Kattegat

Update from the ship's librarian, Laurel.

7/19/2014

 

We’ve had a calm few days at sea with lots of activity down here in the library, due in part probably, to midterms. All the students are busy studying, carrying around their rolled up charts, checking and re-checking tables, and burying themselves in colossal engineering textbooks. Of course, there is always the massive ongoing 3-table-long foosball tournament happening in the lounge for those in need of a little diversion.

 

 

In my spare time, I’ve actually started to half-understand my way around the TS Empire State VI, which – for those of you who don’t know this already – is actually a converted cargo ship. Although it’s always possible to wander around using the ladders outside the ship, inside it is easy to get turned around – until an instructor points out the schematic drawing hanging right in front of your nose! Now I can vaguely understand the layout of the ship’s “watertight bulkheads,” which isolate cargo holds in case of emergencies, but require lots of extra stairs when going from one hold to the next. From all this I can guess that we are presently in hold #3, and that the roof above us once opened up on a regular basis so that cars, sacks of grain, or all manner of other goods might be carefully and efficiently transported from one country to another.

 

 

We have left the Baltic and are presently somewhere in the Kattegat, the broad arm of the North Sea in Scandinavia. I hear we may be “bunkering” soon, which if I understand correctly means that we are stopping to refuel close to Skagen, on the northern tip of Denmark. From there, we are heading back around Scotland and down the calm Irish Sea.

 

 

Cadet Shout Out: John Hannon, 2nd classman, who already said hi to his parents, now wants remind them to send him lots of treats for his birthday. He says he has a cold but will hopefully get better soon, and candy will help. He misses Tootsie! Love you, see you soon.