issued per say; just quiet conversations, heads nodding agreement, crew moving off to work on some tasks.

It reminds me of a passage in one of the Patrick O’Brien books in the Master and Commander series. HMS Surprise under Jack Aubrey is under full sail heading south with the trade winds toward Brazil for his own rendezvous with destiny. The ship plows on, steadily, easily over one hundred miles a day, the watch changes with little fanfare, the cook serves up meals in the galley three times a day, the crew lounges on deck, rigging is adjusted with hardly an order; sailing on in this routine day after day for weeks on end; like sailors for thousands of years; like spacefarers in the centuries ahead, beautiful.

The Ship
Liberty Star yaws and pitches, rolls starboard to port and back to starboard; engines humming continuously; vibration is constant.  Frothy seas follow Liberty Star and 1,800 feet to our aft, the Pegasus as well. 

Constantly rotating radars in the masts high above the living and working decks of the ship point out crossing vessels to the watch as the sea sloshes by and occasionally sprays the upper weather decks.

The American flag stands straight out in the 27 knot wind, as Liberty Star sails on with little fanfare.  Freighters pass in the distance; identified well in advance.

During the day, you don’t notice the creaks and bangs you will notice later during the night in your bunk; as cabinets and minor loose storage in your stateroom rolls around the floor. In the staterooms of the second deck living quarters are stuffed with personal possessions, clothing and carrying bags. The RV-like-equipped staterooms are more than sufficient for these relatively short voyages and at night you have little problem hearing the sea rush pass the bow and sides of the ship.

The ship bends like the crew; to the routine of sea and weather; all seemingly working together; rolling, pitching, sleeping, standing watch, cooking, eating, quietly passing each other in the ship.

Liberty Star and Pegasus are under way over the sea; weather and sea; crew; ship; timeless; relentless; beautiful.

Life Aboard Liberty Star


10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, Oct. 23
On Board Liberty Star

Liberty Star, Pegasus and ET-134 are well north of Miami, but moving north much slower than hoped. A much-hoped for pick up from the Gulf Stream has not occurred, apparently a very unusual occurrence for these trips north along the Florida coast.

Sail along with Liberty Star at sea! Windows, streaming


Scenes from a day at sea: looking at Pegasus from the weatherdeck of Liberty Star.
Credit:
NASA 
View all blog images in this Flickr gallery

 A new arrival time at Port Canaveral has been set for Saturday morning, Oct. 24,  7 a.m. Eastern Time. Liberty plans to sail to the eastern edge of the Port Canaveral channel, where it will rendezvous with two tug boats.The tugs will take up the tow/push of Pegasus for the final leg of the trip into and then north along the Banana River and channel to the dock at the turn basin in front of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. 


Scenes from a day at sea: Pegasus navigates swells. Credit: NASA

Unfortunately, the delay in return to home port will mean several members of the dedicated, hard-working crew will not have the opportunity to go home over the weekend before sailing Monday for recovery operations associated with the Ares 1-X test flight scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 27. A wide variety of equipment, including Doppler radar and booster recovery gear, absent from Liberty during external tank towing operations, will have to be returned to the ship for installation.


Scenes from a day at sea: Libert Star’s crew pays out tow line. Credit: NASA

At this point in the trip Liberty, which sailed from home port with 40,000 gallons of diesel fuel, is down to about 13,000 gallons.  Engineer Trish Hershock has already placed an order to replenish the ship in readiness to sail Monday. Cook Dragan Jorkovic has already set his plans for replenishing the crew.

Newly promoted Second Mate Allan (Big Al) Gravina has just supervised on deck shortening the tow of Pegasus from 1,800 feet to about 500 feet. A shortened towing cable reduces the depth of the cable between the two vessels as Liberty moves into more shallow waters at slowed speeds, limiting the possibility of the tow snagging on unreported, underwater obstacles. The way the tow cable rides between the vessels, like a heavy kink of chains between two fence posts, is referred to as the catenary from the Latin word catena.


Scenes from a day at sea: Liberty Star and ocean skies. Credit: NASA

Sustainment of the crew continues at a heady pace. Cook Dragan providing tasty, wholesome, and comfortable field rations that every worried mother would appreciate, including more perfectly grilled New York strip steaks; mixed, steamed vegetables; homemade fish soup; crisp bacon and sausage; eggs Benedict; perfectly textured mashed potatoes; savory chunks of roasted pork smothered in piping hot gravy; mixed green salads with all the fixings and of course Balsamic vinaigrette; mixed fruit plates covered in strawberries, raspberries, cantaloupe, kiwi and pineapple; choice of three kinds of cheese cake; chocolate ice cream and, oh well — chocolate mousse covered in whip cream. Aarg!  Aarg! And Aarg!


