338 OCEANOGRAPHY 1961 — PHASE 3 



I think that is what we had reference to in the statement that he 

 made. In other words, they cannot sell the ship or get rid of it, with- 

 out our prior approval. 



Mr. Lennox. I think that is entitled to some further explanation. 

 Does the National Science Foundation have a right to make a contract 

 with a private institute such as the Woods Hole Institution that will 

 permit the Woods Hole Institution to dispose of that vessel? 



Mr. RuTTENBERG. We have the legal right, if we had done so, to give 

 them full title without any strings at all under our basic statutory 

 authority. In other words, there is no requirement that we put the 

 restrictions in that we have, but we felt that in the national interest 

 it was desirable. 



Mr. Lennon. But they are always included ? 



Mr. RuTTENBERG. With respect to ships, we have done so ; yes, sir. 



Mr. Lennon. I am not familiar with the basic act establishing the 

 Science Foundation, but I am a little bit surprised to know that you 

 could convey or transfer a vessel to a private enterprise and just let 

 it go at that, because that is all taxpayers' money, is it not ? 



Mr. RuTTENBERG. The whole philosophy behind the Foundation 

 Act, which was enacted in 1950, was that the Foundation should be 

 able to make grants and it was given much more liberal authority 

 than any Federal agency had at that time. 



Mr. Lennon. When you say grants, you mean actually capital as- 

 sets of the Federal Government ? 



Mr. RuTiENBERG. That is correct. Generally speaking, we do it 

 through funds, though, not capital assets. On occasion, we have got- 

 ten something from surplus and granted it, but in most cases, it is 

 money to either buy things for their use, or to construct things for 

 their use. 



Mr. Lennon. Reading further from the testimony given by the 

 head of the Woods Hole Institution, he said that in the three decades, 

 30 years, they had operated 17 other major research vessels at one 

 time or another, "all of which have been owned outright." 



Do you happen to recollect how they acquired and from what source 

 they acquired the greater number of those IT vessels ? 



Mr. RuTTENBERG. I am sure w^e can answer that. 



Mr. Lennon. They do not own anything outright from the Navy, 

 do they ? 



Mr. RuTTENBERG. No, they do not. 



Mr. Lennon. The 17 could not be from the Navy, then? 



Mr. RuTTENBERG. I think he said where they did not own them out- 

 right. 



Mr. Lennon. He said where they did. 



in the course of over three decades of oceanographic research, we have oper- 

 ated 17 major research vessels at one time or another, all of which w^e have 

 owned outright. 



Dr. Bolt. I would like to ask Dr. Lyman to comment on that. 



Dr. Lyman. I believe I can give you an idea of this, Mr. Lennon. 



The first ship they owned was the A tlcmtis. 



Mr. Lennon. I think we can get to this quicker. Was the major 

 part of them acquired from the National Science Foundation ? 



Dr. Lyman. No. The ship under discussion this morning is the first 

 ship the Science Foundation has granted to anybody. 



