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A Strong Stomach

March 10, 2013

WHOI biologist Alfred Redfield (left) aboard WHOI’s first research ship Atlantis, was fond of telling this story about the second day of his first Atlantis cruise: “[T]here was a pretty good northwest breeze and the sea was pretty bobbely. I made my way aft and there I saw the ship’s carpenter in the scuppers, caulking the deck. As I watched, he laid down his caulking mallet, removed his dentures, put them in a safe place, leaned over the rail and put his breakfast. Then he came back, replaced the dentures, picked up the mallet and went right on with his job. I learned then the way an oceanographer behaves.”—from Down to the Sea for Science, a history of WHOI, by Vicky Cullen. (Photo courtesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Archives)