Welcome onboard! ...in the world of a Hydrographic Survey Engineer

Welcome onboard! ...in the world of a Hydrographic Survey Engineer

Of the many jobs a Hydrographic Survey Engineer performs, Here is an example of one...

Things are a bit different here (as thay say ...all is a (computer) game.

A Construction Barge (a floating platform 100 to 1000 m in length)

                                                                                                                       .        ... is ...               

...& with its many Anchors, On Display it looks   like a Spider and moves like one ...(on Its Anchors)

          











...The Anchor in Turn is carried over and layed by the Tug (Anchor Handling Vessel)...





        

        ... is ...











a unmanned oil extracting platform is...

                                                                                                      .                     ... is ...







a manned oil processing platform is ...

                                                                       .        ... is ...                  

       





 

          ..                            








                           ... is towed (pulled) by it ...            










while this  ...
                                                                                 

      

              
stores the pipes




   

& lays the pipe (on the sea bed) enroute ...               

Now ... there are a lot of oil & gas pipes around Oil installations...             

On Display it looks like this...






                                                                                                                                                                                                  

So  ...a route is designed...

And the Barge tows the lne (route) laying the pipe all the way...

                                                                                                                                                                           

To follow a route... V need a positioning system... in this case (D)GPS...

                                                            ... & a Heading system ...

The equipments are then intrigrated with a navigation software... i.e

Input Output Window...                                                                     Seis...

                                         

IOWIN gets the data from the sensors i.e. DGPS,Gyro... & feeds them to Seis engine... to corrospond it to the vessel shapes and configure it on display...

(simply speaking... i.e. if the software understands only Greek. While the sensors talk only English & Spanish; IOWIN converts all the Input  to Greek for the software...to enable a display for good view:

       

A ROV (Remote Operated Veichel) trails behind the pipe on the bottom (of the Sea) with a camera.

                           

The position of ROV is monitored to note the Touch Down position of the pipe.

Which calls for Under Water Positioning Equipments...i.e.  USBL (Ultra Short Base Line) System.

To conclude ...a Hydrographic Survey Engineer sees to it that all data reaches the display.










Which implies ...Install, Operate, Monitor, Control, Log, Trouble shoot... (Keep the good show going...)

Worst is the best possibility...

Propellers couldn’t pull back the boat in water & so we jumped overboard to push the boat out but receding tide being swift, the keel of boat was soon visible. After whole day of survey along the coast around Rameshwaram our boat had hit the mud.

The water ebbed. We were grounded on a beautiful wet beach. To pull our boat back in water we had to wait till high tide at 1AM. Message regarding the same was transmitted to the mother ship.

The chetak (chopper) landed on the beach with our EXO (Executive Officer) walking out of it. Expected to proceed on leave tomorrow, it seemed with us he too is struck.

Our clothes were wet and with dusk it began getting cold. Few fishermen came over to make inquiries & offered help. Fifteen thousand bucks they demanded.

Not very long ago the seafarers would offer help for goodwill which now had been expediently replaced by moolah. Help is out of fashion; only service is available for a price.  We thanked them for their offer & bid them bye.

The chopper revisited to drop our dinner. “With the cost of the fuel in choppers sortie we could have feast here” …someone grumbled. Humans never cease imagining better things.

In damp clothes we lay on the beach in murky no moon night. My wife once said, “Time never is bad, only how we take it”. I relished the thought but the frigid sea breeze perturbed me. To beat the cold I went running around …while few followed others coiled themselves around each other.

We tied long thick ropes to haul the boat. Midnight the water raised enough to stroke the boat. I pulled at the far end of the long rope. Gradually the boat floated. The waves pushed it further in while with the thick lines we lugged it to sea. Two of the crew mounted the boat.

The engine roared. The coxswain set the propellers & the boat stirred. It was a moment of triumph. Few of the crew clambered up the boat as it headed towards sea. At far end of lines, we cheerful of our accomplishment & tired of drawing the lines released it while the boat steered clear to the open sea.

It struck upon that we still not onboard would have to fritter night in bitter cold in drenched clothes. The beach too was reclaimed by the sea. It was either to act or endure. I instinctively decided to act.

I clinched the line & swam to the boat. Almost immediately did I realize that I clasping to the rope was being towed by the boat. It sailed full ahead (max. speed) & nobody onboard appeared to have noticed me.

Two prospects awaited me; either someone would pull the rope & I’ll be onboard or finding hard to retrieve the rope make good use of seaman knife. Chop the line and depart.

I am a good swimmer but in neap tides when waves are towering worst is the best possibility.

Apart from engine I could hear faint sounds of the men on the boat. Before long I could hear them yell & then I could recognize the voices … I was being heaved in. While all were jubilant, I having spent almost half an hour floating was happy to be onboard and alive.

Life goes on with revelry & …adventure!

beedi – The Indian Cigar!

Schooldays are the most cherished days …& mine was Military School. Breaking the rules made the otherwise monotonous routine life interesting. If apprehended we never gave names …military school code of conduct.

During evening prep (study time) electricity cut was greeted with sighs of joy.

I during an electric cut walked to an adjoining house & met with a surprise!

My friend had managed to procure a beedi from the mali and with grand exhilaration lit it. I insisted upon him not to smoke the nasty stuff but he was unfettered.  Lastly I snatched it from him and dart out.

Bigger surprise awaited me. In the sprint I hit our AO (Administrative Officer) strolling on the road.

That instance everything conspired. In the importunate moment lights too came alive. I now in full glaze stood in company of the AO with the abysmal smoke emitting beedi burning bright red. Ironically neither could I explain nor confess!

Need me to elucidate the military style lambasting I had to bear for the next hour.