APLIS POSTCARD #17
28 March 2007
Position: 73-12N/145-09W
Temperature: -1¼F
Greetings from APLIS, adrift in the Arctic Ocean.
Knew from the start that today would be a great day. The winds had died down and we were
greeted by a beautiful clear sky. And
a real rarity here in the Arctic - not one but TWO RAINBOWS!! You can barely make them out on either
side of the sun in the picture below.
Everything went very smoothly today. The big event of the day was a
surfacing by ALEXANDRIA which the Stargate people wanted to film. We set things up on the ice as usual
and had their cameras in place.
ALEX took a little extra time to get it right and surfaced right through
the center of the X. With that
accomplished, the Stargate crew went on to film the final scenes they needed
and will depart tomorrow. ALEX has
dived and only has a few more test runs to finish before she too departs -
probably tomorrow as well. The
students from Naval Postgraduate School have wrapped up their research and
departed this afternoon as did the NUWC engineer conducting the communications
testing.
After two and a half weeks here on the ice, it seems like the
end snuck up on us suddenly. There
are several things I still wanted to talk about that I havenÕt. HereÕs one - how have these postcards
gotten from our little village in the middle of nowhere onto the internet? The answer is Ònot easilyÓ. After writing the postcards, IÕve
burned them, one at a time, onto CDs.
These get tossed onto the next airplane headed to Deadhorse. There, our Prudhoe Bay Coordinator,
Mike Hacking, would send them to the Submarine Force Public Affairs Office
using dial-up internet. I really
would have liked to have sent more pictures but that would have tied up MikeÕs
computer for hours.
I have thankfully had little to say about polar bears since
weÕre a little too early in the season to have had any wander by. Although a treat to see in the wild,
they are also a deadly threat.
When man encounters polar bears here in the Arctic, we become the
endangered species.
Many of us will be heading back to shore tomorrow with most
of the rest following on Friday.
Our stalwarts from APL University of Washington will be staying, of
course, to maintain the camp for the National Science Foundation through the
middle of April.
We had a really unique group of people come together
here. It was said that everyone
here is really good at doing something but, if need be, could do anything. Some of us have worked together for
decades, others we just met a couple weeks ago. For three of our crew at Arctic Submarine Laboratory,
retirement later this year means that this has been their final ice camp. Randy Ray, mentioned so often in
these postcards for his adventures in the field, will be leaving us. IÕve lost count of the number of times
weÕve been to the Arctic together.
Doug Anderson, RandyÕs right-hand man for much of the camp, will also be
leaving as will Marshall Mosher who played a key behind-the-scenes role in
Prudhoe Bay. We will miss them
all.
IÕd be remiss if I didnÕt mention the two crewmen killed
aboard HMS TIRELESS. Here in the
Arctic, we have seen some of the outpouring of sympathy from around the world
for their loss. So close to where
the tragedy occurred, our shock and sadness have not yet diminished. We take some consolation in the fact
that we played a part in the evacuation of the third crewman to Anchorage. WeÕve heard that he is now recovering
in the UK.
WeÕve accomplished what we set out to do. Our navies have gained a greater
understanding of how our submarines operate under the ice and two crews have
gained valuable Arctic experience.
To achieve this weÕve endured bitter cold, incessant winds, isolation,
separation, bad jokes, leaky shacks, and a near-total loss of the comforts that
we take for granted at home. To
offset these, we have lived an adventure in one of the worldÕs most unique
places, enjoyed fantastic food, and made lifelong friendships. One thing that the Stargate team has
constantly reminded us of over the last week is just how lucky we are to have
had this experience. I hope IÕve
been able to convey some of that to you through these postcards.
Tomorrow, some final thoughts then HOME!
Jeff Gossett
Arctic Submarine Laboratory