Calico Quest

Notes

• The dark blue hull towered above them, a broad white line running horizontally along the hull separating the dark blue and the dull red hue of the below-the-waterline hull. Perched on, and overhanging, the bow, a circular structure was ringed with vertical safety netting and extended aft as far as the white-painted bridge superstructure. Just before a large two-deck-high rectangular opening which housed a bright orange TEMPSC, the vessel’s name was painted in three-foot lettering: CALICO QUEST. Above the blue hull, the white-painted superstructure extended to amidships leaving the aft deck clear apart from a giant white-painted crane and a smaller version of the giant crane. Towering eight decks above, the bridge with its towering windows afforded an amazing view ahead, aft, and on either beam. Just aft of the TEMPSC, a two-deck-high opening housed a retractable steel gangway which extended steeply down to the dock. Immediately aft, past six portholes on two decks, a four-deck-high door was sealed shut. Next, a large two-deck-high square opening housed a rapid-response RIB.
• After their bags had been delivered to their cabins, everyone unpacked before venturing back out to find themselves escorted onto 06 deck and onto the enormous flight deck which covered the entire bow ahead of the superstructure. The 9,300-ton vessel vibrated slightly as the four 4,200eKW diesel generators throbbed, producing power for the twin azimuth propellers, each providing an output of 4.5MW each. Mindy took a stroll aft and stopped just aft of the bridge where the superstructure ended, and the main deck stretched seventy metres aft, five decks below. Mindy had read through the stats for the vessel on the flight over. The CALICO QUEST was 144-metres in length overall and 27-metres across her beam. Above the main deck, the superstructure and masts towered over eleven metres. Below the waterline, almost nine metres of the vessel was wet. The main deck had an area of 1,900-square-metres, almost half an acre. The helicopter deck was 26-metres in diameter and designed to take a helicopter of up to 12,800-kilogrammes. To port, there was a giant crane which, when stowed, was level with the deck below the bridge. However, when extended, the crane could pick up 550-tons from twelve metres away, the jib towering above the vessel. With 3,000-metres of lift cable, the crane could easily pickup items from the seabed below. A much smaller auxiliary crane mounted to starboard could lift 50-tons out to fifteen metres from the side of the vessel. A third, much, much smaller crane could handle loads of up to six-tonnes to starboard. A pair of 2-ton cranes were mounted either side and at the back of the flight deck for provision handling. Mindy considered that the OCEAN VIGILANTE, herself, could be lifted clean out of the water with ease and dumped onto the main deck. One feature which Mindy liked very much was the 7.2-metre square moonpool which extended from the main deck down through the keel.

Crew

• Ship’s Master: James Hunt
• Third Officer: unknown Larsen