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Atlantis, 1931-1963

 Series

Scope and Content Note

The Atlantis series contains logbooks, graphs, charts, notes and photographs relating to various scientific activities aboard the Atlantis. Logbooks sometimes contain notes, photographs or other materials inserted, taped, glued, or stapled into the logs. Materials were kept in place in the logs; photographs not in logbooks were removed to the WHOI Image collection.

Dates

  • Creation: 1931-1963

Access

Open: materials are available for research.

Historical Note

Atlantis was the first Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution research vessel and the first ship built specifically for interdisciplinary research in marine biology, marine geology and physical oceanography. Columbus Iselin, her first master and a major influence in her design, felt that speed was not essential; steadiness, silence and cruising range were of primary importance.

Once built WHOI searched for an appropriate name for the research vessel. A trustee of the Institution, Alexander Forbes, had recently bought a schooner named Atlantis from Iselin. Mr. Forbes rechristened his schooner so the new research vessel could be named Atlantis.

The "A- boat" made 299 cruises and covered 700,000 miles, doing all types of ocean science. In 1966, Atlantis was sold to Argentina, refurbished, and renamed El Austral . It is used as a research vessel and is crewed by Argentine naval personnel.

Specifications

  1. Built: 1931 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Designed by Owen and Minot specifically for WHOI
  2. Length: 143' 6"; Beam: 29'; Draft: 18'
  3. Rig: Marconi Ketch; Sail Area: 7,200 sq. ft.; Main: 144' from water line; Mizzen: 100' from water line
  4. Capacity: crew- 19, science- 9

[Taken from History of WHOI Research Vessels website.]

Extent

14 boxes (20.5 lin. ft.)

Language

From the Collection: English

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Arrangement

Logs are organized by cruise and leg numbers, and chronologically thereunder. Logs that were kept chronologically, and that are not associated with a particular cruise, such as engineering logs, are arranged in chronological order at the end of the cruise logs.

Related Material

See also the Bear series for several cruises (183, 197, 205 and 223), the Crawford series, cruise 33, the Cubera series, the USS Sarda series, the Vema series (cruise 14), the HMS Astute series, and the USS Hardhead series for logs from cruises conducted in conjunction with the Atlantis; and the Miscellaneous Logs series for the "STD Log, William Ford," "Explosive Echoes Notebook, Arthur Voorhis," and "AEC Project 1918 Station Data Book 1," which contains material on the Atlantis.

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Data Library and Archives Repository

https://dla.whoi.edu/dla/
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