Here’s where I first saw her in mid September. At first I thought it was NOAAS Thomas Jefferson (S 222), though I was guessing only by the color and had seen Jefferson here once before, back after Sandy.
Before that, bowsprite had seen Jefferson. But NOAA has over a dozen vessels, and the only other two I’d seen were RV Henry B. Bigelow and RV Ferdinand R. Hassler. Here is info on the fate of the first Hassler.
But in mid October I last saw Foster, likely on her departure from the sixth boro, because the other day I noticed on her FB page that she’s been collecting samples of invasive dinoflagellates in the Gulf of Maine and now she’s back in her homeport of
Charleston. So who was Nancy Foster, the namesake?
Click here. And if you’re wondering why Jefferson has a NOAA vessel named for him, it’s because he authorized the first US coastal survey in 1807. That survey, by the way, was headed up by Mr. Hassler.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
So who heads up NOAA today? Click here.
tugster: a waterblog 
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October 28, 2018 at 1:42 pm
George Schneider
NANCY FOSTER has an interesting history, too. She was one of four ordered by the Naval Sea Systems Command to replace the mixed fleet of weapons development range craft at Bremerton, all of World War II vintage. They were based upon oilfiend workboat designs, and built 1989-92 by the McDermott Shipyard in Amelia LA. Unfortunately, the design wasn’t adaptable to all the missions of the craft they were replacing, and Bremerton only retained two of them. One was auctioned commercially when only 10 years old, and this one, AGATE PASS (YTT 12) was never put into service. She was delivered in 1992, and remained idle at Bremerton until transferred to NOAA in 2001 and converted for their use as NANCY FOSTER (R352).