OCEANOGRAPHY IX THE UNITED STATES 183 



the laboratoi\y directors in helping- to phm the program for the future. 

 In the establishment of new laboratories, the third of our early 

 objectives, ONIl influenced the organization of the following activities : 

 Chesapeake Bay Institute, Johns Hopkins University. 

 Narragansett Marine Laboratory, University of Rhode Island. 

 Department of Oceanography, New York University. 

 Marine Laboratories, University of Miami. 

 Chesapeake Bay Institute, Johns Hopkins University. 

 Department of Oceanography, TTniversity of Washington. 

 Department of Oceanography, Texas A. and M, College. 

 Department of Oceanography, Oregon State College. 

 Only this year, the addition of Oregon State College to the list 

 illustrates that this policy aim is still active. The United States now 

 has an imposing number of excellent oceanographic facilities in geo- 

 graphic locations which encourage the study of all aspects of oceanog- 

 raphy. These are staffed by scientists who are highly competent, but 

 far too few in number. 



The last of our early objectives, to encourage additional scientists 

 to enter the field, is still being worked on. It has been roughly esti- 

 mated that the United States has but 500 scientists who are interested 

 in understanding the oceans. 



When it is considered that the world's total number of oceanograph- 

 ers is only about 1,200 to 1,500 we do not appear to be so badly off, but 

 500 oceanographers are by no means enough to meet the problems now 

 confronting this Nation. The severe shortage of competent scientific 

 personnel is one of the greatest and most urgent problems in ocean- 

 ography. 



With these few introductory remarks, I should like now to turn to 

 the work at hand, which is the scientific oceanographic program of the 

 Office of Naval Research. 



In setting out to understand a natural phenomenon as large as the 

 "world ocean," the first thing that must be attempted is to obtain an 

 adequate description of that phenomenon as it exists in nature. It 

 is not enough to describe the ocean as it might be under some average 

 condition, it must be described as it is. This objective means, of course, 

 that a rather large system of exploratory expeditions must be estab- 

 lished, preferably composed of two or more ships working together 

 on each cruise. For the past 12 years, research ships under contract 

 to the Navy have explored the "world ocean" poking into every corner 

 to which they could gain access. 



The first slide which I have to show you is a view of the Woods 

 Hole Oceanographic Institution. 



This laboratory is located on Cape Cod near Falmouth, Mass. 

 The second slide is the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which 

 became a part of the University of California, I believe, in 1912. 



These tw^o institutions have been responsible for much of our oceanic 

 exploration in the two big oceans. The third and fourth slides show 

 the types of ships which are being used in research today. The first 

 of these is the research ship Vema. The Vema was built in 1923, has 

 a wrought iron hull, and is operated by Columbia University through 

 the Lament Geological Observatory. 



The second research ship is the Spencer F. Baircl^ operated by the 

 University of California through the Scripps Oceanographic Lab- 



