From Students Take Education to the Sea on The Stony Brook Press by Erik L. Keller October 25, 1979
It’s a spectacular morning. The orange sun is peeking through a streaked sky and the gulls cry in the day. Calm Clear Warm The right time to be on the University’s Marine Science researchvessel. the R/V Onrust.
Docked at Captree Boat Basin on Great South Bay, the Onrust fits in with the other ships, flounder charter boats and their captains. who are waiting for their fares. Captain Chris Steube and Mate Steve Leffert prepare the Onrust for sea while their passengers, University students, wipe the post-dawn sleep from their eyes and load the ship.
At 7:10AM, the Onrust leaves its companions and chugs towards the ocean. Out in Great South Bay, the crew is happy with coffee to drink and fresh bagels and rolls to munch on.
“Here, have something,” says Marine Science Professor Peter Woodhead. Opening the refrigerator door. Woodhead displays a miniature delicatessen “After a long hard day of work, especially when we dive, we really feel like munching out,” he says.
Today’s journey, five miles from shore, will not involve diving. Bottom samples will be taken around the Marine Sciences Research Center’s coal waste reef using a plunket. A plunket is a scooping device that is lowered from the boat with its scoops open. When it hits bottom the scoops close, grabbing a sample.
Marine Science technician Myrna Jacobson says the samples are being taken to determine this area’s sediment life, known as in-fauna. Jacobson and Project Director Jeff Parker organize the Onrust cruises.
After the plunket is brought up, two sieves are used to filter out sand and other unwanted material, explains Jacobson. Specimens are collected and stained. They will be brought back to the MSRC for study.
The day is beginning to break. The morning mist is vanishing along with the Captree bridge as the boat begins to roll through the channel by Robert Moses Park. We have entered the ocean.
Students and their advisors get into boots and rubber pants, preparing to take the samples. Now that the boat is past the channel, it rolls so that water occasionally splashes through the side port holes onto the deck.
“HahI This isn’t bad at all. This is calm. But yesterday it was even calmer, It was like a sheet of glass,” says Captain Steube, using his hand to emphasize its former flatness. He has been with the Onrust since its beginning.
The 55 foot R-V Onrust was built specifically for research and educational use, Captain Stuebe says the Center sent him up and down the east coast looking for a suitable research ship. He found potential in a Rhode Island lobster boat.
Completed in 1974 at a cost of $90,000, the total cost of the boat after it was outfitted came to $250,000, said Captain Stuebe.
The name Onrust, which is Dutch for restless, was taken from a distinguished 1614 Dutch explorer ship. The Onrust is essential for studying Marine Science, says Captain Stuebe, “I’m convinced there is more to learn there (on the Onrust) than in a classroom,” says Woodhead.
One large difference between this classroom and more conventional ones is its movement. Woodhead says, “Some students are more seaworthy than others…but they wouldn’t want to be oceanographers unless they wanted to go to sea.”
The seaworthy part becomes obvious as a few lean over the side of the boat, The captain and his mate offer cigars to the ones who don’t yet have their sea legs. All decline.
Even with sea sickness, you have to work: A two students bring up sediment from the ocean floor, it is dropped in a strainer that is being twisted by Woodhead and hosed with water by Jacobson. “Shake it baby, Shake it! Whooooool Look at him go!” shouts one of the plunket operators.
Muck, sand and water are flying everywhere and everyone is having a good time. Even the sea sick ones. However, the Captain sounds upset. “Boy, oh boy, oh boy. You’re getting my ship all dirty,” he admonishes the crew.
All agree that the most important thing on a cruise is a sense of team work and friendliness. Captain Stuebe says, “I get a positive response (to the cruises).’I never hear a complaint except for the weather and I can’t control that.” He adds that swells of six or more feet will cancel a trip.
The Onrust is out at sea 160 to 190 days a year, says the Captain. According to MSRC Director Jerry Schubel, the daily operating cost for the Onrust is $600 for a 12-hour day.
Most trips last only a day, however, extended voyages lasting a week are sometimes taken. Captain Stuebe doesn’t want this one to last that long. “All want to see are asses and elbows,” he yells. The crew laugh and goes back sifting out sand, muck and the occasional crab.
