The D.O.C. Goes to Sea
A N entirely new slant on outdoor life and a new appreciation of the stability of forest trails—was acquired by a group of Dartmouth Outing Club members when they put to sea, just before the opening of College, as a two-day crew aboard the Blue Dolphin. The 100-foot schooner, skippered by Comdr. David C. Nutt '41, USNR, arctic specialist on the staff of the Dartmouth Museum, left Boothbay Harbor, Maine, on September 37, heading for Woods Hole, Mass., on the first leg of another scientific mission.
The Blue Dolphin, back from an allsummer oceanographic survey off the coast of Labrador, had to be sailed from her home port to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute for an electronic and machinery overhaul, prior to a new assignment for the Office of Naval Research; so the trip was turned into an amphibious operation by a special D.O.C. crew, complete with John Rand '38, graduate director, and Ross McKenney, woodcraft adviser. Held in port for some hours by a 45-mile wind from the south, the BlueDolphin finally set sail with a brisk westerly wind and made a fast run to the entrance to the Cape Cod Canal. Once they got their sea legs, the Outing Clubbers were a willing crew and a longer period of sea life might have enticed them away from mountains and forests for good.
Old hands aboard the schooner were Tony Morse '52, son of the Dean of Freshmen, and John Tangerman '53, who were student assistants on the summer trip to Labrador. Larry Coachman '47, assistant oceanographer on the summer expedition, also remained with the ship for the Woods Hole run. Top honors for looking like an old salt went, however, to Ross McKenney, who appears on this month's cover.
The Blue Dolphin had been at Boothbay Harbor since September 6, when she returned from an expedition of nearly three months to northern waters. On this third annual survey trip, Commander Nutt directed operations around the Hamilton Inlet and Lake Melville estuary, with two weeks also spent at Nain, Labrador.
Besides Nutt and Coachman, Dartmouth alumni in the summer party were Richard Backus '44, who is completing his Ph.D. at Cornell; James Schwedland '48, Yale Forestry School; and Edgar R. Miller '51, Dartmouth Medical School. Besides Morse and Tangerman, undergraduate assistants included Benjamin Potter '53 and Nicholas Dean '54.
The summer's work enabled Backus to make important additions to his notable collection of fish specimens from Labrador waters and to acquire more material for the definitive report he is preparing. A highlight was the netting of a sea tadpole, the first ever recorded in the western North Atlantic.
Bouchard WITH FAVORING WINDS the schooner cut three hours off her previous best run to the Cape Cod Canal. Shown are John Tangerman '53 (left) and Phil Viereck '4B, wearing his Alaskan seal-intestine parka.
THE SCHOONER "BLUE DOLPHIN" WITH ALL SAILS HOISTED
Bouchard THE SKIPPER: Comdr. David C. Nutt '4l, USNR, arctic specialist on the staff of the Dartmouth Museum, is a taut, busy man when the "Blue Dolphin" is under way. The cap is in the best arctic nautical style.
THE D.O.C. AMPHIBIOUS CREW: Photographed at Woods Hole, at the end of the trip, are: Front row: Ross McKenney, Bill Danforth '4l, Skipper Dave Nutt '4l, and John Rand '3B. Back row: D.O.C President Bill Biddle '52, Phil Viereck '4B (rear). Bill King '53, Preston Saunders '52, Carl Stephan 52, John Tanger- man '53, Coleman Dorsey '52, Tony Morse '52, Larry Coachman '47, and Bob Brace 52.
