8 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) recently took delivery of
Henry B. Bigelow, one of a new class of fisheries sur-
vey vessels being built under contract with VT Halter
Marine Inc., in Pascagoula, Miss. Henry B. Bigelow
will support NOAA research efforts in conservation
and management of fisheries and marine ecosystems
primarily in northeastern U.S. waters, replacing the 45-
year old Albatross IV. The ship will be home ported in
New England, although a permanent base has not been
named.
Henry B. Bigelow is the second of four 208-ft. fish-
eries survey vessels (FSVs) to be delivered by VT
Halter Marine, with the third ship, Pisces, and the as-
yet unnamed fourth ship in various stages of construc-
tion. The FSVs will have the ability to perform hydro-
acoustic surveys of fish, and will also be able to con-
duct bottom and mid-water trawls while running phys-
ical and biological-oceanographic sampling during a
single deployment -- a combined capability unavail-
able in the private sector. The ship is named for Henry
Bryant Bigelow, the founding director of the Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institution and a pioneering ocean
researcher whose extensive investigations are recog-
nized as the foundation of modern oceanography. His
expeditions in the Gulf of Maine, where he collected
water samples and data on the phytoplankton, fish and
hydrography, made this region one of the most thor-
oughly studied bodies of water, for its size, in the
world.
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NOAA Accepts New Survey Vessel
Father of Oceanography:
Henry B. Bigelow
Henry Bryant Bigelow, born in
1879, developed an early pas-
sion for nature, sailing and fish-
ing that would ultimately lead to
the foundation of modern
oceanography. Raised on the
Massachusetts coast, Bigelow
enrolled at Harvard in 1897 and
graduated cum laude in 1901.
During his time at Harvard,
Bigelow befriended Professor
Alexander Agassiz, who was
well-known at the time for his
Pacific Ocean expeditions. In
the winter of 1901, Bigelow
requested to accompany Agassiz
on such a voyage, and served as assistant on a trip to the
Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean. At the end of the trip,
Bigelow had the opportunity to study the medusae that had
been collected, and his research served as material for his doc-
toral thesis and was published in 1904.
In 1927, Bigelow was asked to prepare a scientific paper for the
US National Academy of Sciences' Committee on
Oceanography to address "…whether the United States was
contributing as broadly as was desirable to the study of the
oceans and if not, what should be done to improve the situa-
tion." His work on this project persuaded the Committee that
more needed to be done in the field of oceanography, which led
to the establishment of the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution (WHOI); incorporated in 1930. Bigelow served as its
first Director from 1930 to 1939, and his report, titled
Oceanography: Its Scope, Problems, and Economic
Importance, was published in 1931. Upon his retirement as
director in 1939, he was a member on the Board of Trustees
and, in 1960, was named Founder Chairman of the Board in
recognition of his achievements there. Additionally, in 1961, the
Institution established the Henry Bryant Bigelow Medal in his
honor, of which he was the first recipient. Bigelow remained a
member of the Harvard faculty during his time at WHOI and
after; teaching for a total of 62 years; a tenure he thought must
have broken some sort of record. In jest, he remarked that the
university owed him a bottle of whiskey for his loyal service; to
his surprise, upon his retirement, he was presented with such a
gift, "compliments of the President and Fellows." His autobiog-
raphy notes that he is the only one to ever have been present-
ed a bottle of whiskey on behalf of Harvard University.
Bigelow died on December 11, 1967, at the age of 89. His last
papers were published following his death, in 1968.
(Photo Credit: NOAA)
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