NOAAS ''Miller Freeman'' (R 223) was an American fisheries and

oceanographic Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

research vessel A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicated ...

that was in commission in the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

(NOAA) fleet from 1975 to 2013. Prior to her NOAA career, she was in commission in the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

s Bureau of Commercial Fisheries from 1967 to 1970 as US FWS ''Miller Freeman''.

Construction and commissioning

''Miller Freeman'' was designed in 1965 to meet the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries need for a large vessel for

research and the open-ocean investigation of fisheries.AFSC Historical Corner: Miller Freeman, Research Trawler from 1967 to 2013
/ref> She was built for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by the

American Shipbuilding Company The American Ship Building Company was the dominant shipbuilder on the Great Lakes before the World War II, Second World War. It started as Cleveland Shipbuilding in Cleveland, Ohio in 1888 and opened the yard in Lorain, Ohio in 1898. It changed ...

in Toledo,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

.NOAA Ship ''Miller Freeman'' General Characteristics
/ref> She was launched on 2 April 1966 and delivered in June 1967, and she was commissioned into service into the Fish and Wildlife Services Bureau of Commercial Fisheries as US FWS ''Miller Freeman''.

Characteristics and capabilities

When completed in 1967, ''Miller Freeman'' was the largest research ship in the history of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries and its ancestor organizations, and she remained one of the largest research

trawlers Trawler may refer to: Boats * Fishing trawler, used for commercial fishing * Naval trawler, a converted trawler, or a boat built in that style, used for naval purposes ** Trawlers of the Royal Navy * Recreational trawler, a pleasure boat built t ...

in the United States throughout her career. Her stern-ramp configuration allowed her to conduct

trawling Trawling is a method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch different spec ...

operations in deep-sea waters. ''Miller Freeman'' had two cranes with a maximum lifting capacity of 8,500 pounds (3,856 kg) and a third crane with a lifting capacity of . She had three

A-frame An A-frame is a basic structure designed to bear a load in a lightweight economical manner. The simplest form of an A-frame is two similarly sized beams, arranged in an angle of 45 degrees or less, attached at the top, like an uppercase lette ...

s; one of them is a trawl gantry and the other two are Oceo A-frames. She also had twelve

winch A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in (wind up) or let out (wind out) or otherwise adjust the tension of a rope or wire rope (also called "cable" or "wire cable"). In its simplest form, it consists of a spool (or drum) attach ...

es, one with a maximum safe working load of , one with a maximum safe working load of , two with maximum safe working loads of , two with maximum safe working loads of , one with a maximum safe working load of , two with maximum safe working loads of , and two with maximum safe working loads of . ''Miller Freeman'' had various

laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physic ...

capabilities, including s 300- square-foot (sq.-ft.) (27.9- square-meter) (m²)

wet laboratory A wet lab, or experimental lab, is a type of laboratory where it is necessary to handle various types of chemicals and potential "wet" hazards, so the room has to be carefully designed, constructed, and controlled to avoid spillage and contamination ...

, a 300-sq.-ft. (27.9-m²) fish-processing laboratory, a 240-sq.-ft. (22.3-m²) rough laboratory, a 170-sq.-ft. (15.8-m²)

ocean chemistry Marine chemistry, also known as ocean chemistry or chemical oceanography, is influenced by plate tectonics and seafloor spreading, turbidity currents, sediments, pH levels, atmospheric constituents, metamorphic activity, and ecology. The fie ...

laboratory, and a 152-sq.-ft.(14.1-m²) acoustics laboratory. She also had a 220-sq.ft. (20.4-m²)

data plot A plot is a graphical technique for representing a data set, usually as a graph showing the relationship between two or more variables. The plot can be drawn by hand or by a computer. In the past, sometimes mechanical or electronic plotters were u ...

room and a 50-sq.-ft. (4.6-m²) autosalinomater room. She was outfitted with a large live-tank system which allowed scientists to sustain live sea specimens under pressure aboard ship. ''Miller Freeman'' carried three boats: a Hammerhead Munson Launch with a capacity of nine people, a 185-

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are t ...

(138- kW) motor and a top speed of 21

knots A knot is a fastening in rope or interwoven lines. Knot may also refer to: Places * Knot, Nancowry, a village in India Archaeology * Knot of Isis (tyet), symbol of welfare/life. * Minoan snake goddess figurines#Sacral knot Arts, entertainme ...

; a five-person

rigid-hulled inflatable boat A rigid inflatable boat (RIB), also rigid-hull inflatable boat or rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), is a lightweight but high-performance and high-capacity boat constructed with a rigid hull bottom joined to side-forming air tubes that are i ...

with a 130-horsepower (97-kW) Hamilton jet inboard motor capable of ; and a

Zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The pat ...

inflatable boat with a 25-horsepower (18.6-kW)

outboard motor An outboard motor is a propulsion system for boats, consisting of a self-contained unit that includes engine, gearbox and propeller or jet drive, designed to be affixed to the outside of the transom. They are the most common motorised method ...

. In addition to her crew of 34, ''Miller Freeman'' could accommodate up to 11 scientists. Crew: Chief Engineer - Stephen Bus Ret. 2013

Service history

Not yet fully rigged – for example, she had a two-ton (907- kg) crane on her port

forecastle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " be ...

but no lifting capability aft – ''Miller Freeman'' proceeded after commissioning in 1967 from Ohio through

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border ...

