It’s Thursday, November 5, and Boaty McBoatface is heading for the open seas.
Boaty McBoatface, the noblest climate research vessel to ever grace this earth, is finally setting sail for its maiden voyage.
Officially called the RRS Sir David Attenborough (after the popular BBC naturalist), the United Kingdom’s newest polar research vessel departed from Liverpool on Tuesday for two months of intensive training. Early next year it will sail to the Arctic for ice trials to confirm its seaworthiness, and then the ship will head to Antarctica in November 2021 to conduct climate change research.
The ship’s claim to fame stems from a 2016 online poll encouraging the public to pick a name for the climate research vessel. The poll unexpectedly went viral as the name “RRS Boaty McBoatface” became a frontrunner. In the end, the British Antarctic Survey, the government agency that operates the ship, chose David Attenborough, even though that name did not rank highly in the polls. Either way, the research vessel will always be Boaty McBoatface in our hearts.
Constructing the RRS Sir David Attenborough cost $260 million and took four years. It will be replacing two older British Antarctic Survey research vessels.
The Smog
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