Scenes from a day at sea: mornings clouds over the horizon. Credit: NASA

The bridge has just sighted St. Lucie Inlet! Liberty Star, Pegasus and ET-134 are bearing north for homeport.

The watch reports — all is well.

Meet the Crew of Liberty Star


As Liberty Star enters the home stretch, meet more of the professionals who keep things “ship-shape” at sea.

Clinton Small, Boatswain

Today we’re talking with one of the Liberty Stars boatswains on this trip. Boatswain Clinton (Koko) Small, 34, is from New Smyrna, Fla. That’s just north of the Kennedy Space Center. He’s been onboard Liberty Star for nine years.

The rank “boatswain” goes back pretty far in history, having been identified by historians in the old English ships as far back as 1040.  Boatswains have traditionally served in a supervisory and hands-on leadership role, working closely with the deck hands performing hard work. Boatswains have always been a vital part of running a ship.

Clinton’s specific responsibilities include supervision of the deck crew with regards to maintenance and repair of ship’s exterior, interior and deck machinery. He also stands two four-hour watches as a lookout while vessel is under way. On smaller ships like Liberty Star, boatswains stand the watch, but not on larger ships.

Clinton is a graduate of New Smyrna High School and has studied industry-related courses at the Maritime Professional Training School in Fort Lauderdale. He also is currently studying to sit for his 1,600 ton mate’s license. He worked construction before joining United Space Alliance.

Clinton goes to sea because he likes the excitement and the fresh air. When he’s not at work, he enjoys going four wheeling, fishing, hunting and hanging out with his girlfriend and dogs. He says the part of the job he likes most is going home at the end of the day. Smart man!


Patricia Hershock, Chief Engineer

One thing about “Chiefs” — they are always important or they wouldn’t be called “Chief.” Whether it’s a Navy Chief Petty Officer or Army Chief Warrant Officer or Chief of Police, they are responsible for making something work properly, not work once in a while, but work every time.

Chief Patricia Hershock (Trish, or Chief), 46, is a native of Stamford, Conn. For those not familiar with New England, that’s just across the Long Island Sound from Long Island, N.Y.  She has served with Liberty Star for two years, nine months.

Trish started out with the Navy. She enlisted and trained as engineman in 1985 and was stationed at Naval Station Treasure Island, San Francisco. She also has also onboard the U.S. Navy tug YTB-812, the Accomac, based at Treasure Island, and served on commercial ocean-going tugs and commercial inland river towboats. By the way…that’s the industry that keeps many millions of truck miles off our highways each year.

She has completed engineering courses as well as industry related continuing education courses at maritime schools.

As Chief Engineer onboard Liberty Star, she is responsible for the operation, maintenance and repair of all main propulsion and auxiliary machinery. Trish works six- hour rotating shifts with Assistant Engineer Dan Dugan while under way. That’s a rough schedule in anyone’s book.

When asked what she likes most about her service onboard Liberty Star, she responds that she enjoys the variety of work that comes with the job and the camaraderie of her shipmates.

What does Trish do for relaxation when off the ship? Another outdoors person! She enjoys tinkering on her antique motorcycle, scuba-diving, gardening, and surfing with her husband, Karl.

Liberty Star,Pegasus and ET-134 Entering the Home Stretch


Captain’s Corner, 6:30 p.m. Eastern
Liberty Star, Pegasus and ET-134 Entering the Home Stretch

Liberty Star, Pegasus and ET-134 have a long way to go, but they’re beginning the home stretch to Cape Canaveral and Kenndey Space Center. We are making progress, but less than we had hoped for by swinging a few miles south and east to pick up the Gulf Stream current to bring us home faster. Thus far, we have benefited less from the Gulf Stream than hoped.

We’re clearing Plantation Key to our north and hope to pass Miami by the early morning hours.

Liberty Star is currently underwway at nine knots — about 10 miles — per hour, heading into southeasterly winds of 13 knots and seas running at 3-5 feet.

Pegasus is following with ET-134 in good shape and the Liberty Star crew in good spirits, knowing we’ll soon be closing on home waters. We’re looking at an arrival at Port Canaveral tomorrow evening, Friday, Oct. 23.

