Reflections On Milton B. (Sam) Gray by George H. Lauff (Director, University of Georgia Marine Institute: 1960-62 Research Coordinator, Sapelo Island Research Foundation: 1962-64) Milton Berford Gray Sam, whose biological collection activities near Sapelo and the near-shore environments are commemorated by Gray's Reef, a National Marine Sanctuary. In coming to the University of Georgia Marine Institute in 1960, I recognized the need for a survey of the invertebrate fauna of the inshore benthic communities as a potential database to underpin the development of research and graduate training programs at Sapelo Island. Indeed, Sapelo and its coastal environs represented an essentially unexplored area between the established marine science programs at Duke University Marine Laboratory at Beaufort, North Carolina, and Miami University in Florida. I had become acquainted with William D. Burbanck, Emory University, through professional contacts while at the University of Michigan. I was aware of his teaching and research residency at the Marine Biology Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole and sought his counsel regarding the task I envisaged. Burbanck highly recommended Milton B. Gray, a long-time biological collector at MBL. Burbanck wrote: “In my opinion Sam Gray knows more about more invertebrates on the Atlantic coast than any living man. While he is still sound and vigorous I would like to see his unusual ability and experience used.” He went on to say that “both Sapelo and Mr. Gray would gain”. And, gain we did! Some of the following narrative draws on the recollections of Burbanck, drafted in 1984, and recent comments from John Valois, Naturalist, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole. Naturalist Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole Sam Gray was born 7 July 1895. For 55 of his 72 years, his life was intimately entwined with the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) at Woods Hole. With the exception of time to attend Massachusetts Agricultural College (now University of Massachusetts), military service in WW I as a petty officer on a sub chaser in the Adriatic, and a brief attempt at raising poultry, Sam worked for the Supply Department at MBL. As a young boy, he worked with his father, George Gray, who was appointed curator in 1899. George Gray also participated in the establishment of the General Biological Supply House—a commercial source for preserved invertebrates, various vertebrate species and algae. When Sam first worked with his father in the Supply Department, it handled a wide range of living and preserved specimens including both freshwater and terrestrial animals, with the greatest emphasis on estuarine and marine invertebrates. Sam was a highly intense and hard working naturalist; he was given complete freedom to collect for certain investigators at MBL and exclusively for the invertebrate course. He had an almost fierce pride in providing living intact specimens on a strict schedule regardless of weather or tides. Even as a young man, Sam was apparently quite headstrong as gleaned from various stories. And Sam was not an easy person for college students to work with. The young men who worked with Sam went through a severe ‘apprenticeship’. They were strong—they had to be—but once they had survived the rebukes for their shortcomings and received brief but sincere praise, they became Sam’s friends and champions for life. In spite of his own skill and experience, Sam never felt that he had or would ever achieve the level of excellence of his father—his father was his idol! Sam’s New England reticence, and desire for perfection and accuracy resulted in his having a rather formidable attitude toward those he encountered. For those who knew him, this was recognized as a protective mechanism, a shield. top John Valois had worked with Sam during summers as an undergraduate, and was appointed naturalist in 1957 following graduate school at Tufts University. Use of SCUBA gear made benthos collection much easier and inflicted less trauma on the specimens. Some could sense and understand the rivalry that an older man might have for a recent college graduate. Perhaps because he had never been put in charge of the Supply Department or because of his gruff independence, Sam in his later years seemed to have a fear of losing his job. He tended to become withdrawn to the point that the detailed records he kept of his collecting sites were carefully guarded and never shown to other members of the Supply Department. While working for MBL for over 50 years, Sam was known and respected by many famous and talented biologists. Some of these investigators had worked with or for him when they first came to Woods Hole. Often they would communicate interesting or unusual aspects of their studies to Sam and give him reprints, which he read and cherished. The ‘acknowledgements’ frequently cited Sam’s extraordinary cooperation. Sam was well known to systematists of the great museums of the United States, particularly the Smithsonian Institution, and was an excellent systematist in his own right. In writing recently, Valois noted that not a single person left at MBL remembers Sam’s ability to collect, his addiction with the joys of going out to sea in the early morning and returning to the dock in the dark. The culmination was then to take the specimens into the laboratory where they might be prepared for the Smithsonian, or a local research scientist. A true ‘loner’ who found life as a naturalist all he needed to be happy. Without question, he truly ranks equally with his father as one of the great naturalists at MBL. Sapelo and the Marine Institute Sam and his wife, Helen Penny Gray, became Sapelo residents in early 1961. They settled into one of the apartments on the east side of the quadrangle and soon established themselves in the resident community. Skippy, their small schipperke dog, was part of the Gray family at Sapelo and became well known for his prowess as a watchdog. Sam was recruited and hired to collect invertebrates from the coastal and near-shore waters off Sapelo and preserve them for taxonomic research. Specimens for the limited teaching and public visitation programs were of secondary importance. Given his long and varied experience at MBL and his motivation and work ethic, Sam was ‘ideal’ for this general assignment. He soon ‘set up shop’ in some existing improvised office space and