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Challenge mid-month update
Here we are, in the middle of the Atlantic, 357 miles (577 km) out from Bermuda. We're 35% of our planned total and already 42% of the way from Bermuda to Halifax and we should be finding the Gulf Stream any day now.
Here's the chapter from the initial summary report of the expedition that talks about leaving Bermuda and the various animals and plants along the way. There's also a neat discussion of measuring subsurface currents on page 336 or so and some lovely drawing of the marine life they found in their samples on later pages. Here's a summary of the Gulf stream from one of the reports: "The result shows that the Gulf-stream, in its restricted sense that is to say, the mass of warm water which issues from the Strait of Florida arid courses in a north - easterly direction at a little distance from the coast of North America -was, early in May, 1873, at the point where we crossed it and made our observations, about 60 miles in width, 100 fathoms deep, and its rate three knots an hour."
At 3 knots or around 3.3 mph or 5 kmh, the Gulf Stream moves at a relatively sedate walk, but in the ocean, it's the equivalent of the fastest marathoner in the world.
The Crew:
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meri_oddities 43 miles of 110 miles or 177 km = 39%
ridicully 43 km of 93 miles or 150 km = 27%
silveraspen 50 miles or 81 km
franzi 4.65 km of 9 miles or 15 km = 30%
temve 57.8 mi of 140 miles or 226 km = 41%
thalia 17 miles 65 miles or 105 km = 26%
semielliptical 22 miles of 55 miles or 89 km = 40%
linaelyn 38 miles of 75 miles or 121 km = 51%
blnchflr 13.6 km of 44 miles or 71 km = 19%
ilanarama 80 miles of 200 miles or 323 km = 40%
seventhe 3.3 miles of 15 miles or 24 km = 22%
calico_jane 6 miles of 35 miles or 56 km = 17%
ell 58.7 miles of 160 miles or 258 km = 36%
cadenzamuse 2.8 miles! Supernumerary (means she doesn't have to stand watch and swab decks. That's what all the scientists on the HMS Challenger were designated as.)
Run happy this week, everyone!
ETA:ilanarama kindly pointed out that both the Challenger scientists and I had an error in notation, which has now been (partially) repaired. (I left it as is in the original quote to remind us that no one is immune from little mistakes but they do not have to take away from the greatness of our accomplishments. Which I need to remember much of the time.) Anyway, a knot is a nautical mile per hour. So saying knots per hour is totally redundant, unless you are talking about acceleration, which we are not. And a nautical mile is 1 minute of latitude, a useful measure when you are sailing and there are no landmarks and the only way to determine where you are is by finding your latitude and longitude...
Here's the chapter from the initial summary report of the expedition that talks about leaving Bermuda and the various animals and plants along the way. There's also a neat discussion of measuring subsurface currents on page 336 or so and some lovely drawing of the marine life they found in their samples on later pages. Here's a summary of the Gulf stream from one of the reports: "The result shows that the Gulf-stream, in its restricted sense that is to say, the mass of warm water which issues from the Strait of Florida arid courses in a north - easterly direction at a little distance from the coast of North America -was, early in May, 1873, at the point where we crossed it and made our observations, about 60 miles in width, 100 fathoms deep, and its rate three knots an hour."
At 3 knots or around 3.3 mph or 5 kmh, the Gulf Stream moves at a relatively sedate walk, but in the ocean, it's the equivalent of the fastest marathoner in the world.
The Crew:
meri_oddities 43 miles of 110 miles or 177 km = 39%ridicully 43 km of 93 miles or 150 km = 27%silveraspen 50 miles or 81 kmfranzi 4.65 km of 9 miles or 15 km = 30%temve 57.8 mi of 140 miles or 226 km = 41%thalia 17 miles 65 miles or 105 km = 26%semielliptical 22 miles of 55 miles or 89 km = 40%linaelyn 38 miles of 75 miles or 121 km = 51%blnchflr 13.6 km of 44 miles or 71 km = 19%ilanarama 80 miles of 200 miles or 323 km = 40%seventhe 3.3 miles of 15 miles or 24 km = 22%calico_jane 6 miles of 35 miles or 56 km = 17%ell 58.7 miles of 160 miles or 258 km = 36%cadenzamuse 2.8 miles! Supernumerary (means she doesn't have to stand watch and swab decks. That's what all the scientists on the HMS Challenger were designated as.)Run happy this week, everyone!
ETA:
ilanarama kindly pointed out that both the Challenger scientists and I had an error in notation, which has now been (partially) repaired. (I left it as is in the original quote to remind us that no one is immune from little mistakes but they do not have to take away from the greatness of our accomplishments. Which I need to remember much of the time.) Anyway, a knot is a nautical mile per hour. So saying knots per hour is totally redundant, unless you are talking about acceleration, which we are not. And a nautical mile is 1 minute of latitude, a useful measure when you are sailing and there are no landmarks and the only way to determine where you are is by finding your latitude and longitude...
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If you are curious my old website is no longer up but it's accessible via the wayback machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20111219224249/http://windom.cybox.com/index.html