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Science ship returns after 300 days at sea
By Qin Jize (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-01-23 05:40
QINGDAO, Shandong Province: China's first scientific research ship to
circumnavigate the globe returned home yesterday after 300 days at sea.
The mission has fulfilled the long-held Chinese dream to make a transoceanic
voyage, and also brought back more than 1,000 kilograms of hydrothermal sulfide
samples containing copper, zinc and precious metals such as gold and silver.
Setting off from East China's coastal city Qingdao last April, "Dayang Yihao
(Ocean No 1)" travelled 43,230 nautical miles (79,975 kilometres), first
visiting the Pacific and then sailing across the Atlantic through the Panama
Canal. It then travelled to the Indian Ocean, rounding the Cape of Good Hope
before continuing back to the Pacific through the Straits of Malacca.
"The distance is the equivalent to circling the equator twice," said Lu
Huisheng, 40, captain of the vessel.
The expedition was divided into six working trips with five stopovers,
including Micronesia, Mexico, South Africa and Singapore for supplies of fuel,
drinking water and fresh food.
Chinese scientists on board have gathered many rock samples, monitored and
mapped out the ocean floor for future deep-sea mining operations and also
conducted deep-sea biological research such as investigating, collecting and
classifying sea life samples.
Han Xizhu, assistant to the chief scientist in the trip, said studies on the
distribution of hot liquid sulfides on the sea floor have been undertaken in a
bid to accumulate data for further development and exploitation.
"First-hand data of life formations near thermal vents are also a focus of
the research mission, as biological gene study in this extreme environment may
help with the fight against human diseases," she said.
Marine analysts said the trip marks the first step in the efforts of Chinese
scientists to expand their reach to all major oceanic areas and to transform
their focus from field research of mineral and biological resources to
all-purposes studies, including advanced equipment testing and professional
training.
About 120 scientific researchers, including several scientists from the
United States and Germany, took part in the mission.
Among them there were only two females, Han one of them.
"Life aboard a research ship is not normal," she said. "You've got to work,
work and work and there is no perception of time, even though the days on the
calendar change."
(China Daily 01/23/2006 page1)
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