The Albatross III, like the Albatross II, was designed for other
purposes and later converted for fishery research. The Albatross III,
however, suffered a double conversion before she was put to the study
of the sea.
Originally named the Harvard, she was built in 1926 as a steam trawler
and fished New England waters until 1939 when she was sold by the
General Seafoods Corporation to the Government for $1.00 to be
converted into a fisheries research vessel. In 1942, her conversion was
well under way when she was taken over by the Coast Guard to be used
for patrol duty; the Second World War was in full swing and vessels
were badly needed. The Navy effected an extreme conversion by
lengthening the vessel from 140 feet to 179 feet overall, removing
trawling gear and adding armament and other military equipment. She was
then renamed the Bellefonte.
Toward the end of the War (in 1944) the vessel was returned to the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service and once more was scheduled for conversion to
a research vessel. This was finally accomplished in 1948 and she was
commissioned at the Boston Fish Pier on March 19 of that year.
As finally converted for research work, the Albatross III resembled a
Boston trawler although much longer than most of the fleet. She had an
overall length of 179 feet, beam of 24 feet, and draft of 12 feet. Her
displacement was 525 tons and cruising range 4500 miles.
She was powered with a Fairbanks-Morse seven-cylinder, 805-horsepower
diesel engine. Three diesel motor-generator sets generated 140
kilowatts of 110-volt DC power. The trawl winch was electric powered
carrying 600 fathoms of 7/8-inch wire on each of its two drums,
permitting trawling operations in 200 fathoms of water. The deck was
fitted out in the fashion of the standard Boston trawler.
The Albatross III was originally provided with a fish hold to carry
50,000 pounds of fish on ice as in a commercial trawler. It was planned
that fish caught in research operations would be landed and sold to the
credit of the vessel, thus reducing the net cost of operation. After a
few cruises this plan proved impractical and was abandoned. Two freezer
units, however, proved more useful. One of these provided for quick
freezing and maintained a temperature of 20F below zero; the other room
held temperatures at about freezing. These were successfully used for
the storage of scientific specimens, freezing replacing alcohol and
formaldehyde as methods of preservation.
The laboratories were located on the main deck just aft of the trawl
winch. The wet laboratory opened onto both the port and starboard decks
through Dutch doors. It was fitted with a stainless steel sink in the
center, suitable for handling and examining fish. Two small sinks
located in the cabinets on the outside bulkheads were designed for
chemical and hydrographic work. A dry laboratory or library, located
aft of the wet laboratory, was provided with a large work table,
chairs, bench, and shelves, and was used originally as an office for
scientists for the preliminary study of data collected at sea. On later
cruises it was crammed with electronic gear concerned with underwater
television research.
Hydrographic booms and winches were located on the bridge deck on both
the port and starboard sides. These booms featured travelers to which
the lowering blocks were attached and which regulated the distance of
the lowering wire from the rail.
Living quarters provided accommodations for the ship's crew and
scientific personnel. The master's stateroom was located aft of the
chart room on the bridge deck. The officers', mates', and engineer's
rooms were located aft of the engine room on the main and lower decks.
There were four scientists' staterooms located around a wardroom on the
lower deck forward of the galley and crew's mess. A stateroom for the
steward and cook was located just forward of the crew's mess while the
crew's quarters were in the forecastle on the lower deck. There were
accommodations for a total of 35 men. Originally there was a crew of 21
men and a complement of 6 scientists, leaving 8 extra bunks available
for additional scientific personnel or crew members as needed. The crew
was later reduced to 18.
The Albatross III remained in the possession of the government for 11
years, during which time she added materially to our knowledge of the
fisheries and oceanography of the Northwest Atlantic. However, her
usefulness to fishery research was impaired by a chronic shortage of
operational funds.
She made her first scientific cruise on May 17, 1948. For the rest of
that year and until September 1949, she worked fairly consistently
surveying the New England Banks, conducting experiments on the
selectivity of various sizes of mesh in otter trawls, and in
hydrographic-plankton work. In 1950 she was able to operate only until
September. Her financial difficulties were resolved in February 1951,
when she was loaned to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for
work under an Office of Naval Research contract. In 1952 she was
operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under a similar
contract. She returned to fishery research for the period March to
September 1953, after which she was tied up at the Woods Hole dock
until January
At this time new funds were obtained and the Albatross In was placed in
continuous operation until March 1959. By this time increased
maintenance costs of the ageing ship, and increased operational costs
forced the Bureau to bring to a close the work of the third of the
Albatross series. She was put up for sale under closed bids and sold to
the Island Steamship Line (Joseph T. Gelinas, President) of Hyannis,
Massachusetts, in November 1959.
During her active life as a fishery/oceanographic research vessel, the
Albatross III conducted 128 cruises in the waters off New England and
in adjacent areas. She contributed greatly to the study of the wise
utilization of the groundfish resources of the Northwest Atlantic. Much
of her work related to the program of the International Commission for
the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries which was concerned with the
regulation of the fisheries in this area. These great fisheries are now
under regulations imposed through the action of the New England and
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils, public bodies created by the
Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976
(200-mile-limit law).
The work of the Albatross In has laid the foundation for a broader and
more intensive program of investigation of the fisheries of the area,
developing the knowledge required for an intelligent approach to the
management of the fisheries, and toward a better understanding of the
relation of environmental conditions to the productivity of the area in
terms of fishery resources.
Home