The R/V Atlantis and Her First Oceanographic Institution

Abstract

Anyone who gives much thought to the first 10 or 12 years of the Woods Hole Oceanographie Institution’s operation soon realizes that R/V Atlantis was the tail that wagged the entire dog. Her capabilities (which were by no means clear at the time of her launching in 1930) determined to a significant extent the kinds of work undertaken at the Institution. In addition, her living conditions influenced the types of scientists who chose to work for the Oceanographie. Thirdly, and this is less obvious, her very conception seems to have initiated the organization of the Oceanographie Institution. Put another way, it was not the Institution that needed and therefore commissioned Atlantis, but Atlantis that generated the Institution.