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Bear of a Ship

The research vessel Bear was built in Bristol, R.I., in1941 to serve during World War II as a troop carrier in the South Pacific. In 1951, WHOI chartered Bear and purchased it outright the following year. The vessel made 192 cruises in the western North Atlantic, venturing as far east as Bermuda and made acoustic, bathymetric, and seismic measurements and also participated in fish observations during its life as a research vessel. The ship was sold in 1963 to a New Bedford fisherman and refitted as a scalloper. (Photo courtesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Archives)