Matthew's Journal

My cabin for the VOCALS cruise is in the forward berthing area below the main deck of the Ronald Brown. My cabin isn't very far from the bow thruster at the front of the ship. The bow thruster is basically just another drive motor and it can push the bow of the ship left and right. It's typically used for precision maneuvering when docking and leaving a pier and it's used to aid in holding station. To hold station means to keep the boat in one place and not to let it drift around with currents, winds, and tides. Like I said, my cabin isn't very far from the bow thruster and we were holding station off Panama City last night. That means that every few minutes throughout the night I could hear the bow thruster turn on so it could nudge the boat back into it's place.

So, now the obvious question I'm sure my readers have is, "What's the big deal? It must be loud or sound like something interesting." If that is your question dear reader, your mind is leading you to the correct place.

I can't say the bow thruster is loud. The sound insulation down is the berthing areas is decent and it's not going to wake you up from a deep sleep. However, if you are already awake, it will catch your attention. The reason it will catch your attention is mainly because of what it sounds like. When the bow thruster turns on it sounds like someone dumping thousands of gallons of water from one container into another right in the next room. It's one of those unique sounds that you only encounter somewhere like a ship at sea. When you're on a ship and sea and you hear anything that sounds like rapidly running water, the intelligent part of your brain lags just a fraction of a second in overriding the more primitive part of your brain that thinks the boat may be sinking and that you should probably act on that information. As a result, it took me a little while to go to sleep last night because I more or less had to force myself mentally into a less alert or wary state. Of course, being sleepy helped that process along.