Back at the kitchen table, trying to reconstruct the dream from the previous night. It proves difficult. The theme was based on an old story, one of a benevolent ghost; one which I simply can’t remember. Drat! Yesterday I wrote several people about the Coast Guard vessel HEALY, inquiring about the effect of its sonar depth sounder on cetaceans. I also wrote the crew itself, passing along an image of the Healy coat of arms, mentioning that Healy means ‘ingenious.’ I saw the vessel exiting the Sound from the deck of the Hick Skipper the other day, and another passenger told me it was an icebreaker headed for the North Pole. The next day I read an article about it, and saw the name - she’s named for Captain Mike Healy, the Georgian born of mixed race during a time of ‘one drop’ slavery laws. He always hid his ancestry, and moved to SF to earn his nickname of ‘hell-roarin’ Mike. Later he became the Captain of the BEAR, the Federal law enforcement and scientific vessel of the Arctic - the prelude to the Coast Guard. I’ll look up more about his story, particularly his expeditions with John Muir to transport elk from Siberia to Alaska in order to save the Native people there, whose food supply, seals, was decimated by over-hunting. Interesting how reading the crew log lets one see closer into the reality on-board the vessel. The photos showed the crew in outboard Zodiacs among ice floes, a polar bear feasting on a seal, and a gray whale in the water, from above. Reading the log is what caused me to send in the note of encouragement about the name Healy. I’m a train-spotter, and this name association really captivated my interest. The mission is surely relevant to cetacean life; as the log describes, the area is teeming with whales and orcas who migrate to the Arctic to feed. Luckily, it seems there are many scientists aboard. Although their mission is most likely territory and resource-related, presumably the scientists will have an eye out for the effects upon nature and wildlife as well. Keep it ‘ingenious’ in there, I said!
