Motion Sickness

A man in a heavy parka stands on a dock in front of a wooden ship that seems to be just taller than the man. The name Miquelon is on the side, along with a heavy anchor.

Larson paused in front of the Miquelon, the ship that took them across rough waters of the North Atlantic.
“On the way back, my God, the boat was caked with ice.”
– Harry Larson

Root of Motion Sickness

Motion sickness is triggered when orientation information from the vestibular organs in the inner ear conflicts with any other opposing sensory input.

“Persons who have lost the function of the vestibular [ear] organs do not become motion-sick, illustrating the significance of these organs in causing disturbing effects when man is exposed to unusual force environments.”
–Dr. Graybiel
A cutaway drawing of the ear and its internal parts, including the ear canal, eardrum, cochlea, and other pieces.

The vestibular labyrinth, pictured here in purple, include the semicircular canals and the otolithic organs.

The three loops are the semicircular canals, each positioned in different angles to pick up head motion from all directions.

Located under the semicircular canals, the otolithic organs get their name from the Greek word otolith, meaning “ear stones”, for their crystal stones of calcium carbonate. Embedded in membrane, the weighted stones tilt in respect to gravitational forces, centrifugal forces, and acceleration.

Signals from the vestibular labyrinth are integrated in the brain with information from other senses, such as vision, touch, and the movement of muscles. Conflict occurs in the integration phase, which leads to motion sickness.

Greenmun was willing to undertake an operation to eliminate the remaining function of these organs. "Because the results of that operation will be so valuable to research and a real contribution to knowledge...it would be very wrong of me to shirk what I feel is a real responsibility."

On October 31, 1962, Graybiel wrote, “The Navy has turned us down in our request to carry out the contemplated surgery. I am bitterly disappointed because this constitutes a significant set-back in our attempts to completely unravel the role of the vestibular organ."

Experiments continued throughout most of the 1960s with the “labyrinth-defective” test subjects, sometimes with only a few men, other times with the entire Gallaudet 11 group.

A ferry boat moving across the water. People are on the top deck, and the rigging is decorated with many flags.

Ferry from North Sydney, Nova Scotia to the French Overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre & Miquelon.

The waters between North Sydney, Nova Scotia and the Saint Pierre & Miquelon French island territory south of Newfoundland, Canada are known to be choppy and excellent for testing motion sickness in a new condition: at sea. The trip took about 15 hours, and was done over night both ways.  Experiments on the ship Miquelon were cancelled as all the researchers became sick.

One of the Navy researchers telephoned John Brennan, owner of the Miquelon ferry ship. ‘We’re studying motion sickness,’ he said, ‘and the Miquelon is reported to be the rollingest ship on the roughest water in the North Atlantic.’”
–National Geographic September, 1967, Vol 132, No. 3

A map of the northeastern US and maritime Canada. North Sydney, Nova Scotia is marked with a red dot. St. Pierre and Miquelon, across the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the northeast, is also labeled.
Photo is taken standing on the deck of a ship. The railings and poles are fully covered in ice, and the water beyond is also full of ice.

“In retrospect, yes, it was scary… but at the same we were young & adventurous.”
–Gulak

Four men, all dressed warmly, point their pool cues at the cue ball together. Behind them is a poster for Heineken beer.

Domich, two men from St. Pierre, and Jordan played pool between trips.

“Our LD group sat around a table and played cards, told stories and rather enjoyed the rolling motion.”
–Peterson

Motion Sickness