Thomas Kennedy
Job Description
Sonar Operator
Period
1967 - 1978
Thomas was a sonar operator on Cheynes II. During his eleven years with the company he tracked some strange things and met some cunning whales. ‘People ask about the Loch Ness monster but there are some animals and fish or whatever they are, out off the shelf, they must be big because they put out a graph just like a whale or heavier than a whale. We’ve tracked them for an hour and a half to two hours. A lot of whales are as shrewd as hell. They can hear the echo ping of the sonar and will shrug you off like steam. They will jump straight into a thermal layer and just lose you. Just like a rabbit running into a heap of bush. As soon as the beam hits the thermal layer it bounces around. It’s like putting a light into a mirror. After a storm the surface water up to 100 metres below the waves will be churned up with air bubbles and particles making it impossible to pick up clear echoes. Then you get the cunning old whale that will swim along in that surface stuff. He knows you can’t get him’.
Thomas Kennedy