Things Got Better

In 1930, the newly established Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution accepted a $175,000 bid by Burmeister & Wain Ltd., of Copenhagen to build the steel-hulled ketch Atlantis. In July 1931, Atlantis set out across the Atlantic to its new home. “The passage was not so graceful,” wrote Vicky Cullen in her history of WHOI, Down to the Sea for Science. “The weather is mostly rough, the sewage problem gets worse before they sort it out, the stove doesn’t work, everything leaks, equipment breaks, and there are several injuries.” Things got better. During its illustrious career, Atlantis became an icon of ocean science and exploration. (Photo courtesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Archives)