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Day Four: Sunday, September 12, 2010

0700 hours

Starting Position: Anchored below Hook Mountain in Haverstraw Bay.
Latitude: 41˚ 07.4' N
Longitude: 073˚ 53.9' W

Day Four of the Fall Voyage of Discovery, and the final full day for our current crew.

0830 hours

After rummaging their gear and enjoying a hot breakfast, the crew turn their attention toward the last step in their educational projects: the presentations. The senior crew detail what will be expected of them, and offer some good advice on how best to present their data.

0930 hours

The students focus on their work. The three presentation teams will spend most of the day focused on graphing the data they compiled yesterday and practicing for their oral reports.

0945 hours

The different teams stake out individual spots on the ship where they can spread out their work. The celestial tracking team has made camp on the anchor rode, under the orlop stairs.

1000 hours

Standard ship duties remain in effect, however, with the students taking a break from their studies to attend to their shipboard responsibilities. Harmen is wrapping up his hour in the galley, which he's spent slicing fruit to go in the soup at today's lunch.

If students have any particular goals they've yet to accomplish, such as climbing aloft or rising in the ranks, this is also a day to pursue those interests.

On the weather deck, Mr. Lyke is teaching knots to Emily, Gabrielle, and Brian, which they'll need to master to reach the rank of Able-Bodied Sailor.

Meanwhile, on the Quarter deck, Wouter and Jeanine are examining Hudson River charts with Captain Reynolds. This visual aid help them place the latitude coordinates they've collected in a real-world context. We haven't yet reached completely fresh water, so they need to extrapolate from their actual findings to estimate the location where the Hudson's salinity will reach 0 ppt (parts per thousand).

A few minutes later, the celestial tracking team meets again under the orlop stairs. They've finished their preliminary graphs, so now it's time to start working on their presentation materials and oral reports.

1015 hours

The mechanical advantage team has set up camp on the weather deck after taking a few more measurements to fill out their research.

Gabrielle and Dakota are sharing their space with Emily and Jeanine from the salinity team. It's a number-crunching extravaganza!

1245 hours

As we shift into a chilly, breezy, overcast afternoon, Dakota and Gabrielle practice their emergency bowline knots while waiting to see Captain Reynolds for their next crew evaluations.

Alyssa is eagerly studying both translations of the questions, since Captain Reynolds prefers to ask all questions in Dutch. Several more students will rise further in the ranks by the end of the day. Check the crew page to see the students' final rankings at the time of their departure!

Meanwhile, Rianne and Marije have asked Mr. Beiter to look over their mechanical advantage computations.

Below decks, the celestial tracking team has moved from the anchor rode to the central orlop deck to work on their large-scale graphs.

Yet another deck down, Wouter is busy flipping a batch of grilled cheese sandwiches for today's lunch.

Mr. Lyke is also making the rounds, helping aspiring students learn new knots to impress the captain.

1300 hours

Dakota approaches Captain Reynolds. He passes his next crew evalutation, rising to the rank of Able-Bodied Sailor, but is already looking forward to his next promotion.

We've kept a tarp stretched over the main hatch since last night in the face of a predicted chance of rain. We've managed to stay dry so far, however.

And lunch is served! Hot soup and Wouter's grilled cheese sandwiches go a long way to fend off the day's cool breezes.

1430 hours

As the afternoon winds on, the research teams enter the final stretch. On the orlop deck, the mechanical advantage team confers over the details of their presentation graph.

Emily and Wouter from the salinity team observe while Jeanine adds details to her team's data tables.

Not far away, the celestial tracking team is also busy preparing their final presentation materials.

1515 hours

There's no stopping Dakota's rise through the ranks! In the foc's'le, he and Mr. Hensel study even more new knots.

1545 hours

Not long to go now. On the orlop deck, the celestial tracking team rehearses their oral reports...

...while the mechanical advantage team double checks their figures and runs through their own report.

1615 hours

The great cabin seems to be slowly transforming into an internet cafe as the ship's officers retreat into its warm confines. Mr. Mangrum updates the log while Mr. Hansen and Mr. Burmester send out an AMVER SEAS weather report and Mr. Woodworth checks his technical manuals.

1700 hours

Everyone bundle up, because it's time for the student presentations! The entire crew gathers on the weather deck to present their findings. Click the link above for additional details on each team's report.

