“Geologists get really excited about this. Unless you’re a diver, you never get to see the bottom,” explained Paul Davis with the Canadian Hydrographic Service of Canada, who’s working on the ship.

For the second year in a row, men with Fisheries and Oceans have been charting Melville Bay, Johnson Cove and as far out as Marble Island. They are mapping a safe navigation route 120 kilometres long and 16 kilometres wide for deep draft tankers.

To do this, five survey boats leave the ship every day with up-to-date equipment using satellites and computers to map the bottom.

Crews aren’t expecting to find sunken treasure chests or ship wrecks, so they’re not disappointed with mud and rocks.

Scientists point their sonar equipment down, storing all the data on VCR-sized cartridges which are later dumped into a computer onboard the C.C.G. Hudson.

The computer room looks like an office anywhere. Men stare at color computer screens showing the depths of the sea. The only difference is the computers are secured with bungee cords and strapping in case of high seas.

There have certainly been changes since the department first charted parts of the sea bottom in the '50’s. At that time, maps and charts were done with a sextant, an instrument used in navigation by early explorers.

Now, Blue Rodeo and Pink Floyd CDs sit on the counter showing music has changed in 40 years as well.

The crew isn’t just charting the bottom of the sea, it’s measuring the direction and speed of currents, tides are being analyzed and adjustments are made to the maps of shore lines during six weeks the ship will be in the area.

By the end of the season this year’s digital data will be used for electronic chart navigation as well as three new paper charts for the novice sailor.

Apparently, Rankin Inlet is the only port in the Keewatin Region which offers environmental protection for ships during loading and off-loading.