Michael Nicholas
Captain, M/V Liberty Star

The Greatest Explorer


After completing passage of the Florida Straits, Liberty Star, Pegasus and ET-134 will pass west of an icon of human exploration, the mixture of small islands generally believed to be where Christopher Columbus first sighted land in the Bahamas. No one knows for sure which island was the first to be sighted by Columbus, but the prime candidates are Samana Cay, Plana Cays, Grand Turk, or San Salvador Island (named San Salvador in 1925 in the belief that it was Columbus’ San Salvador).


Near Florida and Cuba, the underwater terrain is hilly, and the crests of many of
these hills comprise the islands of the Bahamas. Credit: NASA/AQUA, Moderate
Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)

With the blessing and financial support of the King and Queen of Spain, Christopher Columbus had sailed from Palos, Spain in early September 1492 and stopped at the Canary Islands, the westernmost of Spanish possessions. Columbus left the island of Gomera on September 6, 1492.

Columbus arrived at his Bahamas landfall on October 12, and then proceeded to Cuba on October 28. Columbus continued with the Santa Maria and Niña eastward, and arrived at Hispaniola on December 5, while the captain of the Pinta sailed on his own mission looking for gold.

The flagship Santa Maria grounded on a reef on Christmas Eve and foundered the next day. Columbus used the remains of the ship to build a fort on shore, which he named La Navidad (Christmas). Now down to just one ship, Columbus continued eastward along the coast of Hispaniola, and was surprised when he came upon the Pinta on January 6. Columbus’s distress was eased by his relief at having another ship for his return voyage to Spain.

Columbus returned to the Americas three more times, but ended his life thinking he had discovered the route to Asia.

In 1992 in celebration of the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ first voyage to the Americas, replicas of the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria were constructed, crewed by volunteers and sailed across the Atlantic to reenact this incredible voyage of exploration. In June 1992 the replica Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria passed the launch pads of the Kennedy Space Center. The picture says it all: old voyagers and explorers riding the wind and seas, passing the torch to the new explorers; and saluting those spacecraft waiting their turn to fly from the Kennedy Space Center. What an unforgettable picture!


On the 500th arniversary of Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the New World,
replicas of his three ships sailed past the launch pad at the Kennedy Space
Center (KSC). Credit: NASA

In June 1992 Replicas of Christopher Columbus’ sailing ships Santa Maria, Nina, and Pinta sail by Endeavour, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 105, on Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Launch Complex (LC) Pad 39B awaiting liftoff on its maiden voyage, STS-49. The second picture above was taken from the water showing the three ships in the foreground with OV-105 on mobile launcher platform profiled against fixed service structure (FSS) tower and retracted rotating service structure (RSS) in the background. Next to the launch pad (at right) are the sound suppression water system tower and the liquid hydrogen (LH2) storage tank.

But Columbus wasn’t finished yet and in fact Columbus’ life and travels in space have just begun. In February 2008 the European research laboratory, a large, fully equipped state-of-the-art science laboratory, was launched on board NASA’s STS-122 mission to the International Space Station. The Europeans named their science laboratory Columbus. 


The “Columbus” module and the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Columbus is a major contribution to one the history’s most amazing partnerships in science and engineering, the International Space Station.

Meet the Crew: Liberty Star


More about the skilled professionals that are guiding ET-134 on its journey…

Todd RoseTodd Rose, Ordinary Seaman

Let’s meet Todd Rose of USA Marine Operations, serving on this trip as Ordinary Seaman with primary duties of serving as bridge lookout with the officer of the bridge. Todd, 42, is a unique seventh generation Floridian who currently resides in Merritt island, Fla.

Todd normally takes care of the ship’s retrieval equipment, serves as a diver during retrieval operations and participates in the disassembly of the boosters.

Todd enjoys all aspects of his multifaceted job and his contribution to the space program.

When not on the job, he enjoys being with family, diving, fishing and drag racing.

Allan Gravina, Second Mate

Second  Mate Allan Gravina (Big Al), 36, is from Long Island, N.Y.,  and has served onboard Freedom Star for some nine years. As Second Mate, his responsibilities onboard ship include the maintenance of all navigational equipment and medical supply inventories. Typical of Second Mates, he stands two four-hour navigation watches when the vessel is under way.

Big Al currently holds a 1,600 ton mate’s license. A 1,600 ton ship would be like one of the medium-sized coast guard cutters you can see docked at Port Canaveral near the cruise ships.

When asked what he likes about his job he says, “the part I like about the job the most is that I am one of only 20 people in the world doing what I do. It helps that I love being on the water and being part of the space program.”

When not at work he spends time on his boat with his wife and family.

