Today started with the usual breakfast. Since we had the morning watch 8-12:30 we were called to breakfast early. It is also the captain's 32 birthday. I received many "happy Independence Day" wishes and joked about it being a legal holiday and free parking.
Its been very foggy, about 9 degrees C with a southwest wind of 25 to 30 knots from the southwest, so we've been motor sailing and tacking from a southerly to westerly course. There has been drizzle and frozen rain.
As we were getting ready for lunch the captain came on the pa to announce that our radar is showing several small targets that could be ice and, as a precaution, we would be closing the water tight doors between the foc'sle, where I and 19 others have their bunks. This means that we now need to climb a stairway up and into the upper mess to exit the foc'sle.
While taking this precaution makes sense, it was a bit disconcerting to watch the doors being pumped shut by a hydraulic system as a klaxon sounded.
We have posted additional lookouts, but with a speed of 5 to 6 knots and visibility reduced to about a half mile, l am not sure how well we can avoid a collision. This is a particular concern as there could well be smaller bergy bites and growlers that float at or below the surface that do not show up on the radar. Should we strike one and have a leak we would have to to evacuate the foc'sle promptly before it floods leaving behind all our gear and possessions.
Its now 5:00 PM and the alert has passed. The artifacts on the radar turned out to be a weather front and not ice, the water tight doors are open and we are back to normal.
Just enough time to listen to the US Blues by the Dead to celebrate the 4th!
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