Some of Peter Taylor's Sea Going Experiences!

I've been to sea on a range of ships although only for individual cruises of typically 4 to 8 weeks at a time.

On some I was the "Principal Scientist" which has the "rank" of "Owner's Representative" which means that you dictate what the ship does on a day to day basis. The ship's Master can only over-rule you on safety grounds... which led to some interesting negotiations when we wanted to take measurements in a storm and he wanted to run for shelter! Further comments...

Some of the Research Ships I sailed on

	My first Research cruise was on RRS Discovery (pictured as she was then) in January 1970, in the Gulf of Lions in the Mediterranean. The Mistral was blowing and it was rough... the only time I've been on her when we've sustained significant damage... because of the short, steep waves which the ship could not ride over.
	RRS Discovery as she is now. In 1992 she had a major conversion in a Portuguese shipyard. She was lengthened by 11m and had all the superstructure replaced. While I was fond of the "old" ship, the "new" ship was definitely more comfortable!
Photo: Jan Fernhout	Not a Research Ship but an Ocean Weather Ship. Perhaps uniquely, I joined OWS Cumulus (in 1970) at Weather Station Juliet (52.5°N, 20°W), having transferred at sea from RRS Discovery in exchange for a German scientist. On our return to Rotterdamn the Dutch immigration officers were interested to find that the ship's complement had changed between leaving port and returning! You'd be surprised to see Cumulus today! More information on Cumulus is available at Jan Fernhout's web site.
	CCGS Quadra was a Canadian Weather Ship. I spent a few weeks on her off west Africa in 1974 as part of a huge international experiment designed to analyse weather systems in the tropical Atlantic.
	Gardline Endurer was my first ship as "Principal Scientist" (in 1978). She had been built to deliver cattle up Norwegian Fiords, but when I was on her she was been operated by Gardline Surveys as a survey ship and we took her out into the North Atlantic! Since I went on this ship I've never been seasick again!
	The RRS Frederick Russell was a converted Icelandic fishing grounds trawler. Despite her size she was faster than the Discovery! I was Principal Scientist on her for about 8 weeks in 1984 off the Dutch coast collaborating with "Meetpost Noordwijk", a fixed platform which had been a pirate radio station which had been stormed by Dutch Marines and later converted into a meteorological and hydrographic research platform.
	RRS Charles Darwin I did a couple of cruises on the "Darwin", one as Principal Scientist. In a storm she used to vibrate quite a lot and some of the officers did not have the confidence in her that they had in Discovery. She has now been sold to Gardline Surveys who, at one time, operated the Endurer.
	CCGS Hudson was the last research ship I went on. She is operated by the Canadian Coast Guard for the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Nova Scotia. We spent a few weeks around the Grand Banks off Newfoundland in November and experienced three major storms... which was just what we wanted for our observations!