We began the transit from Site 1276 to Site 1277 at 1530 hr on 2 September. The beginning of the transit was delayed by 45 min because of a problem with the ship's propulsion control system. Once the problem was resolved, the ship was under way at 1615 hr. After a transit of 21 nmi, we arrived at Site 1277 at 1800 hr. The ship was positioned over the site using the Global Positioning System, and the thrusters were lowered by 1815 hr.
Our aim at Site 1277 was to sample 30 m of sediment immediately above basement and then core into basement of a shallowly buried ridge before we had to leave for St. John's. Basement was estimated to be 136 mbsf, so we decided to drill without coring to 100 mbsf and then core until time ran out. Table T1 shows a coring summary for Site 1277.
We assembled a rotary core barrel bottom-hole assembly and started lowering it the seafloor at 1830 hr on 2 September. We attached the top drive and deployed a wash core barrel (0230 hr on 3 September) in preparation for drilling. The bit tagged the seafloor at 0300 hr at 4639.4 mbrf. We drilled with the wash core barrel in place from 0 to 103.9 mbsf. Hard intervals were penetrated at 85–89 and 97.5–100 mbsf. The wash core barrel was retrieved, and it recovered 2.29 m of basement-related rocks, mostly basalts.
Cores 2R to 9R penetrated 103.9–180.3 mbsf and recovered 29.24 m (recovery = 38%). Coring parameters were WOB = 20,000 lb, bit rotation = 70 rpm, torque = 175 A, and circulation = 70 spm at 800 psi. The rate of penetration was 5.5 m/hr. Cores 6R to 8R were taken without plastic core liners to try to minimize core jamming and, hence, low recovery that we were experiencing. The active heave compensator was run while cutting Cores 6R and 8R. We circulated 70 bbl of mud after Core 6R. The final core of Site 1277, Leg 210, and Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) (Core 9R) was recovered on the rig floor at 1200 hr on 4 September. The last core of ODP was truly spectacular—a 10.5-m (recovery = 106%) core consisting of green and brown serpentinized peridotite with calcite veins.
We removed the top drive at 1300 hr and began to retrieve the drill string. The seafloor positioning beacon was recovered and back on board at 1500 hr on 4 September. The bit cleared the rig floor at 2345 hr. The drill collars were taken apart, and the ship was secured for transit at 0100 hr on 5 September.
We began the transit to St. John's at 0100 hr on 5 September. After traveling 374 nmi, the last scientific expedition of the Ocean Drilling Program concluded with the last line ashore at 1500 hr on 6 September 2003.