248 OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 



Now, take a look at the expenses. This is from the Department 

 of the Interior. There is one here I am concerned about, that is the 

 year 1957 in here for $51,000 for a shipyard job on repairs. Then 

 the Delaware is mentioned in it, but there is no mention of a third boat, 

 the expenses on a third boat known as the T-boat, which is a little 

 boat they borrowed from the Army to do some work, but she wasn't 

 successful. Nothing in here about her, but I am wondering if the 

 expenses of the T-boat and the Albatross were added together for the 

 year 1957. 



We could take a look at the age of the boat. The boat is old, no 

 question about it, and it is my opinion, if we are to keep up with the 

 rest of the countries in the world doing exploring, it is necessary to 

 have better boats, but I do think it is necessary to keep those boats in 

 operation until you people in the Government can get around to build- 

 ing a real research boat. If the scientists are going to be able to do 

 a better job, they should be able to go anywhere the rest of the world 

 goes. But they haven't got that kind of a boat now. I read a report 

 this morning that a Russian submarine returned to Russia after doing 

 24 days of exploring underwater with television equipment. They 

 are all over the world, they are on the Grand Banks and they are on 

 the Georges Bank. We had two little boats, but now we don't have 

 sufficient funds to operate one little vessel. It seems ridiculous to me, 

 but, if they haven't got the money, there is nothing we can do about it. 



I went over all this from their own statements and found out there 

 are at least five research vessels operating out of Labrador and what 

 we call the Flemish Cap. The Norwegians have built a boat for 31 

 men ; Canada also built a boat for research ; and besides that, Canada 

 hired four trawlers this year to kill dogfish. But they are going to 

 save the liver and pay 11 cents a pound for the liver. This is all for re- 

 search, and I say, again, if we cannot afford to operate the Albatross 

 for $193,000, it seems ridiculous to me. 



Congressman Olivt^r. You mentioned that the Alhatross is an old 

 vessel, but on the other hand hasn't she been converted from time to 

 time? 



Mr. Powers. Yes, sir. 



Congressman Oliver. To bring her up to reasonable competence ? 



Mr. Powers. Yes, sir, and I can give you everything they did. They 

 drilled the plates and they found the plates were in good condition. 

 They put a new deck on her last October. They put new fire hydrants 

 on her. They put a new galley in, practically one end to the other, in 

 stainless steel. They put in a good fish freezer and the boat already 

 had two or three freezers on her. The boat is now a much better 

 boat than she was in 1955. 



The reason I said I could jro back to 1955 was because I could show 

 she was seaworthy then. We did not have lifeboats on her in 1955, 

 but we had four or five dories. Tliat was bad, because a dory can 

 carry only 4 or 5 men, and we always carried 25 or 30 men. I thought 

 it was a menace to go out on a boat like that. I filed a complaint about 

 it, and the Coast Guard came aboard and said there were 43 items that 

 had to be corrected before that boat came up to their standards to be 

 certified as seaworthy. We made an attempt at it, and went to a ship- 

 yard but we didn't get the work done such as lifeboats, and an escape 

 hatch forward, which they recommended. But in 1956, we did go to 