1715 hours

The mechanical advantage team goes first. Rianne, Marije, Gabrielle, and Dakota set up their block-and-tackle simple machine and demonstrate its use.

1730 hours

The salinity team forms our second act. In their team-based presentation, they form the hypothesis that we will find completely fresh water starting at a location not far upriver. We'll have to test that out!

1745 hours

Finally, the celestial tracking team concludes our program, ably demonstrating how they determined the Half Moon's coordinates on the globe.

1800 hours

After each team gives their report, they respond to questions from the audience.

Captain Reynolds steps in to take a closer look at the celestial team's data.

The captain is always interested not just in each team's results, but also in their recommendations as to how we can further improve the accuracy of these projects in the future.

Mouse over to Do the Jerk!
Wouter dances the Jerk on the weather deck.

1815 hours

And with that, the student presentations are over! The students are relieved, to say the least. Wouter celebrates by showing off the new dance move he's learned from Alyssa.

1830 hours

The sun is sinking low in the sky, but we've decided to continue a short distance upriver before calling it a day. Mr. Lyke takes his station at the bits, while Emily stands ready to fake the road.

Mouse over for another view.
Kortnee sits in Emily's lap, and vice versa.

1900 hours

Kortnee soon joins Emily while we await departure. It turns out that back on land, Emily and Kortnee are best of friends. Who could have guessed?

The command comes down: "Unlash the tiller!" We get a peek at the bottom half of the whipstaff as Marije removes the bridle that prevents the ship's tiller from swinging wildly when unattended.

Marije then jumps back to join Gabrielle and Mr. de Leeuw in tending the anchor rode as it passes around the capstan.

Alyssa has been assigned to the post of communicator, relaying messages to and from the captain.

As the capstan team turns their massive winch, they slowly and steadily pull the anchor chain back into the ship (and right past Kortnee).

1915 hours

As the sun sets, the fore deck team of Jeanine and Mr. McLaughlin heave the anchor out of the water. Finally, our usual fore channel team of Mr. Woodworth and Mr. Hansel secure the anchor and reinsert the fid that holds it in place.

1915 hours

Once again, the final step falls to Mr. Lyke and his belowdecks team. He "breaks the chain," freeing the rode from the capstan. Emily and Kortness finish faking the line, and he reattches the chain. We are now ready to redeploy the anchor at any time (and it won't be long until we do).

1930 hours

Dinner is served on deck just after sunset. The students are in a particularly good mood as they dig into their chili and cornbread.

While the students eat, Mr. Burmester takes the opportunity to show Mr. Woodworth the AMVER SEAS software in between readings.

2100 hours

Ending Position: Anchored on upper Haverstraw Bay.
Latitude: 41˚ 13.1' N
Longitude: 073˚ 56.2' W

After just a short hop across Haverstraw Bay, we set anchor once more, placing us practically within sight of King Marine, the location of tomorrow's crew transfer. For our students, and even a few senior crew members, tonight marks the final night of their Voyage of Discovery; tomorrow, they'll all be back in their own beds. After the students update their journals, we celebrate by staying up late, playing social games on the orlop deck until 2300 hours.

Next Time: One Voyage Ends, Another Begins!

Robert Juet's Journal

The Halve Maen enters the Hudson River in the belief that this broad, deep estuary may be their hard-sought northwest passage. The ship is approached by Lenape whom Henry Hudson records as the Manahata, a tribe which lived on both sides of the river's mouth. Although still distrustful, the Halve Maen crew trades for oysters and beans to add to their provisions. Juet never refers to the Hudson by any name other than "the River"; the Lenape at the river's mouth called it Muhheakantuck, while the Mohicans the Halve Maen would encounter upriver knew it as Muh-he-kun-ne-tuk: "the river that flows both ways." The ship's anchorage tonight is probably located somewhere roughly near the modern site of the George Washington Bridge.

On September 12th, 1609:

The twelfth, very faire and hot. In the after-noone at two of the clocke wee weighed, the winde being variable, between the North and the North-west. So we turned into the Riuer two leagues and Anchored. This morning at our first rode in the Riuer, there came eight and twentie Canoes full of men, women, and children to betray us; bvt we saw their intent, and suffered noone of them to come aboord of vs. At twelue of the clocke they departed. They brought with them Oysters and Beanes, whereof wee bought some. They haue great Tabacco pipes of yellow Copper, and Pots of Earth to dress their meate in. It floweth South-east by South within.

Robert Juet's Journal.

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