''Nathaniel B. Palmer'' is an

icebreaking An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

research vessel (RVIB) owned by Offshore Service Vessels LLC, operated by Edison Chouest Offshore, Inc. and chartered by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

. ''Nathaniel B. Palmer'' is tasked with extended scientific missions in the

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

. ''Nathaniel B. Palmer'' was purpose-built for and delivered to the NSF by

Edison Chouest Offshore Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO), which started as Edison Chouest Boat Rentals in 1960, is a family of companies in the marine transportation business based in Cut Off, Louisiana. ECO owns and operates a fleet of platform supply vessels, Subsea Co ...

's North American Shipbuilding facility in 1992. ''Nathaniel B. Palmer'' is able to support up to two helicopters, accommodates up to 45 science and technical personnel, has a crew of 22 and is capable of missions lasting up to 65 days. The vessel is named after merchant mariner and ship builder

Nathaniel Brown Palmer Nathaniel Brown Palmer (August 8, 1799 – June 21, 1877) was an American seal hunter, explorer, sailing captain, ship designer, and a whale hunter. He gave his name to Palmer Land, Antarctica, which he explored in 1820 on his sloop ''Hero''. H ...

, credited by some historians as the first American to see

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. In February 2020, researchers aboard the vessel with the international Thwaites Glacier Offshore Research (THOR) project discovered Sif Island, located in

Pine Island Bay The Amundsen Sea is an arm of the Southern Ocean off Marie Byrd Land in western Antarctica. It lies between Cape Flying Fish (the northwestern tip of Thurston Island) to the east and Cape Dart on Siple Island to the west. Cape Flying Fish marks ...

of the

Amundsen Sea The Amundsen Sea is an arm of the Southern Ocean off Marie Byrd Land in western Antarctica. It lies between Cape Flying Fish (the northwestern tip of Thurston Island) to the east and Cape Dart on Siple Island to the west. Cape Flying Fish ...

, in Antarctica.

Gallery

File:Corp2454.jpg, ''Nathaniel B. Palmer'' File:Icebreaker Nathaniel B Palmer.jpg

References

External links

R/V ''Nathaniel B. Palmer''s current positionUnited States Antarctic Program Vessel Science and OperationsUSAP Research Vessels news inThe Antarctic Sun
Icebreakers of the United States Research vessels of the National Science Foundation 1992 ships United States Antarctic Program {{ship-stub