John Bensen, Second Mate

Let’s now meet the Liberty Star’s Second Mate, John Bensen, 57, of Miami, Fla. The second mate, or second officer, is a licensed member of the deck department of a ship, third in command of the ship, a watch keeping officer, and customarily the ship’s navigator. Other duties vary, but the second mate has often received medical training and may also be in charge of maintaining distress signaling equipment.

John Bensen, also known as Russ, JB  or Gunny, has been on board Liberty Star an amazing 26 years. He’s seen a lot of the space program in that time. During most launches John is located off shore and close to the booster separation and down range impact area of those same boosters. He has seen 115 launches. He has an associate degree in Marine Science from Miami-Dade Junior College in Miami. His responsibilities on board ship include the maintenance of all navigational equipment and medical supply inventories. Typical of Second Mates, he stands two four-hour navigation watches when the vessel is under way.

The part of the job he likes most is going to sea and completing the job on time, safe and error-free.

When not sailing with NASA, John is into Civil War reenactments throughout the South and keeping up with his three daughters. His nickname “Gunny” comes directly from his role servicing a Civil War artillery piece during reenactments.

Michael Nicholas, Captain

Today, I had the opportunity to sit down with Captain Michael (Mike) Nicholas for a few minutes. 

He’s been sailing with the NASA booster recovery ships for 22 years and he holds a 1,600 ton Masters license upon oceans. Mike started work with the retrieval vessels when only 19 years old, in 1988, and has risen through the ranks from Ordinary Seaman to his current position of Relief Master. Quite an accomplishment in any career.

The 41-year-old, who claims Cape Canaveral, Fla., as home, oversees all operations of the vessel from safety, training and navigation to the accomplishment of the mission.

He says he may not have been an astronaut, but feels he’s a vital part of the space program. While it’s his job to ensure the Liberty Star, Pegasus barge and external tank make it safely from port to port, he’s also concerned with ensuring his “family” on the ship are well taken care of and learn during their time on the sea.

Mike enjoys the changing and challenging aspects of life at work on the sea. And believe it or not, when Mike is not on the ship, he still enjoys being on the water — fishing and diving.

Joe Chaput, Manager, United Space Alliance Marine Operations

Joe Chaput participates in firefighting training at Cape Canaveral, Fla., as part of normal Coast Guard certification training. Some months ago, in preparation for this trip on board Liberty Star, I met Joe Chaput. He took me on a tour of Liberty Star and onboard the Pegasus Barge. He is in charge of NASA/USA maritime assets with headquarters at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. We also talked by phone and e-mail several times and here’s how his very interesting career evolved. 

Joe is a native of Evanston, Ill. (a northern suburb of Chicago) and was raised in neighboring Wilmette. Fishing with his dad and watching the shipping on Lake Michigan stirred his interest in working on the water. In 1983, he graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y.  After the academy, he worked on supply vessels and then on military supply ships for Military Sealift Command (MSC). While aboard a MSC ship in Port Canaveral, he witnessed the Liberty Star and Freedom Star get under way. Having met his future wife and looking for a place to call home, he applied for a position with the NASA fleet. They happened to be crewing up for a third vessel and he was hired. He eventually worked his way up to Captain of the Liberty Star where he served for 11 years. He then was moved to Marine Operations Manager in 2001.

If you want to know how to jump-start a seaborne career, I bet a talk with Joe would do the job. Many thanks to Joe for making this trip possible for NASA public affairs.

Liberty Star,Pegasus and ET-134 Under way in the Florida Straits


0945 a.m., Oct. 22 — Liberty Star, Pegasus and ET-134 Under way in the Florida Straits

Last night I stood by the watch on the bridge for a short time. The bridge, completely darkened, was lighted only by soft, red LED lights and the glow of the two radar scopes. The watch, John Jacobs and Clint Small, were checking readouts of wind direction, speed, the tow of Pegasus — depending upon their vision and the excellent ranging of the radars for vessels moving within the area of interest of Liberty Star. It was a dark, cloudy, starless night, as black as space.

Radar scopes fill up with targets now; off Liberty’s bow, the Strofades, a freighter pushing east; off Liberty’s starboard side, a tanker passing east and a freighter passing west; off Liberty’s port bow a yacht moving east; Key West packed with moored ships.

Seas are running 4 to 6 feet and we are moving at eight-and-one-half knots.

Pegasus, spray washing over her bow, reported all is well.

The Captain has just closed a meeting with his senior officers concerning plans for the remainder of this tow and upcoming missions beginning next week and into the busy weeks ahead.

A radio squawks! Coast Guard Station Key West via International Hailing Frequency: small craft advisory throughout the area.

The routine of weather and sea, ship and crew continues. All is well. Aarg!