RV ''Laurence M. Gould'' is an

icebreaker 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 ...

that was used by researchers from 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 ...

. for research in the Southern Ocean from 1998 to 2024. The vessel is named after

Laurence McKinley Gould Laurence McKinley Gould (August 22, 1896 – June 21, 1995) was an American geologist, educator, and polar explorer. He made expeditions to both the Arctic and Antarctic, and was chief scientist on Richard Evelyn Byrd's first Antarctic expediti ...

, an American scientist who had explored both the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

and

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 ...

. He was second in command of Admiral Richard E. Byrd's first expedition to Antarctica from 1928 to 1930. He helped to set up an exploration base at Little America on the

Ross Ice Shelf The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (, an area of roughly and about across: about the size of France). It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than long, and between high ...

at the

Bay of Whales The Bay of Whales was a natural ice harbour, or iceport, indenting the front of the Ross Ice Shelf just north of Roosevelt Island, Antarctica, at the southernmost point of the world's ocean. While the Ross Sea stretches considerably further s ...

. Gould died in 1995 at the age of 98, and in the same year the National Science Foundation initiated the charter for the services of this ice-strengthened vessel to further its studies and knowledge of the Antarctic Peninsula and Southern Ocean. The ARSV Laurence M. Gould was operated by the Antarctic Support Contract (ASC) on a long-term charter from

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 ...

(ECO). ASC staffed the vessel with a charter representative to coordinate cruise planning and scheduling, and with technical staff to support science operations. ECO provides the vessel master, ice pilot, and crew. The vessel charter with Edison-Chouest Offshore expired July 16, 2024 with the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs announcing in April 2024 that the charter would not be renewed on conclusion of the 2023-24 Antarctic season. The United States Antarctic Program confirmed the end of the Gould's commission in August 2024. The Gould, completed in 1998, is 230 feet long and is ice-classed ABS-A1, capable of breaking one foot of level ice with continuous forward motion. The Gould can accommodate 37 scientists and staff in one- and two-person staterooms. The Gould acted as a resupply ship and does long term environmental research in the

Drake Passage The Drake Passage is the body of water between South America's Cape Horn, Chile, Argentina, and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It connects the southwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean (Scotia Sea) with the southeastern part of the Pa ...

and the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martin in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica. ...

, shuttling between

Punta Arenas, Chile Punta Arenas (, historically known as Sandy Point in English) is the capital city of Chile's southernmost region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena. Although officially renamed as Magallanes in 1927, the name was changed back to Punta Arenas ...

and

Palmer Station Palmer Station is a United States research station in Antarctica located on Anvers island (aka Antwerp Island), the only U.S. station on the continent located north of the Antarctic Circle. The first Palmer was built in 1965, but the current sit ...

, Antarctica. She replaced the RV Polar Duke as the main supply ship to Palmer Station. File:LMGatPuntaArenas.jpg, The ''Laurence M. Gould'' docked at Punta Arenas, Chile, alongside her older and bigger sister ship, the '' Nathaniel B. Palmer'' File:RV Lawrence M. Gould at Palmer Station.jpg, RV ''Laurence M. Gould'' at

File:RV Lawrence M. Gould - 2.jpg, RV ''Laurence.M. Gould'' in

Arthur Harbor Arthur Harbour () is a small harbour entered between Bonaparte Point and Amsler Island on the south-west coast of Anvers Island in the Palmer Archipelago of Antarctica. History Arthur Harbour was roughly charted by the French Antarctic Expediti ...

References

External links

Research Vessels of the US Antarctic Program

Current position of the RV Laurence M. Gould

News on the USAP Research Vessels inThe Antarctic Sun
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laurence M. Gould, RV Research vessels of the National Science Foundation Icebreakers of the United States Ships built in Louisiana 1997 ships United States Antarctic Program