Central Pacific Edition
The Team
Cast & Crew
crew not pictured – someone had to steer the ship!
The Meridian Passages staff have fielded requests for a list of personnel aboard. Included here are the 36 folks sailing on Mermaid (counting Alan who was with us March 4-14) and the Nauticos team ashore providing regular & critical support. Of course, there are also folks at WHOI, MMA Offshore, U. of Hawaii, ship agents, crews of SauVage & Machias, CARC Cedar Rapids, NOAA, NASA, and helpers scattered around the hemisphere, not to mention our friends & families at home who are missing us and helping in many ways.
Roles listed here are primary duties, though everyone pitches in to get the job done.
Alan Eustace – Expedition Leader
Dave Jourdan – Coordinator & Publisher
Elgen Long – Advisor
Operations
Spence King – Operations Manager
Tom Dettweiler – Technical Manager
Greg Packard – AUV Team Leader
Jeff Morris – Chief Sonar Analyst
Joe Litchfield – Ship liaison & Seadog
Christopher Griner – AUV Operator
Neil McPhee – AUV Operator
Mark Dennett – AUV Operator
Radio Communications
Tom Vinson NYØV – Comms
Rod Blocksome KØDAS – Comms Media
Bill Mills – Director of Photography
Bryan McCoy KAØYSQ – MacGyver
Education & Outreach
Sallie Smith – Teacher
Marika Lorraine – Journalist
Sue Morris – Imagery & Ops Support
At-Sea Support
Jon Thompson – Exhibitionist
Pam Geddis – Doctor & Impersonator
Ashore Support
Charlotte Vick – Ashore Logistics & PR
Louise Mnich – Negotiator & Legal-beagle
David Kling – Master of Coin
Jenne James – Ashore Coordinator
Bethany Lacroix – Website & Comms
Mermaid Vigilance Crew
Noe Flores Armenta – Master
Lania Kurniauan – Chief Officer
Rifky Harimadya – 2nd Officer
Oleksandr Baybak – Chief Engineer
Andriyanto – 1st Engineer
Samsul Bachri Leorima – 2nd Eng.
Sergiy Stepanov – ETO
Iksan Natta – Bosun
Abdullah Mahmud – AB
Ahmad Derita – AB
Burhan Andi – AB
Kasmawir – Oiler
Kasman Sonne – Oiler
Jan Pieter – Chief Cook
Mardan Andi Kanna – 2nd Cook
Susanto Doni – Steward
Message from SauVage
[In reply to our farewell message sent yesterday…]
Thanks for those sweet words. We never thought that our old sheet padding fabric would be so much appreciated! Enjoy the wines. We wish you the best for the research and we feel honored to have been part of this exciting mission. We read the books! So interesting! And meeting Alan is great. We are sailing in optimal conditions, no swell, good beam winds, smooth glide. Still 480 NM to go.
Cheers, Sophie, Didier, Cloe, Nino, Alan
The Fate of the Itasca
We know that the US Coast Guard procured ten cutters of the Lake class commissioned starting in 1928. Each carried the name of a lake in the United States. My research shows the US Government transferred the cutters to Great Britain in 1941 under the lend-lease program. The British rechristened the ships with new names and refitted the ships for war.
The Pontchartrain (HMS Hartland) and Mendota (HMS Walney) were both sunk by gun fire on Nov. 8, 1942 off the coast of Oran, North Africa and the Sebago (HMS Culver) was torpedoed and sunk by the German sub U-105 on Jan 31, 1942. The remaining seven former Lake class cutters (Chelan, Tahoe, Champlain, Itasca, Saranac, Shoshone, and Cayuga) were returned to the United States after the war – probably nearly worn out. The trail of Itasca (HMS Gorleston) ends in 1950 with it being sold for scrap.
My family once owned a 1950 Ford sedan. Perhaps it contained some of the Itasca’s steel?
— Rod Blocksome
