Such waves of violence! When the sea sets up against a wind and the Cramer seems to wallow through the choatic din and howl, each soul aboard suffers. Sleepers are pummelled against their bunk boards, rhythmically jolted into half-confusion, half-contusion. Scientists are thrown bodily into lab benches and splashed with caustic chemicals. Deck hands are cast against the railings and swilled by the black seething froth of the night, threatened with definitive death.

After the dawn watch of rolling mayhem, I am left more exhausted than usual. Over the last 36 hours I have been slowly gaining confidence that my kidneys are failing. I go through mental checklists of what may be poisoning or infecting me. The formalin fumes? Did that lead weight on the gravity core intoxicate my epidermis? Foul leftovers? The pain is dull and aching, accentuated during the long bouts of standing atop a heaving deck. The lower torsos of sailors must ultimately grow wirey enough to transmit the constant heady torques through the sea legs to the deck, but my lower back muscles are failing the task. How old and distressed I feel by the simple fact that I can't stand to stand for very long! And what would I do for a long, hot bath...

Out of the riotous lab and long nights come good ideas: ideas that will make millions. We use squeeze bottles to measure out aliquots of fixed volume, and I am left wondering why we do not use similar bottles for oil, etc., in the modern kitchen, dispensing of the ridiculous nature of measuring spoons. And what of the Magnetic Stir Bar, a pub with a scientific labware theme? All the drinks are served in Pyrex glassware suitable to the solution, and magnetic stirrers are set into every table and bar surface?

We switched watches today, and also eased into a kinder, gentler scientific mode. We have ceased the frenetic sampling regime and are assessing data, finishing off analyses, and beginning to search for patterns and understanding in our observations. Momentum is picking up after the Sable Island forays and reprieve, and already thoughts are turning towards Lunenburg.