commandeered a few unused tanks in the wet-lab area. This portion of the original dairy barn was later renovated to provide improved office space for Sam, resident graduate students and visiting investigators as research activities revived in the early 60s. The sea water system and aquarium area were improved for more effective sorting of invertebrates brought to the laboratory and to assure a dependable supply of sea water for maintenance of specimens. An area within a then ‘unused’ loft was renovated to provide shelving and secure storage for the collections. Skippy was Sam’s constant companion but he also had a morbid fear of thunder that often resulted in Sam having to retrieve him from his favorite sanctuary ---the muddy drain recesses under the aquarium bench. A clap of thunder on Sapelo was usually and immediately followed by cry from Sam—“Don’t let him in the lab!” Jimmy Rouse was captain of the Kit Jones at the time, and Glasco Bailey, a Sapelo native, was ‘striker’. Rouse was a native of Brunswick and had been employed by Reynolds when he maintained a yacht; Rouse was hired when ‘Chief’ Olson’s eyesight began to fail. Glasco was also a ‘seasoned’ sailor. Sam’s experienced ‘seamanship’ and nautical knowledge were immediately recognized and the ‘threesome’ became an effective and highly compatible working group. Rouse was familiar with the coastal water off Sapelo and acquainted with fishermen operating from Darien and along the coast. He was aware of the location of limestone outcrops on the continental shelf that provided habitat for corals, sponges and reef fishes. This ‘hard bottom’ community was well represented in Sam’s collections. top As the invertebrate collection grew, it became available to research scientists. One of the first and direct results was the ‘Handbook of the Common Marine Isopod Crustacea of Georgia’ by Robert Menzies and Dirk Frankenberg. John B. Burch, malacologist, University of Michigan Museum, spent some time on Sapelo collecting mollusks; by the spring of 1963, he had ‘farmed out’ some of the smaller groups to specialists. Also in early 1963, Edward L Bousfield, National Museum of Canada, Ottawa, collected in Sapelo waters as part of a three-year study of the coastal marine amphipod fauna of the southeastern United States, from Cape Hatteras to the Florida Keys. He commented that the “incomparable field know-how of Sam Gray added immeasurably to the efficiency and thoroughness of the Sapelo Island operations”. In the spring of 1964, prior to my leaving Sapelo, Sam prepared and shipped the most important components of his collection to the Smithsonian Institution—not only a safe and permanent repository, but also representing a considerable reduction in curatorial chores for Sam! Sam and Helen continued seasonal residence at Sapelo, often returning to their home in Woods Hole for a portion of the summer months. Sam was respected and admired by the faculty, graduate students and staff; Helen made many good and lasting friendships. And while there may have been an altercation or so with graduate students, Sam was in his element and likely as happy as he had ever been. Sam continued to work at the Marine Institute until he was hospitalized in Brunswick in 1965. He and Helen returned to their home in Wood Hole; Sam passed away on 9 December 1967. Both Sam and Helen learned to love Sapelo Island. Helen gave up her position with the Woods Hole Library to accompany Sam to Georgia. It was a sacrifice, but her many island friends helped make up for her loss. After the Gray’s return to Woods Hole, they displayed with pride a painting of Sapelo Island by their friend, Martha Odum. On Sapelo, Skippy, their dog, led an adventuresome life. Although he contracted heartworm, it didn’t slow him down. Sam used to say that the local hounds would sit in a circle around the little (15 lb) dog and ‘talk’ to each other saying, “You get him.” Another would answer: “No, you get him!” They never did! Little Skippy had the heart of a lion and feared nothing (except thunder), but ultimately was fatally attacked by two Dobermans at Woods Hole. Fortunately, this happened after Sam’s death. Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary Helen Gray received a letter dated 2 January 1980 from Dr. Nancy Foster (Deputy Directory, Sanctuary Program Office, NOAA) indicating that Gray’s Reef, or the area of live-bottom reef off the Georgia coast also locally know as Sapelo Live-Bottom, was among seven sites being considered for possible designation as a National Marine Sanctuary. She noted that this near-shore hard-bottom reef was recognized by Sam in 1961 in connection with his extensive biological surveys of the ocean floor off the Georgia coast. Collections made during the surveys are under the protective supervision of the University of Georgia Natural History Museum and maintained as the “Gray’s Reef Collection.” In 1974, Jesse Hunt, a graduate student working under Jim Henry was the first scientist to study the reef. He proposed the name “Gray’s Reef” for this live-bottom habitat to commemorate Sam’s valuable contribution to the understanding of offshore habitats and marine organisms, especially those of the near-shore continental shelf of Georgia. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources submitted a nomination to the Secretary of Commerce in June 1978 recommending the designation of Gray’s Reef as a marine sanctuary. Foster’s letter continued: Gray’s Reef is considered to be one of the largest consolidated near-shore live-bottom reefs off the coast of Georgia and possibly off the southeast coast. Intermittent limestone outcroppings cover an estimated 12 square nautical miles and support a diverse assemblage of marine invertebrates, finfish and turtles*. Sanctuary status for Gray’s Reef would provide a comprehensive management framework to foster protection of the environment, significant marine research, public education programs and human use of the resources compatible with their conservation. Gray’s Reef was officially designated a National Marine Sanctuary on 16 January 1981. Helen Gray, age 88, died on 24 March 1984. Return to top of page * Loggerhead sea turtles, which nest on all of Georgia’s sea island beaches, can be found basking at the surface in the sanctuary. Divers frequently encounter them resting under the reef overhangs. Green, Kemp’s Ridley, and leatherback sea turtles also are known to occur along the Georgia coast.