|
Landlubber cruises Pacific
Midnight.
Clinging desperately to the nearest deck railing, Ben Baldwin groaned out loud.
Don’t give up the ship, Baldwin told himself. Fight back!
Meanwhile, the storm-wracked sailing vessel rose to the top of the next dizzying, 15-foot-high wave…and plunged. Green-faced
and weak-kneed, Baldwin felt an icy sweat beginning to trickle down the back of his neck.
I am soooooooo sick.
But so what? Seasick or not, the BGSU student understood that he had a job to do. He was standing “night watch” on the deck,
after all, and he was expected to maintain an eagle-eyed vigilance. His shipmates–26 other college students from around the
country who, like Baldwin, had signed on for this summertime sea semester on the Pacific Ocean–were counting on him to keep
a sharp lookout from his post alongside the railing.
Hang on!
The minutes ticked slowly past, each one a nausea-filled eternity. From time to time, the moaning lookout would rest his clammy
forehead against the rain-slicked metal railing. Alone on the deck, he could hear the banshee wind howling in the sails, as
the square-rigged Robert C. Seamans–the newest of the Sea Education Association’s fleet of classroom- and laboratory-equipped
ocean vessels–whipsawed her way from wave crest to plunging trough and back again.
Somehow, an hour passed. Then another. Feeling a little better now, Baldwin was actually able to lift his head from time to
time. Through scudding clouds, a pale white moon glimmered, shone brightly for a few moments and then vanished back into the
darkness.
Another hour limped by. And then, around 3 a.m., the novice sailor got a major surprise.
About 15 feet below the railing where he stood, the ocean had begun to blossom with a greenish, flickering light. Incredibly,
the water’s turbulent surface was now shining vividly. All at once, Baldwin was witnessing a phenomenon known as “bioluminescence,”
a scenario in which billions of tiny marine organisms respond to stormy weather by generating huge quantities of biochemically
activated light.
The startled sailor had forgotten his seasickness and was craning his neck for a better view.
To learn more about the SEA program, check out www.sea.edu.
|
