Searching the ocean with bated breath
Will the mooring return from the watery depth
Weighted down heavy with scientific instrumentation
Hoping dearly that there is enough flotation
One full year is a very long time to wait
Pondering all along, what could be its fate
Photo credit: Brendan Smith
Pulling up to its last known location
Just a few miles from a process station
Enable command as a series of pings
Acoustic release, please, let me hear you sing
It responds, great, I hear you with great pride
But wait, only seven chirps means you’re on your side
An ice hit, a barge cable, a loose cotter pin
There are so many reasons that this might have been
Photo credit: Brendan Smith
Nine sixteenth cable, length of chain and a hook
Sikuliaq dragging operation done by the book
Cable laid out in a loop all around
Trying to keep the drag hook on the ground
Steaming in a precise circle around the location
A seven thousand pound tension spike gives great hesitation
Will the hook come up attached to the mooring?
If it does come up, morale would be soaring
Hauling back on the winch and the tension drops
With no mooring lifted the operation stops
An unsuccessful recovery, so we sail away
Maybe we will return on another day
Portrait of Pete Shipton. Photo credit: Brendan Smith