No. 24 - Stuck Net
Never get too pleased with yourself -- or so the wisdom goes when
working in a world where most things are out of your control. We'd
been smoking for the last several days, enjoying good weather, setting
the net effortlessly, processing even the big catches with speed and
efficiency, getting quite pleased with ourselves when we look up and
the net is stuck. Something is in it that's so big it stalls the net
reel. At least 10 tons, but of what? The cod end isn't floating
behind the ship; the cables run straight down which means it's a load
of mud or rock. We can't get near the net -- it's hanging below on a
300 foot bridle and the net itself stretches for another 250 feet
beneath that. We're stuck as well as a bit vulnerable to the weather.
Captain Constantine wants to drag the net into shallow water and
abrade the cod end on the bottom until it opens up and spills its
load. After that preposterous idea is filtered through several
translations, I veto it and we drag the net around in circles for the
next 12 hours under the assumption that it's mud and will eventually
wash out. It doesn't work. We go back to the first plan and start to
drag this slug inshore when we lose the whole thing. Two 3/4" steel
cables part; they connected the ends of the net bridle to the ship's
tow cables and doors, the 2-ton hydrofoils that spread the sides of
net open. Both sides break at the same time and away it goes: the
bridle, the net, the net sonar, and the roller gear that keeps it
moving along the bottom. Gone. And with the horse it rode in on.
But we have backups and spares -- I always have plenty given the cost
of ship time. We re-rigged and got a trawl in before sunset the next
day; we'd lost 3/4 of a day and some expensive gear but it could've
been far worse -- someone could have got hurt. There was nothing that
we could have done to have avoided it (short of not being here) and
there's no reason to change our tactics. It was just bad luck. So on
we go, having fun but never too pleased with ourselves.
-Roger