Faulty Mags

Somehow, it seems like we've been at sea for much longer than three days. So much has happened; I've talked to so many people, learnt so much, slept so much, eaten so much, and even managed to watch a few movies. My graveyard shifts in the Operations Room have become much easier; perhaps I have overcome jetlag and mild seasickness. Nonetheless, the sign of sunrise through the 20cm wide salt encrusted starboard porthole, which marks the end of my shift, is still a delight.
Growing pains turned into bite marks today.
Owing to the fact that the magnetometer is 200m behind the ship, we initially set up our software to calculate its actual position by adding 200m to the on-ship GPS reading. For some unknown reason, however, during the second day the positions we got were a few kilometers southwest of where they should have been. Henceforth we decided to give it up and manually recalculate later in the post cruise analysis.
As if that was not enough, sometime after our seventeen hundred hours dinner, a call came up from the Op's room that the mag. readings were spiking. A brief inspection quickly revealed that every 5 seconds or so a negative spike of about 30-50nT (nanoTesla) was being recorded. We quickly headed up to the aft weather deck in order to fire up the screeching winch and reel in our towed torpedo. In a light drizzle under overcast skies driven by 26knot winds, the waves were picking up. Nothing too high but still - the drama accumulated. From my vantage point in the "Dog House", a control booth for the sterns hydraulic boom, I watched as the crew maneuvered the magnetometer aboard.
The first thing apparent about the brand new Flipper I were the bite marks. Observing the deep undulating cuts and index finger sized holes in the thick orange rubber, the only word to come to mind was "shark". Just like those horror documentaries that film unsuspecting swimmers from underwater, the unsuspecting magnetometer, mistaken for a yummy seal was mutilated. Flipper II was called to the mast, and no sooner was she towing behind and sending out good readings, we doubled back 5km and re-recorded the faulty zone.
Apparently, one can follow the rise and fall of plankton masses during the day and night on the 38 kHz echo sounder. I haven't been paying attention to that screen, since there are another 19 screens in the Ops that change constantly, but I intend to from now on. More on that soon if I notice anything.
We are currently at 25^o10?889??S/103^o24?865??E heading 307^o at 9.6knots. Long ago we left the normal shipping routes and there have been no vessels in sight since. There is lightning on the horizon and I hope the weather won't catch up with us.
"Lamington" a square of sponge cake dipped in chocolate and grated coconut / Oxford English Dictionary.
If you thought that the Southern Surveyor doesn't have a patissier - think again. Off to warm up with some soy Milo and Lamington.