NOAAS Nancy Foster

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.