, the St. Lawrence Seaway, and the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

to her home port at

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. However, she did not put to sea again until 1969, when she left Seattle for a cruise in the southern Bering Sea to conduct oceanographic and crab surveys for the Auke Bay Laboratory. Due to a lack of funding for her operations, ''Miller Freeman'' was decommissioned on 1 July 1970. When NOAA was established on 3 October 1970, she became part of NOAAs fleet as NOAAS ''Miller Freeman'' (R 223), although she remained inactive. Work began on the completion of her rigging, but it, too, suffered from a lack of funding and was suspended at the end of 1972. Work on her rigging eventually resumed, including the installation of a much-needed five-ton (4,536-kg) crane aft, and when it finally was completed she was recommissioned in 1975. She was re-rigged in 1982.NOAA Ship ''Miller Freeman''
/ref> Operated by NOAAs Office of Marine and Aviation Operations after her recommissioning with her home port at Seattle,

, ''Miller Freeman''s primary mission was to provide a working platform for the study of the ocean's living resources, operating primarily in the

North Pacific Ocean North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' i ...

and Bering Sea. After returning to service, she spent much of the remainder of 1975 conducting work in the

Gulf of Alaska The Gulf of Alaska (Tlingit: ''Yéil T'ooch’'') is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east ...

and Bering Sea in support of the NOAA Offshore Continental Shelf Survey and Assessment Program, primarily carrying out resource surveys for the Marine Resources Monitoring, Assessment, and Prediction Program (MARMAP). Her research activities were interrupted on 22 October 1975, when the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

asked her to assist the

crabbing Crab fisheries are fisheries which capture or farm crabs. True crabs make up 20% of all crustaceans caught and farmed worldwide, with about 1.4 million tonnes being consumed annually. The horse crab, ''Portunus trituberculatus'', accounts for on ...

vessel ''Aquarian'', which had lost her steering while operating in the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large v ...

. Despite the rough seas in 40- to 60-knot (74- to 111-km/h) winds, ''Miller Freeman''s crew managed to get a line across to ''Aquarian'' and tow her to Akutan Island, ending a two-day ordeal for ''Aquarian''s crew. In 1976, ''Miller Freeman'' discovered

mastodon A mastodon ( 'breast' + 'tooth') is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus ''Mammut'' (family Mammutidae). Mastodons inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of th ...

mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks an ...

tusk, tooth, and jaw fragments during trawl hauls in the Chukchi Sea and

Kotzebue Sound Kotzebue Sound (russian: Залив Коцебу) is an arm of the Chukchi Sea in the western region of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is on the north side of the Seward Peninsula and bounded on the east by the Baldwin Peninsula. It is long and wi ...

. The discovery was of interest to researchers studying the ancient

Bering Land Bridge Beringia is defined today as the land and maritime area bounded on the west by the Lena River in Russia; on the east by the Mackenzie River in Canada; on the north by 72 degrees north latitude in the Chukchi Sea; and on the south by the tip of ...

. In 1988, two of ''Miller Freeman''s crew members –

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

Edward R. Cassano,

NOAA Corps The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps, known informally as the NOAA Corps, is one of eight federal uniformed services of the United States, and operates under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administ ...

, and Daniel W. Granstrom – received the

Department of Commerce Silver Medal The Department of Commerce Silver Medal is the second highest of three honor awards of the United States Department of Commerce. Since 1949, the Silver Medal is presented by the Secretary of Commerce for exceptional service. The award may be prese ...

for their role in fighting a major fire that broke out aboard the ship while she was in port at Seattle. Cassano and Granstrom went below decks to fight the fire without regard for their own safety and over the course of an hour repeatedly led firefighters of the

Seattle Fire Department The Seattle Fire Department provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of Seattle, Washington, United States. The department is responsible for an area of , including of waterfront, with a population of 713,700. There is ...

below decks to guide them in extinguishing the blaze, only allowing themselves to be treated for

heat exhaustion Heat exhaustion is a severe form of heat illness. It is a medical emergency. Heat exhaustion is caused by the loss of water and electrolytes through sweating. The United States Department of Labor makes the following recommendation, "Heat illness ...

after the fire was under control. ''Miller Freeman'' became inactive in October 2010 and was decommissioned on 29 March 2013. Awaiting sale for scrapping, she was moored in Lake Washington in Seattle on 6 May 2013 when

welding Welding is a fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool, causing fusion. Welding is distinct from lower temperature techniques such as bra ...

operations started an accidental fire in a storage locker aboard her. The Seattle Fire Department pumped

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is trans ...

into the locker to extinguish the fire, and no injuries were reported. ''Miller Freeman'' was sold at auction on 5 December 2013 for $337,550 (

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

Post-decommissioning

As of early 2018, ex-''Miller Freeman'' reportedly was tied up at a commercial tug and

towing Towing is coupling two or more objects together so that they may be pulled by a designated power source or sources. The towing source may be a motorized land vehicle, vessel, animal, or human, and the load being anything that can be pulled. Th ...

company's facilities adjacent to the

Pattullo Bridge The Pattullo Bridge is a through arch bridge that crosses the Fraser River and links the city of New Westminster to the city of Surrey in British Columbia. It was named in honour of Thomas Dufferin Pattullo, the 22nd Premier of British Columbia. ...

in the Fraser River at

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capi ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

.shipspotting.com
/ref> By early January 2019, she had been moved to Maple Ridge, British Columbia, also on the Fraser River, and had been tied up side-by-side with the former NOAA survey ship NOAAS ''Surveyor'' (S 132), which NOAA had decommissioned in 1995.shipspotting.com
/ref> Soon after the ship was sailed to Mexico for salvage.

References

External links