Ben Oostdam's |
 page 54 |
Hawaii I I I - oh! late February, 1963 |
On February 18, I talked with Ricky Grigg who showed me photomicrographs of black coral as well as Townsley's reference collection. I got hold of a text on groundwater geology of Maui, and talked for an hour with Ted Chamberlain who said I had done wrong to act as if I was coming home; I should have kowtowed to Abbott and made sure SIO had appointed someone from Geology Department here on my committee. Based on his own Ph.D. diving experience - helped by Earl Murray and Wendell Gayman - he did not think I'd have enough time and help to do a diving thesis. Perhaps the flow contact would be too deep?
On February 19, I went to Kalihi and saw the two USCG vessels "Surveyor" and "Pathfinder"
. I met Cdr. Hollis and Sy Kotler, Engineer, who were most friendly and allowed me to copy the boatsheets of La Perouse Bay they had finished last year. Later this year, they will have a shore party there and promised their help. Their lines are 20 m apart, they use two sextants to shoot horizontal angles to the beacons, a Raytheon DE 723 for bathymetry, and complete about 25 linemiles per day. They invited me for lunch where I was seated next to the captain. All in all it was the exact opposite of the treatment which UoH accorded me...
After lunch on February 20, I saw Doak who called in Ralph who called in Ted who
took us all to Dr. Abbott, the department chairman. Doak explained background, I apologize for alleged wrong assumptions, and Doak then says he would serve on my committee in consultation with Ralph and Ted.
Followed a mini exam: Ralph agrees when I consider reef rock as sediment, a lot of time is spent on whether I am to use mass or volume or growthrate, and Ted objects to diving without regulations in place. Abbott and Ted then leave and I continue with Doak and Ralph about diving predicament....
The next morning (Feb.21), I worked on boatsheets and discovered what appeared to be an 11 fathom terrace (wished for 10...). I received a nice letter from Fager
appointing my new committee with Inman as chair, Shepard, Goldberg, McGowan
, and Cox! I showed the letter to Ralph and Doak who asked me to rework my proposal once again and meet again tomorrow.
Friday Feb.22 I met a tired Doak who agreed on $ 380 and said I should not try to "milk" them, which got me mad which annoyed him so I shut up. On Saturday I sent picture postcards I had had made of Haleakala and the flow into La Perouse Bay to my committee members with the wisecrack: wished I were here... and on Monday Doak had lost my 3 x 5 proposal and asked me to type letter size sheets, which I distributed on Tuesday; on Wednesday, Doak agreed on $ 10 per diem for a combined total of $ 500 for the reconnaisance, but when I went to Ralph to discuss jeep he said he did not care and to discuss everything with Doak. Doak then agreed to call Inman and to recommend my appointment to Abbott and to approve my diving. This was followed on the last day of the month (fortunately only 28 days) by a nasty memo of Ralph sounding like some ancient Roman government official washing his hands of Someone.
